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(Source enr.com - Date 3/23/03)

By Harry Goldstein

Photo courtesy of Primavera Inc.

Customers are asking for mobile communications technology that lets them take their project management software into the field. Primavera Systems Inc., Philadelphia, has extended the latest release of its Expedition project control solution onto the job site with Primavera Expedition Mobile. Now all of Primavera's major products come with a mobile extension.

Many of Expedition's 100,000 users, who are looking for a way to check punch lists in the field, demanded a mobile product, says Laurent Dubernais, senior vice president of Primavera's project control and commerce division. Primavera tried to fill the bill with software that lets several users interact on the same project simultaneously using their Palm OS devices.

Claudia Ledwich, senior project manager with H.J. Russell and Co., Atlanta, the country's largest minority contractor, says the first advantage of Expedition Mobile is having instant access to all of Expedition's contact data on the Palm, "which in and of itself is tremendously useful" when she's in the field. Ledwich also likes being able to manage punch lists in real-time, eliminating the labor-intensive process of taking handwritten notes on site, then going back to the trailer where someone else enters in the data. Finally, Expedition Mobile gives Ledwich the ability to keep all project information in one place, eliminating redundant punch lists.

"Before we had [Expedition Mobile], I used a database list [program] that I'd downloaded for my Palm. We also had our Expedition punch list, so we had two punch lists to manage," Ledwich says. But now, there's only one punch list, and no conflicts. "This is a tool H. J. Russell is looking forward to using to enhance project communications and expedite completion of the punch lists," she says.

So far, Ledwich is the only person at Russell to use Expedition Mobile because the company needs to upgrade to the most recent release of Expedition, 7.5, which came on to the market only last week. Says Ledwich, "We want to give everyone the opportunity to use it as soon as it's practical."

Primavera Expedition Mobile costs $500 per unit. Dubermais says the company expects to sell two or three mobile modules for every Expedition license sold. He also expects a wireless update in the next 12 months. Expedition 7.5 integrates with PrimeContract, Primavera's Web-based project management solution, so the wireless version of Expedition Mobile will also let you access PrimeContract.

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