Introducing the SKYSITE Winter 2016 Release

Every season we work to improve your SKYSITE experience. This winter is no different. Seamless storage integration, quality of life improvements, and new iPad and Android features make this the best SKYSITE update yet.

Check out what’s new in SKYSITE Winter 2016 Release:

  • Seamless storage integration with Box, DropBox, Google Drive, One Drive and Egnyte. Use these storage apps to move your files to SKYSITE
  • Publishing page redesign in SKYSITE now displays 20 sheets per page for publishing, means even faster indexing of drawings and specs.
  • New document sorting enhancements gives you the ability to sort your project documents alpha numerically
  • Enhancements to the SKYSITE punchlist administration feature allows you to CC: other project participants when creating tasks. The Punch Report now includes the zoomed area of the drawing and photos associated with the punch
  • RFI workflow enhancements include RFI Reassign, RFI Forwarding and enhanced download functionality for all RFIs. With RFI Reassign, you and other project members can transfer an RFI to another user. With RFI Forwarding, you can copy other users on the communication and have deeper visibility on resulting activities
  • Enhanced filtering allows you to now filter photos by who uploaded them and filter projects by city, state, or by any of the fields you enter in the project info.

The latest iPad features include:

  • Sync your project file structure and download documents or folders on demand with Thumbnail Download
  • Wi-Fi printing allows you to mobile print to any wireless printers in your Wi-Fi network, in the office or in the job trailer
  • You can now sort project documents by name or ordinal from your tablet
  • Punchlist CC: delivers to you the ability to copy other project team members when assigning any task
  • You can now forward RFIs to other project members right from your iPad with the new RFI Forwarding feature
  • Gain faster searches with the Jump a Page feature when viewing a multi-page PDFs

The newest Android features include:

  • New RFI functionality, including create, view, assign, forward, comment, close, reject or reopen an RFI from SKYSITE
  • Work on an RFI even without internet connectivity using offline mode. This enables you to work on the RFI and automatically sync the team when a connection is available later
  • New Punchlist features include create, view, assign, complete and close punchlist in the Android app. Create a punchlist at a project level or annotate and link a punchlist on any drawing
  • You now have capability to access the voice recorder on your tablet and the voice memo attached as a MP3 file on a punchlist
  • Take photos right from the SKYSITE Android app and store directly in the project’s library or upload from the tablet’s library for previously taken photos. SKYSITE allows a photo or a group of photos to be pinned on the drawings, working as a quick link to specific photos in the Gallery
  • New Document Sorting functionality allows project document sorting by name or ordinal on your tablet
  • Now print to any wireless printers in your Wi-Fi network with SKYSITE’s new Wi-Fi printing capabilities.

If you have any questions about these new features, call 1-(844)-SKYSITE or contact the SKYSITE Customer Success Team here.

Want to speak with a SKYSITE expert directly?

West coasters email Joell at joell.jones@e-arc.com

East coasters email Wendell at wendell.loyd@e-arc.com

Six Trends in Document Management Construction Pros Should Watch For

ARC customers are some of the busiest design and construction professionals you’re likely to find. Their experience and changing needs make their opinions important to us as we serve them, but their insights also identify emerging trends and inform forecasts into the industry as a whole.

We’ve identified six topics that were top-of-mind from conversations, surveys, and research around the topic of document management conducted over the past several months. They point to the practices and preferences of construction professionals everywhere as they manage projects both in the field, and think about projects on the boards.

Here’s a look into the future of construction document management as they see it.

1. An Integrated Solution over Point Products

The downside to traditional project management tools is that project information is scattered across various products that often stand alone, without any practical or convenient way to interact with one another. Once status changes are noted in one tool, users often have to log into several others to bring their various records up to date. Access isn’t the problem, but rather capturing everything in a timely way, making sure it’s accurate, and avoiding errors.

Documents are the principal mode of communication across the various trades and disciplines in the AEC industry. More than any individual product enhancement, industry professionals want an integrated solution that enables a dynamic “single source of truth” to store, collaborate, and access documents from any digital device. An integrated solution also addresses the growing demand for better project communications and collaboration, both of which help keep construction projects on time and on budget.

2. Industry Specific Technology Solutions

Cloud-based file-sharing solutions started out as an experiment carried out on consumers and business-users alike. Free, simple and limited in their scope, they made believers out of nearly everyone who tried them.

Today, however, generic file-sharing tools don’t meet the specific demands of construction professionals. Communication is wildly unstructured. File-sharing permissions between team members is either too loosely structured, lacking in the controls that large project teams demand, or too cumbersome to use in the field. Identifying files or navigating the massive volume of files that characterize a construction is frequently reliant on manual procedures like naming conventions, or adding directory after directory. Specialized version control is non-existent.

In many ways these problems make going back to paper sound like a good idea. As technology adoption is growing and products mature, specialization is not only desired, it’s become a necessity.

3. It’s All About the Cloud

When cloud computing started to gain popularity, many people were hesitant to get on board. Initially there was some hesitation, years later, it’s clear that cloud is lead the way.

Not anymore.

Cloud computing has revolutionized software in general, and has had a profound impact on information and document management for the industry. The cloud ensures that documents and information are available at anytime, anywhere and from any device.

Cloud based offers scalability, ease of access and reduced costs making it an ideal document and information management software for businesses both small and large.

4. Collaboration & Mobility is the Key

Construction is becoming more complex. Not only have building themselves ballooned in complexity – driving a corresponding increase in the volume of documents and information generated to construct them – but the number of people who have to collaborate on their execution has also expanded enormously.

And in the face of the increasing interactions between data and people, project members are expected to work, share, distribute and collaborate in real-time no matter where they may be working.

Hard copies of drawings, email, and FTP sharing and distribution can’t cope up with such a business scenario. That’s why cloud applications enabled by mobile devices are central to any technology solution on a construction site.

5. Scalability is Must

The smallest construction project is still big in terms of the volume of documents and data required to complete it. That means even a small contracting firm or supplier has to wrestle with the problems of dynamic scaling. One project can get complicated quickly; three projects can overwhelm if the tools aren’t up to the task.

Adding users has to be easy. The user interface has to be intuitive to cut down on training time. Project team members don’t want to think about how much data they have left on a subscription, or be stranded when there’s no Wi-Fi connection.

When construction professionals expand their teams, or join others; when they take on a new project in the middle of an existing one; when they have

to track a new set of documents or a new piece of data, their tools have to expand and move with them.

6. Security Concerns are Waning

Cloud-computing is maturing. As adoption grows, security concerns are shrinking thanks to the rapid evolution of features designed to address threats as they arise. The lack of hardware concerns actually frees staff to deal with more meaningful issues like data management and collaboration.

Cloud security management is evolving and maturing readily. The gaps are being closed rapidly. Vendors are work closely with their customers in setting and enforcing consistent cloud security policies. Data at rest and in motion is being encrypted.

This is not to say that one can dismiss potential threats to their data but it certainly means that we’ve passed a tipping point where the cloud is a pretty comfortable place for most users.

Improving Efficiency & Deliver Project On Time: SKYSITE Punch Lists

A construction project is constantly evolving and managing changes is always a herculean task. It’s even harder when several issues come up at the same time; it’s easy to miss details which can be problematic later. That’s why having an easy way to document them through completion and closure is so critical to a project’s success.

The SKYSITE Punch Lists application streamlines the process from identification to closure. It makes it easy for a project member to capture, distribute information, and track defects, issues and actions taken in real time. SKYSITE Punch Lists is a cloud based application designed for iOS and Android.

Take Your Punch Lists to The Job Site

With SKYSITE Punch Lists, users can report an issue directly from the construction site using a mobile device. Simply pull up the associated drawing and document the issue on the spot with photos, voice memos and comments that are attached to plan itself. As soon as an issue is reported, other project members can immediately pull up the plan, see the issues, and track their progress through completion. Issues are organized around trades and locations making it easy to find them later.

You can even use SKYSITE on your tablet when it’s offline – the application automatically syncs when an internet connection is restored.

Track Progress

SKYSITE Punch Lists application has built-in functionality to monitor due dates and can send overdue notices to keep team members on track and on task. The status of punch lists items can be viewed in several different ways, including “open,” “pending,” and “closed.” Punch Lists reports are also available to share with any team member. Users can create a new report template and schedule it to be sent automatically each weekday, eliminating the need to compile it manually each time.

All items are tracked and recorded in a permanent fashion – they cannot be deleted. SKYSITE Punch Lists provides a transparent and a complete audit trail.

SKYSITE Punch Lists Features

  • Create punch lists items directly from the field
  • Create an assigner and due date
  • Drop punch lists item directly to a drawing
  • Filter by status (open, closed or pending)
  • Maintain real time history of all actions
  • Export Punch Lists item report for distribution to any project participant
  • Keep a clear list of issues, assign responsibility to a specific person at a specific company, select a due date, and track an issue’s current status

The sooner Project Managers complete a Punch Out, the sooner they can confirm that a facility is ready for handover, saving money and improving efficiency every step of the way.

Start a free trial and discover how easy Punch Lists are with SKYSITE.

Enhance Project Communications with SKYSITE Photo Management

Construction teams have started relying on project photos to manage, measure and eliminate delays in project progress. Mobile applications for storing, organizing and filing digital images have also evolved. They enable construction and design firms to record project progress and increase accountability by streamlining and mobilizing project communication and documentation.

Photographs serve as a permanent record of your project’s progress, memorialize major construction milestones, and have the added benefit of acting as irrefutable evidence during disputes. Given the increasingly important role of project photos in managing construction, ARC Document Solutions introduced a Photo Management module in its most recent upgrade to SKYSITE.

SKYSITE Photo Management is designed for construction professionals allowing them to share, exchange and collaborate using photos on a single platform.

SKYSITE Photo Management offer tremendous benefits to project members.

1. Enhance efficiency

To increase efficiency construction photos must have a connection to a specific construction blueprints to provide relevance between drawings and photos. SKSYITE Photo Management enables users to:

  • Pin a photo to a drawing sheet.
  • View the photo associated with a specific location on the sheet.
  • Access photos on both a tablet or in a web browser.

2. Easy management & controls

SKYSITE photo management helps users effortlessly manage their photo library:

  • Delegate uploads of photos to other contributors and team members
  • Upload, manage and host all photos in a single application
  • Share, exchange and collaborate using photo content anytime, anywhere and from anyplace
  • Store and save photos on personal devices for quick and easy access
  • Search and filter your photos fast
  • Create galleries or use a flat folder structure
  • Link photos to drawings, RFI’s, and Punchlists
  • Import photos from other devices in seconds.

3. Supports a wide variety of file formats

The application can store and manage JPEGs, GIFs,TIFFs and BMPs

4. Increase productivity

SKYSITE Photo Management offers quick and easy photo collaboration. You can take photos in the field, add a date and time stamp, and share them instantly, or you can sync and save them to your central database for access and analysis at a later date.

5. Manage & search

Taking a photo is easy, but finding it can be difficult when all you have to work with is a title.

SKYSITE Photo Management adds key attributes for precise and arcuate photo search. Not only are photos are associated to specific projects, but users can tag images with key words associated with a specific building, level, area, room, and description. Photo metadata are also preserved, including the GPS coordinate of where the image was taken.

6. Access and accountability

SKYSITE offers a full range of permissions to control who can take, tag, upload, or view photos and other file types.

SKYSITE Photo Management is designed for Construction Professionals to connect seamlessly. It enables project users to collaborate and communicate from anywhere by using any device using Photos as the medium.

These comprehensive functionalities serve a purpose for every project member providing accountability, transparency, time and cost saving benefit for the entire project.

Go to SKYSITE to learn more.

Deliver Projects on Time: SKYSITE’s RFI Enhances Collaboration & Time Management

If there’s one question that always gets project managers to roll their eyes and express their frustration, it’s this one: “Are you behind in your RFIs?”

“Requests for Information,” or RFIs, have a big impact on the construction process. They enable collaboration between the design team and contractors to mitigate the impact and associated risks to project schedules and budgets. But no matter how well an RFI is written, or how well it is documented, it can’t move the ball forward if it isn’t distributed to the right people at the right time, and responded to with the proper sense of urgency.

Since the turn-around time of an RFI is a key driver of both productivity and the ultimate quality of a project, improving RFI response was high on the list of priorities for the SKYSITE development team.

“We built SKYSITE to help manage construction documents and files of all kinds, including RFIs,” said Dilo Wijesuriya, ARC’s Chief Operating Officer. “RFI’s are among the most critical documents in the construction process and make up the bulk of communication between teams once construction has begun.”

In SKYSITE, construction teams can create, view, review, and respond in real-time to RFIs on the cloud via their mobile devices, or on their desktop. No one has to guess who has the RFI at the moment, who was the last person to respond, or where to send it after it’s been addressed. It’s all there inside SKYSITE.

  • With SKYSITE, teams are able to view and review RFIs through web and mobile-enabled devices and can add custom attributes for further sorting, filtering and searching.
  • Team members receive information as it is issued and can make fast decisions to mitigate risk to project delivery timelines and project budgets.
  • SKYSITE users get real-time RFI changes and status updates.
  • Specs, plans, and other documents can be linked to any RFI.
  • One click generates the RFI cover and compiles all attachments into a single PDF file.

Curious to see how SKYSITE manages RFIs and speeds up your construction projects?

Call our SKYSITE Customer Success Team at 1.844.SKYSITE.

New to SKYSITE? Go to www.skysite.com and get it for free.

Welcome To the Next Generation of Construction Communication

Enhance your communications capabilities using SKSYSITE’S- RFI, Photo Management and Punch Lists.

Without construction documents, building projects grind to a halt. Plans, specs, photos, RFIs, punch lists and similar documents are the primary means of communication in the industry. Managing these critical documents in paper form has always been complex, arduous and time-consuming effort.

AEC professionals who are managing documents digitally at present are compelled to use a variety of generic / consumer software solutions which come with host of other problems.

SKYSITE construction cloud has added powerful features taking construction document distribution, communication and collaboration notches higher by putting construction documents in a single, cloud-based application specially designed for architects, engineers and contractors.

SKYSITE enables seamless communication across different locations in real time. A project member can quickly and effortlessly in manner of seconds collaborate and share. SKYSITE with this release will facilitate users to avoid the cumbersome, complicated and unreliable methods of using multiple technology tools to accomplish the same tasks.

SKYSITE manages and distributes construction documents and information via the cloud and mobile devices. It was designed to create a smooth and seamless workflow for construction projects by making communication simple, easy and painless. New features include tools for managing additional document types and tasks.

Request for Information (RFI):

Speeding up responses to RFIs makes projects run smoother and close faster.

  • SKYSITE teams are able to view and review RFIs through web and mobile-enabled devices and can add custom attributes for further sorting, filtering and searching.
  • Team members receive information as it is issued and can make fast decisions to mitigate risk to project delivery timelines and project budgets.
  • SKYSITE users get real-time RFI changes and status updates.
  • Specs, plans and other documents can be linked to any RFI.
  • One click generates the RFI cover and compiles all attachment into a single PDF file.

Photo Management:

SKYSITE enhances the role digital photos play in managing and measuring progress on today’s project sites.

  • SKYSITE construction teams can take and tag photos and aggregate them in a single, common project directory accessible from any mobile device.
  • Photos can be managed, indexed and searched quickly and efficiently.
  • SKYSITE project users can collaborate and communicate on any mobile device using photos as the medium in the same workspace where drawings and specifications are kept.

Punch Lists:

SKYSITE puts punch lists capabilities where team members can work with them and prevents information silos and data redundancy that separate applications can generate during the QA/QC process.

  • SKYSITE users can track lists of project issues and tasks in a single common directory.
  • Issues are captured in real time, as punch lists are available from any SKYSITE-enabled mobile device.
  • SKYSITE teams can monitor punch lists due dates directly from the application, assign responsibility to appropriate team members and track an issue’s current status.
  • Photos and voice memos can be uploaded or linked when creating or responding to a punch-list.

SKYSITE with RFI, Photo Management and Punch Lists offers unprecedented value to contractors by further streamlining documents, collaboration and communication. Further giving boost to productivity and efficiency.

 

New to SKYSITE? Go to www.skysite.com and get it for free.