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

By Judy Schriener

Productivity is more of a factor in a company's decision to use collaboration tools than is the idea of reducing costs, according to a study recently released by Constructware. Firms responding to the study also chose collaboration technology to a lesser degree to reduce claims and litigation and to gain an advantage over competitors. They especially named document creation, tracking and management as receiving the greatest positive impact from using collaboration technology.

Reasons/Objectives for Using Collaboration Tools

Source: Constructware 2001 Client Impact Study

However, the construction industry has a long journey ahead of it before collaboration will become mainstream. "...[T]he general findings confirm that collaboration technology is still in the early adopter phase and that the benefits are significant and just beginning to be realized by the companies implementing this technology," the study says. Users perceived more advantages of using collaborative tools the longer they use them. "There’s more of a gap than we expected" between tiers, says Scott Unger, Constructware president and CEO.

The study focused mainly on two issues: first, why companies are using collaboration technology, specifically Constructware, and what they want to accomplish by doing so, and, second, what impact collaboration is having on the company and its business.

Constructware invited 100 clients to fill out an online questionnaire for its 2001 Client Impact Study, and 61 of the 100 companies responded. About 60% of respondents were general contractors and construction managers, the rest were architects and owners, says Unger. About half of the firms claimed annual revenues of $100 to $500 million, although the range was $50 million to more than $5 billion. Nearly half of the firms that responded had between 100 and 500 employees. Companies had been using Constructware anywhere from three months to more than three years. The study was conducted in October by inSite! Consulting Group. The research is specific to Constructware but presumably applies to some degree to collaboration technology overall.

Virtually all respondents (99%) indicated that they use Constructware to increase productivity. That includes reducing turnaround time for processing of requests for information (RFI) and submittals, speedier document creation, penetrating communication barriers and enabling project managers to manage more projects. Nearly all (96%) respondents cited document management as an area in which collaboration technology had had a positive impact.

About three quarters (74%) of respondents cited cost reduction as a primary objective of using Constructware. They looked to reduce costs associated with paper reduction (copies, faxing, shipping, storage), computer hardware and support personnel and employee travel. Once again, they pointed overwhelmingly (94%) to document management as an area in which Constructware had an impact, and three quarters (79%) also said that the tools had saved them significant person-hours in creating, filing and searching for documents.

Predictably, 96% of survey respondents said barriers and delays in workflow and communications were reduced when they used Constructware's collaboration tools.

Areas in which Collaboration Tools Improved Productivity

Source: Constructware 2001 Client Impact Study

Although less than three fourths (62%) said reducing claims and litigation as their primary factors was an important factor for choosing collaboration technology, an overwhelming majority (87%) said that Construcware's centralized database would help to prevent claims and litigation. And, seven respondents claimed that Constructware had prevented claims or aided in a positive outcome in a claim.

Less than one fourth of respondents (23%) said they had written in or seen Constructware as a requirement for a job. "Not specifically Constructware, but an Internet project management system in general," wrote one respondent.

Just over half (54%) of the survey respondents indicated they had used Primavera Systems Inc.'s Expedition, Meridian Project System's Prolog, a custom-developed system or other project management systems. Expedition was named by 53% of those who had used another system, Prolog by 38% and "custom developed system" by 27%.

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