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Construction Project Management Software Solutions

construction project management information systems

Is the Microsoft Surface Duo the ultimate mobile device for construction pros?

Reviews |

Here are my hands-on impressions of the Microsoft Duo and why I think this dual-screen mobile device has the potential to be the ultimate mobile device for construction project management professionals.

I confess I'm a Microsoft super fan. Since we started Lydon Solutions back in 2009 to deliver Microsoft-based solutions for construction, I have always preferred Microsoft products for the workplace. If you can believe it, I used to have a Windows phone before I was forced, kicking and screaming, to a Samsung device. So, when Microsoft announced the Surface Duo in 2019, which was both a phone and a tablet, I was pretty excited. However, when the reviews started coming in, it seemed Microsoft needed to keep the Duo in the oven a bit longer. While the reviewers praised the hardware, they found the software clunky and often unresponsive, just like the original surface laptops.

Fast forward to now. I've had the Surface Duo for several weeks after the perfect storm happened: my Samsung phone started having issues, the Duo price dropped to below $500 at AT&T, and positive reviews started coming in after Microsoft released several software updates.

After over a month of using Surface Duo for work and personal use, I'm thoroughly impressed. Let me first start my review by qualifying that if you are a Facebook/Instagram person who takes a lot of photos, this isn't your device. The Duo is for business-oriented users and ideal for mobile construction professionals. The Duo has been so impressive as a productivity device that it even converted our enterprise architect, a die-hard Apple fanboy, to use the Duo in preference to his iPhone 11 Pro Max!

What comes in the Surface Duo box
What comes in the Surface Duo box

Microsoft Duo Pros and Cons

Pros of the Microsoft Duo:

  • Amazing design. From the finish to the button locations, it's a beautiful premier device that rivals any Apple product.
  • Great hardware. Slim and light for a two-screen device with multiple form factor configurations. Also, the surface pen works like a charm with some third-party cases featuring a pen holder.
  • Dual screen optimized software. The Duo isn't just a two-screen phone. Microsoft has modified how apps, in particular Office, works on two screens.
  • All the applications you need. Because the Duo is Android-based, you will have no problem finding all your must-have apps.

Cons of the Microsoft Duo:

  • Device protection. I'm not a fan of the bumpers that come with the device. Also, third-party cases are bulky and cannot support the different form factors of the Duo.
  • Pocketability. While the Duo can fit in your pocket without a case, I would be worried about it getting damaged. If it were a little thinner and longer and had a better case, it would be a non-issue. But that would also detract from the tablet-like experience as well.
  • Call to action. You can quickly check the time with single screen phones and go right to the app or take a photo. With the Duo, I find myself scrambling to open, unlock, find the screen with the app, and then act. The extra steps take a bit of getting used to, but then again, you are working off two screens.

Microsoft Duo for Construction Professionals

Some benefits of Microsoft Duo for construction professionals include:

Construction Inspector

The ability to fill out inspection reports on one screen while collecting data from another website/application on the second screen is a huge time saver. Couple that with the Surface Pen, and now you have a full-blown tablet experience in the palm of your hand. The challenge will be ruggedizing your Duo so that worrying about damaging it in the field doesn't hinder the device's form factor benefits.

Project Manager

You can still be productive on the two-screen Duo if you frequently travel and do not always have a laptop with you. Combine the Duo with a Bluetooth keyboard, and you now have a lightweight tablet on the go. You could even be productive on a plane while still having room on the tray table for your drinks.

Screenshot of Duo running dual screens with a web application
Screenshot of Duo running dual screens with a web application

Summary: Is the Microsoft Duo Worth It?

Ok, so for a construction professional, is the Microsoft Duo worth it?

Yes, for less than $500, it is definitely worth it. And you may even get it for free from AT&T right now. Although you might want to wait for the next model if you need 5G, want a newer processor, and you don't mind spending over $1k for a phone. But in my mind, the current model at these prices is hard to beat.

The Surface Duo is an impressive productivity device. The Duo is something completely different in the age of phone upgrades that are merely better cameras. Microsoft has built an exceptional device that should give you ample reason to upgrade your phone. Let's hope the initial poor reviews and low sales don't hinder the true potential of this new form factor.

Lydon Solutions provides IT solutions for the construction industry. To find out how we can help your organization manage projects, you can request a free one-hour consultation here. If you need an enterprise construction management solution for Microsoft 365, you can submit a free demo request for Construction Viz here. 

Use AI to Help Manage Your Construction Projects with Microsoft SharePoint Syntex

Microsoft News |

Microsoft SharePoint Syntex is an AI tool available as an add-on for Microsoft 365 that construction organizations can use to manage project data more efficiently.

Information management is one of the biggest challenges for any organization. But in construction, it is not just about internal project information management. Compounding the problem's complexity for construction managers and owners is the additional burden of managing the flood of data that their vendors and contractors submit daily (e.g., submittals, RFIs, change orders, and invoices).

Construction-Project-AI_1

Shortcomings of typical project data management methods

Construction organizations have typically processed and managed external project information in one of two ways:

Option 1 – Ask contractors to use the construction manager or owner's project management information system (PMIS)

This approach centralizes data, ensuring that project information resides in a single system of record for processing.

However, using this method adds significant costs and raises the risk of errors.  For example, it entails considerable effort in training and hand-holding for every contractor using the PMIS. It also often requires additional document control staff to review and correct technical and data input issues. Finally, contractors typically increase their bids to account for the redundant data entry required to support two systems.

Option 2 – Have contractors email project correspondence (usually as PDFs) to the construction manager or owner for manual entry into their PMIS

This second approach has document control specialists entering data into the system-of-record PMIS, providing a clean and centralized repository for project information.

Unfortunately, this method only shifts the burden of processing project records from the contractors to the owner or construction manager. Thus, while it improves data accuracy, there are still issues of increased cost and significant manual effort.

Using Microsoft SharePoint Syntex to automate project data management

If your organization is on Microsoft 365 and uses SharePoint for construction project management, the good news is that there is a better way to manage your data. Microsoft has recently released SharePoint Syntex, an AI tool for automating content processing.

With SharePoint Syntex, once you train your AI model to classify and extract data from PDFs, the tool will be able to take over and run on a specific document library in SharePoint. The AI model will extract metadata from a PDF document and add it to SharePoint columns once you upload new files.

What does Microsoft SharePoint Syntex mean for construction?

With SharePoint Syntex, there is now a third way to manage and process your construction project information. Using SharePoint Syntex, contractors do not have to learn a new system, nor would the owner or construction managers have to process project correspondence from the contractor manually.  Instead, contractors could email project correspondence to the owner or construction manager. A trained Syntex AI model could then review the documents and automatically classify them based on a predefined set of rules. While this may sound like science fiction, it's not, and it's available right now for SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

What does Microsoft SharePoint Syntex cost?

Syntex for SharePoint is available as a cost-per-user add-on in Microsoft 365. The pricing posted on the SharePoint Syntex pricing page at the time of this article is $5/user per month or $60/year.

How to get started using Microsoft SharePoint Syntex?

Once you pay for a SharePoint Syntex user license and create a content center in SharePoint, you can start building AI models.

Construction-Project-AI_2

We'll get into the details in future posts on this subject and possibly some online training sessions.

Get Help Using Microsoft SharePoint Syntex to Manage Your Construction Projects

Lydon Solutions always embraces leading-edge Microsoft technology to improve construction projects' efficiency.  We have already built AI models that extract invoice data from PDF invoices emailed into a Microsoft 365 group mailbox. As soon as the file is uploaded, the AI tool automatically extracts data for reporting and analysis. It's exciting stuff!

If you have any questions about setting up SharePoint Syntex for your Microsoft 365 or need a turnkey enterprise PMIS integrated with SharePoint like Construction Viz, don't hesitate to reach out to us for a no-obligation consultation and demo. We're here to help!

Does Your Organization Need a Custom Project Management Information System?

Case Study |

How you manage your construction projects is unique to your organization, so shouldn't your construction project management software be as well?

Lydon Solutions has been developing custom Project Management Information Systems (PMISs) for the construction industry using Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server since 2009. Over the years, we have found that every company, every project, and every project manager manages their projects differently. While there are standard practices across the construction industry, there is no one-size-fits-all process used across the scope and breadth of major construction projects.

Given the above, why do so many companies try to make do with an out-of-the-box PMIS when they really need and want a custom solution? The answer is: many management teams incorrectly assume that a custom solution is too expensive and time-consuming to implement. Here is why they are wrong.

The hidden costs of an out-of-the-box PMIS

Custom solutions strike fear in some companies because of their reputation for being expensive and taking too much time to implement. Instead of getting a custom solution that fits their needs and processes, these companies end up doing a combination of the following:

  • Working around the limitations of an out-of-the-box PMIS
  • Looking the other way as project teams do most of their work in Excel because the company PMIS is too cumbersome to use
  • Hiring more people to do the manual administrative tasks required by their inflexible off-the-shelf PMIS

In other words, rather than investing in a solution that works for them, many organizations struggle with tools that ultimately cost them more in the long run.

If companies performed a cost-benefit analysis, they would see that implementing a custom PMIS has the following long-term benefits over their status quo system:

  • A custom PMIS mirrors your work processes, allowing you to optimize your business processes for efficiency.
  • A custom PMIS offers greater scalability as your organization changes. You can flexibly adapt to changes in process, scope, resources, and so on.
  • Since a custom solution includes just what you need, you do not have to pay for unnecessary hardware or functionality. You can also reduce your reliance on offline tools.
  • Your organization likely uses other enterprise platforms. Your custom solution can integrate with all the other software products in use by your company, adding more efficiency in to your workflows.
  • Having a solution that lets your teams be more efficient and do their job better can give you a strategic advantage over your competitors using rigid off-the-shelf solutions.
  • When your PMIS more closely aligns with how you actually do business, the more likely it is that your organization will use the system.

Okay, you might wonder if an off-the-shelf system costs more over time; why don't all organizations go with a custom solution that better fits their needs? Most likely because they are intimidated by the planning required to launch a custom solution successfully.

The cost of a custom PMIS solution lies in the planning

Surprisingly, the cost and challenges of building a custom PMIS have shifted from IT development to upfront planning, requirements, and overall design.  Platforms like Microsoft 365 have made it easier than ever to deliver custom solutions.  Ultimately, the cost of the custom PMIS and its success is contingent on how well companies can articulate their vision of how the system should function to support their business needs. And how well an IT consulting company, which knows construction, can translate those requirements into a real solution. As with any construction project, you can't build without a solid design. The same goes for IT.

I want a custom PMIS, but where do I start?

In prior posts, we outlined the best practice to follow when rolling out a new PMIS at your organization. We have articles on planning, evaluating technology, implementing, and supporting a PMIS. You can start there to understand the big picture of delivering a PMIS. If you are considering using Microsoft 365 as the foundation of your PMIS, our previous blog post has some tips as well.

If you need additional help with the upfront planning or development for a custom PMIS solution, I invite you to submit a free consultation request with Lydon Solutions. We have an experienced team of construction and IT professionals with a track record of delivering award-winning PMIS solutions. We also have an expanding catalog of integrated Construction Viz apps that you can combine to fast-track your own fully customizable PMIS solution in Microsoft365 and SharePoint.

Picking the Right Construction Project Management Software

How-To |

This is part one of four in a series of blogs called Tips on Deploying Construction Project Management Software for Your Organization.

If you are a construction organization, I would assume that IT is not your strong suit. Nor should it be. You need to focus on construction. You probably already know that trying to navigate the IT landscape can be both intimidating and frustrating. While there are many construction project management platforms on the market that all provide very similar functionality, by doing some up-front planning, you can improve your chances of selecting and successfully implementing the best solution for your organization.

Below are seven lessons that I have learned from years of deploying construction project management software for enterprises. Hopefully, these tips will help make your selection process a little easier.

Seven Tips for Selecting a Construction Project Management Solution


1. Define the problem statement. What specifically are you trying to improve by implementing new technology? Check with subject matter experts within your organization to determine what is working and what is not. Then formulate a problem statement that includes a cost-benefit analysis by filling in the blanks of this statement: "If we do X, it will save us Y and improve our offerings by Z." It is incredible how many companies looking for a new software platform do not perform this most basic and crucial step.

2. Develop "as-is" requirement documents. I have written about the importance of "as-is" requirements in the past. In brief, to understand what you might need tomorrow, you must thoroughly understand how your processes work today. Prepare business requirement processes, flow diagrams, risk areas, data dictionaries, and reports based on how you currently do business now, not how you would like to in the future. Hire a third-party consulting company to challenge the robustness of your processes and identify where technology will help improve them. The exercise of uncovering how you do things is critical. You might find that you do not know your processes as well as you would have liked. Also, you might have tools already at your company that can provide what you need with little to no modifications, or maybe your processes do not lend themselves to an upgrade in technology.

3. Do not be made to feel inadequate because you use Excel to manage projects. Be aware that using Excel to manage projects does not mean you are behind the times. In my experience of over twenty years in project controls, Excel is the de facto standard to manage projects regardless of what enterprise software companies claim to use. Believe it or not, teams use Excel to run multi-billion-dollar projects and programs and have done so for decades. Do not be too quick to throw out your Excel files unless you have evidence of problems. Also, if you are using SharePoint, know that you can turn your Excel files into a web-based project management system. Contact us to find out how.

4. Avoid looking at software products until you complete steps 1-3. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is starting to evaluate project management software systems on the market before knowing: 1) what they already have and 2) what they need. When we founded Lydon Solutions, we worked with multiple sizable companies that could have upwards of twenty construction project management systems deployed across the organization. These companies were paying for all these tools but under-utilizing them because these expensive software platforms never actually solved the core problems. Nowadays, we see even smaller companies with the same dilemma. Do not be fooled by the software salesperson and all those pretty charts. Focus on how and if their software can solve your specific problems.

5. Decide your level of involvement. Evaluating, planning for, and implementing the right construction project management software for your organization is a big undertaking. Even if a vendor tells you their product is an off-the-shelf solution and you can hit the ground running day one, they are glossing over the setup, configuration, and training that will be needed to get the system working for your team. If your organization intends to manage the entire selection and deployment process internally, then make sure you know your IT group's experience level and availability to deploy and support the selected solution. If you do not have that internal team, then you need to understand the level of external support required and the associated costs. Also, beyond just administering the system, you will need management oversight to support the deployment. We recommend designating at least one sponsor, a senior manager or executive who is ultimately responsible for the successful implementation of the system. You will likewise need at least one subject matter expert (SME), someone who knows your business processes and can be available from the beginning to help with the rollout of your new solution.

6. Change is inevitable, so plan accordingly. There is not any construction project management software system out there that will not need to be "tweaked" at some point after implementation, either through configuration or custom code, to address changes to your company or projects. Make sure you have the budget and resources to support such changes. Also, ensure that whatever software you are considering allows for your required company-specific modifications and does not force you to change your business processes to fit how the system works.

7. Pilot a project. Way too many times, I have seen the mistake of companies trying to roll out an enterprise project management system across the entire organization without doing a pilot first. In my experience, enterprise software implemented organization-wide in this top-down fashion will either likely fail, end up costing two to three times more, or both. I encourage companies to start small with a pilot program with minimal functionality, get the win, and then expand. This approach minimizes your investment, obtains crucial buy-in from your team, and if you have a subpar experience with a vendor, you can write them off before making too large of a commitment.

Get Help with a Construction Project Management Software Solution for your Team


I hope the above lessons that I've shared can help you find the right construction project management solution for your organization. As you can see, more up-front planning on your part is needed before you put a request for proposal (RFP) out on the street or start inviting companies to provide software demos. Stay tuned: we will be providing more tips on assessing the right technology framework and managing a successful implementation of construction project management solutions in future posts.

If you have any questions or are looking for a project management software solution for your construction organization, reach out for a no-obligation consultation with our team. Good luck!

How to Plan for a Construction Software Deployment – Part 2

How-To |

This is part two of three in a series of blogs called How to Plan for a Construction Software Deployment.

Here are several tips to help your organization successfully deploy a construction project management information systems (PMIS) or other similarly large-scale IT solution.

We shared five foundational steps for planning a construction project management software implementation in our last blog post – so if you haven’t read Part 1 yet, you should start there.  For Part 2, we'll offer a handful of best practices to keep in mind whenever you plan any major system deployment for your organization. In our upcoming Part 3, we will cover managing a construction software deployment.

Step 1 – Get IT onboard early

We recommend getting your IT team involved early in the project even if you are working with an outside vendor. Any major system deployment will involve multiple IT infrastructure considerations. The software, hardware, firewalls and virus protection in use at your organization can all impact your new system and it is best to discover and resolve any compatibility issues as soon as possible.

Chances are your IT group will also have a compliance checklist. Any new software platform or externally hosted solution will need to meet relevant information governance or other requirements. Obtaining early input and approval from IT will prevent issues downstream for your project.

Step 2 – Start small

It will be tempting to go big with the construction project management software implementation and deploy it across your organization or on multiple projects. Caution!!!! Don’t do it.

Our recommendation is to select a single project or two to pilot on first. This keeps your investment small. If things don’t work, you can easily write it off and move on to something else. If your trials succeed, you then have a better justification to move on to a wider deployment with more budget and resources.

Starting small also lets you build grassroots acceptance for your system among project team members as well as test and refine your assumptions. Top-down, mandated software deployments are much more challenging and have a low success rate. Do yourself a favor and score some wins early to pave the path forward.

Step 3 – Have a communications plan

Make sure you have a communications plan in place from the start of your project that includes a regular cadence of updates to other teams in your organization. Start educating potential stakeholders and project teams early so that they understand the project’s goals as well as its value to them and the organization. Building interest in this way not only helps find potential sponsors and champions, it also improves user adoption down the road.

Related to the above, communications shouldn’t just be one way –  you need to collect feedback. Set up open forums or focus groups to get input from stakeholders and users. Doing this early and consistently will help you pre-emptively resolve concerns before they become roadblocks to your project.

Step 4 – Don't forget about legacy data

Consider how your organization handles existing data in other systems or locations. If you followed the steps in our previous blog post, you should have documented your business practices and know where your new system will intersect with legacy data. You will need a migration strategy for any information that needs to be imported or converted to your new construction project management software system.

Step 5 – Develop an ongoing support strategy

Don’t forget to figure out who will support the solution and for how long. An effective support strategy will need to involve both your solution vendor, the business owners (Sponsor, Champions, SMEs), and your IT group – with clear handoff points and escalation paths.

Your support strategy should also include a roadmap of future project priorities for any upgrades or enhancement as well as potential integrations with other systems.

Step 6 – Invest in a solution, not software

Do not buy software, buy a solution. Software is only one piece of the pie. It is easy to be wowed by a long list of features and promises from prospective construction project management software vendors. But don’t lose track of what is most important.

You want a solution that is flexible and user-friendly to ensure that your users will actually want to use the system. Most importantly, the system you deploy should fit your business, not the other way around.

Finally, any vendor or service provider you select should know the construction industry, have proven successes, demonstrate content expertise and be flexible with their offering to meet your business needs.

We hope you found these tips helpful. Part 3 in this blog series will share advice on managing a construction software deployment. In the meantime, let us know if you have questions in the comments below. And if you recently deployed a new construction project management software system, what tips did you pick up along the way?

Your organization is unique, your PMIS should be too

We designed Construction Viz based on the idea that ever organization, project and PM is unique. Construction Viz is our flexible, subscription-based construction project management solution powered by Microsoft SharePoint 2016, SQL 2016 and Azure. The platform includes everything you need to manage your construction projects— document management, dashboards, reports, forms, workflows and more—in one place.

Contact us to get a free consultation to learn more about what Construction Viz can do for your organization.

Check out more blogs from How to Plan for a Construction Software Deployment

Takeaways from CMAA National Conference & Trade Show 2016

Events |

We had a great and productive CMAA Conference this year, including announcing our new Construction Viz solution at the event. Here are some insights we took home from the show.

Lydon Solutions was proud to be a bronze-level sponsor at the annual CMAA National Conference & Trade Show held Oct. 9-11th in San Diego. As always, our team had a great time chatting with our colleagues in construction program management. This year’s event was extra special for us because we unveiled Construction Viz, our new subscription-based construction project management solution.

2016 CMAA Conference - Construction Viz Announcement

Below are a few of our takeaways from the three-day conference:

1.       Organizations are wrestling with how to replace Primavera Contract Manager

The industry is facing the impending end of life for Primavera Contract Manager. Oracle is directing its clients to SKIRE Unifier. Many companies we spoke with, however, are weighing their options before making the move.

2.       User experience matters

Companies like Apple and Google on the consumer side and leading SaaS vendors in other industries, have raised the bar for user experience by providing streamlined and intuitive user interfaces.

So, it is no surprise that CMAA attendees we spoke with expect that same ease of use in their construction program management tools. They are tired of complex and convoluted software platforms. They want simple and intuitive interfaces. They don’t want to read a bunch of manuals or attend multiple training sessions.

3.       Users don’t want a one-size-fits-all platform

Related to the above, a lack of flexibility in many Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) was one of the biggest gripes we heard from users this year. In fact, we have heard this issued raised for several years running.

This complaint makes a lot of sense. After all, companies have different processes. Each project has its own set of requirements. Project teams and their individual members have their own workflows and ways of doing business.

Yet many PMIS platforms are not flexible enough to accommodate this reality.

4.       Mobile-first is a necessity for construction project management

Users want mobile-first tools that enable them to be productive in the field or away from their desk, with or without an internet connection. This isn’t just about convenience. Today’s fast-paced, competitive business environment makes this a necessity.

5.       Construction Viz really is project management perfected

The above observations mostly fall in the “industry challenge” column. Which is why it was so gratifying to announce Construction Viz at the CMAA this year.

Construction Viz builds on our award-winning Construction Project Management Portal powered by the industry-leading Microsoft SharePoint. Our portal is used by leading construction and utility companies to manage their multi-billion dollar projects. We believe our Construction Project Management Portal is the most flexible and extensible PMIS solution available.

Construction Viz takes everything we learned deploying our portal and makes it available as an affordable, subscription-based hosted solution. The Construction Viz platform is as flexible as project teams need it to be, offering customizable pages, forms, dashboards, reports, workflows and more. Since it is based on SharePoint, users can dive in and get to work right away without a steep learning curve.

Companies looking for a better way to manage their projects can start with the turnkey Construction Viz today and be confident that the underlying framework is scalable and flexible to keep pace with their changing business needs. Users can even seamlessly migrate from Construction Viz to our fully customized Construction Project Management Portal in the future.

6.       Construction Viz and SharePoint: the perfect PMIS solution with full mobile-first support

Most everyone is familiar with SharePoint, but not necessarily as an ideal construction PMIS solution. What blew folks away, however, was how we have mobilized the SharePoint experience with Construction Viz.

Construction Viz is fully responsive so users can access and update their project data on virtually any mobile device.  That means dashboards, reports and forms are always at the project team’s fingertips. Robust off-line support enables team members to be as productive in the field as they are in the office.
The mobile capabilities of Construction Viz we showed off to attendees really blew them away – and it is always fun to see someone’s eyes light up when they realize the benefit this functionality would provide them and their team.

Want to perfect your construction project management?

We loved showing off Construction Viz to everyone who stopped by our booth and presentation at the CMAA conference this year.

Not able to see our CMAA demo? Contact us today for a free consultation and demo to see what Construction Viz can do for your organization.