Companies operating in the construction industry deal with a wide variety of documents and information on a daily basis. Organising and managing documents, drawings, contracts, schedules, etc. brings plenty of challenges. In this article, we take a look at the current state of the construction industry and discuss the challenges.

Document and information management may not be the most popular topics in the construction industry, but they are crucial.

Failure to manage documents and information properly leads to a lot of staff confusion, high failure costs and lack of insight to make intelligent decisions.

The state of the construction industry

In 2022, M-Files surveyed employees in the construction industry to hear from them what bothers them when it comes to documents and information. 

From that came these five findings:

• 67 per cent indicates that they have a document difficult to find because of confusing file names or because they are poorly categorised
• 68 per cent complained about not being able to find the most recent and/or correct version of a document
• 58 per cent tells us that approaching documents and information from a mobile device crucial. Almost half (46 per cent) experiences problems with that and often fails to do so.
• 55 per cent experiences repetitive tasks around documents as a burden and a third (34 per cent) sometimes makes a mistake 
• More than half (57 per cent) is experiencing problems with the exchanging documents with external parties

What construction companies are up against

We discuss these 5 document challenges for construction companies below.

Unable to find documents

Many documents are organised by indicating in the file title which document it is. This can lead to enormous confusion for yourself or among colleagues. Simply because everyone uses different descriptions for the same things. The same goes for the file folder in which a document ends up. Because every employee uses their own structure of folders. Just look at how much effort it takes when searching through someone else's folders to find a document.

With M-Files, these problems are a thing of the past because the platform organises all documents based on metadata. The name of the document or its location (which folder) therefore becomes irrelevant. When someone saves a document, colleagues can easily find it in a Google-like way via, for example:

• The type of document (e.g. contract or project proposal)
• The corresponding project
• The linked customer
• The person who created the document
• Via a particular status of the document 

Unclear what the latest and correct version of a document is

Returning to the aforementioned file titles, they often include the version of a document. Many people will recognise the examples below:

• Project plan 2020_final.docx
• Project plan 2020_mei.docx
• Project plan 2020 V2.docx
• Project plan 2020_final_DEF.docx

If you search for this document, you can get into quite a bit of trouble finding the most recent and correct version. 

Moreover, these documents may also exist in duplicate. On average, one document is unnecessarily duplicated four times. 

How can you be sure when you have the right document? And what about a colleague?

Construction companies working with M-Files do not have this problem, because M-Files always has only 1 copy of each document. M-Files links the various edits, versions and changes to that one document.

This way, finding documents is fast and construction companies get a grip and insight into version management.

In this way, only one source of truth emerges, the well-known 'single point of truth'. Perhaps the single most important issue for construction companies in preventing failure costs.

Accessing documents from mobile devices

Many people in the construction industry are regularly working outside the office, which is when access to information can make all the difference.

With the M-Files applications for iOS and Android, all users get an information goldmine in their pocket. From any device, all information can be found and managed. Projects, customers, contracts and more directly in the palm of your hand.  

The fact that some employees suffer from a poor internet connection outside the office is no longer a problem. With M-Files, companies make documents easily available offline, just like with Spotify.

Repetitive tasks are boring and error-prone

You create a document and send it to a colleague, he or she then has to approve it and send it back to you. This process happens countless times in a year and does not necessarily make people happy. Moreover, people still sometimes forget and everyone makes a mistake from time to time.

With M-Files, construction companies create smart workflows that automate such processes. As a result, workflows start automatically and many operations become unnecessary. 

Because M-Files is built on metadata, the possibilities of processes are endless.   

Sharing documents with external parties

If any kind of company deals a lot with externals, it is construction companies. Contractors, subcontractors, governments, stakeholders and so on. There is often a great need to be able to exchange documents and information in a controlled way. 

Preferably with the ability to processlessly exchange documents back and forth. Tools like Dropbox, Google Drive or WeTransfer unfortunately do not offer this.

With M-Files, they can and construction companies get a grip on their document exchanges with external parties via smart document transmittals and project portals.

It allows construction companies to share a document or set of documents easily and in a controlled way via a landing page with the right people and stakeholders.

Document management for construction companies

Construction companies' document management can be a time-consuming issue without a central starting point. With M-Files, builders, architects and engineers possess a smart platform to manage documents and information centrally. This makes documents and information findable, manageable and secure. 

You can discover these possibilities for yourself, M-Files is free to download.

Compare DMS solutions

There are countless software solutions that promise to help construction companies move forward. This makes it difficult to find out exactly which solution really fits and meets expectations.

The DMS checklist from GeONE is a handy tool for comparing different document management solutions. 

Partner of the year GeONE is adept with construction processes and previously helped the likes of Heilijgers and Den Hollander. Read How Heilijgers cleverly manages information and how Den Hollander prevents failure costs.