How online collaboration and project management technology positively impacts the architecture, engineering, and construction industry.

Business practices, particularly in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, are often paper-based, manual, labor-intensive, costly, and inefficient. Because a majority of the companies within the AEC industry follow traditional guidelines, many remain entirely paper-based. There is a wide host of items that relate to paper management including the cost of purchasing paper, the cost of printing, fax and copier equipment, distribution, mailing costs, courier services, filing cabinets and supplies, storage space and staff to manage, handle, and file paper. With the many aspects that go into paper management, one can easily see how the AEC industry has become inefficient, costly, and wasteful when it comes to its paper processes.

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Utilizing MySmartPlans project management information system to provide collaboration, transparency and accountability for the EEB Hub Building 661 and 7R Design and Construction Team.

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Utilizing MySmartPlans desktop project information management system in order to manage risk in the architecture, engineering and construction industries.

Construction risk management is much more than purchasing insurance in the event of a fire or flood.  It has evolved over the years as a business philosophy. Construction companies must determine how to mitigate the possibility of losses and the consequences that may occur. These companies must also plan in advance to adequately fund for losses when they happen.  In a tight economy, risk management can be the shield that prevents a construction company from closing its doors and going out of business.

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How utilizing desktop project management technology can improve efficiency, collaboration, and cost during close-out and after completion of a construction project.

The close-out stage: one of the most important phases in a construction process, but often one that is overlooked by general contractors, architects, engineers, and owners alike. On average, the close-out stage of a construction project consists of 5% of that project's entirety. However, it takes the same amount of time to close out a construction project as it does to complete the first 95% of the project1. With these statistics, it is obvious that the close-out stage of a particular construction project could be made more efficient and better controlled.

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How implementing digital desktop project management technology can revolutionize the architecture, engineering and construction industry’s communication, efficiency and overall project completion.

When Lord Norman Foster & Partners designed the Harmon Hotel as a non-gaming boutique, spa center, and upscale resort at CityCenter Las Vegas, the company did not predict that the project would be cut in half...literally. In 2008, when detrimental flaws were discovered during inspection of the building, work on the Harmon Hotel was halted. After surveying many of the building's defects, architects and designers had to backtrack and redesign the hotel, reducing it from forty-nine stories to twenty-eight. Due to the drastic design alterations, time constraints, budget cuts, and lack of communication, construction of the Harmon Hotel was delayed indefinitely and is to be demolished completely by 2012.

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