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Notification Overload? Construction Viz for Microsoft 365 Can Help

Project Management Tools |

In today’s connected world, people are bombarded with electronic notifications at home, at work, and across multiple devices. The onslaught of these automated messages that require your attention can become overwhelming and eventually lead to ignorance, especially in the construction industry. With Construction Viz, we put you in charge of your notifications. We aim to make notifications meaningful and unique to your specific project needs. Read on to find out more.

Control Your Project Notifications with Construction Viz

Over the years of deploying enterprise construction management systems, we found that users can face burnout when inundated with notifications all day, especially when they are not actionable.

With Construction Viz, we built a notification framework that can be unique to your projects by implementing the following features:

  • Custom response statuses: Admins can create their own unique statuses for every app. So, if you have statuses like New, Open, Revise & Resubmit, Accepted, and Closed in a Submittal form, you can create those yourself and set a default status when creating a record.
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  • Actionable notifications. In addition to creating your own statuses, you can set which statuses, at each phase, will be posted to the notification center for users to take action.
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  • Dashboards. Every app in Construction Viz includes an out-of-the-box dashboard, but you can supplement it with Power BI reports if needed. Check out the link here on Power BI and Construction Viz. These dashboards display the status of all the records and notifications specific to you. Also, the dashboards can drill down into a filtered view of the records.
  • My Action Required views. Every app grid in Construction Viz includes a My Action Required toggle where you can quickly see all the records you need to action on.
  • Microsoft 365 applications. In addition to Construction Viz-specific notifications, Microsoft 365 applications can be utilized to bring notifications directly to your daily workflow.
    • Email. All of our applications can automatically send emails to users, or you can send ad hoc emails to users or groups to take action.
    • Microsoft Teams Approvals. Using Microsoft Power Automate, workflows can be used to send notifications to Teams, so if you find yourself working in Teams, you will receive a new Activity and Approval.
    • Adaptive Cards. Suppose you prefer to work in Outlook or Teams. In that case, Adaptive Cards offer a unique opportunity to surface only key fields in mini-applications that can be embedded into Outlook email and Teams chats, providing the ability to view and respond without having to open Construction Viz. Check out this article to find out more.

Instead of getting frustrated with notifications that aren’t relevant or actionable, Construction Viz can help. Construction Viz is a unique platform to manage your construction projects the way that works best for you. To find out more about how Construction Viz can help you manage your projects in Microsoft 365, you can request a demo here.

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Overwhelmed with Project Documents? Construction Viz Can Help

Project Management Tools |

So you moved to Microsoft 365 to manage your project documents - well done! SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive are all great products for organizing projects, but they can create an even worse nightmare if not used correctly.

With Construction Viz for Microsoft 365, we feel your pain and are here to help clean up the mess and get the project managers back to doing what they do best: managing projects.

Managing Construction Project Documents

Let's face it: managing project documents can be challenging, even if you have a document control specialist and are using Microsoft 365.

You need to consider many factors and the downside of going it alone when managing your documents:

  • Metadata. Metadata helps you organize and find data. You can add columns or folders to organize your files better, but it requires upfront planning and setup by the entire team.
  • Approvals. Most documents go through some approval process. Are you going to create a Power Automate workflow for approvals? Most likely, no.
  • Supporting documentation for forms. When you create or submit forms such as an RFI or submittal, you fill out a cover sheet (the form) and attach the relevant files. You must decide where to store those files and how to reference them. If you are unfamiliar with Microsoft 365, this might pose a challenge.
  • Revisions. Documents such as drawings go through revisions. How can you ensure the team is working on the latest revision but still has access to all prior revisions? Other records, such as RFIs, go through revisions; how will you handle form revisions?
  • Views. Once you upload all your files, you need a way for everyone to find and search for the documents. Are you going to create these views? What if a user seeks a specific file in a project? If you are using folders, making users hunt and peck through layers of folders is inefficient. You could create and configure a search hub, which can be complex and time-consuming.

You get the picture. There is a lot of upfront planning, and you must understand how to use Microsoft 365 effectively to manage your documents.

Construction Viz Simplifies Project Document Management

With Construction Viz, we have you covered. We thought through all the above challenges and provided even more functionality, so you don't have to worry about any of the upfront planning and complex administration.

Some of the great features of Construction Viz include:

✔ Metadata assignment. Metadata is automatically assigned and stored in SharePoint when you save a form or document.

✔ Electronic approvals on everything. Construction Viz allows as many approvals as you would like with any app and even includes e-signature approvals. You get ball-in-court reporting and automatic notifications of tasks due so you can stay on top of your workload. You can have automatic approval emails sent, or you can select a person or group to send emails with all of the email history captured in app-specific logs.

✔ Data resides securely in your SharePoint. All documents are organized and stored securely in your SharePoint lists and libraries, so you know where your data is at all times and have access to it 24x7.

✔ Controlled revision management. Forms and documents have revision management features so that you can easily replicate, track, report, and access the latest revision and all previous revisions with a simple toggle.

✔ Custom Views. Every Construction Viz app has a predefined set of views so that you can take action quickly. Also, you can copy, edit, and create custom views for more in-depth analytics.

Construction Viz lets you get back to spending time constructing projects and less time administering them.

Want to organize your project documents in Microsoft 365? Use the form below to request a demo of Construction Viz. If you're not ready for an enterprise construction management solution but still need help organizing your files, request a free one-hour consultation at LydonSolutions.com.

Get a Free Consultation

Project Time Tracking in the Construction Viz Task Manager

Project Management Tools |

Outside of when the task was completed, how many hours it took to perform it is the second most asked question. Project Managers need to know the level of effort to compare it against estimated hours, add hours to billing, check efficiencies, or manage labor utilization. Accurate construction project time tracking is thus essential to every project.

With the Construction Viz Task Manager, we continue to extend the functionality so that everything you need to manage a task is included in the application, including time tracking.

Construction Project Time Tracking

Everything in project management, and life in general, comes down to managing a series of tasks. Effectively managing the who, what, when, where, and why of tasks can lead to a successful project.

We see task management as a cornerstone of project management, which is why, with Construction Viz, we are beefing up resource management features so that you can manage tasks how you want to manage them. One of those critical features is detailed construction project time tracking.

Key Features of the Construction Viz Task Manager App

The Construction Viz Task Manager might seem familiar to those who use Microsoft Planner and MS Project for the Web. But we designed the app for construction projects with the ability to customize it to your unique processes.

The Construction Viz Task Manager’s new Time-Tracking component can be activated in a task and works with the Schedule component. Resources and hours can be assigned daily based on a task’s scheduled start and finish dates.

The interface is simple but powerful under the hood. Add resources, the description of work, hours, and the specific day in a weekly or monthly view. Records are saved to SharePoint lists, so the data is always available for you to create your own Power BI reports.

And, because Construction Viz utilizes your Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online lists and libraries, you can rest assured that the data securely resides in your Microsoft 365 tenant.

The Construction Viz Task Manager is one of many applications that round out a suite of apps to help you manage your projects. If you want to learn more, use the form below to request a demo.

If you are not ready for an enterprise construction management solution but need help with Microsoft 365, you can request a free one-hour consultation here.

Get a Free Consultation

How Can I Manage Project Emails?

Project Management |

Many companies find managing project emails cumbersome in their existing Project Management Information System (PMIS) and prefer to use Microsoft Outlook for project correspondence. So, how can we accommodate this using Microsoft 365 and Construction Viz? Check out this article to find out more.

One of the questions we hear from construction organizations is: How can they use Microsoft 365 and/or Construction Viz to manage project emails? The process needs to be easy, and they need to have the ability to do this right from Outlook.

Easy Project Email Management with Construction Viz

With Construction Viz, you are in luck. Construction Viz uses Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online to store data so that we can leverage some out-of-the-box functionality to our advantage. Here are a few approaches:

  1. SharePoint sites have email addresses. With a SharePoint Team site, you can use a group email address as the project email to send and receive emails. With Construction Viz, we can ensure any system-generated emails automatically copy that unique email address. We can also send those emails to a SharePoint libraries and surface them in the File Manager app.
  2. Libraries and Folders for Project Emails. The Construction Viz File Manager app allows you to create one or more SharePoint document libraries and folders to manage project information. So, if you need to store emails from multiple projects, you can create separate document libraries and folders as needed. Once created, you can drag and drop emails from Outlook into the upload screen of the File Manager or any other Construction Viz app. You can then view those emails, send links to the emails to team members, and even include links to those emails in other applications.
  1. Upload to OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint. Outlook emails can be dragged and dropped to OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint. Since all of these applications are connected, the File Manager app can access the messages and display those emails in Construction Viz.

Construction Viz is a one-of-a-kind construction project management solution for Microsoft 365. You can use it out of the box, integrated with other Microsoft 365 apps, and/or customized to your unique needs. You can request a demo here to find out more.

SharePoint Importing Made Easy with the Construction Viz Mass Importer

Project Management |

Importing SharePoint and Construction Viz records has never been easier!

Uploading more than one record with metadata (columns) into Microsoft SharePoint is a manual process that can be fraught with unknown errors. What if you could simply drop off an Excel file with your data, have the system notify you of any issues in detail, and then seamlessly update a SharePoint library with a push of a button? It sounds too good to be true. Our R&D team has built the new Construction Viz Mass Importer app for Microsoft 365 to make your life easier. Check out this article to find out more.

The New Construction Mass Importer for Microsoft 365

If you have tried to upload multiple records into a SharePoint library containing columns (metadata), you know how error-prone and time-consuming the process can be. While Microsoft provides an out-of-the-box Excel import tool for SharePoint lists, it only works in creating the initial list, and it can create issues with column field types.

Because Construction Viz utilizes Microsoft SharePoint as the data source, ensuring all of your data is safe in your Microsoft 365 tenant, we wanted to build a tool that you could use to upload Excel file data into SharePoint libraries easily.

Version 1.0 of the app imports data into SharePoint lists, where Construction Viz stores data for apps such as Drawings and Specifications. Future versions of the Mass Importer app will include any list or library in the SharePoint site. Beyond just importing the records from an Excel file, we added many features we have never seen in any other construction management software tool for importing records.

Features of the Construction Viz Mass Importer

The unique features of the Construction Viz Mass Importer app include:

Format embedded into Excel templates

Field formats (dates, currency, numbers, etc.), single and multi-select lookup values, and choice values are embedded automatically into the Excel import template. This feature reduces errors and ensures the correct format is always used when importing records.

Web-based spreadsheet for changes

When imported, Excel files are displayed in an interactive spreadsheet where further changes can be made and saved before updating. Other systems require the user to return to the imported Excel file, make the changes, and re-import.

Robust error handling

The exact error messages are displayed in the Spreadsheet component so you can see the issues live and make the changes before saving. Other systems only tell you which column didn’t import. Our tool tells you the exact cell and what specifically needs to be fixed.

Archive of imports

All Excel files imported are saved to a SharePoint document library for archiving purposes. So, if you need to go back and see the Excel file you used previously, you can pull it up with the date and who imported the file.

More Construction Project Management Tools Coming for Microsoft 365

Keep an eye on this space for future releases, where we will continue to extend the Mass Importer functionality for Construction Viz and SharePoint.

If you are looking for a construction management Microsoft 365-based solution where your data stays with you and you only pay for the apps you need, check out Construction Viz and request a demo.

Old School Meet the New School: Construction Viz File Manager

Project Management Tools |

There are two camps for how to store project files in a project management information system (PMIS): use folders or tag files with metadata. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. With the new Construction Viz File Manager, you can choose either method or both for your projects. Read on to find out how the Construction Viz File Manager can help you manage your project documentation how you want.

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Like the cola wars between Pepsi vs. Coke, storing project files in folders or tagging files with metadata has proponents firmly dug in on both sides of the argument. Knowing that these two camps are resistant to change is why Microsoft offers multiple applications like OneDrive and SharePoint, which store files differently (but they are becoming more similar with each new release).

The case for storing your files in folders

The old-school approach to managing files has always followed the same approach as Windows Explorer, where you drag and drop files into named folders.

A folder-based approach makes storing files simple, but finding them when needed can be challenging depending on the folder hierarchy. You can use search in some instances to find your files by reading the data within them. However, you must often understand the folder structure to find your desired file.

Microsoft 365 OneDrive home screen with folders.

The case for organizing your files with metadata

If you tag files with metadata, you can search, filter, and report on those tags, but it does force some up-front work. The person uploading the file must tag data (depending on how you set up the drop-off workflow) to the file in order to effectively search for the file later. So, while metadata tagging is excellent for document control, it can frustrate users on the front end.

SharePoint Document Library with metadata columns Project and Location.

With Construction Viz, we have been a metadata tagging proponent. The more metadata you collect, the more reporting and analysis you can do. So, we structured the system around metadata collected via our form technology. If users preferred to use folders, we would link to SharePoint libraries or OneDrive since we stored data in SharePoint. But with our File Manager app, things are about to change.

How can I use both metadata and folders?

The new Construction Viz File Manager provides the folder management file storage that users love without leaving the Construction Viz hub. Users can build out a custom folder structure similar to OneDrive or Windows Explorer and can link files into forms within Construction Viz.

The File Manager seamlessly integrates SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams files. 

The File Manager boasts the following capabilities:

  • Select any document library in your SharePoint site to create folders or upload documents without having to navigate to SharePoint.
  • Select the default documents library in SharePoint to have files synced across Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint automatically.
  • Upload files using our standard document attachment uploader that checks file names and allows editing files on the fly.
  • Link files stored in the File Manager to other Construction Viz applications, such as RFIs, submittals, and daily reports.

With the Construction Viz and the new File Manager app you get the best of both worlds of both folders and metadata. You can store files in folders like Windows Explorer or tag them with metadata automatically when adding them as attachments to our forms.

Video overview of the Construction Viz File Manager app

We continue to focus on delivering solutions that meet you where you work and how you work. The File Manager is one of many applications we have implemented that allow you to make the most out of Microsoft 365 to manage your construction projects. You can find out more about Construction Viz here or request a free one-hour consultation with our Microsoft 365 professionals.