Previous tools: Microsoft Excel, PDF

Power Construction, out of Chicago Illinois, is one of the leading national general contractors and is currently listed at #71 on the ENR 400. Their belief that client relationships are a top priority is a key ingredient in their success and allows them to better understand client goals, and then exceed their expectations. They take pride in being a people-driven organization that attracts and develops top talent.

Power also believes in pursuing new ideas and adapting to ever-changing market conditions. This belief has led them to invest in training, process improvements, and technology to empower their people to grow and thrive as part of the Power team. 

Power has experienced tremendous growth in recent years having nearly doubled in size. This growth has led to their leadership asking a simple question: how do we manage all of our staff effectively across the project lifecycle? 

The Challenge

Power has used a system of spreadsheets to manage resources for the past two decades, combined with PDF reports to keep their team updated. The process was disjointed and the reporting was the responsibility of a single team member. “That obviously put a massive strain on the team,” explained Matt Walsh, Operations Technology Manager at Power. “When COVID-19 started, it exposed the issue to a much deeper degree.”

On top of improving the efficiency of their resource planning, Power was also looking for a solution that would help standardize the process to ensure their team was all speaking the same language. “It’s always been difficult to know what job you’re going to next,” explains Walsh, “You never really knew where you were moving until the day before. That was really hard on our staff. We needed to move from a reactionary state to a proactive one.”

The Solution

Looking to move away from their spreadsheet-driven process, Power recently signed with Bridgit Bench to help manage their workforce more effectively and efficiently. With their tremendous growth in recent years, Power was impressed by the holistic approach to resource management that Bridgit Bench provides and the ability to also narrow in on areas that require their attention. Walsh elaborated further, “If we’re going to be managing growth, we need to know where the problem areas are. Having all of that readily accessible has been very important.”

“Bridgit Bench has flexibility that allows us to get down to the granular level, without having to sacrifice our holistic views. That’s where Bridgit Bench shines.”

Matt Walsh, Operations Technology Manager at Power Construction

Power is also leveraging project phases in Bridgit Bench to track projects through to completion and quickly update resource allocations when construction becomes fluid. “For us, estimating starts a project,” explains Walsh. “Then schematic design, conceptual design, design development, and the actual GMP drawing set.” Those are all custom phases that Power has now created in Bridgit Bench to help assign staff and track project progress.

The team at Power appreciates that Bridgit Bench was built for construction. Updating allocations when phase dates shift has been a breeze compared to their previous system. “When dates are constantly shifting, it’s not a horrible chore to update anymore. When you move a project or phase in Bridgit Bench, you can choose who moves with it. It’s intuitive,” explains Walsh. “This has been one of the biggest components for us at Power.”

“From that point, you move into the construction job, which is the bread and butter. Bridgit Bench works perfectly for managing staff across multiple projects.”

Matt Walsh, Operations Technology Manager at Power Construction

Regarding communication within the organization, Bridgit Bench has allowed the team at Power to leverage permission groups to provide access to their workforce strategy without risking any unwanted changes. “Moving a Project Manager from one job to the next can mean moving states,” explains Walsh on the difficulties of team members seeing resource plans before they’re set in stone. “The permissions come into play big time. We now have the ability to hide specific datasets associated with projects.”

The team is also leveraging the custom reports available in Bridgit Bench to better communicate with their larger team. “The reporting tool is excellent for creating reports that mimic your custom views in Bridgit Bench. That’s how we share information with project teams now.”

“Bridgit Bench has had exponentially quick growth within the company. Accounting saw it and they wanted in. L&D saw it, they wanted in. HR is also asking to be integrated. That’s only happened with one other application within our company.”

Matt Walsh, Operations Technology Manager at Power Construction

What are the next steps for Power? Using the Bridgit Bench API and Bridgit Sync automation platform to integrate their workforce intelligence with their existing tech stack. That means other departments can leverage their workforce data. “It’s had exponentially quick growth within the company,” said Walsh about the team’s excitement to get into Bridgit Bench.

Sounds like Power is off to a great start.