Construction Viz

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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.

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Form Analytics on Steroids With the New Form Details View

Forms |

You put all of this metadata into your construction forms; now what?

The new Construction Viz form details view takes data captured in forms and presents it in a way that you can analyze until your heart’s content. No need to export to Excel, go to SharePoint, or create a Power BI to search or report on how many pieces of equipment were on the jobsite over the past five days or how many open reviews there are for all of your submittals. In one or two clicks, you can get to your data presented in familiar and straightforward interactive grids.

Check out this article to see how Construction Viz continues to push the envelope of what’s possible in your Microsoft 365 SharePoint to help you manage your construction projects!

Introducing the Construction Viz Form Details View

Construction Viz form apps are built using a combination of components; snippets of code with specific functionality such as a document uploader, review tracking, or a media map. While there are many pre-built construction form applications, components can be assembled to deliver solutions for a client’s unique needs.

Equipment tracking in a Daily Report

Some of these components capture large amounts of data, such as each piece of equipment at a jobsite, personnel and visitors on site, observations made, bid quantities completed, and stakeholder reviews.

While every form app has its own log with the ability to create views, filter, search, group, etc., the form details view extracts data from these data-intensive components into a separate view, allowing users the ability to group, filter, search, and analyze that specific component data independent of the forms.

It’s a new level of analytics that opens up many more opportunities to extract meaning from your data in real time.

Form Details of equipment from a Daily Report

So, do you feel like you are just putting a bunch of data into forms and not getting much out? Check out Construction Viz for Microsoft 365 to actually use the data you fill out in your forms. Request a no-obligation demo to learn how Construction Viz can transform how you manage your projects.

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AECOM Streamlines Submittals & Document Control for Major ADOT Project with Construction Viz

Case Study |

Arizona Department of Transportation_2024 Department Logo_Tertia

Overview

  • AECOM needed a scalable document management and correspondence solution to support a major Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) highway project.
  • Lydon Solutions deployed a tailored suite of Construction Viz apps within AECOM’s Microsoft 365 environment, enabling robust submittal tracking, streamlined collaboration, and contract compliance.
  • The solution delivered immediate value with minimal customization, preserving long-term maintainability while aligning with AECOM’s unique workflows.
AECOM_2

Challenge

AECOM, one of the most recognized and successful construction consulting firms globally, needed a comprehensive document management and correspondence solution to support the largest Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) highway project in southeast Arizona’s history.

To manage the scale and complexity of the project, AECOM needed a centralized, secure document management and correspondence solution. A key requirement was implementing a robust submittal process driven by the project’s submittal register and organized by discipline.

Photo credit: Arizona Department of Transportation

Solution

Lydon Solutions partnered with AECOM to understand the project’s unique workflows and quickly configured a tailored suite of Construction Viz apps deployed directly to AECOM’s Microsoft 365 environment.

While Lydon Solutions had previously delivered a similar solution for HDR on other high-profile ADOT projects, AECOM required custom enhancements to align with its specific review and approval processes.

For this project, Lydon Solutions deployed the following Construction Viz apps :

  • Document Binder
  • Meeting Minutes
  • RFI
  • Submittal
  • Enterprise Submittal
  • Task Manager
  • Transmittal

In addition, Lydon Solutions introduced key enhancements, including:

  • A new Disciplines field in the Personnel Settings and Enterprise Submittal Register
  • Automated reviewer assignment based on discipline, streamlining the submittal process and improving review accuracy and efficiency

This enhancement allows disciplines to be assigned to both personnel and submittal records, dynamically updating the reviewer lists for submittals and ensuring efficient and targeted reviews.

Photo credit: Arizona Department of Transportation

Benefits

Construction Viz for Microsoft 365 delivered immediate value for AECOM and the ADOT project team:

✅ Centralized Document Management & Collaboration

Construction Viz serves as the single source of truth for document control, facilitating real-time collaboration for all project stakeholders.

✅ Contract Submittal Compliance

The Enterprise Submittal Register enforces contract requirements, enabling tracking, targeted reviews, and schedule alignment from a centralized platform.

✅ Scalable, Client-Specific Customization

Construction Viz was easily tailored to AECOM’s unique processes while maintaining its out-of-the-box structure as the foundation. The flexibility of Construction Viz ensures consistency and long-term maintainability in contrast with other platforms that require heavy customization and create ongoing support challenges.

AECOM_logo-lg

“AECOM is using CVIZ on the Arizona Department of Transportation Design-Build project I-10, Kino to Country Club. The Lydon Solutions team made CVIZ setup and implementation seamless and continue to proactively support the project.”

— Brian Ravesloot, AECOM, GEC Project Manager

About Construction Viz

Built on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, Construction Viz is a flexible project management platform offering modular apps tailored to construction workflows. Learn more about the features of Construction Viz and our lineup of construction apps for Microsoft 365.

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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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Phase 3 of the Construction Viz Questionnaire: Now with Geolocated Photos

Forms |

The Questionnaire component for Construction Viz is a powerful and dynamic feature that you can add to any of our construction form apps to capture questions and responses. With Phase 3, we included the ability to add geolocated photos to every response! Discover how this enhancement will elevate field inspections.

Our team recently released a new questionnaire component that Construction Viz users can add to any form app to collect unique response types for each question, including text, checkboxes, dates, numbers, and locations. Phase 2 of our enhancement roadmap allowed users to include ad hoc comments to each response.

Add Geolocated Photos to Your Construction Forms

With Phase 3, you can now take photos or upload as many images as needed for each response. The ability to attach pictures is a huge benefit for field inspections or when creating a punch list, where progress or issues need to be identified and supported by photos.

LS_Questionnaire_Images

Additionally, we have connected our interactive flyout menu, allowing you to see each image in a full-screen view and add metadata such as a title, description, and geospatial location. If you don’t know the latitude and longitude of where a photo was taken or have location services turned off with your mobile device, you have the option to move a pin on a map to set the desired location to capture Lat/Long.

As with all of our Construction Viz apps, the data is stored in your Microsoft 365 SharePoint lists and libraries.

Stay tuned: we are currently working on a few more powerful features for the questionnaire component, including providing lookups as a new data type to allow users to select data, such as a building inventory, from a predefined list.

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.

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