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Construction projects have many moving parts that include people, equipment, and materials, as well as the activities that bring all these parts together. It is critical for construction projects to have a solid plan with a carefully mapped schedule. Construction scheduling software enables companies, teams, and users to outline important timeframes and milestones while they track progress.
What Is Construction Scheduling Software?
Construction scheduling software is a stand-alone system or an integrated feature in construction management software. It focuses on helping users create an execution plan with identified tasks, start and end dates, resources, dependencies, and milestones — usually represented by a Gantt chart or calendar. Construction scheduling apps provide access to both office and site users for effective coordination, avoiding missed deadlines, conflicting work schedules, and overspending.
Recommended Construction Project Management Software with Scheduling Features
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Construction scheduling tools or features are available in several types of software solutions.
Construction Management Software
Construction management software is an industry solution with specialized features for the stages and requirements of construction business. It follows specific workflows such as design, planning, pre-construction, procurement, construction, and post-construction. All these stages include scheduling capability for teams to successfully complete projects on time and within budget.
Project Management Software
General project management software today is flexible for a variety of use cases — including construction projects. They are customizable, so users can create any project plan and schedule tailored to their business and industry. These project management tools are mostly cloud-based and offers mobile apps to provide wide accessibility to bring office and field teams together.
Job Management Software
Job management software provides general resource scheduling for different types of jobs, tasks, and staff configurations. It lets users create, view, and track job assignments, schedules, time, costs, and profitability. This solution may be acceptable for simple construction projects but is not ideal for complex projects because of simpler views and missing features like critical path or conflict detection.
Common Features of Construction Scheduling Software
A well-thought-out construction schedule can save companies precious time and money before any actual construction begins. Here are some important features to check when evaluating construction scheduling software solutions:
User-friendly interface and navigation
Easy-to-edit calendar and Gantt charts
Ready-to-use and customizable schedule templates
Collaboration tools for teams and external partners with access control
Dependencies, critical path, baseline, and auto-schedule adjustment
Web and mobile access
Automatic notifications through text and email of changes and progress
Interactive linking of schedule to other parts of the project
Built-in messaging, document management, and file sharing
Import/export tools for schedules from/to other software
Features for Small Businesses
Small construction businesses need to act and respond faster to win against competition.
All-in-one solution: Construction scheduling software that seamlessly integrates with other tools like estimating, quoting, cost tracking, and accounting will increase the efficiency of the users for having all data in a single, connected platform.
Ease of use: Small business owners are usually hands-on owners and need to spend more time on-site than at their desks trying to figure out how to make a schedule.
Features for Midsize Businesses
Midsize construction businesses cover several types of companies, from home builders to commercial contractors, so it will require more robust features in its construction scheduling app.
Integrated project management: Midsize businesses would benefit from having a complete project management capability instead of a scheduling feature only. Project management will include task and resource management, multiple work views, and work-in-progress reports.
Financial tools: Companies can streamline processes essential for their growth if their schedule and plans can quickly link to bids, budgets, invoices, and payments, without users having to work on another app.
Features for Enterprise Businesses
Enterprise construction businesses work on large, long-term projects with multiple partners. These companies need top-notch scheduling tools with flexible and innovative features.
Integrated project and field management: Large construction companies need to consolidate processes and tools so their schedules work seamlessly with office systems like project portfolio management as well as on-site tools like safety checklist using mobile apps.
Integration: With more diverse projects, enterprise firms may need to work with partners and clients that have their own systems. Their construction scheduling tool should be able to accept different schedule or plan file formats and easily convert them to usable project documents.
