StreamFocus Blog

Case Study: Architecture – Back to: 50% Productivity Increase with Better Quality?

How much time do you spend looking for relevant information when working on a project? For my information-intensive firm, a lot of time was spent looking for product brochures, the latest project prints, old project prints, the latest phone call information from the client, that beam redesign fax from the engineer, the latest email from the Planning Department with the new deadline, etc. It was overwhelming, especially when larger teams were trying to use the same information.

Contextual Focus

With the help of StreamFocus, our high-speed scanner, and scans converted to pdfs, all the information we need for any Action is immediately available. In looking at an Action view, all the relevant information is there including the ability to add information, such as phone call, emails, etc with the click of a button. We know who is working on that action currently and in the past. Additionally, when selecting an Action to view, StreamFocus shows the context to the Workflow and subproject the Action belongs to. This context focus is displayed highlighted at the top of the screen with the ability to move up or down the focus hierarchy changing the context of what is displayed in the various system views.

For example, if you are viewing the participants for the structural engineering coordination action within “13. Final Design”, the structural engineer and his staff as well as your staff interacting with the engineer will be displayed and all others who created or were conveyed information about the action. If you select up the hierarchy to the next subproject level, “Contract Documents”, all of the participants in all the information created and conveyed below that level will be displayed, and so on. A real-time view of all the relevant participants on a project is obtained by simply clicking on the Project name at the top “200701_Vincent”. This same contextual display is true for other views such as Information, Sessions, and in the case of Architecture and Engineering, Products and Keynotes.

Team Collaboration

In addition to the personal productivity gain contextual action information has given us, we have also gained dramatically in team collaboration. For example, at any given time I can see exactly which Action any other team members are working on. If a team member asks a question, with a click on their Action, I am presented with the same contextual Action view that they have so that I can quickly grasp their context, such as the latest call from the engineer or a sketch with a red-lined area of concern, and can answer quickly. This tool is as equally powerful when the team is in the same room or scattered about in different countries. The right information at the right time in the right quantity is a very powerful tool.

Back to: 50% Productivity Increase with Better Quality?

©2007 Organon Technologies LLC