In the current economic climate, it’s more important than ever for contractors to operate as efficiently as possible. There is little room for error in an already low-margin industry, so improving and maximizing your profitability is vital. Connecting your tech platforms, data, and team members from the office to the field leads to building more profitable work.
While STACK’s preconstruction solutions have long been powering collaboration for estimating teams and contributing to more profitable project wins, our acquired solutions, SmartUse & K-Ops extend these benefits into the construction phase of the project lifecycle. These field collaboration and construction management solutions allow every member of the team to access project plans, details and reports – whether in the office, on a jobsite or working remotely. Plus, our open API allows for seamless connection to other platforms and enables further streamlining of workflows and greater efficiency gains.
New Features and Improvements
SmartUse and STACK Connect
SmartUse users can select plans from STACK to upload directly into existing SmartUse projects. The integration eliminates the process of manual export and import, connecting two best-in-class solutions and reducing 75% of upload efforts. These project documents will automatically be imported with takeoff data, eliminating rework and bridging the gap between preconstruction and construction.
SmartUse and AutoDesk Vault Integration
SmartUse users can now upload drawings directly from Autodesk Vault into SmartUse, and native CAD (*.DWG) files will be converted to PDF as part of the process. There are two levels of this integration, one for Vault web-based client deployments, and one for Vault desktop-based client deployments. Users can pull drawings from the SmartUse web portal directly from the Vault web client. Or users can push drawings from within the Vault desktop application, using a SmartUse Vault installable add-in. In either case, users can send PDF or DWG files; DWG files will be converted to PDF before uploading to SmartUse.
Benefits: The capability for direct upload integration with Autodesk Vault will drastically improve the upload process, with 75%-time savings. This will prevent users from having to download documents from Vault, convert them all into PDFs and then upload them into SmartUse. With rework, there is always a chance of a document getting missed or a download process not catching all documents. This integration with Vault will allow users to ensure all their documents are being pulled directly from the vault and server they choose.
K-Ops Two-Way Sync with Google Drive
K-Ops users can now sign into their Google Drive account to create a dual sync with K-Ops. This will create a mirrored effect between these two platforms, with any changes made in either location being duplicated and updated in the other location. This original release is intended for supplemental project documents.
Benefits: This intuitive dual sync capability will allow documents to remain up to date for all project users, whether in the field or in the office. Keeping both platforms mirrored to each other will save any rework or mistakes from occurring with regards to document management. Updates that are made in the field via markup will be synchronized to match what the office management is seeing through Google Drive.
K-Ops Workforce & Equipment Planner
K-Ops users can now create resource lists for their workforce and equipment in one place. Users can easily add activities, using dependencies as needed, with several incremental timeline views. Activities can also be searched and highlighted for quick assessment and review, and users can color-code projects for easy visibility. Project plans can be analyzed individually or side by side, and the final plans can be exported to share with team members!
Benefits: The Planner feature of K-Ops will drastically improve the way users can manage workforce and equipment. Work can be organized by individual employees and pieces of equipment. This will give each user a clear picture of what workforce is available and when certain tasks are to be completed. The Planner will help lay out all resources in one view to better understand where assets have been allocated within different K-Ops projects.
At STACK we are constantly investing in our platform to improve and add new features. We listen to your feedback and make updates to better serve you and your business!
