Article by: Jason Koski and Maria Acuña, Skydea, Phone: 1 650 248 2360 www.skydeaco.com
Fifteen years ago, when Rob De Ross started working as a project engineer at a major specialty drywall subcontractor, he remembers the triplicate sheets forms that were used for field reports.
"Every week, the superintendents used to drive the yellow copies back to the office along with the time cards. If the yellow copy of the field report was lost, you had a back up in the pink job site copy," after some thought adds, "hopefully it was still there".
Now as a Sr. Project Manager at the same company, Rob was recently handed an Apple iPad as part of company initiative to move some of their data to "the cloud". Rob's first order of business is going to be to figure out how to get those field reports (currently on a Microsoft Word document template) to "the cloud" and show the foremen how to fill one out.
Fifteen years ago, when Rob De Ross started working as a project engineer at a major specialty drywall subcontractor, he remembers the triplicate sheets forms that were used for field reports.
"Every week, the superintendents used to drive the yellow copies back to the office along with the time cards. If the yellow copy of the field report was lost, you had a back up in the pink job site copy," after some thought adds, "hopefully it was still there".
Now as a Sr. Project Manager at the same company, Rob was recently handed an Apple iPad as part of company initiative to move some of their data to "the cloud". Rob's first order of business is going to be to figure out how to get those field reports (currently on a Microsoft Word document template) to "the cloud" and show the foremen how to fill one out.
Defining the Cloud
What is "the cloud?" Ask three people with different technical backgrounds and you get three different answers. Simply stated, cloud computing allows companies to move some or most of the contents of server room closet and computers to an offsite network (typically, the Internet) where you'd access these services as you needed them. If you have a personal Gmail email address account, you are cloud computing.
Cloud computing means you are starting to use your computer resources as a public utility rather than an in-house utility (building a fire to heat your home, in house utility; using your account with PGE to delivery gas to heat your home, public utility).
As with moving the responsibility away to public utilities to support the infrastructure necessary to generate heat for your home (no longer have to buy or chop wood, find a place to store the logs, have a place to heat the logs, i.e. a fireplace), cloud computing moves the responsibility away from maintaining the computing infrastructure to more of your core business.
What constitutes the cloud and the supporting concepts has been evolving.
For the construction industry, there are many functional tools now available on the cloud using SaaS model including project accounting, bidding, estimating, digital take off, collaboration, document management, project management, email services, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software systems.
Even if a computing need is not met by SaaS offering a business may still go "cloud" by moving some of their infrastructure to a IaaS model.
Both terms are defined below:
Software as a Service (SaaS) provides virtual on-demand software and applications. Google Docs is a common example of SaaS: the application runs a document service, but the data is virtualized and not within physical proximity to the user.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides virtual data centers (VDC) as an alternative to purchasing, maintaining and utilizing personal hardware. The rented VDC can be adjusted to satisfy equipment requirements while providing lower cost of ownership and flexibility in utilization.
Traditional Vs. Cloud For a Small Example
For a subcontractor, the choices in software tools are very pricey and require sophisticated technical expertise to install. The following is a brief comparative of purchasing via a traditional client/server model vs. a cloud based model.
The traditional model for deploying and using project management software has historically had the following approach-
The cloud model of deploying and using project management software would go more like this-
The traditional version would require a project manager to be either in the office or connected to the office to access the data. In the cloud based system, data can be accessed by any device with a connection to the internet. A project manager can see his/her data from a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone.
Looking Ahead
Rob, like many in the construction industry dream of having greater access to real time information and data. Project foreman on a site could immediately alert the project manager of a potential building conflict. Coordination of resources and sub-contractors could be done in remote locations instead of behind a desk.
Cloud computing allows companies the ability to outsource technology resources while taking advantage of lower infrastructure investment and greater scalability. Rather than the traditional model of investing in IT infrastructure for future business demands, a business can easily increase or decrease their usage based on business needs.
Rob is looking forward to finding the right cloud based solution and teaching the foreman to use iPads to bring about real efficiencies to the field and project management operations. "It's exciting to see the evolution of tools," he said, "but we still have a ways to go in learning how to use them."
(Updated: Feb 5, 2013)
What is "the cloud?" Ask three people with different technical backgrounds and you get three different answers. Simply stated, cloud computing allows companies to move some or most of the contents of server room closet and computers to an offsite network (typically, the Internet) where you'd access these services as you needed them. If you have a personal Gmail email address account, you are cloud computing.
Cloud computing means you are starting to use your computer resources as a public utility rather than an in-house utility (building a fire to heat your home, in house utility; using your account with PGE to delivery gas to heat your home, public utility).
As with moving the responsibility away to public utilities to support the infrastructure necessary to generate heat for your home (no longer have to buy or chop wood, find a place to store the logs, have a place to heat the logs, i.e. a fireplace), cloud computing moves the responsibility away from maintaining the computing infrastructure to more of your core business.
What constitutes the cloud and the supporting concepts has been evolving.
For the construction industry, there are many functional tools now available on the cloud using SaaS model including project accounting, bidding, estimating, digital take off, collaboration, document management, project management, email services, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software systems.
Even if a computing need is not met by SaaS offering a business may still go "cloud" by moving some of their infrastructure to a IaaS model.
Both terms are defined below:
Software as a Service (SaaS) provides virtual on-demand software and applications. Google Docs is a common example of SaaS: the application runs a document service, but the data is virtualized and not within physical proximity to the user.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides virtual data centers (VDC) as an alternative to purchasing, maintaining and utilizing personal hardware. The rented VDC can be adjusted to satisfy equipment requirements while providing lower cost of ownership and flexibility in utilization.
Traditional Vs. Cloud For a Small Example
For a subcontractor, the choices in software tools are very pricey and require sophisticated technical expertise to install. The following is a brief comparative of purchasing via a traditional client/server model vs. a cloud based model.
The traditional model for deploying and using project management software has historically had the following approach-
- Purchase several licenses, one for each project manager on staff.
- Install the software onto every project manager computer
- Install the server version on designated server in your server room or closet.
- Have your IT team or person continuously manage and maintain both the client and server installations (downloading updates, maintaining license counts, maintaining adequate server space, troubleshooting issues, etc.).
The cloud model of deploying and using project management software would go more like this-
- Purchase one subscription for each project manager to a Cloud based project management application.
- Provide each project manager an Internet link to the project manager system site
- Pay monthly for the subscription as long as it is needed. The data, the software, and the maintenance are all done by company selling the subscription.
The traditional version would require a project manager to be either in the office or connected to the office to access the data. In the cloud based system, data can be accessed by any device with a connection to the internet. A project manager can see his/her data from a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone.
Looking Ahead
Rob, like many in the construction industry dream of having greater access to real time information and data. Project foreman on a site could immediately alert the project manager of a potential building conflict. Coordination of resources and sub-contractors could be done in remote locations instead of behind a desk.
Cloud computing allows companies the ability to outsource technology resources while taking advantage of lower infrastructure investment and greater scalability. Rather than the traditional model of investing in IT infrastructure for future business demands, a business can easily increase or decrease their usage based on business needs.
Rob is looking forward to finding the right cloud based solution and teaching the foreman to use iPads to bring about real efficiencies to the field and project management operations. "It's exciting to see the evolution of tools," he said, "but we still have a ways to go in learning how to use them."
(Updated: Feb 5, 2013)
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