This whitepaper discusses how construction business owners can use collaboration software to better mitigate risks and improve project control. Such software allows all project documents and communications to be stored in a central, secure location with controlled access. This provides transparency, accountability, and an audit trail to help prevent disputes and litigation. The software also enables powerful workflows and drawing collaboration to improve communication among stakeholders. Maintaining a comprehensive record of all project data in collaboration software prepares owners to handle any future claims and disputes.

1. IMPROVE CONTROL
AND MITIGATE
RISK THROUGH
COLLABORATION
SOFTWARE
WHITE PAPER
Executive Summary
This whitepaper presents ways that business owners
canmoreeffectivelymitigatefactorsthatderailcontrol,
while also building an essential audit trail, improving
workflow, and encouraging better communication
across internal and external stakeholders by using
collaboration technology.

2. “Focus on what you can control.” That’s a piece of advice
especially relevant to owners of construction businesses
and worth heeding for best financial success and project
execution.
Owners inevitably face project delays, cost overruns,
disputes, and litigation on many of their construction
projects. The capital projects and infrastructure group of
PwC outlined the many causes of cost overruns
(see illustration).
Source: PWC. “Correcting the Course of Capital Projects.” October 2013.
Most owners expect their projects to experience many
or all of the cost overruns causes described by PwC,
particularly with larger projects that involve numerous
stakeholders, procedures, and documents. Many factors
are impossible to fully eliminate, let alone control in
any meaningful manner, and as such, owners will build
the necessary contingencies and protections into their
contracts to manage their risk exposure.
This approach can be problematic, largely due to
inadequate communications, as PwC proposes:
“Communication problems are often at the root of
troubled projects. There may be a lack of communications
between the top executives and the project management
team. The project manager may warn that a project
is running over budget and behind schedule, but the
message may not reach the C-suite and board before
problems get out of hand.”i
While we concede that miscommunication is hard
to eliminate, it can be much easier to control when
employing the right tools and processes, as this
whitepaper will briefly describe.
Indeed, a study released last year by McGraw Hill
Construction offered research indicating that “the more
integration and better communication are the most
effective mitigating factors against overall uncertainty.”ii
There are key ways to control the environment:
proper transparency of controls, clear accountability
of responsibilities, and a meaningful audit trail of
information to make sure people are performing their
required roles effectively.iii
Documentation, Prevention, and Litigation
According to more explanation from PwC, one of the
early indicators of project trouble is a lack of indicators,
because nobody has an understanding of where the
project really stands. In an effort to get projects back
on course, experts advise that construction businesses
should maintain a comprehensive audit trail. That
attention will help project owners and contractors
prevent disputes and stay out of the courtroom.
However, litigation is always a possibility, so all parties
should thoroughly document project decisions and
developments. It’s important to have documentation of
records of delays as well as the causes and impacts.
IMPROVE CONTROL AND MITIGATE RISK THROUGH
COLLABORATION SOFTWARE
viewpoint.com | 800.333.3197

3. “When you start a detailed
analysis of documents, you often
find that either one of the parties
hasn’t retained the right records
or the records aren’t accurate or
they can’t be located,” says Neil
Broadhead, PwC UK partner. “You
need a robust set of processes to
capture the right documents to
support any claim or defend any
claim should a project go so badly
wrong that it ends up in dispute.”iv
A complete record of all project
data is essential to resolving future
disputes and issues, and parties
should retain an auditable record of
communication and decisions. By
managing the information and owning
the data, owners are best prepared
to handle claims having a complete
record of history and details. The
best way for an owner to protect
themselves is collecting information
efficiently and managing it effectively,
as well as have a means to monitor
projects as closely as possible.
For the owner, it is far more cost
effective in the long run to accept a fair
portion of project risk and do a very
good job overseeing rather than driving
everything down stream. Technology
can play an important part in this
initiative, helping construction business
owners gain complete confidence that
all information for a particular project
or process is completely safe and has a
full audit trail.
Take Control with Technology
Many owners and contractors rely
on software solutions like Viewpoint
For Project Collaboration (VPC) to
improve communication through
all phases of a project, from design
through to asset management. It
provides a single location for project
documents, allowing controlled
access to all stakeholders within a
private cloud environment.
Below are some key product features
to look for in a collaboration solution:
• Project focused document
management
• Powerful workflow system and
workflow management
• Licensing model designed not to
inhibit wide adoption by all parties
in a project
• Drawing collaboration and markup
• Cloud hosted for easy deployment
and adoption
So not only can you easily see all
project-related communication in
one central location, you can create
workflows with a drag-and-drop
tool that is incredibly easy to learn
for any user. Administrators can
build workflows and then template
them for use on subsequent projects.
Further simplifying the process, VPC
lets people use tools they already
count on daily (email) and simply
send their message to a designated
address that sends that information
to a folder in VPC. This user-friendly
workflow makes it a major adoption
driver for the wide ecosystem of
users, both internal and external.
i
PWC. “Correcting the Course of Capital Projects.”
October 2013.
ii
McGraw Hill Construction, SmartMarket Report.
“Managing Uncertainty and Expectations in Building
Design and Construction.” 2014.
iii
PWC.
iv
PWC.
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