How OE Construction Answers the 'Why' Questions in Minutes with Assignar Insights

Aggressive Schedules, Layouts, and Build Processes

The project was one of the most challenging in OE Construction’s history and in Owner/CFO Terri Olson’s career. It had an aggressive schedule, and the jobsite had a challenging layout and build process that involved multiple contractors. The prime contractor required details over a period of time to understand specific situations that impacted the work schedule. Olson and her team needed to sift through hundreds of daily project logs, pre-task reports, field verification forms, and meeting notes from the last ten months.

Quickly Assembling Insights

Instead of searching for specific words throughout PDF forms or reading through every form submitted via the Assignar app, the team at OE Construction utilized Assignar’s Insights Reporting Tool. They were able to extract project data based on dates, work orders, and types of forms and quickly assemble it into a searchable format their team could use.

The Results: Meeting Project Goals

Historical Data in Minutes

Sifting through 10 months worth of project data would normally take OE Construction days. Using Insights, they did it in minutes.

A Data-Backed Reputation

OE Construction is able to quickly show their clients what impacted the project schedule on any given day.

Meeting Project Goals

With all that project data at their fingertips, OE Construction could remain agile, move forward, and make their deadline.

"People tend to forget what happened six months ago, and sometimes you need the details to answer the question."

Diving Deeper

An ‘Aggressive’ Schedule

You might remember OE Construction’s previous case study with Owner/CFO Terri Olson. Olson shared how Assignar saved her excavation contracting business over $30,000 a year by ditching paper forms. She also shared how the Assignar Reporting Tool gives them a snapshot of the status of their ongoing projects.

Fast-forward to today, and Olson and her team are working on one of the most challenging projects of her career. The project was on a commercial jobsite, with multiple trades working in the same or adjacent areas and sometimes at the same time. Olson describes the work schedule as ‘aggressive’ with a challenging layout. Keeping everyone in the loop was a daily challenge with many moving parts.

“Capturing the daily details of the work process is important on any project, but especially this project,” says Olson.

One of the reasons OE Construction collects data from the field is to answer “Why did this happen?” questions for their clients. Typically, they are looking for specific situations that impact the work schedule. Examples of this data include images on a particular day that helps document an issue, what area was completed on that day, any staff or equipment issues, and the weather.

“People tend to forget what happened six months ago, and sometimes you need the details to answer the question,” Olson explains.

When their client needed specific details about the project schedule months after the fact, Olson and her team had a wealth of data to sort through.

Extracting 10 Months of Project Data

In the past, OE Construction would sift through forms saved as PDF files from the field. While this makes for easy printing, searching for terms in a large group of forms takes a lot of time. Olson says it’s incredibly inefficient when querying historical data.

Olson’s team had two options to figure out what impacted productivity over the course of 10 months. The first was to have an employee open and read every field report submitted through the Assignar app. Although possible, it would take days to complete.

The other option was to utilize Assignar Insights, which creates reports and dashboards using the data you collect in the field. OE Construction used the reporting tool to extract project data by filtering by date, work orders, form type, and anything else that might be reported onsite. Then, her team quickly assembled the data she queried into a searchable format that the whole team could use.

It took minutes to complete.

For one of the most challenging projects of her career, Olson says that OE Construction is still on track to meet their deadline. Because they can figure out details for their clients in minutes rather than days, OE Construction has a competitive edge bolstered by a data-backed reputation.

“If only people knew what data to get and how to get it. Most construction subcontractors would be blown away with what we accomplished today.”