Trial / Demo
One of the biggest shifts to come from the current Coronavirus pandemic has been remote working becoming the new norm for most office-based workers. In this time, having full access to flexible, easy-to-use, online systems has been instrumental in enabling us to carry out ‘business as usual’.
For the construction industry, many workers who usually work on construction sites have turned their attention to office-based work like processing design certification requirements such as that for BREEAM, LEED and Green Star. This has led to a huge surge in the use of our project management system, IES TaP, in the last few months. Having recognised this, we thought it would be interesting to take a look how IES TaP is being used by remote workers during lockdown and the advantages that this can bring to the design process.
Work seamlessly remotely, saving time and costs
IES TaP is a completely online system, which means the assessment process can continue from any location with an internet connection. Building Design Managers and Assessors can use the system flexibly to manage projects and their teams remotely.
Many are seeing the benefits of being able to share screens whilst working from IES TaP live, for instance, to go through a Pre-Assessment or check individual evidence in detail. Teams can carry out online reporting during meetings and go over live scenarios where credits are lost and solutions are needed. Recognising the benefits of being able to carry-out this work effectively without having to travel or meet people face-to-face has been a real game changer for many companies, with some deciding that this will be their new way of working going forward.
For Glenn Miles of Encon Associates, the cost and time saving benefits are speaking for themselves:
“We are saving hugely on travel expenses, and being able to get entire teams around the table remotely is saving valuable time for all involved. I now take only two hours for a BREEAM meeting but if it was face to face it would be a full day. Without IES TaP it would be hard to explain project elements to the team. The visual aids in IES TaP allow us to get across accurate requirements and progress.”
Use system to its full potential throughout the project lifecycle
As teams are ‘off site’ many are using this time to catch up on compliance responsibilities and make sure all required documentation to meet the targeted credits are uploaded for assessor review. This makes the assessor job easier as it is not a last-minute dash to review and give feedback to documents right when submission to the BRE/USGBC should be made. In normal times it is often the case that project certification with these rating systems is an afterthought and there is a rush at the end of the project to gather the required documentation. However, the current crisis has given teams the opportunity to use IES TaP throughout the project lifecycle as it’s intended to be used. This allows teams to use the progress reporting function to benchmark the project.
Flexible use around team members home life timeframes
Because the system is totally flexible design team members can provide evidence in time frames that suit them. With the current pandemic, people are having to work more flexibly to work around families and therefore design teams have been uploading evidence early morning and late at night. It also allows the assessor to review evidence at a time that suits them.
In conclusion, as the system is fully online, team collaboration and assessor communications can continue to happen seamlessly all in one platform and the project team has no ambiguity about what is required of them with clearly defined responsibilities. Therefore, IES TaP is enabling design teams to effectively complete works during this period of uncertainty and is keeping assessors moving projects forward to completion.
Why not test drive IES TaP and see for yourself how it can help you to quickly and easily manage all of your projects in one place - Take a 30 day free trial.
You can also find out more by visiting www.iesve.com/software/ies-tap
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