Mitigating risk in construction projects between different organizations requires a systematic approach to the causes of risk. A key cause of project risk is project teams mistakenly working with out-of-date documents.

Version control helps ensure that collaborating team members are working on the latest revision of a document. Construction document management software should support five principles for sound version control:

• A project-wide document numbering system. Participants should agree on this at the start of the project to avoid confusion resulting from multiple internal numbering systems.
• No duplicate document numbers within the same project. Participants should agree on protocols for registering identical documents in more than one format – e.g., file name suffixes to identify file types (PDF, DWF, ZIP, DWG, DGN).
• A consistent revision coding system. Participants should agree on this as part of the project-wide document numbering system. Revision codes can be numeric (1, 2, 3), alphabetic (A, B, C) or a combination of the two (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2).
• Sequential coding of revisions for the life of documents. This enables all participants, including those not involved in the creation of a document, to understand how different versions of documents relate to each other.
• Clear identification of revisions within a document. This can vary depending on the format of a document – e.g., revision clouds with letters for drawings, tracked changes for Word documents, colored text or cell backgrounds for Excel documents, etc.

Revisions should be annotated with the current revision number and date on the document or drawing cover. Each annotation should include the reason for the revision – e.g., coordination between disciplines or the owner’s instruction to make a change – which supports cross-checking for cost control and variation management. Since most documents are revised frequently during the course of a project, each version should be maintained for comparison, auditing, time reporting, cost management, and other purposes.

Project Risk Multiplied by Inadequate Document Version Control

Document management software that tracks document revisions chronologically by issue date helps reduce the time required for project teams to review and compare historical information. Conversely, a document version control process that is inadequately planned or managed can cause changes in design, scope of works and materials to be overlooked, impacting all participants and multiplying project risk:

• Unidentified changes can mislead the owner, making it difficult to manage expectations.
• Project teams can lose confidence in the reliability of documents, which adversely affects the efficiency and quality of collaboration between them. For example, flawed revision control in the design phase can make tender information incorrect, which increases the number of requests for information (RFIs) and tender queries, as well as overall uncertainty and financial risk.
• Document updates can take more time, which requires substantiation of both time and cost increases due to earlier information mismanagement.
• If contractors and subcontractors perceive increased project risk because of issues with document quality, interdisciplinary coordination or version control, their RFIs and tenders will reflect this.

All project participants should be able to compare historical versions of the same document. This can be difficult and time-consuming, even more so when an annotation of changes is unclear or missing. Electronic comparison of sequential versions makes the process fast, easy and accurate.

Benefits to a cloud-based document management solution

Cloud-based solutions, such as Aconex, provide cost-effective and efficient document management that allows information to be shared across project partners, designers, subcontractors and clients.

They can save you time and money and all you need is a web browser and a login to get started.

Using Aconex to manage your project information means you have better understanding and control across the entire project. Here are 5 key reasons to invest in a platform today:

1. Standardization

Aconex brings a standard platform to your projects, allowing you to gain efficiencies across your business. It means that there is a single source of information for all project participants. No more wasting hours a day looking for most up to date drawings! This also means that when issues or complaints arise, you have a vigorous and complete document trail that you can rely on to support your case.

2. Mobility

There are currently 31 million mobile devices – smartphones and tablets – being used in Australia. This provides us with a great opportunity to leverage this technology for your worksite. Our cloud-based document management solutions mean that all your project details can be accessed on site, in the palm of your hands. No more checking in with the site office to make sure you have the latest documents.

3. Quality Assurance

Our field inspection tools mean you can reduce time taken to inspect work, while checklists allow you to quickly identify issues and raise defects within the approved time frame. Your subcontractors can use our field inspection app to take photos and report on progress, and address and health and safety issues, before they arise.

4. Reporting and evaluation

The Aconex dashboard gives you a snapshot of project milestones – far better than any Gantt chart can. Early detection allows you to drill down if something doesn’t look right, see where the issue may be, and fix it quickly, avoiding costly delays and allowing you to concentrate on other work.

There are also productivity gains to be had in smoothing the process or RFIs and transmittals with our customers seeing decreasing response times for these projects when they are run on Aconex.

5. Industry standard

For larger construction projects, Aconex is the industry standard platform. If you’re looking to win larger contracts and compete with the high end of town, our software brings an added level of credibility to the technological maturity of your construction business.

Risks of poor document management on projects

According to a recent McKinsey study, the average worker spends nearly 2 hours a day looking for the information they need to do their job. And with construction salaries starting around $22 an hour for a laborer up to $36 for a foreman in Australia, that’s is a lot of money going down the drain. Money that should be spent in other areas of your business.

The time wasting, however, is not surprising, given that our research here at Aconex suggests that construction firms dealing in projects worth between $10 and $25 million are managing more than 45,000 documents, including revisions. And that doesn’t even begin to address the emails and other electronic communications relating to a project.

As you can imagine, not only is finding information under these circumstances burdensome, it leads to huge and serious risks around version control. In fact, the International Data Corporation (IDC) has found that a quarter of companies they surveyed believed they lost out on tenders due to poor document management.

Risks include:

• Communication gaps: You are pretty sure the architect said something about needing more structural supports or the roof would cave in. But where is the paper trail? Or was it just in passing over the phone? Poor document management leads to confusion that is embarrassing at best, and disastrous at worst.
• Legal ramifications: You need to ensure your document management complies with a variety of laws and Otherwise you may face criminal charges.
• Loss of information: Unfortunately, bad things sometimes happen. Computers crash, viruses cause files to be deleted; fire or flood destroy physical archives. Imagine having to tell the mechanical contractor that you have no idea how many cooling units are planned for the building?

Win projects and grow your business

Aconex has helped business globally to standardize their construction processes and drive efficiencies into their business. Whether your project is big, small, or somewhere in between, we can help drive greater collaboration and save you time to get on with the things that matter. Like winning more projects and growing your business.