Verified was introduced to a prominent Victoria, BC Construction company as their prefered visual documentation tool. The use case for Verified has resulted in significant cost savings and efficiencies in their current workflow.Our client operates in all disciplines of construction, from General Contracting, Construction Management, Design Build and Tenant Improvements. In mid-2015, Verified was adopted into the construction management process as an effective tool to document build progress and assist in deficiency reporting to subcontractors and their client.
Working with our client, we identified several areas of the business where Verified would enhance their existing workflow, saving them time and money and providing effective visual documetnation, communication and collaboration.
The ability to quickly recognise and deal with progress reporting for clients, management of deficiency lists with subcontractors and providing accurate visual data for client walkthrough is an essential part of the workflow process and the management of construction projects. We introduced Verified as a visual documentation solution that enabled the Project Management Team to accurately document the client build using photos and contextual data captured in real-time, on-site.
Photos were already captured as part of the existing workflow and significant time and effort was spent cataloguing and documenting the images before sending them to the client. On average our client saves upwards of 3.5 hours per site visit, providing documentation and photo evidence to project stakeholders. Verified is a flexible solution to an ever-changing landscape.
Key Benefits
Verified provides our client with several key benefits. These include:
Easy to use technology
Verified is designed to work with iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones and Android tablets, providing a familiar interface to users. The design of the app enables access to key information and photo capture capabilities in a few simple clicks. Integration with Ricohès industrial cameras provides a robust solution in harsh environments.
Real-time collaboration
Photos and context data captured within the app or camera can be shared securly with other members of the organization and with external suppliers. Our simple quick select menus offer access to share tools that notify others when photos are taken and notes added. Collaboration is a two-way process, allowing co-workers to easily comment and discuss.
Provision of timeline and historical photos
As photos and data captured are stored on the Verified secure servers, they can be accessed easily to demonstrate progress. Projects can be reviewed showing work undertaken in a specific time period or filtered to show work that has been categorized or tagged in a certain way. Photos and data are stored on our secure servers until they are deleted or moved to our cold storage archive facility.
Addition of notes and comments while on site
One of the most powerful aspects of the Verified system is the ability to capture notation and comments at the point of capture. Using smartphone and tablet technology, dictated notes or typed narration is stored with each photo, allowing the user to describe a deficiency, or add a comment on work that has been completed. Notes are stored with the photos and through the web app or through the Verified Reporting Engine.
Powerful reporting tools
Verified has a powerful reporting engine that takes the data and photos stored in your Verified account and places them into a number of pre-defined report formats. Using the reporting engine, the user can create walkthrough, deficiency and progress reports at the click of a button, saving time in administration and formatting of complex documents.
Low cost of entry and significant cost savings
As Verified enables the Project Manager, Site Manager and Developer to access photos and data on-site and in real-time, there are significant cost savings to be made in transport, staff time and administration. When combined with the power of real-time collaboration with the trades, Verified assists our client in getting important comments and decisions in minutes. Verified has a comprehensive pricing model that allows for the organization to choose a package that fits the project or business model.
Reduced administration
Verified enables the user to do a multitude of tasks at once, Gathering information, capturing photos, sharing them with co-workers and discussing projects can now be done on-site in one place. The reduction in administration time results in more time for staff to focus on other duties and less cost to the project.
Integrating Verified
Verified provides our client with the ability to capture photos and data in one place, replacing several steps in a previously administrative process.
Without Verified
The Project Manager would visit the client site daily, documenting the project status, any work completed, noting deficiencies and taking progress reports with a standard digital camera. Notes were taken by hand as the walkthrough commenced and sometimes cross referencing photos taken with the correct notes and locations was difficult and inaccurate. After visiting the site the Project Manager would return to the main office, transcribe the notes into various emails and attach the relevant photos to send to the subcontractor for attention. In addition, photos would be copied into folders on a local data server to keep a permanent record. A spreadsheet was updated with project notes and kept to log the visit. Copies of the correspondence would also be hardcopied and placed in the client file for reference.
The time for a single site visit could be summarized as follows:
| Time (hrs) | Cost ($)* | |
| Site inspection walk around | 2 | 105.00 |
| Office based data entry | 2 | 105.00 |
| Generating reports | 2 | 105.00 |
| Total | 6 | 315.00 |
With Verified
Using Verified as an on-site data collection and collaboration tool, the time for the site visit and reporting is greatly reduced. Our client uses Verified to capture photos on-site, dictate comprehensive notes and share photos immediately with subcontractors and colleagues. The time to walk through the building is reduced as the notes are taken by voice dictation and immediately transcribed and attached to the relevant photo. There is less chance of a transcription error or photos being linked to incorrect notation.
When the Project Manager returns to the office, he can log into his Verified secure web portal and trigger the report through the Verified Reporting Engine. What used to take several hours of manipulation and cross-referencing is now done at the click of a button. A hardcopy of the report is created and placed in the client file for reference, or automatically emailed to the client or a co-worker for review.
Using Verified as the preferd data capture tool, the site inspection is now summarized as follows:
| Time (hrs) | Cost ($)* | |
| Site inspection walk around | 1.5 | 80.00 |
| Office based data entry | 0.25 | 15.00 |
| Generating reports | 0.75 | 40.00 |
| Total | 2.5 | 135.00 |
The table above represents a cost saving of $180 per site visit. Working on the assumption that the Project Manager is on-site at least 3 days a week, he can save $550 per week and 10.5 hours, 25% of his working week.
Over a 6 month project, these saving cumulatively total $13,200 and 252 work hours.
* Based on Construction Project Manager salary of $107,504. Source: Glassdoor, 22 October 2015