Facilities managers and building superintendents often have to find information under pressure.

Broken water pipes, frozen valves, power outages, and emergency situations all demand a quick response — but without knowing which documents to look for and where can slow that response down to a crawl.

Change all that with SKYSITE Facilities auto-hyperlinking features, and discover the power of having a facilities management information system at your fingertips.

As documents are uploaded to SKYSITE, software searches each drawing and detects callouts and references to other documents. Once the corresponding document is found, SKYSITE creates a hyperlink to it. Once all your documents are in the application, your document set will behave just like a website — click on a link and SKYSITE will navigate to the relevant document.

No more searching through boxes, flipping through piles of paper, or wondering if the right document is in the right place to be found. Auto-hyperlinking features can even create links between different pages of the same document, or various pages of another document under the same project.

Don’t wait until your next emergency to find out if there’s a better way to manage your facilities documents. Get started today with a free trial.

Even the best construction job sites aren’t what most people consider placid, calm, or relaxing.

In fact, construction job sites are some of the most stressful places in the world. If you’re a construction site supervisor, or even managing just part of a job site, some of the stats from Harvard University’s studies on workplace stress sound downright cushy — things like the average business professional has 30 to 100 projects on their plate, or that most modern workers are interrupted seven times an hour and distracted up to 2.1 hours a day.

Did these guys take a look at your project list? Has the professor seen your mobile phone bill lately?

Of course stress is a relative thing, but the stress of managing people, budgets, materials, equipment, safety, and the occasional turf battle in construction takes its toll, no matter what kind of project it is.

But that’s the job, right? Not much to do about it.

Or is there?

We looked around and found there are actually some practical things you can rely on to turn down the heat, and they don’t all involve turning the job trailer into a yoga studio.

Here’s five we thought deserved to be on your list:

1. Be realistic about what you can control and what you can’t

There’s plenty to get riled about when a contractor or supplier doesn’t show up, but if there was an accident on the freeway, or a truck had a flat, there’s not much you can do about it. Likewise, when somebody’s melting down over things you can’t do anything about — the weather, a supply shortage, a key player on your team is down with the flu — recognize where the problem is, explore alternatives, but with things that the insurance companies call “acts of God,” losing your cool gets everybody nowhere fast.

2. Manage the interruptions; don’t let them manage you

Emails, phone calls, text messages and sudden, urgent deadlines delivered over site radios can take a real bite out of a good plan. You might not be able to control the person who’s doing the interrupting, but you can control your response (see above).

Handle interruptions in one of three ways:

• Accept it and own it yourself.
• Cut it off and ignore it.
• Evaluate it, prioritize it, and make a plan to engage available resources (including other people) to deal with it.

If interruptions are recurring and can be anticipated, decide ahead of time how you’ll manage it. That way you can just deal with it without all the baggage that comes with getting angry or frustrated.

Of course this is easier said than doe, but if you can decide that the first thing to do with an interruption or distraction is to decide on technique 1, 2 or 3, you’re most of the way to a productive solution.

3. Prioritize your priorities multiple times in a day

With as many changes we juggle in construction every day, a task list does nothing but get longer every few hours.

So don’t let two hours pass without re-evaluating the key things that need to get done. You might go from dozen to-do’s to 18 or 19 items on your list during the day, but there’s still only eight hours (okay, maybe 10 or 12 hours) to get stuff done.

Regularly check to make sure the most important things for the project and for you get done. The rest gets evaluated later to see if makes tomorrow’s list.

If you’ve got 10 pounds of stuff and just a five-pound bag, something’s got to give or you’ll end up with a giant mess.

Easy tip: Use the alarm function on your phone. (Yeah, it’s another interruption, but it’s a good one.) Get creative with the alarm sounds to remind you to take a minute and review — save the scream from the movie “Psycho” for the third time you hit the snooze function.

4. Take a deep breath

So, okay, those are few things you can do to manage stress, but what if it’s too late, and your blood pressure’s rising and you want to crawl through the phone engage in a little pugilistic therapy with the jerk on the other end of the line?

Sounds simple, but one of the best things you can do to chill out is just take some deep breaths. Inhale slowly through your nose and exhale deliberately and slowly through your mouth a few times. Some people say it’s like getting the calm and focus of a 90-minute yoga class in three minutes or less, and you don’t even need to visit the mall to pick up those yoga pants (unless you want to?).

Want to take it up a notch?

Navy SEALS and other badass stress-fighters use what they call “box breathing.” Inhale for a count of four, hold your breath for four, exhale slowly for a count of four, and hold for another count of four before taking the next inhalation. Do it for four minutes.

Stress? What stress?

5. Manage your information efficiently

Use SKYSITE construction document management software. It’ll keep all your information where you can find it easily and quickly — including that well-prioritized to-do list, and instructions for that cool Navy SEAL “box breathing” technique above.

That’ll help relieve a ton of stress, too.

Think constructing a building is a straight-forward task? Think again. Ask any construction professional. A lot goes into turning a design into reality. With all stakeholders, from owners, to subcontractors, to city planners, inspectors and others, keeping track of it all is a mammoth task. Project managers spend their days assigning tasks, monitoring workers, adjusting schedules, and constantly having to react to the ever-changing situation.

Adding to the complexity, is the massive number of documents that are generated and that change at every stage of construction. Finding the right information, at the right time, and making sure everyone is always working from the latest set is a challenging task.

Enter SKYSITE, a construction document management system, that was designed from the ground up to tackle this exact problem and streamline and manage the construction document process. For an AEC professional, SKYSITE simplifies document management, and ensures everyone is on the same page, all the time.

Real-Time Visibility

Working from the latest set is critical to avoiding costly mistakes and ensuring the project stays on schedule. SKYSITE connects all team members through a combination of real-time file sync, mobile connectivity and cloud access, as well as a construction specific document publishing process that ensures the trades get the files they need, but cannot change or delete files they shouldn’t. The mobile application allows team members to work on the jobsite, even without internet access, and then easily sync the next time they are connected.

Document Management Made Easy

Hundreds, sometimes thousands of documents are generated at every stage of a project lifecycle. Managing this mountain of information in a secure and organized way is vital to the success of a project.

Paper documents are bulky, costly and hard to keep current. To overcome these challenges, a digital construction document management system is required. But, just going digital is not enough. Generic, or non-industry specific solutions bring other challenges, sometimes just as costly and detrimental as paper. SKYSITE brings you the best in construction specific workflows to ensure you always operate at peak efficiency.

SKYSITE provides a secure, integrated platform to store and organize project documents. With its mobile applications, the hassle of printing and shipping physical documents to the jobsite is eliminated. Project team members can view the latest information on their mobile device, add RFIs, and markup documents. All that information is then instantly sync’d to the rest of the project team.

Streamlined Workflow, Reduced Costs, Shortened Delivery

Construction document management software streamlines workflow throughout the project lifecycle. Integrated communication tools with document management ensure smooth communication and shortened timelines to get problems solved and questions answered. This translates to fewer mistakes and faster delivery, and a team able to work at their full potential.

Are you ready to get started streamlining your project?

Switch to SKYSITE and experience the difference. Our free trial makes it easy.

In the construction industry, AEC professionals lose countless hours dealing with paper documents. Seemingly minor delays searching through paper often add up to more than 8 hours a week. That’s a full day lost, just to paper. Handling construction document management manually requires the sifting through email, digging through paper documents, and searching digital files. What if you could streamline this workflow, and make those 8 hours a week into productivity?

SKYSITE is construction document management done right! A quick and easy solution that simplifies the organization, communication and access of critical information. Now you and your team can stay up-to-date on the current set while working in the office or on the job site.

A Simplified and User-friendly Experience

Can you pinch, tap and swipe? If so, SKYSITE was designed for you. A simple, user-friendly interface makes navigation quick and easy. You can find what you need in just a few taps, and SKYSITE’s highly advanced features can help you keep in touch with your project and your team. SKYSITE’s mobile and cloud based tools keep your team connected, whether they are in the office, or at a jobsite around globe.

Compared to other construction project management software, SKYSITE provides a simple, flexible and unified platform that offers the features you need. SKYSITE lets you publish and organize documents, create and respond to RFIs, manage submittals and Punchlists, and do it all from your desktop or mobile device.

Get Organized, Be Productive

SKYSITE keeps all your team’s information in a single, organized digital work space. Coordinating and sharing information with the right people couldn’t be easier, even while on the go. You have all your information at your fingertips. Features like Desktop Sync, auto-hyperlinking and full-content search ensure you can operate at your best. No more digging through stacks of paper or shipping redlined documents, everything you need is at your fingertips.

One of the major roadblocks to efficient collaboration is missed or lost information. Simply keeping track of all the changes to thousands of documents during a project is a massive challenge. SKYSITE makes it easy with its Latest Documents feature that always displays the most current version of any document. No more wondering if you are looking at the latest file, with SKYSITE, you always are.

Smart Sync tools make it easy to upload your files, and keep them in sync across all your devices, and to all your team members. SKYSITE’s smart sync technology ensures everyone gets what they need, but can’t accidentally delete things they shouldn’t.

Mobile access from iOS and Android devices keeps your jobsite team up-to-date with the latest information, and gives them the tools they need to deal with RFIs and Punches, on the spot, even tagging photos right to documents.

SKYSITE creates an engaging, collaborative and smart way to working together. This cloud-based construction project document management tool gives you a competitive edge with smarter, smoother communication.

What are you waiting for? Start your free trial of SKYSITE and enjoy the power of productivity.

Every piece of information in a construction project is valuable to someone, somewhere, and perhaps sometime in the future.

The supplier of the shut-off valve may not care where his product installed on your project, but the plumber needs to know, as does the super who checks the plumber’s work and checks it off a punch list. Sometime in the future, perhaps after a few tenant improvements, it might break. That’s when there are LOTS of people who will want to know where it is.

From the moment a project begins, keeping track of information is vital not only to the project team, but to the facilities management and building maintenance team who will eventually oversee the operation of the building. Some managers that do a great job at planning ahead for a proper hand off of such information at closeout, but more often than not it’s a part of the job that’s left to the last minute.

So what’s the answer? Never break the chain of information.

Every piece of information is a link, and you need a system to connect those links that everyone understands, everyone can use, and that everyone can access. Just as important, the process has to start from the beginning to be effective.

The drawings from the municipal engineer used to layout the footings for the structure should be just as easy to find as the very last installation sketch of the cornice molding in the foyer.

Sounds like a big job, but if the system comprises a way to capture, tag, organize and store the information so it can be easily found and retrieved, you’ll never have to worry.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or enhancing a system you’re already using , look for these key components:

A universal way to capture and catalog information as it is generated. Sometimes that’s going to mean scanning paper, and other times that might be a simple download of an electronic file. Either way you’ll need the gear and expertise to do it, so that might mean working with a partner with the physical resources and experience you need and who will be there from beginning to end.

An organization scheme that makes sense to everyone. That means the project team has to understand where things are, where things should go, and where to find them later. Better still, the scheme should take into account which construction drawings, documents and other information will live on past the construction phase so they can be tagged and easily compiled at construction closeout.

Having trouble keeping everyone on the same page? Finding it difficult to get information to team members who are rarely in the office?

From an updated floorplan, to an RFI response, or a Punchlist item, ensuring your team always has the latest information at their fingertips can be a challenge. SKYSITE has been engineered from the start to tackle these problems head on, and provide instant, synchronized communication to all team members.

SKYSITE’s desktop sync application ensures that all your critical files are sync’d to each user’s device. You update a drawing, and instantly each of your team member’s computers are updated. Any team members operating from a mobile device are updated as well, quickly and simply.

SKYSITE is mobile construction management software that works by providing document management and sharing tools on a variety of devices, from iOS to Android, and Microsoft Windows. By supporting the tools people use, SKYSITE enables access where people need it, not just at their desks, if they even have a desk.

SKYSITE’s sync technology is smarter than just sync. Because we understand the construction process, SKYSITE sync allows users to work with and prep their files, always keeping them in sync with the cloud, but when those files get published, SKYSITE ensures they are delivered locked and unchangeable. This ensures that a subcontractor working in one trade doesn’t accidentally delete the files needed by someone else. Everyone sees what they need, sync’d as soon as they are available, and protected from accidental deletion. This is sync done smart.

Sounds interesting? To experience better collaboration and to stay sync’d with current information, sign up for a free trial.

Are you managing your punchlists properly?

It’s a question you might ask yourself the next time a punch list item is marked complete, but isn’t, a deadline for completion is missed, or an owner’s rep walks into a room with an outlet missing a plate cover.

If the little things count — and let’s face it, they always do — checking the box on every punchlist item is a necessity.

We designed the punchlist in SKYSITE to make managing those last “to-do’s” easy, by keeping everyone in the loop and on the same page. Considering there’s always three to five people involved — the project managers who communicates the issues, the contractor who records them, the subcontractors who get them done, and the architect or owner’s rep who approve them, to name a few — the important thing is that they all know what needs to be done and when. That’s where cloud-based construction project document management software comes in.

SKYSITE offers a feature set that delivers five distinct benefits to everyone on the team involved in punchlist completion.

1. Create specific punch items and associate them with individual drawings inside the project folder.
2. Improve clarity and visual documentation by attaching photos, annotations and other jobsite references to punchlist items.
3. Keep the status of each punchlist item front and center, even on the go, with mobile access
4. Send immediate notifications to team members whenever a punch item is created and assigned to them.
5. Streamline punchlist management by creating, delivering, viewing and getting quick response on priority items with robust communication tools.

No matter how thorough you are, or how well you capture items for a punchlist, if the issues on the list are not resolved or managed well, work and reputations can be wasted. SKYSITE Project’s robust punchlist administration features ensure a secure and systematic communication system is in place to keep projects phases moving toward a successful closeout. With SKYSITE Projects, managers can keep their teams on track, on budget, and on time.

If you’re considering project document management on the cloud for your next project, sign up for a free trial and get your team on the same page with SKYSITE’s punchlist tools.

The scope and scale of construction projects make “risk” a dirty word.

There’s not a construction manager or general contractor in the world who would willingly put purchases, deadlines, or the quality of their construction at the mercy of an untried management technique, and the same is true for project document management software.

That’s why SKYSITE offers a sample project feature. With a sample project, construction professionals can easily test and try out the functions of the application under a variety of conditions and constraints.

• What’s it like to manage thousands of files on SKYSITE?
• How quickly can you find a construction plan, an RFI, a punch, a job-site photo, or submittal?
• Have you ever tried to mark up a drawing with your finger on an iPad? If not, SKYSITE’s sample project is the perfect place to try your hand.
• Even something as simple as a folder structure can have an impact on project schedules, team meetings, process reviews and more.

The sample project has documents and file structure pre-populated so new users can build before they buy, or simply experiment with how SKYSITE might improve workflow on their next job.

With SKYSITE, there’s no guessing, no gamble, no risk. Just open up the project and find out what’s available to make your job, your day, and your next project more successful.

If you’re considering project document management on the cloud for your next project, sign up for a free trial and build some time into your schedule to try SKYSITE’s new sample project.

Managing a project is challenging and just keeping track of all the documents, revisions and communications can keep even the best project managers awake at night. At SKYSITE, we have been helping AEC professionals manage their construction documents for years by giving them the tools they need to keep their teams on track ,get their projects done on time, and stay on budget. SKYSITE is the perfect partner to not only keep your project documents under control, but to get them working for you.

By keeping your RFIs, Punchlists and Submittals all in the same application, SKYSITE simplifies project communication for you and your team. SKYSITE helps project managers improve productivity by enabling team communications and ensuring that each team member has the information they need to complete their assigned tasks when they need it, wherever they are.

Project information is organized, structured and searchable so that project managers and owners can track the progress of the project. Full content search makes it easy to find the information you need, quickly.

Stay Connected

With SKYSITE, RFIs and Punch items are logged, tracked and updated right in the software, eliminating the need for paper documents including the delays caused by scanning, emailing and transporting, all without any loss of data. This means efficient, fast communications securely transmitted in the cloud. All data and communication is encrypted to ensure your sensitive information remains private.

Punch items can be created right from the mobile viewer, allowing you to easily associate a punch item with a specific drawing and part of the building. Team members have immediate access, as soon as the item is created.

Photos and other jobsite references can be easily attached for clarity and visual documentation. Team members receive immediate email notifications when an issue is assigned to them.

Mitigates Risks

Lots of factors can slow or cause delays to a construction project, all of which translate to a financial loss. Unresolved issues can easily domino and substantially increase the project costs and delay delivery. SKYSITE gives team members the information required to quickly solve problems, identify bottlenecks and move the project to completion.

Getting started is simple. Sign up for a trial, download the app and start sharing your files, managing RFIs, and creating your Punchlists.

Is your team using SKYSITE yet? Get efficient, switch now to start making your documents work for you.

Imagine having to look for critical information in a collection of thousands of documents on short notice? It’s not just tedious, but the delays and possible missed data can increase costs and cause real problems. Finding the doc you need, when you need it, is crucial when it comes to project document management. Unfortunately, most solutions fail to provide any kind of advanced search, offering only the most basic file and folder name search capabilities. According to many construction professionals the inability to quickly find information often turns into delays. (more…)