Data-drive to site management

Leading with data is helping construction sites reach higher-quality handovers and reduce the overall lead time. But rather than just software, the true benefits of data-drive are found in improved processes and transparency with the data kept up-to-date.

Postipuisto is a site by Fira Oy for a 6-storey and 2-entry residential building, totaling 60 apartments in the suburbs of Helsinki, Finland. The site sets a great example for data-drive. Schedule management is done daily with Sitedrive in collaboration with all involved parties, starting early in the morning when the site managers first arrive to the site and continued throughout the day along the on-site rounds.

“All our schedule management aims at ensuring everyone has their job area clear and everything else they need set so they can start their work on time,” says Alina Leppänen, site manager for interior works at Postipuisto. “We need data about all that in small pieces, we need to have that data visible all the time, and we need to monitor it in real time. This is what enables us to stay on schedule.”

The indoor works at Postipuisto are done in a one-week takt per floor and entry. Each floor is reserved for a given contractor for the week. “Every Monday morning, I have the foremen come in and we go through the previous week with Sitedrive,” Alina explains. “Then, we ensure there are no roadblocks for this week or the following week. When needed, I update the schedule in Sitedrive during our meeting and then share it with the contractors.”

I easily see how changes affect the big picture.

More transparency to the big picture is gained from pulling the scheduling data out of Sitedrive via the open API and further combining it with other site data, such as quality or indoor conditions. At Postipuisto, the combined data is shown in visual displays at the site office. “The best thing on this site is that we have the task list by contractor on the screens at the coffee break areas, and when I update Sitedrive, everyone can see what the situation is and who’s to do what. I don’t have to do anything else than what I normally do in Sitedrive.”

Alina finds it crucial that she can both see the overall situation and then make plans, for example, by floor or by contractor, for how the work is progressing and who’s working where at any given time. “It’s also visual, so I can show a contractor, for example, the resourcing so they can see that next week, they need a third guy for the job. I couldn’t manage my site if I didn’t have this detailed plan that I can edit as the situations change. Here I see easily how changes affect the big picture.”

At Postipuisto, Sitedrive is seen as an important part of turning the production-phase processes from plans into the reality. “Sitedrive is so visual and easy to use,” Alina states. “You don’t need to be taught how to use it, you learn it on the go. And the tracking functionalities are great, I can always see in Sitedrive how we are doing in relation to what we had planned. That’s really the biggest benefit,” she pinpoints. “To know that we keep holding all the reins.”