Why You Should Spend More Time on Proactive Quality Management

When I started doing QA/QC, we managed our reports with Excel and some PDF floor plans that had each issue located on them. On the spreadsheet, we listed the issues, descriptions and locations. Sure, the spreadsheet ended up having a ton of information. But it was hard to view that information and even harder to review. The data was scattered, and all of the reporting had to be manually generated, so my reports were obsolete after the first person reviewed them.

Unfortunately, I came in during the middle of the job. I didn’t know where all of the issues were. I didn’t know the backstory for some of the old issues. Thus, I spent most of my time:

• Updating, finding discrepancies, making observations, and defining issues.
• Creating custom reports when asked – by floor/subcontractor/ball-in-court.
• Locating clashes on floor plans and taking pictures.
• Arguing about who was responsible.
• Tracking where subcontractors were with resolving issues.

Bottom line, I was managing the list instead of managing the problems, solutions and team members.

This forced me to be reactive with quality. And it wasn’t a good place to be. My meetings were a mess. The Excel file was a mess. It was hard to find the issues. The descriptions and responses were hard to follow. My team responded by: arguing amongst themselves; refusing to “own” issues; not knowing where the issues were; and repeating the recurring theme, “We did that last week.” Does any of this sound familiar to you?

We weren’t focused on the problems out in the field; I was focused on the list – changing it, updating it, confirming it – but it was still a mess. I had to update the Excel file, and I had to update the issues on the PDF floor plans. Instead of taking the lead on improving quality, I was stuck behind my list and its inadequacies. I could barely keep up. I knew something had to change.

Just about that time, almost serendipitously, I heard about Autodesk BIM 360. I studied up on it and was intrigued. What could it hurt to try it out? I decided to set up a site. The first thing I did was upload my drawings. Then I added my issues. I pinpointed the issues on the drawings. This process allowed me to:

• Easily add all the issues into the system.
• Document the issues with photos, comments and other information.
• Find all the issues myself.
• Determine who was responsible to resolve the issues.

Everything was all in one spot – the issue locations, the descriptions, who was responsible, a photo of each issue, and other details. Practically overnight, BIM 360 helped me organize my mess. Once it was organized, it stayed organized.

The BIM 360 reporting module literally gave me back hours of my life. The automated reporting allowed me to:

• Sort and filter issues any way I pleased.
• Include a construction document with pinpoints of issue locations.
• Include comments, photos and descriptions.

The scheduled reports I created included:

• Report for myself sorting everything by level.
• Report for my subcontractors sorting everything by company then by level.
• Report for my architect filtering out only the items ready to review and then by level.

The custom reports I created were quick and easy. I was able to enter the parameters and print out the reports in two minutes. The scheduled and custom reports feature saved me 30 minutes per report.

If you’re managing quality the old-fashioned way, maybe you’re stuck behind your list and its inadequacies too. There is a much better solution. You can simplify your meetings and your quality process quickly and easily. You can stop managing your list and start managing your team and the job issues. Would I go back to the old way? NO WAY.

For a demo of BIM 360, contact Applied Software today. Get organized, and stay organized.