Company profile
With over 3,600 employees and 60 offices through the nation, HNTB provides a range of civil engineering, architecture, construction, and planning services. HNTB is also ranked as one of the top 20 architectural and engineering firms in the United States. The company has been around for nearly 100 years, and in the early 1900s the first modern turnpike was designed by the engineers at HNTB. Later, the company’s engineers also designed a large portion of the Interstate Highway System.
HNTB started working with the Utah Department of Transportation in 2009 on the I-15 CORE project. This expansion of the I-15 roadways cost approximately $1.8 billion. The project added two extra southbound and northbound lanes from Provo, Utah to American Fork, Utah. The project also included the reconfiguring of interchanges, extending of the express lane, and the modification or replacement of bridges.
Business situation
Despite various options for specialized construction software, the company felt there was a lack in communication and collaboration within their company systems. This lead to problems between teams. HNTB needed a business application that would solve this and support for their technological systems.
The management needed a product that would help with commitments, oversight, and project requirements. Required processes included reporting, acceptance and verification, and contracting.
The contractors for the project needed a way to communicate with the management as well as collaboration tools. Payment verification, a public information assistance portal, an updated correspondence system, an viewing system for the MOT/Control point notice, document and contract management, and submittal and transmittal tracking needed to be implemented.
Internal project management and scheduling also was lacking. It was necessary to come up with a solution that would help with all of the above projects.
Solution
Because of the all-enveloping solution that was needed, SharePoint Engine was asked to provide a robust solution. This included easy-to-use interfaces, simplified end-user adoption processes, workflows with built-tracking, updated notifications, and empowered business intelligence.
Using Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 as a base, SharePoint Engine’s team was able to create and implement these solutions. Custom workflows were created to help management and teams. Dashboards and reporting were important for the executive teams. A portal for communication, collaboration, and document management was also introduced.
Using the Quality Matters! Verification Management System, the project was started. This helped the auditing process become quickly and easily streamlined and automated. Business users were able to create real-time reporting as well as dashboards based on the information captured. Workflows were created to meet the very specific needs of support, contractors, and more. More than 25 workflows were built.
Benefits
The project allowed HNTB and UDOT to achieve a substantial increase in overall efficiency. Many of the manual processes that were cumbersome were eliminated. Previous procedures for communication and verifications took up to several days, while the new system allowed completion within minutes.
Even when in the field, managers and engineers were able to synchronize their processes. This helped the teams’ performance and reduced inter-team conflict. Team were also able to quickly find the most up-to-date information on project status and company communications.
Audits and quality assurance have become easier in the new system. There had been no tracking system in place for many core project elements. The SharePoint system allowed real-time insights and reporting into all key project factors. Monthly reporting became possible and is now a part of regular company procedures. In-depth project reporting became immediately available to the organization's executives.