Jul 29 2016
SkySite, Inc., an industry-leading software developer for construction professionals and facilities managers, today announced a release of several powerful new features for ProjectLink, the SKYSITE® app for active construction projects.
New functionality includes a time-saving approach to auto-hyperlinking, the ability to attach video to a punchlist item, a faster and more powerful viewer, and improved document search.
"ProjectLink's new features are helping us keep our people using technology in the field rather than carrying around rolls of drawings," said Troy Gates, Director of Design Technologies at KTGY Architecture + Planning. "I like all of the new features, but auto-hyperlinking and the new viewer are a big step forward. It shows me what links are good and what links aren't, so I can fix the problem before sending someone out in the field. These are productivity issues and the developers of SKYSITE are paying attention to them."
ProjectLink, the original SKYSITE application for active construction projects, was introduced in 2015 to manage and distribute the continually changing documents and information used in active construction projects. Through its use, construction professionals dramatically improve communication and collaboration using cloud and secure mobile access.
SKYSITE upgrades include:
Auto-hyperlinking – Optical Character Recognition (OCR) runs in the background as documents are uploaded to SKYSITE, identifying items in one document that refer to information in another document within a drawing set. If the other document is found in the drawing set, the app links the two documents together and marks the item in green; if the link can't be found, or an error is detected, it marks the item in yellow. The feature is designed to identify missing or inaccurate information before it's needed in the field.
Punchlist Video – Punchlists can now be appended with video clips, as well as audio, photos, and notes to substantiate and explain issues with greater clarity and produce better solutions.
Augmented RFI – Requests For Information can be appended with drawings or photos, and users can color-code the status of a request for easy prioritization, improved control, and faster processing.
Powerful search – An improved search function now allows users to find folder names, file names, metadata, and even distinguishes text from graphic content within large-format construction drawings. Used across a large set of hundreds of documents, it can locate accurate and precise information within seconds.
New tablet interface – A simplified project dashboard enables users to view all documents under the same account, with a notification if a document is downloaded on the tablet or is resident in the cloud.
Greater mobile capabilities – An enhanced mobile viewer is three times faster than previous viewers without compromising image and rendering quality. Introduced with the new viewer, a tablet measuring tool allows users to make accurate linear and volume measurements from their mobile devices.
"We're taking on real-life construction challenges and offering innovative and practical ways to deal with them," said Suri Suriyakumar, CEO of SkySite. "There are a lot of bells and whistles out there, but we're interested in solving real problems, putting the right information in the right hands, and making our customers more efficient in what they do."
Why the Construction Industry is Moving to Cloud Technology and Mobile Apps
Construction industry's evolving needs is illustrated in the findings of a survey conducted by SkySite that examined industry technology challenges. According to survey "Future of Construction Technology" conducted earlier this year, the top challenges in delivering a project within budgetary guidelines were:
- Missed and delayed communications (40.8)
- Working from incomplete design plans (40.1%)
- Working from outdated documents (39.5%)
The top challenge associated with project delivery delays was scope of work changes (55.8%), followed by change orders altering plans (51.0%) and working from incomplete design plans (41.5%).
However, survey respondents recognized that use of technology solutions can greatly improve the completion of projects on time and under budget. The top technology solution benefits identified were:
- Better control over information and document sharing (55.8%)
- All project users working from the most current set of documents (50.3%)
- Standardizing project document management (44.9%)
Source: https://www.skysite.com