2016 CMAA Capital Projects Symposium Takeaways

Finding a better project management information system is top-of-mind for construction industry professionals at the CMAA Capital Projects Symposium.

We were proud to be a Bronze Sponsor at the CMAA Capital Projects Symposium held in Austin, Texas last week. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth to check out our award-winning Construction Program Management Portal.

A few takeaways from this year’s CMAA

We had a lot of great conversation with fellow construction industry professionals at the CMAA this year. Here are a few of our key takeaways.

Owners and construction managers across various industries told us they’re looking for a new solution to replace Oracle Contract Manager. Oracle Contract Manager has been widely used for document management, job cost, and field controls – but is now approaching end-of-life (EOL).

This leaves construction professionals looking for a replacement information management solution that is:

1. Easy to use and configure – No one wants steep learning curves or difficult user adoption. The ideal tool should be simple for users to pick up. Most importantly, it should make their jobs easier, not more complicated.
2. Cloud-based and mobile-friendly – The solution must support mobile users in the field as well as users in the office.
3. Enduring and frequently updated – Companies cannot afford to take a bet on a custom solution from a vendor that may or may not be around in a few years.
4. Deployable and customizable without coding – Project teams don’t want to wait for months or years for new features and updates.
5. Built and supported by construction professionals that know the industry – Any solution needs to be purpose-built for the needs of construction users. And when it comes time to call support, companies need to know that someone who knows the construction industry and the software solution will pick up the phone.
6. Integrated with Microsoft Office – Project teams rely on Microsoft Office applications to help them manage projects. It is critical that solutions compliment and integrate with Office.

These are all important requirements. Good news is that an ideal replacement solution for Primavera Contract Manager is already available: Microsoft SharePoint.

Microsoft SharePoint as a construction project management solution

The requirements above read like a feature list for a SharePoint-based Project Management Information System. That’s because Microsoft SharePoint is an ideal construction project management solution:

• SharePoint is easy to use and configure.

• It is cloud-based using Lydon Solutions Microsoft Azure data center link to the azure article here and mobile-friendly out of the box.

• Since it’s a Microsoft product, there’s little concern about ongoing updates and support.

• SharePoint integrates with all the Microsoft Office applications that construction project teams use, including Excel and Visio.

• Most organizations probably already have SharePoint deployed.

• Best of all, SharePoint is simple to customize with the help of construction industry IT professionals like Lydon Solutions.

All of which is why our Construction Project Management Portal is powered by SharePoint.

Our goal is to work with our clients to develop SharePoint-based project management solution tailor-made to fit their needs. We provide complete project management tools to keep construction projects on schedule and within budget.

Find out what SharePoint can do for you

The Lydon Solutions team had a lot of fun at CMAA showing off how SharePoint can make construction project manager’s lives easier.  If you missed us at the show, contact us today for a free consultation.

And don’t forget to download the Lydon Solutions Services Brochure for an overview of our services.

Header photo courtesy of CMAA. View more event photos on their Flickr slideshow below.