Advantages of design-build can turn into liabilities if processes are managed improperly. More seamless collaboration across design, engineering, and construction teams means that projects move faster from initial planning through approval to construction. The efficiencies often translate into lower costs for everyone — the design-build firm, contractors, government regulators — and more satisfied clients. At the same time, however, design errors introduced into processes can quickly go from ideas on paper to real problems on job sites, erasing anticipated design-build benefits.
What is clear is that design-build practices require sound collaboration strategies. Some firms are already adopting better, more reliable ways of exchanging and collaborating on project information. Yet for many firms, this has been difficult to accomplish, particularly as the number of international projects increases and design and construction professionals grapple with understanding changing technologies. Fortunately, simple technology advances and more universal tools are enabling firms to address the collaboration needs of domestic and international project teams.
Costly, Inefficient Paper Processes
A common challenge facing design-build teams is handling the wide variety of project documents. Site photos, schedules, budgets, 2-D drawings, 3-D design concepts, and other materials are exchanged regularly during a project. Given the many applications used to create documents and the lack of technology standards worldwide, it is not surprising that firms resort to mailing and faxing paper despite the high costs and delays. Teams in Asia can wait days for plan documents to arrive from the U.S., while document review processes done via fax are faster but make it more difficult to decipher plan details.
With its near universal access and simplicity, e-mail provides a step toward streamlining the exchange of project information. But widespread adoption of e-mail also comes with its own challenges, such as ensuring that recipients can open attachments and view materials exactly as originators intended. In addition, securing documents sent by e-mail can be difficult. To compensate for the shortcomings, some firms use extranets to share information, but these solutions are frequently inaccessible to suppliers and subcontractors.
Simplified Document Exchange and Collaboration
Increasingly, design-build professionals are recognizing the importance of finding more reliable, cost-effective ways to handle documents. Instead of focusing only on enhancing delivery systems such as intranets and e-mail, firms are discovering that gaining more control over digital documents can accelerate design-build cycles and reduce risks and costs.
Most design-build professionals acknowledge that sending drawings or other project information in native application files is problematic. In addition to not knowing whether recipients can open files, there is the chance that reviewers can change design elements and other details. Even minor revisions to plans can have disastrous effects, requiring entire systems to be reapproved by government regulators or costly rebuilding if construction has already begun. To avoid problems dealing with native application files, many firms are turning to universal file formats.
By standardizing on a platform-independent and application-independent format for document exchange, design-build professionals can improve project workflows. Design or contract files can be combined with different document types and packaged into one file for e-mail or other sharing among project team members. Built-in intelligence in the file prevents viewers from changing core content but still permits them to add electronic notes, strikethrough items, and indicate other edits. As a result, reviewers enjoy quick access to materials, while document creators know that reviewers can comment on files without jeopardizing original content.
Adopting Successful Strategies
When evaluating formats for exchanging documents, three capabilities are essential: the ability to retain the integrity of original documents, built-in document control and security, and support for multiple file types. The importance of retaining document integrity is obvious; if designs or project budgets do not appear exactly as authors intended, there is little value in delivering them electronically. Document control and security is more complex and covers a range of capabilities.
For instance, preventing people from changing document content is a basic type of control. Options also exist to permit people to view but not print documents, or time limits can be placed on materials so that documents are available only as long as projects are active. Security can encompass anything from password-protecting sensitive files to enabling reviewers to apply digital signatures to approve content. Regardless of the control and security features, the capabilities should reside within a file so they travel with materials as documents move across project teams.
Implementing a solution that supports multiple file types is also critical. After all, one challenge facing design-build teams is dealing with so many documents created in many computing applications. A viable electronic document solution has to be able to take materials from native application files, convert them to readily accessible files, and allow users to combine all project documents into one file. These simple steps make it easier to manage plans and accelerate document review cycles.
Gaining a Competitive Edge
Implementing strategies to streamline document collaboration enhances the benefits of design-build practices. Traditional obstacles to collaboration are eliminated by adopting intelligent document processes that help unify disparate computing systems, work environments, and end user requirements. Doing so turns the potential liability of having teams of employees, partners, and contractors working worldwide into a clear advantage.
Patrick M. Aragon is a product marketing manager in the Intelligent Documents Business Unit of Adobe Systems Incorporated. He is responsible for driving all aspects of product marketing for the Adobe Acrobat product line and the Portable Document Format (PDF) in the AEC industry. Mr. Aragon has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of the Pacific and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, Walter Haas School of Business. For more information on Adobe, visit www.adobe.com/aec.