The Problem
Like all design-build companies, Unison needs to streamline their workflows in design, planning, and construction to meet tight deadlines and budgets. One of the most notorious time-sinks among these workflows, for a construction crew and superintendents, is the daily report.
“"The system was nothing other than an excel sheet that got updated daily and emailed. They had to sit down, open their laptop, basically pull their notebooks out, and try to remember what happened that week. During the day there was just no feasible time to be able to sit down and really start progressing with your daily report. If they wanted to do photos, they had to take them, download them, and email them to themselves. It was just a lot of clunkiness to what they were doing to get a proper daily report."”
The Solution
Unison decided to partner with Raken to streamline and augment their field reporting workflows. Unison introduced Raken to their superintendents and quickly found that they were producing more accurate daily reports in a fraction of the time, including helpful photos. Not only that, but Raken's real-time activity dashboard has increased site visibility dramatically.
“That capacity to be able to access and take photographs throughout the day on an iPhone or a tablet has just been a game-changer. As soon as we started using Raken we realized how valuable they were. Raken is a live update throughout the day, which is really foolproof. As a general superintendent that has an overview of all the projects, it's really handy for me to be able to go in and view the projects live as they happen each day when I'm not necessarily on site, which has been a real help.”
Best of all, Unison was able to make these improvements with no additional training. Ease of use has allowed Unison to quickly transition their workforce to a Raken system in a limited amount of time, experiencing considerable gains in efficiency with minimal effort. Dyer states "It's very simple, and that's part of its value. I can't imagine a scenario where anyone that I know of, whatever their ability, would not be able to produce a good report on Raken. From day one I never had any issue with it."
Photos, Notifications, and More
By utilizing Raken in a design-build company, Unison was able to smoothly transition from a time consuming, bare-bones excel spreadsheet to a fast, dynamic system that produces high-quality reports and photographs from the field with real-time updates. No longer will their superintendents waste valuable time scouring their notebooks at the end of the day trying to remember everything that happened on their site. By using Raken, Unison proves that they are committed to innovation, efficiency, and providing their customers with the highest-quality spaces and greatest experience possible.
Using Raken on a design-build project, you can:
Take photos on your device throughout the day and add them to your daily report.
Receive real-time notifications on your Raken dashboard.
Save time on field workflows while improving visibility into project progress.
Smoothly transition from legacy systems to more efficient workflows.
Raken in a Design-Build Environment
The partnership between Raken and Unison demonstrates how design-build companies can use Raken's construction reporting software to save time, increase visibility, and produce the accurate reports needed to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget. "Raken has allowed our onsite people to provide significantly higher quality and more information in a shorter period of time," says Sengara, noting that they use Raken for 80-90% of their workflows.