There is no denying…spreadsheets are often the tool of choice when setting up a construction project. Why do you think that is? Perhaps:
- You’re forever developing and manipulating your project requirements from your initial plan
- You’re not sure how you’re going to provide project updates and project reports to your new client throughout the job
- You’re never quite sure how you will need to manage this your subs
- Spreadsheets are a universal tool that are easy-to-use
- You already have spreadsheet software
Huh? I thought I was on a Software Company’s website? You are, and I spend my days aligning software to clients needs, to boot. Yes, spreadsheets can be a great tool. The weaknesses of spreadsheets are only first revealed when you need to share your hard work and collaborate with your project team; staff, craft, client, subs.
Spreadsheets only display one layer of data at a time and aren’t very good at managing relationships (your relationships with peers and clients, or important relationships connecting items critical to your project!)
Or how about these:
- They’re impossible to secure and control in any practical way
- They quickly become complicated and difficult to navigate
- They require a ton of supporting processes, procedures, and forms to provide the summarized information they contain
- They can crash and you can lose your work
- Only one person can modify them at a time (with any degree of confidence)
- They require considerable manipulation to provide reports, and even then it’s one layer at a time
Imagine the ability to manage work within a project management tool that feels like a spreadsheet (where it should). It’s simple to use…like a spreadsheet. It’s universal, but flexible and inexpensive. (It’s hard to beat the “up front” price of a spreadsheet.) This dream must be reality in order for the spreadsheet to be replaced.
Your organization cannot be bound to a software solution where the system demands more from the user and gives very little VALUE in return. That is exactly what happens when spreadsheets are your solution. You become beholden to the spreadsheet(s) and get very little back.
This was the genesis of Vital InSite and the problem it was intended to solve. We set out to create a system that was easy to use and could integrate your systems and processes so that your team can focus on what’s important…. the work. Sound to good to be true? You don’t need to take my word for it. Let Brian and his team show you that there’s a better way.