Construction Viz

Project Management Perfect

Construction Viz

Turn Schedule Data into Interactive Reports with Construction Viz and Copilot AI

Construction Viz |

With its structured data foundation, Construction Viz makes it simple for construction teams using Primavera P6 (or any schedule tool that can export activities to Excel) to bring schedule data into SharePoint and use Microsoft AI to create interactive reports.

By combining Construction Viz's Bulk Import feature with a custom SharePoint AI Skill, teams can generate branded schedule reports and run them from a button on a SharePoint page.

Read on for more details on this powerful, time-saving workflow and check out the video below to see it in action.

Bring Schedule Data into SharePoint with Bulk Import

Construction Viz's Bulk Import feature allows teams to import P6 schedule activities into a SharePoint Schedule list. Activity IDs, planned dates, actual dates, and other schedule details are stored as separate metadata fields.

This structure makes schedule information available for AI-assisted reporting within the team's Microsoft 365 environment.

Create a Schedule Report with a SharePoint AI Skill

The next piece of the solution is a custom SharePoint AI Skill that generates a robust schedule report from the imported data.

For example, the Schedule Report Skill can produce an interactive HTML Gantt chart with filters. Users can adjust the view and explore schedule information, while client logos and theming give the report a familiar, consistent appearance.

Saving the reporting instructions as a Skill gives teams a repeatable way to consistently generate the report without entering the prompt each time.

Run the Report from a SharePoint Page

You can even add a Copilot Skill button to a SharePoint page to run the Schedule Report Skill. The button puts reporting within easy reach of project managers and project controls staff, alongside the project information they already access.

Your Data. Your Microsoft 365. Your Control.

Construction Viz is designed around a simple principle: your project data should remain under your organization's control. Project information is stored in the client's Microsoft 365 SharePoint environment, eliminating the need for a separate third-party data repository.

Construction Viz AI Skills, Agents, and generated HTML reports are also delivered within the client's Microsoft 365 environment, allowing organizations to extend AI across project information while maintaining their existing Microsoft security and governance framework.

Get More from Microsoft 365 and Construction Viz

We designed Construction Viz to make construction teams' work easier. The workflow described in this blog post is another example of how Lydon Solutions helps construction organizations get more value from their Microsoft 365 investment by building solutions around how project teams work.

Visit LydonSolutions.com to learn more about Clover AI, our AI platform tailored for Construction Viz, to search, analyze, and create HTML reports on the underlying SharePoint layer.

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Transforming Construction RFP and Bid Management with Construction Viz

Construction Viz |

Managing Requests for Proposals (RFPs) is a critical yet often overwhelming task for construction contractors and consultants. The process demands meticulous planning, document management, team coordination, and timely delivery—each step involving multiple stakeholders and tight deadlines. In today’s competitive environment, having the right tools to streamline these workflows is essential for success.

Construction Viz is purpose-built to address these challenges, offering a comprehensive suite of integrated applications within Microsoft 365 that empowers organizations to plan, organize, review, and respond to RFPs with confidence. Here’s how Construction Viz is redefining bid management for the construction industry:

End-to-End Bid Management

  • Centralized Bid Form: The journey begins with a robust Bid Form that captures all essential details, including the RFP ID, client information, due dates, team leads, priorities, partners, SWOT analysis, and required resources. This centralized approach ensures every proposal starts on a solid foundation.
  • Document Control: All RFP documents are uploaded to a secure, centralized location, with real-time status tracking and schedule management. This eliminates version confusion and ensures stakeholders are always working with the latest information.
  • Task Assignment & Tracking: The embedded Task Manager app enables RFP leads to assign deliverables to team members and automatically links tasks to relevant documents. Progress can be visualized in grid, Kanban, calendar, or Gantt chart views, making it easy to monitor deadlines and accountability.
  • Collaborative Reviews: At every stage, reviews are captured through ad hoc workflows and email notifications, fostering transparency and continuous improvement.
  • Final Proposal Packaging: Once deliverables are complete, all documents are finalized and centralized, ready for seamless submission.

Proven Results Across Major Projects

Construction Viz isn’t just a theoretical solution—it’s trusted by leading organizations on multi-billion-dollar programs. Clients such as AECOM and HDR have leveraged Construction Viz to manage complex transportation and infrastructure projects, praising its configurability, seamless implementation, and exceptional support. For example, AECOM’s team noted the “seamless setup and proactive support” provided by Lydon Solutions, while HDR highlighted the platform’s ability to manage diverse project types and ensure all team members were properly trained.

Why Construction Viz?

  • Customizable Workflows: Tailor the platform to your unique processes while staying on the core product code base.
  • Microsoft 365 Integration: Leverage the security, compliance, and collaboration features of Microsoft 365, ensuring your data remains protected and accessible in YOUR Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online
  • Mobile-First Experience: Access and update forms and reports from any device, even offline.
  • Award-Winning Support: Benefit from a team with deep industry expertise and a track record of successful implementations.

If you’re ready to simplify your RFP and bid management, deliver stronger proposals, and empower your team with modern tools, discover how Construction Viz can help you reach the finish line. Request a free consultation using the form below.

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Construction Viz Makes Handling Photos and Video Easy

Construction Viz |

The ability to take images and video in the field and store them online is one of the most asked-for features of a construction project management system. Unfortunately, most systems only allow uploading images and videos to folders. Construction Viz, for Microsoft 365, makes it easy to work with photos and video while allowing for metadata tagging, enhanced search, and reporting!

Check out this article to find out how capturing project photos and videos in Construction Viz offers many advantages over competitors in the market.

What's the Difference Between Folders and Metadata?

Most construction project management systems, including OneDrive, provide image and video management within a file explorer structure where you upload files to named folders. This approach makes it simple for the user, but that simplicity comes with tradeoffs in getting that data back out for reporting and search.

With Construction Viz, we leverage metadata to store the files, making them easy to search and retrieve.

How Construction Viz Handles Photos and Video

When a user takes a photo or uploads multiple images or videos out in the field, Construction Viz displays thumbnails in an interactive grid so that the user can add key metadata, such as a title and description, before saving the files. The key is making this step as easy as possible so the end user can quickly, easily, and correctly tag metadata.

Construction Viz provides you with three opportunities to get it right:

1. On upload of the file. Users can edit the photo and video metadata on the upload screen.

2. Once saved in the image grid. Users can edit the image grid and update metadata after saving the photo.

3. From the grid flyout menu. Users can click on a photo and open a flyout menu that displays a larger image's thumbnail and metadata in a form layout for ease of editing.

How Do I Get To My Photos?

You can activate the Construction Viz image uploader in any app. You read that right, not just a daily report or an inspection report. You can access and upload media to any of the other 50+ Construction Viz apps.

All images are available in the app grids, allowing you to sort, group, and filter them using the added metadata. And you can create custom project and personal views using the same metadata so you can easily find what you are looking for.

Doc-w-Photos_4

How Does SharePoint Factor Into This?

Construction Viz stores metadata with the image in the SharePoint site where it is deployed. Specifically, images are stored in SharePoint document libraries, and the metadata in Construction Viz is displayed as columns. This file storage approach provides the added benefit of being able to leverage SharePoint search, view filtering, Copilot AI, and the ability to archive in place.

Streamline Your Construction Project Management

If you are interested in Microsoft 365 to manage your construction projects, you can request a free one-hour consultation with our professionals at LydonSolutions.com.

If you are looking for a turnkey construction management solution for your Microsoft 365, you can request a demo of Construction Viz here.

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Lightweight Approval Workflows Are a Snap in Construction Viz

Construction Viz |

Do you need a way to route a form for quick review and approval? Check out the new lightweight response workflow feature in Construction Viz.

Setting up formal approval workflows for a project can be challenging, especially if your review processes are dynamic. When building a workflow, you must consider:

  • Are the steps done in parallel or sequentially?
  • What are all the triggers?
  • How many conditions do you need?
  • What is the status of each step in the process?
  • And the list of considerations goes on.

Also, since system admins typically build workflows, they might not have the hands-on expertise in project management to construct optimized workflows.

Enhancing Workflow Management in Construction Viz

With Construction Viz, we wanted to expand on our simple ad hoc workflow feature.

Currently, a user can assign another user a response task with a due date, and they will get a notification/email to take action. Only the responder identified can come back into the form, update their response date, and change the response status.

So, what’s new?

We simplified adding one or more responders with the new lightweight response component. Now, a user can add as many responders as they want, set a specific due date and default response status, and provide the option to email an entire group of responders from one location.

You can still send off response tasks individually, but if you have many responders, this new feature makes the process a snap. Also, you can send email notifications to an entire group if needed, and the app automatically adds them to a sent log.

You can build your workflows as needed with the new response workflow feature. There’s no need for custom workflows or help from a system admin unless you need more complicated workflows using Power Automate.

With Construction Viz, we deliver a complete construction management solution for YOUR Microsoft 365 that is easy to use, saves time, and ensures you maximize your investment in Microsoft 365. You can request a demo below.

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Construction Viz PDF Report Wizard 2.0

Construction Viz, Forms, Reporting |

Printing off a construction form such as an RFI and easily including all of the attachments is a great feature of any construction management system. With the latest update to Construction Viz, find out how we take our PDF Report Wizard feature a step further.

Construction Viz includes a PDF Report Wizard feature where users can generate a PDF binder from a form while providing the ability to add its attachments. The easy-to-follow wizard walks the user through selecting which attachments to include, the order in which they print, and providing a name for the generated PDF binder. Construction Viz automatically converts the form and any Microsoft Office attachments and images to PDF and then merges them into a PDF binder upon execution.

The Construction Viz PDF Report Wizard feature is excellent for printing one or more forms and then emailing them off to a contractor or archiving project documents.

What’s New in Construction Viz PDF Report Wizard 2.0

Construction Viz - PDF Report Wizard 2.0 -screenshot 1

In our latest update, we added a new report builder to the settings so you can create custom form reports and set default reports for your instance of Construction Viz. The new form report setting includes the ability to:

  • Create one or more reports for each form app and profile with a custom name.
  • Select which form components to include in a report.
  • Select whether to print components that contain no data.
  • Set a report as the default so it is automatically selected when you click print.
Construction Viz - PDF Report Wizard 2.0 - screenshot 2

While Construction Viz utilizes reporting via Power BI for the heavy lifting, the PDF Report Wizard is a simple tool to generate form-specific reports and attachments quickly. This new feature was a requested enhancement that provides even more flexibility to system users.

If you are looking to utilize Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online to manage your projects, check out Construction Viz for an enterprise-scale solution that allows you to get the most out of your investment in Microsoft 365. You can request a demo here. If you need help doing more with Microsoft 365, you can request a free one-hour consultation.

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Construction Viz File Manager Part Deux – New Features!

Construction Viz |

Every construction team uses Microsoft 365 SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive differently to store project files. Some use folders, others use columns to tag files, some even use the SharePoint term store, and on rare occasions, they use a combination of all three. While having the choice of how you want to manage your files is ideal, having too many options among systems and approaches leads to inconsistency and challenges in setting up projects, uploading files, organizing file locations, and searching for documents for construction projects.

We designed the Construction Viz File Manager app to be a single location to store files with a familiar user interface that is easy to use, streamlined, and simplified. It keeps users in Construction Viz instead of having to navigate to the underlying SharePoint site. At its core, the Construction Viz File Manager app allows you to use existing document libraries and folders or create new ones to upload files rather than having to navigate into SharePoint. Check out this article to learn more about the key features of the File Manager app.

Making Construction Viz File Manage Even Better

The reception to the File Manager from our clients has been great, and we have taken user feedback to heart with the latest updates.

Here are some of these new features:

  • Rename folders and files – Ability to rename files and folders easily.
  • Move files to other libraries – Move files to different document libraries and folders.
  • Copy files to other libraries - Copy files to different document libraries and folders.
  • Open in Revu – Open files in Bluebeam Revue directly from the menu.
  • Interactive breadcrumbs – Easily navigate to any level of the folder structure. Each folder name is also a hyperlink.
  • Topographic view – View and navigate to all document libraries in the SharePoint site where Construction Viz is implemented.
  • Permission notifications – The File Manager recognizes SharePoint permissions on document libraries and folders and displays a notification if you don’t have access.
  • New icon for recently uploaded files.

These new Construction Viz File Manager features will help project teams get the most out of Microsoft 365 for their construction projects. Instead of building your in-house solutions in Microsoft 365, check out Construction Viz to hit the ground running, knowing that each of your projects works the way you want. You can request a demo of Construction Viz below to learn more.

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