What happens after a construction digital handover?
As technology in construction develops and more projects adopt a digital handover of construction project information, facility owners may wonder “why is a digital handover so important, and what happens to the information after handover?” In this article, we will explain, what a digital handover is, what can be done with the information, and how useful this information is when construction ends.
What is a construction digital handover?
Collectively, construction handover documents tell the design and construction story of buildings, facilities, or infrastructure. These documents are important for an Owner to manage the building safely and efficiently. When the project is complete and the owner is ready to occupy the building, a handover of this information is given to the owner and their Facility Management (FM) team to use. Digitally handing over this information is much more efficient than handing over reams of paper – which would need a large amount of costly storage space. OmTrak provides all this important information on a single USB device.
Common problems with construction handovers
Those who have managed the construction of major projects such as stadiums, hospitals, commercial or retail buildings know that documentation management is a mammoth task. When you consider the size of the project and the number of contractors and stakeholders, it is easy to understand how projects can generate over 100,000 separate documents. Even when document management software is deployed, documents can still be disorganised, incomplete, and of poor quality. In addition, at project handover, Owners may simply be provided with a difficult to use information dump. Often, they need to compile the information, make it logical and chase up any missing documents. This task usually falls to the new building’s FM team. In some cases, the sorting of this important handover information can take 12 months or more, cost several hundred thousand dollars, and expose owners to substantial statutory compliance risks.
How an OmTrak digital handover works
OmTrak offers a more efficient way to manage these important documents. Prior to construction, Owners specify exactly what information they need and the format they wish to receive it. This is specified to the building contractor before construction, who then progressively uploads their documentation during the construction phase. OmTrak provides a smart flexible workflow; where a combination of supervisors and client-side consultants can check and validate the submitted documentation during the construction period.
This serves three purposes.
- To spread the work out during construction for contractors and other key stakeholders, rather than a last-minute scramble – reducing delays at the end of the project.
- Gives the Owner a way to quality control the information and ensure it is complete and compliant before handover – again reducing handover delays and non-compliance costs and risks.
- Give contractors a chance to correct any errors in the information before handover thus reducing the possibility of withholding final payment.
Once the project is complete, the information is compiled and presented in a searchable digital format ready for import into the Owner’s own system.
What does the Owner do with the handover documentation?
Often the Owner has a Facility Management (FM) Software System and a Facility Management (FM) team already organised to operate the facility. The FM Team then uploads the digital handover information to the FM System including the pre-configured asset data. This offers a seamless transfer of information to be used by the FM System, it includes maintenance schedules and O&M Manual information e.g., spare parts catalogues and warranties. The FM team can then quickly start their job of performing maintenance tasks and stocking the spare parts they need.
What if the Owner doesn’t have FM Software?
There are instances where the building does not have an FM System ready for action after handover. In these cases, the Owner has the option to continue to use OmTrak on a yearly subscription basis and gain access to the important documents, asset information, O&M manuals, and maintenance schedules from within OmTrak. If the Owner ultimately does not have an FM system, then the OmTrak FM Module is available for use on a permanent basis. The OmTrak FM Module is often preferred over other larger FM vendor systems because of its intuitive interface, lower price, and logical access to the documents inside a single platform.
Is digital handover now commonplace?
The trend towards digital transformation is inevitable as we develop new and better ways to leverage technology and reduce our carbon footprint. The COVID-19 Pandemic has been a catalyst for many companies in realising that a digital strategy is critical to ensure business continuity and to stay competitive. A smart digital handover is a next step in construction technology. OmTrak sets the benchmark for digital handovers. They are paperless, efficient, and reliable.
We’ve already been doing it for 20 years!