In a typical construction project only a very small percent of the total project budget is allocated to the management of information handover between the design and contractor teams, despite the fact that information handover is one of the most critical aspects of a project lifecycle. Moreover, manually aligning and overseeing the engineering drawing transmittal process is both expensive and inefficient. Fortunately these days there is a simple and effective solution: digitize the process by installing a good engineering drawing transmittal software aka an EDMS and give both teams a centralized and single source of truth.
An engineering drawing transmittal software gives teams direct access to the information they need (via a mobile interface) along with notifications and alerts about changes and pending approvals. Plus, today’s advanced engineering drawing transmittal software comes with the feature of automated audit trails for each document, which ensures compliance and accountability all around. In this way, an EDMS can effectively align contractor and design teams in real-time.
What causes the misalignment in the first place? The main reason is the manually-driven methods of sharing and updating documents ie FTP, email, etc. which in turn means that the latest versions, including As-builts, are not always reflected in the drawings. Also, we are dealing with heterogeneous team cultures and methodologies which can cause confusion and even conflict.
Let me start by saying that email is the easiest but not the most efficient or effective way to transmit engineering drawings. For example, if you use attachments to share drawings, the huge size of the attachment itself can lead to the message getting truncated or going to spam, or just being deleted altogether. Then there is the ever-knotty problem of version control which gets exacerbated with email (a problem even older-generation engineering drawing transmittal software faces) because what happens if you need to send multiple drawings? You either increase the message size even more or, if you split one batch of drawings over multiple emails, you run the risk of causing endless confusion on the recipient’s side. Even if you name each file correctly, email is simply not an optimal solution.
The reality is that without good engineering drawing transmittal software, you will likely end up with the wrong files getting sent or the files being incorrectly named or sent to the wrong person or the wrong version being sent – in fact the opportunities for error are almost unlimited!
Whereas with an engineering drawing transmittal software/EDMS all these errors are eliminated. Transmitting the right version of the right file or files to the right person at the right time becomes as easy as pressing a few buttons. A smart EDMS will also let you send and receive files over your mobile phone, giving new meaning to the phrase ‘anytime anywhere information access’.
Now let’s look at something a bit more complex: the different work cultures and methodologies.
Whenever you have different people from different organizations/geographies/business cultures, you are looking at a potential for difficulty from the human perspective alone. Add to that the fact that engineering and contractor teams have different roles and responsibilities and are working in a highly technical field that is time-sensitive ie any delays or errors can end up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For example, a contractor is motivated to complete the job on time and on the budget but does not necessarily have the time or motivation to check that the data he is working from is up-to-date – his priority is simply to get the job done as soon as possible and within budget and with acceptable quality. So sometimes he ends up improvising to complete the work, which solves his problem in the short term but creates problems for the next contractor who comes in later. In other words, contractors are not driven by attention to detail or the accuracy of as-built versions beyond what they need to complete their work and get paid. Compare that to engineers who are very different. Engineers tend to be experts at creating detailed drawings with CAD systems, are very process-and-detail-driven, and are deeply concerned about precision and up-to-date data. Therefore, engineering teams can sometimes become too focused on going ‘by the book’ instead of actually getting work done in the real world.
So there you have it – the engineer’s meticulous and process-oriented approach clashes with the contractor’s practical and goal-oriented outlook.
Again, the only proven solution is digitization, in this case, an engineering drawing transmittal software or EDMS.
Such software by its very nature caters to both kinds of mindsets and working styles. It gives contractors the flexibility to solve problems proactively and react quickly but without cutting corners, and it helps engineers keep an eye on the big picture and move work forward without getting lost in the details.
In short, an EDMS or engineering drawing transmittal software is the best way to get engineering and contractor teams working together not only efficiently, but harmoniously.