How Going Paperless Boosts Productivity

Scrap paper – literally!
Old habits die hard in the construction industry - but you can wave goodbye to them and simplify your site management and compliance requirements with Paperless Construction
It needs to go, but it also needs to be replaced by an alternative system that requires scant extra effort in its performance. By happy chance, doing so eliminates the time-consuming but worthless activities involved in rewriting missing time sheets, chasing delivery note duplicates, correcting wrong entries or even just trying to decipher your own handwriting - you get the point!
We can now solve a lot of these issues online by using mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets, and it is only natural that they be used to handle the myriad of forms, rules and regulations that you come up against on a building site. Linked to a central repository of forms and data, entries can be entered in real-time just once, and checked, validated and shared as they occur.
PAPERLESS CONSTRUCTION

An intuitive mobile application that provides just such an environment is Paperless Construction, a name that aptly describes its ability to replace the whole panoply of paper documents that you traditionally have to deal with on a building site - timesheets, material requisitions, environmental and management inspections - along with quality and safety checks. It can go much further though, and provide induction and daily briefings, dig out permits, link safety alerts to specific tasks and produce method statements or work package plans.
With safety in mind, users can download COSHH (control of substances hazardous to health) briefings, or 'toolbox talks' - short presentations on a single aspect of health and safety which can be provided in PowerPoint as a PDF.
As a mobile platform it allows construction teams to work more effectively on remote building sites and eliminates frequent trips to the Head Office to hand in paperwork, pick up instructions, and update admin on progress and resources required.
Using the application's Site Management tools, users simply load documents onto their smart devices and follow the instructions onscreen to enter data, which is subsequently uploaded to be shared with the relevant back-office applications and other interested employees.
Supervisors can add users to these online site meetings by scanning in their QR codes supplemented by photo verification. This feature allows anyone with the Paperless app to confirm briefing attendance from their own device. They can join online training sessions or meetings and confirm attendance through their own app, with no photo verification required for this feature.
COMPLIANCE IS KEY
Fatigue management may be unfamiliar to you but the UK Government has its own take on it, and cites it as a major cause of accidents and inefficiency on building sites. This can now be audited and controlled with the Paperless Construction app: from stating how long a road drill operator can safely work in one session, to providing advice on working patterns on the construction site. Paperless Construction provides a full health and safety audit trail which includes verification from the site manager that any procedures and instructions that the task requires have been complied with. That even extends to a unique feature - an SOS function that allows individual project members to raise an alarm in the event of an emergency and conduct a subsequent online 'roll call'. Safety briefings are necessary for each project and include inductions and any safety training that may be required.

FORM FILLING
They can also be supplemented by annotations, photos, comments. voice notes and more. Data from each form becomes immediately available to support management decisions, and can be acted upon to speed up material requisitions, update schedules, initiate faster payments, hire equipment and improve the efficiency of working processes - which in turn will increase the profitability of each project.

ATTENDANCE RECORDS

The system can also accurately monitor travel time and rest periods, as well as working hours. RAG (Red, Amber, Green) ratings for a project can, similarly, point to working time excesses which can be dealt with accordingly in real time.
THE PAPERLESS WEB
Using the app, managers have access to information about contractors, users, all documents, briefings and checklists, and can monitor compliance or proactively issue tasks to users, check audit trails, or instigate any site or project related activity.

FREE TRIALS
You can book a free two week trial of Paperless Construction for up to 75 people, which includes a free briefing, full access to all of its features and the assistance of a Paperless Construction rep. If that's not enough, you can go further and pay for a three month pilot for up to 50 users for £850.This includes project reporting, and if you find it works for you then you can move to one of three monthly per user contracts. These are Starter, invoiced on a per contract basis; Annual, which includes unlimited projects with cross-project reporting, and Enterprise, available for companies with specific needs supported by a dedicated Success Manager.





