Construction Project Dashboard

Before

bbf: - one of the largest developers in the region. 10 project managers concurrently managing the construction of 60 real estate objects.

Managers manually compiled comprehensive reports in Excel for the leadership to monitor schedule and budget compliance, early risk identification, and task synchronization between departments for each project. These reports, consisting of 20 sections with nearly 200 indicators from 5 different systems (CRM, SAP, Procore, Primavera, and email), were visually clear and informative but time-consuming to update.

While the reports were visually appealing, informative, and convenient for management, they were entirely compiled manually. Managers spent almost all their working time updating reports for their projects (4 to 6 projects per manager).

As a result, the data in the reports became outdated, rendering them useless, or managers burnt out and left the company.

Additionally, the reports exhibited various limitations associated with using Excel as a management dashboard:

• Inconvenient switching between projects (required searching for and opening the corresponding file)
• Difficulty in making changes to the report format and calculation methodology (60 report files needed modification)
• Different file templates (lists/calculation fields and their placement varied from project to project)
• Lack of prompts and explanations (how a particular indicator was calculated)
• Inconvenient use on mobile phones

Solution

1. Conducted in-depth analysis with the customer to understand the existing report, business processes, the data it displays, and the information systems where the data should be stored.
   1. Began by standardizing the report format, creating a universal target version template in Excel.
   2. Defined requirements for internal system enhancements to automate the calculation of all indicators in the report based on entered data.
   3. Dissected the report "down to the screws," determining the calculation methodology and data source for each indicator.
      1. Example: Indicator "FINAL BOQ" - presence of the final bill of quantities (a required document for the tendering process).
      2. Before: Manual checkbox placement in Excel (not present in all reports)
      3. After: Simply uploading the BOQ file to the project folder in Procore

2. Collaborated with the customer to develop guidelines and instructions for data collection, entry, and attachment of necessary documents.
3. Established a centralized data warehouse (DWH) using Azure SQL and configured regular data uploads from information systems: CRM, SAP, Procore, Primavera.
4. Developed a Power BI report displaying all necessary indicators with an improved design. Added new global filters (project stage, absence of demonstration and renovation projects, and other system filters) to allow working with specific projects without manual sorting.

After

• Complete automation of the reporting process, freeing project managers from time spent on updates.
• Improved process discipline among project managers, with more accurate and frequently updated system data, and important documents no longer confined to emails.
• The report became more user-friendly with tooltips for indicator calculations, additional color indications, a visual chart of construction progress (planned vs. actual), one-click project switching, optimization for phone and iPad, and direct links to specific transaction/ document/ drawing records for deeper analysis.