Rii created a task-tracking system with integrated weekly status reporting by the construction managers to the owner. The status reports were interactive, allowing the owner and owner’s architect to mark up the reports with suggested edits before declining approval of the reports. Additionally, the system provided automated, multiply-prorated billing for the architects and construction managers. The software design team identified yet-undiscovered issues in the business process with final task billing, and provided the owner with an approved technique for handling such situations.

The team also provided enhancements to Rii’s ProjectGrid.com^TM software, at the specific request of the owner.These enhancements included an integrated spell-checker, a public forum and bulletin board system, and tracking of file views. To better meet the owner’s scheduling needs, and provide maximum functionality for minimal cost, Rii’s software team integrated the task-tracking system with the task and schedule management of ProjectGrid.com^TM. Thus, the owner benefited from workflow, notifications and resource-tracking features already extant in ProjectGrid.com^TM’s suite of online collaboration tools.

After assessing the needs of their entire school network, Fulton County Schools was ready to move forward with the implementation plan. The plan for the 90 building system included hiring DWB Architects & Engineers as the program manager with five architects and five construction managers under them, each responsible for various clusters within the system. To keep the multiple parties (approximately 100) in communication and smooth collaboration, they continued utilizing the ProjectGrid.com^TM server software, taking advantage of its bulletin board, financial management, dynamic scheduling, meeting calendar and meeting minutes functions, as well as tiered-security document management. This dynamic content website provided email notifications, automatic log creation and drill-down/up capabilities, allowing the client to access project information at various levels (total program, cluster, or a specific building).