We all get 24 hours in a day. Sometimes we feel like the clock is overtaking us with each new day adding more and more to the list that we can never seem to quite get to the end of. If only there was a way that each task could be made efficient, manageable, then the process of checking things off would be so much easier.
As an architect, we seem to spend a lot of time on communication and managing others, whether it’s a team of architects, the consultant team or even builders and general contractors. You double check that you’ve included everyone on the drawing transmittal, and then follow up to make sure that they’ve all received it. And everyone seems to do everything slightly differently. Maybe you receive a Dropbox link, or an invitation to view a folder on Google Drive. There was probably even a discussion about how you want to receive things, but by now everyone has forgotten and falls back to their usual habits.
Design is a collaborative process, so why isn’t our management system collaborative? Why isn’t there the capability to collaboratively upload and view drawings and have meaningful communication? It’s so hard to be organized amongst the chaos that is the design process.
However, SiteSupervisor has you covered. It is an inexpensive solution to document management and distribution to keep everyone on the same page, without all the follow-up; a collaborative place that has an easy interface for drawing upload and viewing in addition to project communication and correspondence. You stay in control, never losing the management of the register. This also goes for the other disciplines. Each consultant manages their own register all sharing and distributing on a common platform. It is really revolutionary and simple in its execution.
The drawing register on SiteSupervisor follows the tried and tested traditional drawing transmittal format, where you can view the status and revision of every drawing. It provides a direct snapshot of the key information regarding the drawing that you want to be seen. Why this has not been available before is one of those mysteries for it just covers off what we have all wanted. An effective way to collaborate digitally around the central core of any project … the drawings!
Drawing distribution happens automatically to those who are included in your project team as set up in SiteSupervisor. But still keeping the inherent site hierarchy and protocols as the drawings are distributed and approved. This means you save time you would otherwise spend remembering everyone that needs to be on the distribution list. It also means that no one has an excuse to miss the latest drawings once uploaded. And of course, it works the other way too. If another consultant in the team transmits a drawing, you don’t need to lose sleep wondering if they’ve remembered to include you in the transmittal. You’ll never miss a drawing.
At times of milestone drawing issues, I always find myself allowing a half day for just the uploading and issuing part of the process. It’s stressful, we’ve all been there and thank goodness we’ve moved on from paper drawings to digital. Sometimes we even have someone in the office whose job is document control. It’s not effective, but it’s become the norm. So why don’t we all do ourselves a favor and save time if we can? And we know we can with SiteSupervisor, leaving more of the 24 hours to do the fun parts of our job.
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Rachel Hur has been working in architecture for almost 8 years while undertaking a B.Arch Des at the University of Queensland, followed by an M.Arch from Melbourne University. She currently specializes in Correctional Architecture with a strong focus on rehabilitation and creating therapeutic spaces.
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