Lydon Solutions

Construction Project Management Software Solutions

construction project management

The FOCUS Methodology: A Solution-based Consulting Framework

Case Study |

Lydon Solutions developed the FOCUS methodology, a step-by-step approach for delivering information management solutions to our clients. Read on to find out how our FOCUS methodology helped one client ramp up their efficiency without increasing staffing or cost through the smarter application of information technology and streamlined business processes.  

The construction industry is undergoing a massive shift. Information management, both the technology and the processes surrounding it, are becoming critical for project delivery. We recently had a client that was ramping up a major maintenance and repair program, and their management tasked them with executing five times the number of projects while keeping their staffing level and cost the same.  A classic case of delivering more with less.

Helping this client meet their management's new goal involved more than just creating efficiencies through an improved business process. It required a holistic information management solution. We worked with the client to determine how they should collect, store, handle ownership, and report on their data while also helping them create the tools and processes required to support this new strategy. 

Delivering information management solutions like the above that work starts by following an established methodology. Lydon Solutions has been developing and implementing business solutions in and around construction information management for over eleven years. To tackle the challenges our industry presents, we developed the FOCUS methodology.

What is the Lydon Solutions FOCUS Methodology?

FOCUS is our custom step-by-step methodology applicable to any process but ideal for delivering information management solutions. As with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) approach, the FOCUS methodology is adjustable depending on the project's size, budget, and schedule. The steps, which are most effective when followed sequentially, include inputs, processes, owners, and outputs.  As we complete each step, results are reviewed with the client to ensure everything is in-line with their requirements.

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Here is a breakdown of the five steps in our FOCUS methodology:

  1. Formulate. First, we begin with fact-finding to gather high-level business requirements. This step helps us formulate the problem statement, provide a preliminary solution, and develop a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate and schedule.
  2. Organize. Once all parties understand the preliminary project scope, schedule, and budget, the next step is defining detailed requirements. Here we evaluate "as is" and "to be" business processes with the client (for more on this, see my blog post on documenting as-is processes). Taking the time to do this thorough assessment and documentation ensures that all requirements are well understood and expectations clear. At this point, we may need to revise the budget and schedule before building out the solution.

Together, the Formulate and Organize steps make up our envisioning process, which leverages our experience and a series of proven templates required to provide a business case. These templates include assets covering a project charter, risk assessment, governance, solution concepts, project staffing plans, and cost estimates.  Having these deliverables enables our clients to be more confident in the successful outcome of their project. They also demonstrate to their stakeholders and senior leadership that the requested budget is realistic with minimal undefined assumptions.

  1. Construct. Lydon Solutions takes the outputs from the previous envisioning process and moves into building out the solution. We hold bi-weekly review meetings with the client to go over status, monitor scope, address questions, and ensure the solution development progresses efficiently. We have found the agile development approach to be the most effective way to manage the build process since it provides the most flexibility to change due to shifts in scope and definition.
  2. Utilize. Once we complete the development of the solution, it then needs to be implemented. Implementation is more than just handing over the finished product; it entails training, knowledge transfer, effective communications, and regular follow-up meetings to ensure the deliverables meet the client's needs.
  3. Support. Once we complete implementation, we establish a feedback loop with a system or a process to ensure that the solution meets the client's expectations. Doing so allows us to manage issues, questions, updates, and requests for changes in a timely and efficient fashion. Having a support channel in place is essential to the solution's ongoing success as it becomes a mainstay for a client.

So what does the FOCUS process mean for you, a potential client? In short, it means if you work with Lydon Solution, there will not be any surprises. Because we focus on solutions and have a formal delivery methodology, you will have a better idea of what exactly you are getting, for how much, and when you can expect it.

Find out how Lydon Solutions can help your organization

Lydon Solutions has been delivering customized and compelling solutions for our clients since its founding in 2009. From integrating a range of technologies and solutions to providing rock-solid hosting in Microsoft Azure, all the way through to the development of our own React-based Construction Viz apps for Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, we strive to provide the best advice, direction, and strategy at every turn. We do not just do IT; we provide information management solutions. Our team knows the construction industry. We have boots on the ground, a can-do attitude to tackle big challenges and a commitment to delivering world-class solutions.

Let us help your organization take your construction project management to the next level. Schedule your free consultation today.

Plan the Work and Work the Plan with Microsoft Planner

How-To |

Microsoft Planner is a task management application that is part of Microsoft 365, both as a desktop and a web app. Like SharePoint and Teams, Microsoft designed Planner for team collaboration. Where Planner shines is the board view, which uses a Kanban-style UI to manage tasks. Kanban is a visual signal to trigger an action and translates literally to "card you can see." Kanban is used heavily in software development as part of the Agile Project Management process but can also work well for construction projects. Let's take a look at how you can use Microsoft Planner for your projects.

How Microsoft Planner Works

When a user creates a new plan, either from Planner directly or within Microsoft Teams, the applications automatically includes prebuilt tabs for a board, chart, and schedule views. It also offers the ability to add other related tools such as a OneNote notebook. You can even add your plan to Outlook or export it to Excel. Also, each plan you create has an Office 365 group automatically created. To find out more about Office 365, groups read our prior post – "Office 365 Groups - What are They and How Are They Used?"

The board tab is where you define buckets, which are logical groupings of work for your project. This view is where you will spend most of your time. Within each bucket, you add tasks, set due dates, assign the responsible people, track progress, and establish sub-tasks with the checklist functionality. Once created, each task stacks under its associated bucket, but you can quickly drag and drop items between buckets to reorganize, as needed. You can even move tasks between statuses and the responsible person when you change the board's groupings, which is pretty powerful. Tasks get a visual strike through as they are marked complete.

MS Planner

The charts view displays the progress of the tasks in a straightforward and easy to understand dashboard. You can use this view for load balancing to see which resources are assigned more tasks than others and adjust accordingly. You could also see all open tasks' status, click through to see the person responsible, and make updates all from the same chart view. The schedule tab displays tasks in a calendar view by week or month. You can edit or even add new tasks easily within the same calendar view.

MS Planner 2
MS Planner 3

Reasons to Use Microsoft Planner for Construction Projects

Microsoft Planner offers several compelling benefits for construction project teams:

  • It's free. Your Microsoft 365 subscription includes the Planner App.
  • Share plans with your team. You can determine who has access to your plan so you can share it with your entire project team.
  • Add your plan in Teams. You can easily create or add an existing plan to a Microsoft Team to track and share all of the tasks with your project team(s).
  • Collaborate in SharePoint. If you are using SharePoint Online to manage your projects, you can quickly add your plan to a SharePoint web page to track your tasks and collaborate with your team(s).
  • View all plans and your tasks. If you create a new Team for every project, you may be assigned tasks in many plans. It seems like this would be cumbersome to manage, but Planner includes a "My Tasks" view where you can see your specific tasks across all plans and even update those tasks in your board, charts, and schedule Views, which is quite handy.
  • Do more with Microsoft Power Automate. Plan data is accessible in Microsoft Power Automate flows. So, you could build a workflow that alerts users when they have a new task, when approval is needed, or even send Planner data to another application that you frequently use, like Excel.
  • Mobile app. There is a Planner app with all the features of the web version.

Some Limitations of Planner to Consider

While Planner is an excellent tool for task management, especially if you are using Teams, there are a few things to consider:

  • Which Microsoft 365 task management tool is best for you? Organizations need to evaluate the best software application to manage tasks. Microsoft 365 comes with many different task management applications. Outlook has a "My Task" feature, and To-Do is a stand-alone app for task management. The new Lists app for Teams may also be used as a task management tool, while SharePoint has its own issue tracker. Microsoft Project tracks tasks in a Gantt chart, and you can also track tasks in OneNote.
  • Planner does not link tasks to forms or documents. There is typically content in construction, such as a form or a document, that stakeholders need to review as part of an assigned task. Unfortunately, Planner is a stand-alone application that does not natively link tasks to forms and documents. To achieve that capability for a Planner task, you will need to configure or customize a solution using the Power Platform or SharePoint.
  • No consolidated plan. There is no consolidation of plans across your project teams to allow you to view all your team members' tasks in one place. You can view your tasks across all the plans but not each team member, creating additional steps for overall project/program management. You could create a single plan and use it for all your teams so that there is a consolidated view across all of your projects, but you will have to assign it to every user, and there is no metadata to relate it to a specific project or team.
  • Planner data is not available in Power BI. As of now, Planner data is not available for Power BI, so you would have to look for a third-party tool to provide that reporting or build a Power Automate workflow to send the data to a SharePoint List for reporting.

Microsoft Planner is an interesting task management and collaboration tool with a lot of great functionality. Like most Microsoft products, it will continue to become more robust with new features over time.

Get Help with Microsoft Office 365 for Your Organization

If you need any help with Microsoft 365, check out our Managed Services and sign up for a free consultation. If you are interested in a prebuilt enterprise-ready construction project management solution integrated with Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, Construction Viz is our offering. Find out more about Construction Viz or submit a demo request.

Eight Tips to Successfully Implement a Project Management Information System

How-To |

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

Are you about to deploy a new Project Management Information System (PMIS) at your construction organization? Hopefully, you have done the upfront planning to ensure a successful project, and you have carefully evaluated the available technology platforms out there. Now comes the hard part: implementation.

Over my many years helping deploy multiple enterprise PMIS at various construction organizations, I have seen that the implementation phase is a big stumbling point for most teams. You can do all the right planning and select the best technology platform and still fail if you have an inexperienced or under-resourced implementation team.

What do I mean by implementation? This phase includes solution deployment, training, ongoing product management, organizational change management, scope change control, data migration, lessons learned, closeout, archiving, and making sure the ship launches without hitting an iceberg.

A Project Management Information System Implementation Checklist

Here are eight things to consider when implementing your PMIS:

1. Start planning for implementation on day one. Make sure you budget for sufficient resources to support implementation as this is the one area where you do not want to cut costs. Prepare an implementation plan that defines roles and responsibilities, timelines, scope, risks, and change processes.

2. Establish management support. Getting senior-level sponsorship from the initial planning stage through implementation and ongoing support is crucial to your PMIS deployment’s success. Construction organizations are typically matrixed organizations that are highly resistant to change. Having a senior manager as a champion for your PMIS will help cut through bureaucracy, gain buy-in where needed, and clear a path to success across your organization.

3. Address politics. Although a new PMIS should bring organizations closer together, they frequently surface the political strife within a company and expose inefficiencies and mismanagement. Deploying a new PMIS forces change, so prepare for the fallout. While a new system should make everyone’s life easier, it may also mean that some people, even whole departments, lose their power or their jobs. Have these discussions during the upfront planning so that managers have time to align their departments and express concerns.

4. Incorporate organizational change management (OCM). You can never over-communicate during a PMIS implementation, so be sure to incorporate OCM into your implementation strategy. Deploying your PMIS will almost certainly affect other processes, systems, and departments across your organization. And their processes might, in turn, affect your PMIS. Regular communication throughout the entire PMIS selection and deployment process will ensure that your users, and the overall organization, stay informed and aligned.

5. Plan for obsolescence. When I was a project controls manager, I always dreaded when a new senior manager came on board and decided to change everything in their image, which often meant switching to their preferred PMIS. The problem was that the incoming PMIS never dropped anything off our plates. The same processes continued but were now more complicated as the new systems required redundant steps because nobody had the authority to end-of-life the old PMIS. To gain more commitment from your teams, find ways to make their lives easier with the new PMIS by removing redundant tasks, re-engineering outdated processes and systems, and automating when possible.

6. Find the right team. Implementing a PMIS is complicated, and unless you have done it many times before, you should probably look for an external consulting company to support the effort. When selecting an external consulting company to provide implementation services, make sure that they specialize in the technology you are using. Many consultants claim to be experts in every PMIS, but they are just casting a wide net to get any business they can. Take the extra step to evaluate consulting companies; speak to clients that have completed an implementation with the vendor, and give the vendor a test so you can assess their approach as well as their general knowledge of the product. Then compare vendor responses.

7. Avoid staff augmentation vendors. If you choose to contract out your implementation team, avoid staff augmentation. While that may sound like a pretty bold statement, I have never seen a group of staff augmentation contractors pull off a successful implementation. Staff aug companies provide individuals with a limited skill set, and whether it is a successful project or not, they are getting paid. Service companies leverage a more comprehensive range of skills, and they typically structure their contracts around deliverables and milestones, which at least ensures some level of accountability.

8. Pilot first. We recommend this to every one of our clients. Start with one project and get a win before you roll out to an entire organization. Shotgun enterprise-wide deployments often fail. By piloting a single project successfully, you can get buy-in from the project team, who can then help promote it across the rest of the organization. You might also find that the software you chose or the team you selected to implement is not up to snuff during the pilot. Piloting gives you a chance to course-correct before you make too much of a time and monetary commitment.

Get Experienced Expert Help Deploying Your PMIS

I hope the tips above help you with your PMIS journey. If you have not already, be sure to check out our previous blog posts on pre-planning and selecting the right technology for a new PMIS. Stay tuned; in future posts, we will provide tips on best supporting a PMIS.

If you have any questions or are looking for an enterprise PMIS, contact us for a free consultation. Good luck!

Check out more blogs from Tips on Deploying Construction Project Management Software for Your Organization

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!

Moving to Microsoft Office 365 for Project Management? What You Need to Know

Miscellaneous |

So, your company is moving to Microsoft Office 365 and you plan to use it to manage your construction projects.  

Office 365 provides many powerful tools—such as Power Automate, Power BI and SharePoint Online—that can help you manage any construction project. The question is “How do you put all the tools and services together to deliver a complete solution for construction management?” 

As a Construction Project Manager, your job is construction management, not IT.  With Office 365, you can do a lot of things yourself without being an IT magician. Unfortunately, that will get you only so far.  

Lydon Solutions has been delivering leading-edge IT solutions and services for the construction industry for more than 10 years. Most of our IT professionals came from the construction industry. We know Office 365 and SharePoint because we use them to manage our projects. Additionally, we built an entire construction management platform, Construction Viz, on top of SharePoint. We combine our tools and experience to help your project and organization be successful. 

Don’t let Office 365 turn into another file share document repository. And stop looking for another tool to manage your projects. Let us ensure you make the most of your investment by helping you leverage the best of Office 365.  If you want a more turnkey solution, like Construction Viz, we can deliver that as well, all within your Office 365 tenant.  

You have the tools with Office 365. Let us help deliver the solutions. Contact us to get started.

Startup Lessons from a 10-Year-Old Company

Company News |

Some data suggests that 90% of small businesses fail in the first year. Others say 66% survive the first two years, but only half are around after five years. Statistics aside, Lydon Solutions has been in business for 10 years.

We are a self-funded, woman-owned construction IT company. We have survived in a cut-throat industry where VC funding supports multi-billion-dollar competitors. It hasn’t been easy. We have made it by the sheer force of will and hard work, and by hiring and supporting talented, passionate professionals who have developed great solutions.

To give you an idea of what IT startups face, I’ve captured the 10 most important lessons I’ve learned along the way. They are what I would want to tell my younger self (in the perhaps vain hope that I would have listened😊).

As you know, a ton of books, videos, self-help gurus, classes, and the like will tell you how to become a successful entrepreneur. The fact is that there is no rulebook for this type of thing. Every IT startup must find its own way and make its own mistakes. I do not have the answers. I do have some thoughts:

  1. Relationships matter – In business school, you are taught that there are three ways to compete: price, quality, and time to market. There is actually a fourth vector that trumps all others—relationships. No matter how good your product or service is, deals happen because of who you know, not what you know. I cannot tell you how many inferior systems and poor implementations are done in the construction IT world because of hallway handshakes. A word of caution: If you aren’t good at getting out and making personal connections, you will have to work 10 times harder on your product or service to compete with those companies that make relationship building a central focus.
  2. Learn to let go – If you started a company, most likely you are not afraid to roll up your sleeves to get things done. It’s in your nature. In a startup, you have to be a generalist, constantly fixing holes and bailing water to keep the ship afloat. Focusing on a single area because you are good at it is detrimental to every other part of the company. The ultimate challenge is learning to delegate in order to scale and propel your company forward.   
  3.  The structure of your company is up to you – You don’t have to subscribe to the 8-to-5 work day, the “client is always right” mantra, and the two weeks of vacation rule. Large organizations created and imposed these rules on their employees to make them cogs in a machine. Everyone is capable of great things and the less you micro-manage, the stronger you become and ultimately the more loyal your employees. Find out what works for you and your team.
  4. Hire people who are much better than you are now or will ever be – Most managers in established companies hire people who know less than they do because they are worried about their jobs and want to maintain their position of power. “Hiring-down” erodes the company from the inside. The only way to succeed is to hire those who are better than you and then cultivate their talent and ideas. You have to let go of the ego and find ways to support your team’s growth.
  5. Hire motivated people – Don’t hire or promote people based on a résumé or job description. Hire based on a candidate’s resolve and commitment. “Do you give a damn? Prove it.” We can always train a person to do a job but more than likely they will not stick around. If you care about what you are doing and take pride in your work, you will outperform anyone who relies on credentials alone. Create a space for that employee to shine, to take responsibility, and dig in. That’s when you’ll see the magic happen.  
  6. Accept change – With the advent of the Internet, your company can be “disrupted” at any time. (I hate that word but..) Every day you need to think about where the industry is heading and how you can position yourself for the next opportunity. Also, don’t be afraid to change your product or service. Not everyone wants exactly what you are providing today, so stay flexible, especially when starting out to bring in the needed revenue.
  7. Success is about opportunity, not luck or hard work alone – You can’t wait for all the stars to line up. Nor does hard work, by itself, ensure that good things will happen. It’s more about being prepared when an opportunity arises. This is not a passive thing. You have to create that opportunity.
  8. Get a mentor – Starting a company is like being dropped off in the jungle with only a knife and you have to survive for a year. You can read all the books you want, get an MBA (like I did), and even read this blog 😊, but there is no manual to tell you how to do this. You will make it up as you go along. You will fail; you will be stressed out; you will ask yourself “how the hell did I get here and can I keep this going?” The best thing you can do is get a mentor who has been through it. He or she will become your sounding board because nobody can relate to what you are going through unless they have started a business. That makes it a lonely lifestyle. Also, the best mentors are those who have failed, not the ones who hit the jackpot the first and only time.
  9. Money doesn’t grow on trees – Banks won’t give you a loan if you are not already booking revenue, and VC firms will only invest money for ownership. If possible, finance your new business yourself. If you want to go after your dream with no strings attached, start saving now.
  10. Enjoy the journey – When I look back over the years, the memorable experiences (which seemed like life or death at the time) were really just tests. I still remember the time my VP and I were working at 2 a.m. trying to fix something for a rollout that morning. We knew that if we didn’t get it right, our company would be done. It was definitely traumatic at the time, but it was a great learning and bonding experience. These events bring your company together and build trust. Time is short, so enjoy the ride, both the highs and the lows. Who knows what’s going to happen? Approach every day with an optimistic viewpoint.
  11. Bonus: Culture is critical – Here is one more takeaway thought for you. Culture is probably the most important, and often overlooked, component of your company. It is like the dark matter in the universe. Good or bad it will permeate your company, but you can’t put your finger on exactly what it is. You can tell when the culture is bad. Employees verbally berate their company in front of others. No one takes responsibility. Nothing gets done because of politics, apathy, and the like. I do not believe that you can teach culture or force it on your employees. It is created and fostered top down and bottom up. It cuts through all the nonsense. It reflects how people feel about your company. All I can say is respect and listen to your employees. Let them take risks and stand by them.

In conclusion, I’m thankful to my team, my VP, my wife (and owner), and family for helping make this happen. I hope at least one of these lessons will help an aspiring IT startup. There are many more ideas swirling around in my brain, waiting to be discovered. Here’s to the future and what it may bring.