CVG Construction Management
Background
CVG Construction Management operates in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and the United States, specializing in residential developments.
Recent projects include: Ball Desimone, a 7,000-foot luxury home in Costa Rica; Villas Caceres, a multi-unit residential development in Costa Rica that includes related infrastructure works; a 186-unit condo project in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; and Beacon Villa Escazu, a five-star boutique hotel and resort located in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Challenges
CVG found that using traditional communication tools such as paper documents and individual email accounts were not sufficient to manage the extensive flow of information between members of the project team. Standard practice was for documents to be filed in archives and taken offsite, making it difficult to locate required information.
Socrates Bueno, President-CEO of CVG Construction Management, said, “The method of scanning, faxing and email was very time consuming. As much as we worked we could never keep up to speed and on top of project documentation and communication requirements. We looked to find a product that could automate this.”
CVG required a company-wide solution that would manage all their project information and facilitate communication with other organizations, particularly those based in the US. Bueno said, “Our main concern is to have transparent information access for our clients located in America.”
CVG also had concerns about the time and cost associated with installing and hosting document management software. “The ongoing hardware costs and IT personnel is a big cost and a lot of time to set up,” added Bueno.
Solution
After reviewing available products, CVG selected the Aconex online document management and collaboration service. The system allows CVG and its project partners to view, distribute and track their documents and project mail online using a central, web-based platform.
Aconex is delivered as a service for the life of each project and comprehensive training and support is given to all internal and external project participants. Bueno said, “When I spoke with Aconex I knew we weren’t just dealing with a company that sold software. They were very good.”
Results
CVG and its project partners use Aconex to manage all their drawings, documents and correspondence. By using the system, team members can quickly search for their files using criteria such as date ranges, sender and recipient details, document types, status and keywords. Files can then be efficiently distributed electronically over the system to other participants.
Bueno said that Aconex removed the need for traditional methods of information management, “We don’t need to be sending emails or faxes. Because of this, Aconex will help us to deliver our projects information on time.”
Information on Aconex is stored in professionally managed data centers where it is regularly backed up. There is no limit on the amount of data that can be stored or the size of attachments that are sent over the system. “On our projects we have a massive amount of information and we don’t want to store it on our servers,” added Bueno.
A key feature of Aconex is its audit trail that keeps a record of document revisions and ‘who did what and when’ on a project. The trail provides a secure archive of every transaction since the beginning of the project and nothing can be deleted from the system. Bueno said: “It’s important that an organization can locate everything and has fast access to information.” He added, “We’ll have this information forever, which could be important in the event of claims or litigation.”
To ensure that all parties were competent using the system, Aconex supplied unlimited training and support to CVG team members and their external project partners, in both Spanish and English. Bueno said: “In training I was surprised how easy to use everyone found Aconex. They immediately understood how Aconex worked because it’s simple and user-friendly.”
Bueno added: “One of the main reasons we selected Aconex was because the system will be available in Spanish and each user will be able to select their language preference.”
CVG pays a monthly fee to use Aconex on a project-by project basis, meaning no lump-sum investment is required. Ongoing maintenance and upgrades are all managed by Aconex, reducing the burden on internal IT resources. Bueno said, “With Aconex everything was very smooth and quick.”
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