JJ Rhatigan & Company adopts Site Progress Mobile to give its site teams full project ownership

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Leading Irish construction company, JJ Rhatigan & Company, is using Powerproject’s Site Progress Mobile app to implement a site-led approach to project management – while maintaining consistent delivery standards across its projects.

As one of Ireland’s leading main contractors for 70 years, JJ Rhatigan & Company has a reputation for delivering high quality, sustainable results.

An early adopter of BIM software, the Galway-headquartered company has been restructuring its approach to project management, focusing on technology to enhance the delivery of their projects.

Investing in Powerproject by Elecosoft, including the Site Progress Mobile app, has enabled JJ Rhatigan & Company to connect real-time activity with strategic decision-making, allowing site teams to take ownership of each construction project.

Digital innovation in planning tools is critical to construction success

JJ Rhatigan & Company has always been at the forefront of industry innovation, complementing its early investment in BIM technology with company tablets to help site engineers and project managers complete quality control checklists online.

In 2019, the company decided to upgrade its construction planning software as it took on larger, more complex projects. It wanted dynamic, intuitive technology that would allow site teams to capture more data in order to elevate its construction planning and execution capabilities.

After considering a number of software options, JJ Rhatigan & Company chose Powerproject because of Elecosoft’s construction industry credentials, and the fact that Powerproject’s Site Progress Mobile app would easily integrate data from site teams.

“Bringing in Powerproject and Site Progress Mobile has been central to restructuring our project delivery and operations.” Shane McHugh, Senior Planner, JJ Rhatigan & Company

Giving staff the project management software to launch a site-first approach

Investing in Powerproject has given JJ Rhatigan & Company complete project planning consistency, while adhering to the company’s core values of creativity and collaboration. The software’s ready-built templates allow site teams to take ownership of programmes, without compromising on workflow and project governance.

Its use of the Site Progress Mobile app has been critical to the success of the company’s site-driven approach, as the app enables planning staff to get feedback directly from site engineers, managers and contractors without spending huge amounts of time on calls and in meetings.

“Our ethos within JJ Rhatigan & Company is to give site teams ownership of their programmes. Powerproject’s templating abilities allow us to do this consistently – and when combined with Site Progress Mobile, we gain even more competitive edge. We know we’re getting real boots-on-the-ground feedback directly from the delivery team.”

Initially, JJ Rhatigan & Company trained 50 staff on Site Progress Mobile, and these employees have acted as internal software champions to ensure all site teams are maximising the software’s value. The company has also developed training materials including video instructions on their digital training platform, accessible through the online JJR Learning Hub, which acts as a useful information repository for new and experienced stakeholders.

With teams already comfortable with managing quality control checklists online, Site Progress Mobile was a natural extension of JJ Rhatigan & Company’s digital infrastructure. Within six weeks of its roll-out, staff were seamlessly using the construction planning app to update tasks and capture photo evidence in real-time, helping JJ Rhatigan’s planning team to track project progress and identify where further improvements could be made.

Connecting design, development and procurement operations

One of the game-changing benefits Site Progress Mobile has delivered is the ability to closely connect JJ Rhatigan & Company’s design, development and procurement operations. Project stakeholders can understand the impact of changes using more comprehensive material requirements and execution plans. The software connects the whole team together and emphasizes the responsibility of the design, procurement and delivery teams in the business to operate and plan as one.

“Through Powerproject and Site Progress Mobile we have a very robust, as-built journal, documenting what happens on a certain day or within a certain week and how it has impacted the project. When we complete tasks earlier than anticipated, it enables us to capitalize on every gain.”

For an additional level of protection, JJ Rhatigan & Company uses Powerproject to track multiple baselines, creating both a customer programme and an accelerated, internal programme to minimize the impact of slippage. And because these baselines are being managed through the same software, data only needs to be inputted once.

“By monitoring client and internal baselines, we receive early indicators if something is affecting project progress. We just didn’t have that capability before.”

Delivering high quality results in adverse conditions

Modelling the real-time impact of changes on both timelines has proven particularly beneficial during the pandemic, when supply chain issues affected project progress. This enables the company to remain accountable to customers, stating with confidence whether projects could still be completed on time despite external setbacks.

The recently completed Advance Office Building for the IDA in Finisklin, Sligo is an excellent example of this.

The Advance Office Building is an impressive three-story detached office building extending to a total of approximately 4,500m2 which has been delivered to provide open plan Grade A office space for IDA clients.

Despite the significant impact of Covid-19 and its associated restrictions, site closures and supply chain impact, this project was delivered three months ahead of schedule, on budget and to a standard that surpassed the client’s expectations. This was due in no small part to the expert planning and project management skills of the JJ Rhatigan & Company project team, utilizing the insights and clarity of data provided by Powerproject software and the Site Progress Mobile app.

Increasing certainty around cost and delivery schedules

At the moment, data gathered through Site Progress Mobile is integrated into a bespoke JJ Rhatigan & Company reporting dashboard, which underpins JJ Rhatigan & Company’s analytics.

The company’s project and contracts managers review programme data on a weekly basis, while high level information is reported to senior management on a monthly basis, giving them a very concise commercial and operational overview of each live project.

Furthermore, the company is already in talks with Elecosoft to create a fully automated, Powerproject Business Intelligence (BI) dashboard within the next 12 months. This will enable everyone in the company – from senior management to site engineers – to access the most up-to-date information on demand, to support smarter decision-making.

“Our business is in a much better place for onboarding Powerproject and Site Progress Mobile. It’s enabling us to have much greater certainty around cost and delivery schedules, by making key decisions early-on.”