Construction document control is the hot item right now with regards to industry technology. With several leading tech companies working tirelessly to convert all contractors from hard copy drawings to digital, the race is on to see who will emerge victorious. Not only are technology companies seeing opportunity in plan management, their also seeing opportunity with the new Windows platform. The Surface Pro tablets and Surface Book laptops have given Apple products a run for their money recently for jobsite use, after jumping 20% in use in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to a new construction technology survey.
PlanGrid, an easy to use, web-based plan management and markup software, originally released a beta version for Windows back in March of 2016, but has now officially released the full version. Some of the features you’ll get with the new Windows version are multiple windows for side-by-side comparisons, an offline mode which will update your drawings when you regain internet access, and snap-to annotations for easy notes.
Aside from the Windows update, PlanGrid has also released several enhancements that users are sure to love. As of last week, the software now allows users to set their own issue date on sheets, so that they are in control of the order of their sheets in the revision history. No matter what order sheets are uploaded in, you can change the order to display the most recent version of a particular drawing first, which will ensure all trades are working off of the most current version. If you’re interested in learning more about this new feature, PlanGrid has scheduled a webinar to help users navigate the change on Wednesday, December 14th from 1:30pm to 2:30pm EST. You can register for the webinar for free by clicking here.
Another recent update for the software include an additional 4 colors for document markup, on top of the 8 colors they originally offered. That should help contractors using a specific coloring system for each trade.
Finally, PlanGrid also released an update to make as-built hand-off even easier. With the addition of hyperlinked as-builts, facility owners and operators can navigate their building’s drawings with ease, including manuals for equipment and warranty information. Not only should that make life easier for contractors, but it’s an added benefit to the owner. The hyperlinks will work on PDFs, even when PlanGrid isn’t being used.
If you’re unfamiliar with PlanGrid, the video below is a quick overview of the program:
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