Investing in the Right Construction Reporting Software: Features That Make a Difference

Construction project reporting is one of the most essential processes within the industry. It helps to stay aware of the current situation, and keep track of progress, according to the plans, changing and adjusting them if needed.

On top of that, project progress reporting impacts many other business operations, such as financial management, resource allocation, and strategic business planning. Therefore, real-time construction reporting is highly crucial: the more recent the information is, the easier it is for the management team to make required adjustments in other fields as well.

Traditionally, such data updates were manual and on paper. This led to numerous issues and challenges, including data version mismatches and multiple sources of truth. Fortunately, the modern IT industry offers a variety of helpful and highly efficient solutions for such purposes.

For instance, real-time construction reporting software can be used as a standalone application or integrated into other construction management systems on demand. Still, choosing such tools might be a tricky task even if you have some tech expertise on-premises.

Thus, let’s consider some crucial steps and factors to take into account when investing in construction project reporting systems.

Why the Right Reporting Software Matters?

First of all, we have to discuss the primary features and benefits of choosing such software systems.

Apart from improved convenience, construction reporting software suggests measures and practices that are barely covered by more traditional, paper-based approaches, or even legacy reporting software.

For example, modern solutions allow multi-user access, making it easier for different teams to share and update the same documents or files. Such solutions are often cloud-based, making them easily accessible and highly accurate with automated real-time updates.

Besides, many modern construction project reporting software platforms are centralized, becoming a single source of truth, fixing two issues at once:

1. Thanks to centralized data storage and access, the file version control is automated, eliminating the potential differences in statements or other information.
2. Because it synchronizes all the updates, data management is much more convenient and accurate, making it easier to analyze and process it, make predictions, etc.

Still, these are not the only benefits of industry-specific reporting tools. In addition to the foregoing, they also offer the following services:

• Reducing delays by providing instant updates.
• Improving the accuracy of data collection.
• Providing real-time insights for better decisions.

Long story short, choosing proper construction reporting tools and methods is similar to selecting the right construction management software. Still, while the primary steps and factors are identical, the set of features and services to look for differs in each of these cases.

Key Features to Look for in Construction Reporting Software

Construction project reporting software should cover most aspects of data updates and other changes within the plans or workflows. To ensure automation of such features, these systems should offer:

1. Real-Time Data Collection (Must-have)
2. Built-In Messengers (Must-have)
3. Customizable Reporting Templates (Must-have)
4. Automated Alerts and Push-Notifications (Must-have)
5. Data Visualization & Dashboards (Optional)
6. Hands-Free Reporting Using Speech-to-Text (Optional)
7. Cloud-Based Access (Optional)

Real-Time Data Collection

This is the core service of any reporting system. Without automated data collection and processing, most other features like reports, alerts, and notifications won’t work.

Real-time data collection ensures the relevance of information, as well as helps to avoid data versioning by synchronizing all existing pieces of information and sorting it in a centralized way. So, every employee with access to specific data types will see the latest information on the topic.

Otherwise, different departments and specialists will operate on various data, leading to more mistakes and issues. One of the most efficient ways to create a centralized data collection and distribution platform is to utilize cloud services like AWS, Google Workspace, or their alternatives.

A cloud-based system works as a single source of truth, eliminating the issues and challenges of version control and automated data updates. Besides, such solutions are much more accessible from different devices, which also enhances the user experience and accessibility.

Built-In Messengers

Another must-have feature of reporting systems is a built-in messenger.

Based on our experience, many companies underestimate the importance of integrating messaging functionality into their management software, instead opting for third-party messengers for convenience.

On the one hand, such a preference is understandable: it requires no extra steps or expenses and can be used off-the-bat. However, relying on third parties can be a very painful and dangerous mistake.

As a regular user, you won’t have complete control over the application. This results in two different issues:

If you lack messengers’ functionality, like sharing certain types of files, you won’t have the opportunity to enable it. The construction industry operates multiple such types, yet the most specific are CADs and BIMs, and almost none of the traditional messengers support their display or even sharing.

Relying on third-party services also brings multiple security threats and weaknesses. Despite costly and complex security measures, no third-party service can guarantee 100% protection. Leaks and hacks are prevalent challenges for companies that provide services to large groups of users.

On the flip side, investing in a standalone messenger integration allows you to address both issues by tailoring it to your needs and implementing the best security measures and policies.

Customizable Reporting Templates

Each reporting software has built-in templates for various reports. However, not all such SaaS solutions provide users with customization options. Many existing reporting systems have predefined templates with minimal or no customization options.

Primarily, users need to adapt to the existing systems’ templates. However, for many modern companies, such stiffness can be a deal-breaker: KPIs, reports, and various business metrics can significantly vary, depending on business logic and needs.

On top of that, custom templates are an essential factor for further integration of AI in construction to automate processes: by changing the parameters, fields, metrics, and other parts of reports, your team can streamline their analysis or generation using new-era technologies.

So, the inability to adapt the system’s reports is a severe drawback. This is why we insist on ensuring the customizable templates as a must-have option in any construction software for management and reports.

Automated Alerts and Push-Notifications

Finally, apart from gathering, processing, and sharing data, reporting systems should provide automated alerts and notifications.

Partly, such features rely on customizable templates and the content of the reports. For instance, it is possible to define specific reports as urgent, making the system notify about their accomplishment or if something goes wrong. Alternatively, you can enable notifications for all data updates to track changes as they happen.

Having options to set up streamlined alerts and notifications helps to ensure immediate responses to critical events, improve team cooperation and communication efficiency, as well as boost the transparency and awareness of the situation.

Hands-Free Reporting Using Speech-to-Text

Last but not least, we recommend considering voice assistant development services. Such features are primarily targeted at on-site workers, providing them with more intuitive and efficient tools to fill forms and create reports, access data updates, and stay aware of all recent events.

At the moment, adoption rates of voice technology in construction are relatively small, but such software shows great potential and offers promising benefits. This makes such solutions a potential upcoming trend and an important feature that guarantees higher software adoption on-site, as well as enhanced user satisfaction.

How to Choose the Right Construction Reporting Software?

Apart from the foregoing features and services, the reporting software for construction businesses should also provide:

• Integration with your existing project management tools
• Scalability for multiple projects
• Industry-specific customization options

These functional areas are crucial for benefiting from reporting systems and using them efficiently.

Integration with Existing Project Management Tools

First of all, there will be minimal benefit in embodying any new solutions that cannot be integrated with other management platforms and tools.

Indeed, real-time reporting and up-to-date notifications are crucial. However, they have a minimal impact on a larger business scale compared to on-site operations, particularly when not synchronized with other software.

On top of the overall awareness and usability, reporting systems with no integration options might be inefficient due to the lack of access to data. Such centralized data access and sharing also boost decision-making by providing dedicated specialists from various fields with the latest updates and the most relevant situation in different business operations.

Scalability for Multiple Projects

Another crucial functional requirement is support of multiple projects.

Multi-project reporting systems are helpful not only for mid- and large-scale construction businesses, but also essential for small companies. Scalability for multiple projects requires more than just scaling the number of reports or providing identification methods to sort and link reports to their respective projects.

Such scalability helps to keep the systems and processes manageable and can provide extra flexibility for data management, offering additional options to categorize and assign data updates.

Finally, even the smallest construction companies usually lead at least 2-3 projects simultaneously, even if the scale of on-site workflows is small.

Industry-Specific Customization Options

First of all, industry-specific report customization options are vital for ensuring regulatory compliance, allowing companies to address various unique requirements of the clients or local markets.

Such options can also be scaled even more, offering an automated generation of compliance documentation, inspection logs, or safety checklists, specific to particular sectors, regions, or project types.

Customization helps to fit the processes, terminology, and reporting formats to the standards for specific fields like commercial buildings, infrastructure, or residential construction. As a result, improving adoption and reducing training time.

Eventually, customization options help boost the competitive advantage of your company by allowing your business to differentiate itself from its rivals, addressing even the most specific or comprehensive demands of stakeholders and clients. This flexibility makes reporting a strategic asset.

Off-the-Shelf vs. Custom-Built Construction Reporting Solutions

There are two main construction IT services for integrating reporting solutions:

1. Choosing a software-as-a-service solution from a third-party vendor
2. Maintaining a custom software development project independently/ with a tech partner

Choosing SaaS is a very popular and widespread approach because it often provides you with a ready-made software that already works and requires almost no involvement from you as a client.

However, third-party solutions also have a significant drawback, which commonly drives construction companies to consider investing in custom-made software - the lack of control and flexibility.

On the one hand, using third-party software is excellent because it does not require any software expertise on your side. Yet, it also rarely offers you a chance to implement custom changes or integrate new features independently, making your team rely on the vendor’s offers. SaaS systems are very stiff, offering very little personalization or adjustment, primarily making users adapt to technologies, not vice versa.

Alternatively, custom construction reporting software solutions are tailored to the business needs, expectations, and goals. Besides, custom projects are your complete asset, i.e., your team will have full control over the app. So, you can continue to scale the functionality, integrate new services and technologies, or reshape the existing system to address your needs.

Still, custom software development usually takes more time and resources for accomplishment, as well as demands post-launch support and maintenance. Nevertheless, it is a more preferred choice for strategic long-term plans. Despite a high initial budget and time for delivery, after 7-10 years of usage, many custom solutions are usually more beneficial and cost-efficient than ready-made SaaS options.