Rick Bell | Senior Writer, Construction and Engineering | April 24, 2024
Scheduling software may not make the short list of essential construction equipment, alongside ladders, trucks, and backhoes. But before a construction firm turns the first shovel of dirt on a project, it needs to do all it can to ensure that the project runs smoothly from start to finish. Firms are ill advised to rely on error-plagued manual processes and unreliable spreadsheets to track the status of labor, equipment, and materials.
This article defines the many benefits of enterprise-class construction scheduling software and how to choose the right platform for your needs. We also address the key factors to know when choosing the software.
As the name suggests, construction scheduling software helps construction professionals create and manage project schedules. Mobile accessibility is a key feature of cloud-based scheduling applications, letting users plan projects, track timelines, allocate resources, and monitor progress from anywhere on a jobsite. Features include task, resource, program, and risk management, as well as data reporting and analytics.
Working from cloud-based construction scheduling applications can give your teams the communication, consistency, and confidence to work on multiple complex projects, boost project efficiency, and improve overall project management.
Key Takeaways
Every construction project has a schedule, but not every project schedule makes key data easily accessible to all teams. Paper and spreadsheet schedules are better than nothing, but their capabilities are limited, and they make it difficult for project leaders to ensure that all stakeholders have the latest versions reflecting the latest changes and developments.
Planning and scheduling software puts all project information in one place, while reducing the need to always recalculate the timeline manually. Enter the list of things the team needs to do (activities), how long each item will take (duration), the order in which they need to be done (sequence/relationship type), and when those things are available to happen (calendar). The scheduling software then provides dates of when everything will happen with a click of a button.
Construction scheduling software helps streamline projects of all sizes and scope, keeping them on track and stakeholders constantly updated on their status. All information is centralized, not in silos.
Because each construction project has unique features—think a high-rise office building versus a water treatment plant—it’s important for scheduling software to handle a variety of basic and complex tasks. Your construction schedule is first and foremost a communication tool for all involved. And since you’re catering to an audience of office teams and field teams, make sure your construction scheduling software centralizes and standardizes information and is simple for people to use.
Here are some of the key features of the best construction scheduling software packages.
Because project consultants often are located across multiple time zones—sometimes continents away from the job site—marking up and emailing or even mailing document changes can take days or weeks. Construction scheduling software that’s tightly integrated with project/enterprise document controls helps cross-functional teams stay in sync with the latest updates and revisions.
Construction scheduling software stores all project information in a single location. All interested parties, including construction managers, skilled tradespeople, and project owners, have access to the project flow whenever needed. Working as a vital communication tool, the scheduling software should alert all relevant parties to any updates to the schedule as soon as they’re made. Look for the following key benefits:
Construction scheduling software should fit the needs of your organization, teams, and individual projects. Make sure all stakeholders have easy, transparent access to the schedule at all stages of a project.
Most construction companies work across a portfolio of projects that range from small and simple to big and complex. Talk with your teams about their specific needs before shopping for scheduling software.
Identify the scheduling features that help you gain more efficiency and better define workflows. Compatibility with financial, supply chain, and other enterprise applications is important from day one, as you will be bringing together people, processes, and technology to give everyone real-time insights. Depending on the project, your features and compatibility needs will vary. For example, a government project’s needs are vastly different from those for a new home project.
The cost of construction scheduling software can go beyond the up-front fee. The costs of different licensing and support models, as well as the hard and soft costs of training users to boost adoption, all must be factored in. For on-premises software, there are also associated server hardware and networking costs. The costs of subscription cloud services, especially those with intuitive GUIs, tend to be more steady and predictable.
Take all “independent” reviews with a grain of salt. The best reviews and recommendations often come from your peers in the industry, as scheduling for construction and engineering projects has unique requirements and rigidities.
A free trial allows users to try out the scheduling software product or service at no cost for a set period. Remember: Free trials come as part of a professional sales pitch that’s carefully scripted. Ask many questions, including about the hard and soft costs of implementation and support, the length of implementation, the ease of use, and product/service capabilities.
When selecting construction scheduling software, it’s critical to do your homework. Customer success stories and use cases can be particularly insightful. Reach out to current customers of the scheduling software.
A single construction scheduling software solution should provide organizations with all the features and benefits they need. Oracle Primavera Cloud delivers a comprehensive solution, at scale, with features that are easily accessible for new users as well as scheduling veterans.
Oracle Primavera Cloud, an integral part of Oracle Smart Construction Platform, accommodates scheduling projects of all sizes, bringing together office and field teams, synchronizing schedules and resources, and empowering the thousands of decisions that construction pros must make every day.
Have a super-simple project? Oracle Primavera Cloud lets you build a schedule for it. Or is your project incredibly big and complex? You can build a massive, complicated schedule in Oracle Primavera Cloud as well. Want to see both projects together? Oracle Primavera Cloud can display all project schedules in one place.
“Before, everything was manual—we even needed PowerPoint to show the status of a project,” says a master scheduler at a major home builder in the Philippines. “The most beautiful features of Oracle Primavera Cloud are the centralized, immediate updating of a project, and how quickly we can provide management with the right information. It’s so collaborative. We can update or see the project being updated by each member in real time.”
What is construction scheduling software?
At the center of every project is a schedule: a multidimensional map of the project from inception to closeout. Construction scheduling software takes all the project information and stores it in a single place, giving construction managers, workers, and various clients access to the project flow whenever the need arises.
What is the best software for construction scheduling?
The best construction scheduling software is easy to learn, customizable, scalable, regularly updated with the latest features, and lets project stakeholders share information without delays.
How do you make a construction schedule?
Carefully, thoughtfully, truthfully, and collaboratively. Include the people who will perform the work. Make sure you’re entering information that reflects how the real world works. The construction schedule is a constantly evolving document that needs continuous updates.
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