CW finds out how appropriate software can help construction companies innovate, get a handle on problems and take corrective action without delay.
Here’s a fact we all know: the Indian construction industry is buzzing. The slew of public-sector infrastructure development projects in the offing and healthy demand for real estate have attracted leading global EPC players to the country. While this is helping the industry become more professional in its approach, it has also changed the competitive landscape.
The need to automate
Nowadays, construction companies are expected to deliver complex mega projects in tight schedules and budgets leaving negligible margins for time and cost errors. Yet, as Balaji Sreenivasan, CEO, Aurigo Software Technologies says, “A recent survey on the Indian infrastructure industry shows that of the 1,035 infrastructure projects completed between 1992 and 2009, 41 per cent faced serious cost overruns and 82 per cent faced significant time overruns.”
This is testament to the overwhelming need to automate and integrate business processes from start to finish, thus ensuring the required visibility to monitor and control time schedules and costs throughout the lifecycle of projects. Handy spreadsheets and clerical reports, yesterday’s trusted methods of project management, are not enough in today’s challenging environment. Now, the ability to take timely decisions based on accurate real-time information differentiates winner and laggards. And winners must rely on advanced information technology solutions to align their business processes with global standards and get ahead.
Capital project management systems
Sreenivasan suggests using comprehensive capital project management systems (CPMS) such as the Web-based Aurigo BRIX solution suite that can completely automate different facets of project management including land management, cost estimation, planning, electronic bidding (tendering), project monitoring, managing multiple contracts, construction management, field inspections, asset maintenance and asset disposal. Simultaneously, he cites a growing need to combine an ERP solution to automate the four crucial ‘M’s (men, machines, material and money), design software, scheduling solution, and GIS capabilities with the CPMS. That way, companies avoid reinvesting in existing IT applications by using CPMS that seamlessly integrate project data with available IT infrastructure (ERP, document management systems and legacy applications). Aurigo BRIX scores in this respect by coming replete with connectors to standard ERP platforms (such as Microsoft Dynamics and SAP), project scheduling applications (such as Microsoft Project and Primavera), and GIS applications (ESRI, Google Maps).
Design solutions
Increasingly, competitive global markets and ever-mounting expectations of clients are compelling design firms seeking to establish a global footprint to re-evaluate their practices. For instance, Manideep Saha, Head, AEC & Geospatial, Autodesk, India & SAARC, points out that the Indian construction industry is progressing from using AutoCAD-based design and documentation software to advanced technology for building information modelling (BIM), dynamic civil modelling, and collaborative project management. With its ability to ensure quick turnaround on projects, improved productivity, minimal inefficiencies, and smaller project implementation teams, BIM is being seen as software enhancing the creation, management and delivery of innovative ideas. Saha observes an increasing demand for 3D solutions in this space.
Design companies would also benefit from using technology tools specifically developed to suit current industry trends. For instance, Autodesk responded to the high priority accorded to environmental sustainability and green buildings by focusing on the design dynamics behind green construction. The outcome, its energy analysis software applicable to the architecture and MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) domains, Autodesk® Ecotect® Analysis is a comprehensive concept-to-detail sustainable design and analysis tool providing a wide range of simulation and analysis functionality to improve performance of existing buildings and new building designs. As Saha explains, “Online energy, water, and carbon-emission analysis capabilities integrate with desktop tools to visualise and simulate building performance within the context of its environment. Users can interact with powerful 3D feedback to explore factors such as solar, shadows and reflections, and day-lighting. The Autodesk® Green Building Studio® energy analysis service also facilitates the quick evaluation of multiple design alternatives for energy efficiency and carbon neutrality.”
Returns from IT investments
“In the infrastructure domain, spending on implementing IT tools provides immediate return on investment (ROI),” reveals Sreenivasan. “For example, even a mere 1 per cent cost reduction in a small hundred crore road project cost is sufficient to recover the investment made in technology.” He also observes that results are generally in line with investment. Construction companies — and capital project owners — in India typically spend around 0.1 per cent of their turnover on IT, whereas western companies in the same field invest between 2-3 per cent of their turnover. A properly implemented system can result in about 5 per cent cost savings for the project as well as keep it on time.
Newer software techniques making available reliable, coordinated and consistent digital representations of building designs and iterations of alternatives are increasingly being counted on as the key to high-quality and rapid construction, document production, construction, planning and performance predictions. Saha says, “The ROI is far higher than without the use of software.” He also mentions adoption as vital to ensure that users extract maximum mileage out of technology solutions as well as get sustained ROI through the entire project lifecycle. That’s why Autodesk provides opportunities for customers to train through its wide network of training centres across India. Sreenivasan recommends allocating about 20 per cent of the budget to training users.
Construction and design companies in India are slowly moving towards managing their projects efficiently and transparently like their global counterparts in developed nations. Software can speed up this process, as well as help engineers invest their energy where it matters most — innovation.
Customised or off-the-shelf?
Customised solutions are tailor-made to match a company's existing processes. While these may seem a better option than off-the-shelf software, Sreenivasan believes adopting tried and tested standard software makes for a more mature IT strategy. "You begin building on standard software blocks that are proven and tested. This also brings in global industry best practices, a committed product roadmap with upgrades and updates, and quicker deployment times, besides cutting your costs significantly," he adds. According to him, the future will bring more and more solutions designed for the specific needs of different industry segments; such as commercial builders, ports, power plants, railways, and telecom, by people who understand the workflows and critical metrics of each. About 90-95 per cent of the solution should be out-of-the-box ready for deployment and with the best global industry practices built in. Ideally, user interfaces should also conform to standards or de facto standards like Microsoft Office so that users get productive very quickly. In addition to endorsing the utility of software applications that have matured over time with continuous user feedback, Saha believes a wide range of out-of- box functionalities should be combined with built-in application programming interfaces, enabling customised modules and applications. That way, users can directly add statutory industry standards and libraries. Software should also be capable of meeting the requirements of almost any project, no matter where it is located in the world.
Quick Bytes
• There is a overwhelming need to automate and integrate business processes from start to finish.
• Design companies can benefit from using technology tools specially developed to suit current industry trends.
• A properly implemented software system can result in about 5 per cent cost savings for the project.
• Use of software ensures maximum mileage out of technology solutions.
