Projectcentre.net

Paul,
Thanks for the post about ProjectCentre.net, I hope I can fill in some of the blanks for you about what ProjectCentre.net does and it’s advantages over some of the other construction collaboration systems (both here in Australia and in the international arena). Your previous post mentioning ProjectCentre.net you quoted Anthony McPhee saying “email is BAD, email is EVIL. … Basically, email creates a huge, disparate, amorphous mess”. We agree entirely and it’s the principle that ProjectCentre.net is founded on.
ProjectCentre.net is a forms based solution; This harks back to the “olden days” of construction where systems were entirely paper based. Back in the “old days” (and yes I can almost remember those days) we would hand write up a form in triplicate with the carbon paper inserts, issue it to the different people it needed to go to and then file the last copy which was just about unreadable, into a filing system that meant we would never see that document again. But people knew that they would never do anything without a copy of that form or instruction or request, signed by the appropriate person and stamped with a received stamp the minute it was received. No matter what it’s difficulties people trusted and relied upon the system.
Then along came email, and we all thought great, this will make things faster and easier, so we transferred all our paper based forms into Word or Excel documents and then filled out the word documents and transmitted them via email. Things were OK then, the information was being transmitted, but people did not like the idea of no signatures on the documents. Eventually things just degenerated, and rather than filling out a form and emailing it we decided it would be just as easy to issue the site instruction as an email itself – it still says Site Instruction in the title of the email, and it still has the same content as the site instruction, so why isn’t that enough? But this is where it all starts to degenerate into this “disparate, amorphous mess” that Anthony so wonderfully described in his article and all of a sudden we have no control.
So ProjectCentre.net takes the best of both of the analogue and digital worlds for construction documentation and has electronic forms, that look and behave just like the old fashioned paper based forms, but that are managed within the collaboration system, maintaining the security and integrity of the forms. One of the main features of having form based electronic communication is that forms have fields and fields are easier and faster to search on than free text email. Eg if you want to know that a site instruction has a possible cost impact on the project then we can fill in the Cost Impact field and then search and report on all site instructions issued and their potential cost impact. Most importantly there is only ever one copy of each form. This makes the workflow easier because you don’t need to coordinate multiple responses from multiple people – they are all there in the history of the form – no tricky versioning and numbering to worry about.
Therefore with the forms-based approach of ProjectCentre.net it has many cost management features built-in such as;
* Design Development – If the design development is not managed against the contract brief and Contract cost, the builder will lose money. ProjectCentre.net has design management and design / cost approval processes to give the builder the appropriate controls for good cost management.
* Contracts Management – The change process requires negotiation of Head Contract and Sub Contract Variations. A collaborative platform allows visibility of the change and negotiation process and allows the implementation of approval procedures built into the forms to ensure all cost impact changes are approved by the Project Manager.
* Site Management – The ability to manage the areas where site management can issue instructions that may have cost implications through the forms workflow processes, which ensures the Project Manger maintains appropriate controls.
From this first level of cost management built into all ProjectCentre.net forms, we then take it one step further to include a fully integrated Contract Administration module with full budgeting, forecasting, contract and variation management and claims and payment certificates. Having a collaboration system to enable on-line and instant negotiation capabilities for all contract documents including variations and claims is a great advantage for any project team. No more emailing spreadsheets between subcontractor and head contractor or between head contractor and quantity surveyor. Everyone is working on-line on the same document with full audit tracking and full history of all correspondence dealing with that document.
Other modules that are included in ProjectCentre.net are TenderCentre, Defects Management, OH&S, Site Diary and Meetings – all of this on top of the traditional project collaboration tools of document management and distribution.
ProjectCentre.net is fully web-based SaSS or ASP delivery model with all users accessing the projects via the internet. There is also Windows Mobile limited version for off-line usage on-site for defects and site instructions etc, that is synchronised with ProjectCentre.net once the device is back in the office.
ProjectCentre.net has over 40 staff based in it’s head office in Sydney and the other offices around the world. We have full 24hrs / 7 days “follow the sun” help desk support by our own staff in our offices, and full training is provided to all users on the projects via face-to-face or live on-line meetings.
The ProjectCentre.net project is usually owned by one party of the project such as the Client, Project Manager or Managing Contractor and all companies involved in the project that need it can be given access to the project and receive support on the project for no additional cost.

Hi David, the answer is that it entirely depends on the size and duration of the project. We would be happy to provide a proposal for your specific project. Please contact us and we would be happy to answer your specific questions. http://www.projectcentre.net/contact/details.aspx