Built on Collaboration

One of the most common questions we get asked by AEC companies is "Why should we go with a web-based system instead of just buying and hosting the software ourselves." A lot of whitepapers (Gartner SaaS report) and column inches (ASPnews) have been dedicated to the debate over self-hosted software vs software as a service (SaaS) delivery models and it's a topic we'll return to often.

Self-hosted document management software is purchased and owned by an organization and project data (from internal and external participants) is held on their servers. The software vendor generally charges a fee for additional licenses for new users and training. With the SaaS model, the software vendor hosts and operates the application for use over the internet. A lead organization (e.g. a developer or head contractor) pays a monthly fee for all participants to use the system for the duration of the project.

There are many reasons why the SaaS model is more suitable for construction and engineering projects, but the main issue we have with self-hosted software systems is that they can positively discourage collaboration. Installed document management software often breaks what we see as four key rules of achieving collaboration on a project. More often than not, following these rules when choosing an online document management tool gives projects the best possible chance of success; breaking them is a ticket to failure.

Rule 1: Don't pay a per-user licensing fee
Rule 2: Make sure training is included
Rule 3: Don't pay extra for, or accept a limit on, data storage
Rule 4: Trust no one else on the project with your data

Rule 1: Don't pay a per-user licensing fee
How can a project manager possibly be expected to encourage collaboration between the whole project team when there is a financial incentive not to involve everyone, because he is worried about the impact on his budget? A decision then needs to be made about who should be excluded. If participants are excluded, then a) they are not able to effectively collaborate with the rest of the team and b) the system is not capturing all the project information. To support project collaboration, everyone on the project needs to be using the system.

Rule 2: Make sure training is included
With installed software solutions, and even some SaaS solutions, training comes at a cost. But in today's environment, people are always coming and going on a development, so training is required for the life of the project. Again, if there is a charge for extra training, there is a financial incentive not to have everyone on the project trained. Especially if the training budget has already been allocated and spent at the start. So what happens? Either new users have to work out how to use the system themselves or colleagues are asked to show them the ropes. Hardly comparable with receiving a full training session by a professional trainer and then having ongoing access to phone support. The end result is that project collaboration is hindered by compromising the effectiveness of the tool.

There are also important issues around data, which I'll look at in the next post.

Labels: Good practice