Single Document Management Solution for the MEP Industry

For mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) contractors, the wide variety of construction industry tools available today can come with a downside. As technology solutions are spread across multiple projects, and different software packages are required by general contractors (GCs) for different jobs, it can be a challenge to keep everyone efficiently moving in the same direction. In addition, the various tools may not communicate with each other, requiring inefficient workarounds.

Cleveland Electric, the leading specialty contractor in the Atlanta, Georgia area, faced this dilemma.

Scattered software solutions and workflows, plus multiple document solutions, resulted in storing job files in multiple locations inhouse. Three solutions – SharePoint, Bluebeam Studio and Microsoft Teams – were used to hold and organize project information. Most internal and external communications were by email, and GC communications added another layer to that.

As Jason Stewart, Electrical Project Manager, explained, “Document control was a problem. We needed to get everything to one platform in the same location.”

Stewart, along with Nathan Reinhardt, Electrical Project Group Manager, wanted to standardize the company’s processes to improve efficiency and productivity. To do that, they knew the company needed to consolidate everything into one location with a single document management solution.

For help in finding the right software solution, Cleveland Electric reached out to Applied Software, its Autodesk technology partner. After narrowing down the options, the Cleveland Electric IT team chose to compare Autodesk Build and Procore.

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If you need a partner to help you assess your construction technology options, contact Applied Software today.

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Cleveland Electric has a significant building information modeling (BIM) group and has been using Autodesk Revit for about twelve years. So, the vetting process focused on what would work best for the design team, while being something everyone in the company could use.

Part of the evaluation was to find a solution that could be easily implemented. “We wanted something that would be adoptable,” Reinhardt explained, “something that would stick.”

Cleveland Electric chose Autodesk Build because it would do everything the company was looking for, and it promised to be useable and adoptable. The fact that Build is cloud-based also solved the issue of dispersed project files.

The company favored a slow and steady implementation process as the best approach for success. As implementation proceeded, a few mid-stream projects were converted on a gradual basis, and all new projects use Build. Build has helped standardize processes and meet the company’s document management needs by consolidating everything to one platform in the same location.

About half of Cleveland Electric’s approximately 1,000 field personnel use technology. They, along with about 100 office workers, are now able to work together and communicate on their Build cloud-based projects without workarounds, enabling the company to more efficiently serve its customers with a high level of quality, safety and integrity.

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