Construction Viz

Project Management Perfect

Jeff Lydon

Perfecting the Questionnaire: Phase 4

Forms |

Over the past six months, Lydon Solutions has been on a journey to revolutionize our Construction Viz questionnaire. What started as a simple concept has evolved into a dynamic and powerful tool that can transform the way you collect data in the field, office, or anywhere else.

In our latest post, we dive into the exciting new lookup feature that takes our questionnaire to the next level. Imagine a questionnaire that not only adapts to any form type but also includes multiple data types like checkboxes, text, dates, numbers, and more. Plus, every question can have photos and comments attached by default. And now, with the lookup feature, you can pull data from global data lists to create a truly powerful data collection tool.

In part one of our series, we built the foundation of the questionnaire, covering 90% of the needs. Part two introduced the ability to add ad hoc comments to every question by default. In part three, we added the capability to include geolocated images with every question. Now, in part four, we've added a new data type: the dropdown. This new data type allows you to create a global data list with predefined values that you can use across any questionnaire in any form.

How Can the Dropdown Feature Benefit Your Project?

Here are a couple of use cases for the new Questionnaire dropdown feature:

Safety

  • For field safety inspections, you could predefine the PPE required for a project.
  • Create a global data set with values like hard hats, safety glasses, Tyvek, etc.
  • Inspectors in the field can conduct a visual safety inspection, select multiple safety PPE values from the dropdown, and even add their own on the fly.
  • No manual entry required, ensuring consistent data capture for reporting and analytics.

Materials

  • For daily reports to track project progress, you can predefine all the piping materials for a water treatment plant project.
  • Create multiple global data sets for piping, fittings, valves, and accessories, each with different dimensions and IDs for detailed tracking.
  • In the field, the user could select multiple installed materials, enter the percentage complete, and add photos of progress.

The Questionnaire component offers endless opportunities to capture data in an organized and consistent manner, making data entry a breeze. Discover more about the questionnaire by requesting a free demo below.

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Introducing the New Construction Viz Daily Resource Tracking Component

Project Management |

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our latest feature: the Daily Resource Tracking component. We designed this innovative tool to enhance the way you manage field resources with multiple cost codes, making productivity management in the field more efficient and effective.

Features of the Daily Resource Tracking Component

The Daily Resource Tracking component can be added to any form, allowing users to track resource productivity straightforwardly and intuitively. It simplifies the process of tracking resource hours with multiple cost codes, especially in the field and on mobile devices. This feature provides robust analytics for performance reporting, ensuring you have the insights you need to manage your projects successfully.

Key Features:

  • Ease of Use: The intuitive grid layout is familiar to users, making it easy to input data.
  • Efficiency: Minimizes data entry time by dynamically adding or deleting cost codes to every resource.
  • Flexibility: Responsive design ensures it works seamlessly on any device with a modern browser.
  • Comprehensive Reporting: Provides an interactive grid view of all resources by cost code for every day of the project. This detailed reporting is especially handy for contractor billing and ensuring your project stays on track, allowing you to see productivity by period, cost code, person, class, and project.

How Does It Work?

Once a project is set up with the correct companies, personnel, projects, and cost codes, users can fill out the Daily Resource Tracking component in any form. The process is simple:

  1. Select one or more people from a lookup.
  2. Choose one or more cost codes for the project.
  3. The component creates a row for every person and a column for every cost code.

Users can easily add hours for each resource in an interactive grid by cost code, similar to a spreadsheet. This method reduces data entry by dynamically adding or deleting cost codes and providing only one row per resource. It can also be combined with other components like equipment tracking and weather observations, creating a single form for all field data collection needs.

You can find out more about the Daily Resource Tracking component and many others by requesting a demo below.

Request a Free Demo

Relate Drawings and Specifications to Any Form with Construction Viz

Forms |

Construction forms such as RFIs frequently reference drawings. Unfortunately, searching for an RFI to find a drawing or vice versa can be cumbersome in a PMIS.

With our latest Construction Viz for Microsoft 365 release, you can now see related drawings and specifications in any form app. You can also see every related form in the Drawings and Specifications apps. Discover why this small change can be a significant help in managing project documents in the article below.

Enhancing the Construction Viz Related Drawings Feature

Construction Viz provides related drawings and specifications components that you can add to any form app. The benefit of this is that if you use the Drawings and Specifications apps, you can centralize your records in one place. Instead of having to attach files from your desktop, you can simply find and relate those records in any form. This feature centralizes drawings and specifications, avoiding outdated revisions that can circulate throughout the project.

With the latest update, we have introduced a significant time-saver with the ability to display all form app records related to drawings and specifications within the Drawings and Specifications apps.

For example, if you know the RFI you are looking for, you can easily access the related drawings within the RFI. Alternatively, if you know the drawing, you can access all the related RFIs within that drawing. This feature is available across all apps!

If you would like to learn more about what’s possible with Construction Viz in your Microsoft 365, you can request a demo here.

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New Log Features for the Construction Viz PDF Report Wizard

Forms |

The PDF Report Wizard is a great tool that allows users the ability to print a PDF report from any form app. With a few clicks, you can print the form, select which attachments you want to include, and Construction Viz converts the form and attachments to PDF.

With the latest release, we updated the wizard to include the entire history of every email generated for the form. Check out this addition that will help you manage project correspondence.

Get a Detailed Activity Log with the PDF Report Wizard

The PDF Report Wizard is a configurable reporting tool that is available for every app and allows users to print off forms and attachments into a PDF Binder. It even converts Microsoft Office files and image files to PDF automatically. And you can create your own custom reports to include or exclude components of a form app.

With the latest update, we added the ability to select whether or not you want to print the email history. Selecting the checkbox adds a detailed log at the end of the report for every email sent out from the form, including:

  • The date the form was submitted for review
  • Who sent it
  • The distribution list
  • The subject line
  • The email contents, along with links to the form revision

CYA is in full effect 😊

Construction Project Management Your Way

Ready to streamline your construction project workflows? Discover how Construction Viz can revolutionize your project management. Request a free demo today and see the difference it can make for your organization.

Get a Free Demo

Construction Viz Questionnaire Phase 2 and Beyond!

Forms |

After building a truly dynamic questionnaire feature into Construction Viz, we quickly followed up with the ability to add comments to every response.

Check out this post to see how this small but super helpful feature provides even more flexibility to the Questionnaire component and see what's coming down the pike!

New Construction Questionnaire Comments Field Enhancement

Questionnaires need to be as dynamic as possible. Based on client feedback, users wanted the ability to add comments to each response to provide further explanation. For example, when completing an inspection report, the inspector might indicate a non-compliance issue per their observation checklist and use the new comments feature for that specific response to further elaborate as to why.

The comments can be printed to PDF with the form using the report wizard. As with all Construction Viz apps, the tool automatically saves the data to the client's Microsoft 365 SharePoint site.

A Preview of the Roadmap

We have several more exciting enhancements on the roadmap that will add even more features to the questionnaire component very soon, including:

  • Adding photos to every response, including geospatial data. This enhancement will make collecting punch-list items a breeze.
  • Sorting through and finding photos quickly with a new image view that displays all photos added to a questionnaire, complete with metadata.
  • Pulling data from a centralized list with a new lookup response type. This feature will enable organizations to establish standard lists, such as a set of inventory materials that you can assign to each response as you complete it.

And that is just a small preview of what's to come. Stay tuned for more updates.

Lydon Solutions continues to innovate and deliver solutions to real-world construction challenges with Construction Viz. You can request a demo of Construction Viz for Microsoft 365 below.

Get a Free Demo

Location, Location, Location: Add Location Data to Images and Video with Construction Viz

Media |

It’s handy to know where photos and videos are taken in the field, especially when filling out a daily or inspection report. Check out this article to see how Construction Viz can enhance your experience with its robust geolocation features.

data to construction images

Geolocating Images and Video in Construction Viz

Adding images and videos to a field report is a must for documenting project progress and identifying defects. Knowing where the photos or videos were taken helps to provide additional metadata and context.

Construction Viz can automatically and manually geolocate each image or video using a simple but effective mapping UI. To start, Construction Viz automatically geolocates files using the following logic when uploading the photos or video:

  • If the device location is enabled, Construction Viz uses the device's latitude and longitude as the location.
  • If location data is not available for the device or files, Construction Viz uses the project's latitude and longitude for location.
  • If no project, device, or file location is available, then a location in the middle of the U.S. is used as a starting point.

Moving the Location Pins

While assigning a default latitude and longitude for images and videos is a big time saver, Construction Viz also includes an interactive geolocation feature where users can move a pin to the exact location on a modal map. This custom geolocator can be especially handy if no existing latitude and longitude data is associated with the files, and you are back at the office completing your report.

Finally, to make this feature as flexible and easy to use as possible, Construction Viz provides three options to update files:

  1. Upon uploading an image or video from the device
  2. From within the uploaded grid view of all files
  3. Using the flyout menu

So, depending on your preference, there is an approach that will fit your work process.

Ready to streamline your construction project workflows? Discover how Construction Viz can revolutionize your project management with built-in image and video geolocation, as well as other powerful features. Request a free demo today by filling out the form below, and see the difference it can make for your organization.