Digitalization has impacted the AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction) industry extensively & organizations that cannot harness the power technology to drive business value will be left behind. The digitization of end-to-end construction processes has resulted in enormous data generation. The AEC industry is never short on data. Every project creates huge amounts of construction data, right from design and planning to client billing. Yet one of the most critical challenges, the construction stakeholders face is accessibility to the right data at the right time. Effective data management is important for uncovering valuable insights and powering better decisions. Read on this article to uncover wisdom on how to make most of the data throughout the entire construction lifecycle:

Realize the need for a unified platform
The data generated needs to be streamlined & made real-time accessible to all the decision-makers to make it useful. The accessibility of the right data at the right time makes it meaningful to the users. This is why the data needs to be captured & processed on a unified platform. So, what does this unified platform imply? It can be described as a centralized platform that connects the people, data and workflow throughout the various stages of the project cycle. The unified platform serves as an accelerator and integrator that infuses valuable data into every business process. 

A unified platform, also known as a common data environment, serves as a single source of truth to rely on. As an essential part of the construction management tool, the unified platform provides access to data and data-powered tools to various stakeholders of the project. In addition to this, the unified platform drives process excellence & proper organization of multiple project activities to boost overall efficiencies. The data exchange process becomes seamless with the use of a dynamic unified platform provided by the construction ERP. 

Connect costs and schedules to project data
For maximized project outcomes, cost control certainty is critical. The budgets can be managed easily and aligned with real-time project data in the unified platform offered by construction management solutions. Effective budget & schedule management helps to optimize the profit margins & build resilience in the long term. Research has found that 60% of the project failures are due to schedule mismanagement, overtime shifts and over budgeting, which can be curbed by intelligent data management.

While inappropriate or deficient construction data impacts the project budget adversely, good data boosts the profit margins. Construction firms need a data strategy to overcome the shortcomings of deficient data. Dynamic data management leveraging AI & Cloud can be a game-changer in budgeting, scheduling and delivering customer satisfaction. Data management has a direct impact on the entire construction lifecycle right from designing, planning, building to operating & executing phases. To avoid data mismanagement, construction firms need to use smart scheduling tools. Streamlined scheduling would ensure the completion of the project on time and within budget. Not only does it outline the speed of the work, but also how the tasks can be executed.

Unlock the vast potential of data analytics 
For harnessing the power of data analytics and business intelligence, a construction organization requires the right tools & practices. First, having an integrated construction management or enterprise resource planning platform in place is essential to capture & process data seamlessly. To streamline data analysis, data across the organization right from accounting to project management and operational workflows to document collaboration needs to be procured, prepared, cleansed and modeled using machine learning and predictive analytics. An integrated construction ERP solution can offer you cutting-edge tools like dashboards and comprehensive reporting to drive enhanced & real-time decisions.

Infusing a Data-driven culture
Discussions about data-driven organizations often focus on tools, big data, and the technological advancements that have can allow storing, processing, and analyzing data quickly and cost-effectively. While these are all imperative to construction project success, but building a data-driven culture across the organization is essential to avoid excellence being limited to only certain business areas. A data-driven culture encourages the use of data in every decision-making. It considers data as a strategic asset of the company by making data widely available and accessible to all the stakeholders across all construction functions.

Intelligent construction ERP solutions are offering cutting-edge data analytics tools and business intelligence solutions, providing even richer capabilities to break data into specific fields, create customized comparisons, map data and create predictive models. These tools can also streamline data collection & value creation from technologies like wearables, GPS tracking and applications for logging job site inspections. Also, going a step further and analyzing data that can help you identify high-risk tasks and dangerous conditions can help prevent future incidents and make the world a better place for construction workers.