The Importance Of Monitoring Project Progress

When one of our clients invests in highly sophisticated project management software, we always insist that they take the time to become as familiar with their software as possible. Good software can help a company to monitor the progress of every project and make adjustments to projections based on real numbers, and monitoring projects can also help risk experts to make adjustments that cover any risk issues that may come up.

Personnel Needs

In order to effectively monitor project progress, a company need to set milestones where project goals can be evaluated. If a project falls behind on its schedule, the temptation can be to put more pressure on the existing personnel to get back on track. But when it comes to risk factors, rushing construction crews creates incredible risk.

When your project is getting off schedule, you should weigh the costs of temporarily bringing in more personnel versus the potential costs of a critical accident. Speeding up a construction crew causes lapses in quality control and risk monitoring, and that can cost much more than a few extra workers being brought into the project for a couple of weeks.

Safety

Drones and wearable technology are making it easier for construction companies to collect data on project safety, and that data should be analyzed regularly to update safety guidelines. These days, construction companies are able to collect data that they could never collect before, and that creates a wide range of new ways to keep workers safe.

If the data you are collecting shows that workers are showing dangerous signs of physical wear on their bodies doing certain tasks, then you can make adjustments that reduce the danger. You can also tell which areas of your project require more workers, and which areas require less to get the maximum amount of safety.

Production

Big data can help construction companies to get more production out of the personnel and equipment they have. By analyzing data collected each day from the job site, a project manager can determine more efficient ways to utilize personnel and equipment and get a better return on the company’s investment. The data may even show that the personnel level can be lowered, which would save money on payroll.

Many construction companies spend money on equipment rentals for equipment that sits for weeks and months. A look at milestone data can reveal these losses, and help the company to get rid of unwanted equipment. Rented equipment that sits on a job site is at risk of being damaged, and that could cost the company money. Not only would the company be paying for rental it does not need, but it would also need to deal with paying for repairs to rented equipment it is not using.

For a very long time, monitoring the progress of a construction project was an inexact science carried out by experts in project management. These days, those experts have sophisticated software that can put a great deal of data at their fingertips.

The risk profile of a project changes as the project moves forward, and good data can help risk experts to alter the coverage a company gets based on project needs. By regularly monitoring construction projects, a company can make sure that its personnel and assets are always properly protected.