The problem: Manual, time-consuming reports
Anchor QEA prides themselves on construction quality assurance and detailed, organized reports as an owner’s representative. Previously, with handwritten notes—and sometimes no field office—their inspectors were spendings too much time away from the active work areas.
The solution: Boosting efficiency with Raken and Egnyte
Raken and Egnyte’s integration helps Anchor QEA collect and store field data in one secure place. With clean data at their fingertips, Anchor QEA can better serve and protect their clients.
Saving hours a week on reports with Raken
As a trusted leader in engineering and environmental services, Anchor QEA solves complex problems every day. Their reporting system in the past worked for a while, but as the company grew, Anchor QEA looked at ways to improve efficiency. They chose Raken to get more done in less time, and continue delivering the highest quality projects and data possible.
“Before Raken, we would handwrite everything,” said Adam Carlson, Resident Engineer at Anchor QEA. “Now, Raken lets us use our cell phones or tablets to directly log what we need—right into the app. That just really improved the efficiency of our reporting.”
Raken is built for the field, so everything inspectors need is always with them. From daily reports to time-stamped photos, inspectors can easily complete documentation on the go. As inspectors fill out reports, team members in the office can see updates on the web app in real time—so everyone is on the same page. More streamlined reports also gave Anchor QEA more time to build better projects.
“Currently, we track what resources are on our sites, including, say, how many excavators, or how many laborers and operators. Each of those resources have their own billing rate,” said Carlson. “That capability is really valuable in construction management.”
“Our Raken reports are consistent with what our clients expect, not something that’s completely different from what we have provided in the past. Rather, Raken is a more user-friendly and efficient way of inputting data and sharing that data in real time,” said Carlson.
Protecting clients from litigation with Raken and Egnyte
With better reports in hand, Anchor QEA wanted to take things even further. They looked to Raken and Egnyte’s integration to help keep their project data safe. More secure cloud storage meant they could access data whenever they needed it. And, as a result, Anchor QEA can better protect clients from future litigation.
“With construction, there’s always risk, uncertainty, and unanticipated conditions. Having that detailed documentation in Raken and Egnyte, including many photographs, helps us revisit what occurred on previous work days,” said Carlson. “When it comes to a change order or claim—or if it ever gets to the stage of litigation—we can convey exactly what happened, and calculate the true cost to perform the work.”
Raken and Egnyte’s integration makes it so Anchor QEA no longer has to spend hours in front of a computer at the end of the shift to type up handwritten notes. Now, they have higher quality, streamlined data in real time. The best part? Anchor QEA and their clients can track productivity, manpower, and site conditions in an automated manner. This detailed documentation makes it easy to prove how unexpected conditions affected the project—and back up their work.
“Since implementing Raken and Egnyte, our clients have recognized an improvement in quality and accessibility of reports and project files,” said Carlson. “The technology saves our inspectors an hour or more each day, and the integration allows remote managers and stakeholders to see updates in real time.”
“Thanks to the integration, our daily reports and photographs from Raken are automatically uploaded to Egnyte. That file-sharing program is really useful when you have projects with many different companies collaborating,” said Carlson.
Choosing easy-to-use software
At the end of the day, a construction app is only as good as how much it’s used. Construction has been slower to adopt technology than other industries. However, after trying out Raken for a few days, Anchor QEA’s inspectors were on board fast.
“Fortunately, our inspectors have been really receptive to Raken,” said Carlson. “Initially, some staff can be a little skeptical or unsure and think there might be a steep learning curve, but after the first couple days, they’re on board. It really helps them stay more organized, and helps everyone on the team collaborate.”
Inspectors are the ones actually uploading project data, so their approval is crucial for new tech. In Raken, Anchor QEA found a field-friendly app that still gives them the insights they need to improve.
“We can have multiple people, including inspectors and office engineers, work on things at the same time, and we can document things more clearly. The quality of work also improves when you have a system like Raken that helps inspectors be more organized,” said Carlson.
Make better, safer reports with Raken and Egnyte
With Raken, Anchor QEA gives inspectors an easy way to document progress—without slowing them down. Egnyte also helps the team share project files with clients and protect their data, too.
Visit our partner page—or schedule a demo—to learn how you can improve field reports, just like Anchor QEA.