Customised solution helps construction companies stay ahead of the game

Ricoh helped a traditional large-scale construction and engineering company to establish a customised Task Order Management System, which enables the client to outperform the technology requirements of given projects and helped the client to win contracts 

As the Hong Kong government has announced in its latest policy address that a host of infrastructure projects will be implemented in the near future, it is expected that numerous government building projects will be contracted out and the local construction industry will benefit directly. But the surge in infrastructure projects is no guarantee for companies to win tenders. By virtue of the government’s “Construction 2.0” initiative launched more than two years ago, engineering companies now have to meet more stringent requirements for building quality management and higher safety standards. These companies must make sure to meet such requirements and standards in order to stand a chance of winning bids. 

In Hong Kong, a traditional large-scale construction and engineering company that was behind many government projects is now aware that the practice of awarding projects to the lowest bidders has become a thing of the past. They also know that continuing to use conventional systems to manage projects will make them fall behind their peers and is not the way to fulfil the government’s requirements in tenders. Understanding what the company’s objectives are and what bottleneck issues are facing the construction industry when adopting advanced technologies, Ricoh’s Business Transformation Consultants set off to establish a customised Task Order Management System, which enables the client to outperform the technology requirements of given projects while enabling them to centrally manage a variety of engineering software commonly used in the industry. The system has also enabled the client to win contracts . Together with Ricoh’s Workflow Automation system, it helps the client improve their service quality. All this will stand them in good stead when bidding for projects in the future.

Content

1. The prohibitive cost of managing multiple systems
2. Customised Task Order Management System improves user experience through centralised data management
3. Words from a Ricoh business consultant

The prohibitive cost of managing multiple systems

• Traditionally construction and engineering companies use a variety of software applications to manage project progress. They include the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS), which stores project documents and reviews approval status, the Digital Works Supervision System (DWSS), which records the progress of projects and related information, and the Geographic Information System (GIS), which displays geographically referenced information. But these systems operate independently, so that data are fragmented and there is a lack of transparency. Stakeholders of a project cannot easily acquire information such as progress of the project and the flow of funds. All this pushes up the administrative cost.
• Government departments that outsource projects have made it clear that they prefer using the widely known MS Access to record project data, but such a traditional software is now outmoded. Not only is it unable to handle an enormous amount of data, but it also fails to meet the technological needs associated with remote work.
• Traditionally, the day-to-day operations of the construction industry generate a huge amount of paper documents. It is costly to manage and store such documents, and searching them is no easy task. There is also the risk of data loss and data leak when workers bring the documents outside the office.

Customised Task Order Management System improves user experience through centralised data management

• Ricoh’s customised Task Order Management System is unique in that it can combine EDMS, DWSS and GIS - three software applications often used in the construction sector. It enables consultancies and government departments that farm out projects to easily look for all kinds of information related to specific projects, help construction companies save the time and resources needed to respond to inquiries, and improve the experience of all stakeholders.
• Ricoh  recommended the client to use the MySQL database management system to manage and process database. Scalable, mobile and operating continuously, the system is capable of coping with a huge amount of engineering data and records. It also allows employees and stakeholders to edit data and view data. Besides, as data can be stored on cloud, the risk of data loss and data leak can be reduced.
• With Ricoh’s Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology , documents can be accurately converted into digital files. With Ricoh’s Workflow Automation solution, data can be delivered to designated employees and supervisors as reminders or for approval, thus significantly reducing the required storage space and human input errors while speeding up workflows.

Words from a Ricoh business consultant

”At the beginning, the client did not fully trust us because they thought Ricoh could not offer solutions catering to the construction sector. In fact, Ricoh’s professional teams have offered various customised solutions to clients from different industries, such as construction, property management, logistics and insurance. We don’t confine ourselves to certain industries. The results we delivered have won the praise of many clients. In this case, we and our work partners  studied in detail the problems facing the construction industry. After giving in-depth and succinct presentations of our service to the government, consultancies and the client , we managed to convince the authorities to use the task order management system instead of traditional systems. The tacit practice of awarding bids to the lowest bidders for government contracts has also been challenged with success. Eventually our client won a number of contracts .”

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