Electrical Industry Canada: Tools, Equipment & Technology - 16

How Procore Project Management Soſtware Can Help
Electrical Contractors Improve Operations
By Elle Bremmer & Blake Marchand
Procore is a project management platform that electrical contractors can
use to help manage their business. It allows users to streamline paperwork,
manage timesheets, improve budgeting and project estimating
processes, share and update electrical drawings, and to collect data to
improve operations.
" The construction environment is shiſting, and it's evolving so rapidly
that it's always changing and if we're thinking that we solved for it, then
we're already behind the curve. We want to answer that, be adaptable,
to be able to change with that constant change, to navigate different
projects and dynamics, " says Procore Solutions Engineering Manager
Anis Khoury.
Using a platform like Procore can make operations more efficient and
leave less room for error, but it can also give you data to better understand
how much labour a job will require and manage your budget. It
makes it easier to track your budget against costs with real-time dashboards,
as well as across all ongoing projects. As projects change and
change orders are added, amounts can be adjusted to accurately reflect
your budget, which include forecasting tools to help you manage delays
or overspends.
Connectivity and updates in real time help prevent re-work, and get
questions or concerns answered quickly.
A key feature of Procore is its ability to eliminate duplicate work. Everything
that is being done in a particular tool can be pushed to other areas
of the project management process. When you are doing your 'takeoff'
you can push your drawing from the Estimating Tool back into the Drawings
Tool and the Estimating can be pushed ahead into your budget
once you've started the project.
" We're entering this age of insights where we need to be able to take
data, organize it and set it up in a way where we can use it to our benefit.
That's the world we're heading into and that's where Procore comes into
play, " Khoury adds.
ELECTRICAL INDUS TRY CANADA
Additionally, Procore has no limit to the number of users on the platform;
as your business grows the cost of the platform stays the same because
there is no per user license fee. If a general contractor chooses to use
Procore, everyone on his team will be given access (with varying permissions
controls).
Procore is also connected to the most third-party applications on the
market, meaning it integrates well with other soſtware. There are more
than 350 applications that can be used within Procore.
" We did that by making the platform open and accessible to soſtware
developers, and again to the community. We have an embedded experience
with some of our apps where you can open the soſtware right
within Procore. "
An example of that is Google Sheets, which means files can be opened
and shared within Procore.
The system is modular so you can add and subtract the tools/packages
that work for your business. The Procore tools that are useful for electricians
and electrical contractors in the field include their Estimating Tool,
Drawings Tool, and Timesheet Tool.
Drawings Tool
The Drawings Tool serves as a live drawing for your project. As change
orders are added to a project they can be loaded into the tool and
automatically populate into the digital drawing for people working in the
field, or those back in the office. This means everyone working on the
project can see the same up-to-date drawings, no matter where they
are.
You can upload your drawing set into Procore and if you have revisions,
you can use the same tool to upload the new drawing, and Procore will
recognize the drawing numbers and names and get them to sync and
update flawlessly-the new drawing appears on top and when overlapping
drawing revisions, Procore will highlight everything that has been
added in blue and removed in red to make it clear what's been changed.
This also helps to prevent re-work. You can get the updates in the field in
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1
16
Electrical Industry Canada: Tools, Equipment & Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Electrical Industry Canada: Tools, Equipment & Technology
