Using Excel and Dropbox to manage your project documentation is like trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
In Construction, Tools Matter
Excel is an amazing tool for tracking budgets and performing complex calculations, Dropbox is perfect for sharing photos, but neither is designed to truly manage your project documentation.
Documentation management software is designed to include automated workflows and plan set versioning to streamline your communication, collaboration, and controls. Keep your project documents current and in front of the right people at the right time as they move through the approval process. Identify potential errors before they are executed to stay on time and on budget. Software applications like ConDoc take the guess work out of your project management. When you collaborate in real-time around project documentation, you know your entire project team always has access to current and accurate documentation.
Errors and Security Concerns
When you square-peg round-hole your construction documentation with spreadsheets and file sharing applications, you run the risk of increased errors, loss of data, and little to no security.
First, let me say I LOVE EXCEL. Yes, I am a spreadsheet geek! That said, I use them for budgets and calculations, as intended. I do not use them as a data repository or a workflow engine. The risk of error is too high, and file corruption, a mysterious outcome of one of many reasons, all leading to data loss, is real and happens every day.
As much as I am a spreadsheet geek, I am also a security nerd. I rarely post to social media (except for work), I forward unknown calls to voicemail so I can screen them…it’s a sickness, really. File sharing applications are easy and awesome, put your stuff out there, send an email link and done! All great, until you must account for everyone who has viewed, downloaded, and edited your documents. If you don’t want your competition to access your documents, don’t put them on a file sharing site.
The most successful construction projects are planned. They use the right tools to put the right information in front of the right people at the right time, all with a click of a mouse.
ConDoc puts your project documents at the fingertips of everyone engaged in the project, based on security and permissions set by the general contractor. In addition to managing custom workflows and plan set versions, ConDoc controls access to documents such as Invoices, Receipts, Contracts, Safety/Inspection Reports, and various other correspondence you wish to store as part of the permanent record.
Don’t create a sort-of solution, commit to a for-sure solution. ConDoc, the right tool for your construction projects.
