Grindley Builds Site-to-Office Connectivity with Mobile Platform

After years of managing projects across multiple platforms and manual, penand-paper methods, Grindley decided to streamline their project management processes. They wanted to find one centralised platform that would allow project data to be easily updated, accessed and utilised by their entire organization—from employees in the office to subbies out in the field.

To help their team become more efficient, Grindley turned to Procore. With its user-friendly interface and mobile functionality, Procore provided the comprehensive solution that Grindley needed, saving them time and improving project quality in the process.

In 2014, Grindley organised a companywide team strategy day. The leadership team wanted to hear directly from employees how they could improve their practices and procedures. As they gathered feedback after the event, they quickly noticed a common theme: project efficiency.

WHSEQ Manager Craig Young and his team began to strategise how they could leverage technology to help them become more efficient. They began researching various project management solutions, although the decision-making process didn't happen overnight. As they narrowed their top choice to Procore, they still wanted to do their due diligence and ensure that it was the right solution for their employees.

Craig concedes, “At one point in time, we were referred to as the most diligent company that went through the review process. That is, we asked the most questions, we needed the most time from a trial perspective—we really turned it upside down to determine what real efficiencies would be realised before we got to a point of saying, 'Yes, we'd like to proceed further.'“

After extensive research and a trial-run of the platform, Grindley realised that Procore's robust project management solution was an ideal fit for their team and moved forward with the partnership. In order to help onboard employees, Grindley provided personalized training sessions for project-specific groups, while Procore assigned a dedicated team member to assist with implementing the software to Grindley's specific needs.

“It was greatly appreciated to have an individual we could meet and/or call directly when we had questions and provide advice. We continue to liaise with the same individual some 12 months after we commenced,“ says Craig.

With implementation well under way, the features that initially drew Grindley to Procore quickly took shape. The ability to consolidate a number of project management processes into one platform allowed team members across the entire organisation to easily update data and access documents, regardless of whether they were in the office or in the field. Craig and his team knew that this was critical to ensuring a successful implementation—they needed to have everyone on board.

“In order to have a successful rollout, we really needed to ensure that the less tech-savvy demographic was satisfied and confident in using the software,“ Craig says.

Grindley found that this satisfaction and confidence stemmed from Procore's user-friendly interface and mobile functionality which supported all users—on-site and off, tech-savvy and not—in quickly learning and using the software. This helped increase collaboration and visibility among teams.

As a result of having all employees using the software, more accurate and up-to-date data was entered into the system, allowing off-site teams to better analyse information and gain valuable insights. Employees—from contractors to project managers to executives—finally had a way to seamlessly communicate with one another, regardless of location or device.

“Before we were using multiple software applications whereas now a number of these can be consolidated and those tasks executed within Procore. In addition to document and defect management, Procore offered a number of other tools. Until Procore, we hadn't yet found a suitable software application, with an easy user-interface in particular, for mobile devices,“ Craig says.

In addition to its user-friendly interface and mobile functionality, Craig recalls that the comprehensive suite of tools was also one of the most valuable reasons to partner with Procore. This, coupled with the ability to automate certain processes, helped Grindley greatly reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks.

The team's utilisation of Project Management and Quality & Safety ultimately helped Grindley's team do the same tasks in Procore but in fewer steps, saving them time while enhancing project quality. A number of tools eliminated the need to print, scan, and manually sign or distribute documents. Similarly, the Observation Tool helped them more efficiently document quality, safety and environmental issues and assign actions to assist in reducing the risk associated with those identified issues. This also increased accountability and compliance in the field. The ability to update and access all information such as inspections and drawings in one centralised location—as well as set user-specific permissions—eliminated any confusion about which documents were the most up to date and who could access them.

Craig and his team wanted to demonstrate just how much time they had saved since switching to Procore in an impactful, visual way. In a spreadsheet, they made a side-by-side comparison of the number of steps needed to complete a monthly task with and without Procore. Craig says the results were evident: the steps in Procore were significantly less, consequently saving time from executing a monthly administrative task while also improving the quality of data they captured.

While improving project efficiencies was one of the principal reasons to partner with Procore, Craig says that it wasn't the only reason. He explains, “Procore provides software that is currently at the forefront of project management for the construction industry and displays a desire to continue to develop tools that improve how the industry manages projects.“

For Craig and his team, Procore's willingness to take customer feedback and continually improve the product was an integral part of their initial decision. In fact, Grindley actively provides feedback to Procore and was even a beta user to help develop features like the Incidents Tool. Craig says that it's important that Procore takes feedback from those out in the field who are actually using the software so that they can continue to pioneer the construction software space and build tools that the industry needs.

As a result of Procore continuing to enhance the product, Craig says that it has helped create a comprehensive platform that currently exceeds other available project management solutions. Procore's ease of use, collaborative interface and fast time-to-value made it easy for employees to use, helping to ensure a successful implementation. With Grindley team members—from the office to the field—readily using Procore, the response to the platform has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Some of the feedback is that people can't believe how we used to do things and the feeling is that we have improved our system,“ explains Craig.