North American contractor Superior Construction needed a digital solution to store, manage and distribute project documents for a massive infrastructure project for the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). Superior was contracted by the state to rebuild a major highway interchange in downtown Indianapolis — a $320-million project that would include roadways and bridges.
The Challenge
Because Superior was involved in the design phase as well as construction, it would be managing thousands of documents over several years. INDOT had been using Microsoft SharePoint to manage its project documentation but employing a general-purpose point solution on a job of this magnitude would have its limitations.
“SharePoint is not a document control system,” says Josh Kistner, project controls manager on the North Split project. “It’s just a storage system. You can handle letters and correspondence using SharePoint, but you can’t pass a design package from person to person. It doesn’t work.”
Fortunately, it was written into Superior’s project contract to purchase a professional document management and control solution. The company obtained quotes from InEight and several of its well-known industry competitors in the document control space.
Why InEight?
Kistner had used InEight Document (then called TeamBinder) before and knew it to be an intuitive system. It was also more economical than competitive solutions, all factors which led them to ultimately choose InEight.
The ability to customize InEight Document to fit its unique business needs was another factor that led Superior Construction to choose InEight. “I don’t see anything that we required that was not present or available in the software, either upfront or as a customization,” says Kistner.
Project Success
At the halfway point of the North Split project, InEight Document was already paying dividends. Teams were seeing greater efficiency, reduced costs and access to unique functionality that was not available with other tools. With only half of the project design complete, Superior Construction had already processed more than 1,300 documents through the course of its work.
The document control software has also lightened the load on staff and kept personnel costs in check by eliminating the need for a large and costly document control team.
Even if you’re spending tens of thousands a year, that’s still less than employing a large document control team to accomplish the same result, notes Kistner, who says the total cost of ownership makes this system a wise investment. The fact that everything is stored in one place and organized and numbered correctly gives you a better result for equal or less money overall, he adds.
Summing up, Kistner reflects on the value offered by tools such as InEight Document, which he feels have become all but indispensable within the industry these days. “I could never imagine living without a document control system like this because you can’t get to where you need to be at the end of the day without having this type of program from the get-go.”
Editor's Note: Scranton Gillette Communications and the SGC Infrastructure Group are not liable for the accuracy, efficacy and validity of the claims made in this piece. The views expressed in this content do not reflect the position of the Roads & Bridges' Editorial Team.
