Wondering if construction project management software is easy to use? Read this!
If you’re part of the wave of construction companies looking to digitize and take advantage of the new technologies available to the industry, then construction project management software is probably on your short list of must-have tools.
But if you’ve never worked with this kind of software, you might be wondering if it’s easy to use. So here’s what you need to know about construction project management software--its usability, its benefits, and how you can make the transition a little easier.
Table of Contents
1. Construction Project Management Software: Learning Curves
The first thing we need to consider when we’re evaluating how easy construction project management software is to use, is whether or not there’s a steep learning curve. And here, it really does depend on your experience.
If you’ve never used a Gantt chart before, then something like Microsoft Project might be harder to master while a visual tool like Trello could be easier.
A big part of the learning involved in this kind of construction software depends on your experience, and your knowledge of project management. If you're a project manager who understands scheduling, critical paths, and other core concepts, then you’ll find any software easier to manage than you would if you were completely new to these ideas.
2. Construction Project Management Software: User Friendliness
The next big thing you need to consider if you’re evaluating project management tools and software and wondering if they will be easy to use is, overall user friendliness.
Even if you know your way around project management concepts, there are some tools that are just too complicated, or that have navigation which is confusing or hard to use.
Before you commit to any tool, make sure you get a live demo so that you can see what the user interface looks like and find out whether or not it’s intuitive and easy.
3. Construction Project Management Software: Integrations
You also need to know if it integrates with other tools.
Being able to import and export information, or even creating a real-time link with estimating or accounting software, will all make your new tool easier to use and much more useful. It will also eliminate or minimize rework, and it will reduce data-transfer errors.
4. Why Construction Project Management Software Is So Important
The simple truth is that construction companies these days are required to do more with less, and they have tighter production targets and profit margins, plus a lot more rules, regulations, and procedures to contend with, than they might have had a decade or two ago.
Keeping track of material deliveries, work stoppages, health and safety issues, change orders, discrepancies and more, across multiple sites, is a massive job, and digital tools like project management software make it easier to keep everything on track.
Many of these tools also incorporate communication and collaboration tools too, so you can send information directly to crews in the field or work with other departments and divisions when necessary.
Some construction project management software systems also incorporate customer portals, so you can keep your clients in the loop at the same time.
5. Choosing the Right Project Management Software
There’s no denying that there are more project management tools on the market than ever before. But finding the right one is almost as important as making the decision to go digital.
Ideally, you should look for a tool that has a familiar interface. Something that works on the existing computers and devices you already have--or that's in the cloud so it can be accessed from anywhere, at any time.
Look for something that has good security, and that allows you to create different user groups with different types of access.
Support and onboarding are very important factors, too. You need to find a software supplier who has the support you need to get your team up to speed fast, and who are available on short notice for tech support when something isn’t working as expected.
Many companies make the mistake of choosing project management software that has too many bells and whistles, though. You need to look for something that's designed for the type of construction business you’re running. A subcontractor won’t need enterprise-level software, and a large general contractor probably can’t use software built for sub-trades.
VPO specializes in customizing project management software and tools so that every customer gets exactly what they need, when they need it. Consider investing in a custom software solution so that you get all the benefits of a digital project management solution and none of the drawbacks of off-the-shelf software.
