Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2021 17 stored on a server. The problemwith that process, although a tried and trusted methodology for many years, was it had become too arduous to manage as the world adopted remote working due to the Covid pandemic. As ACB Group continues to grow and remote work becomes the norm here in Ireland, the UK, and Europe, the logistics of using one excel sheet for a team of six to update was proving problematic. Users were only able to access the sheet one-at-a-time.The information being updated could become inconsistent, and any failure to internal servers (although rare) would interrupt the workday and potentially corrupt the data held within the excel file. One individual working on and updating the sheet via a screen share with the rest of the team giving the information,meant the process was slow in areas such as note-taking, discussions on individual projects, and organising the excel sheet. The previous format relied on excel sheets to log notes against projects in leads and ones of high priority in the pipeline. Project ‘Levels’did not exist – instead projects were categorised as a First or Second Pass.High-priority projects in the Second Pass bucket were generally highlighted manually as opposed to nowwhere the system automatically flags the change in status, thus saving time resources. The key difference with the use of ConstructionBos is that more defined levels were developed by the PowerTeam (see Figure 2), with ConstructionBos tailoring the system to ACB specifications (see Figure 4). As well as using excel sheets, Construction Information Services (CIS) was used by the business to track projects in Ireland. Notes and the status of these projects were shared between the excel and CIS. Figure 3 presents the process map that was followed before the implementation of ConstructionBos.The CIS system was not user-friendly nor fit for purpose based on the specifications thatACB Group was looking for. However, Figure 4 illustrates the new process mapping along with in-depth information on the ACB strategy, quantifying Project Identification (Level 1) to ProjectWin/Loss (Level 5), and this all resulted in a much leaner tendering process. Figure 3. Old CRM Process Map Leads were manually managed and counted weekly in the excel. Reports involving new leads, leads to tender, and other KPIs used by the business were controlled through the excel file.ConstructionBos is linked to BarbourABI, a company providing project data through an Application Programming Interface (API) field into ConstructionBos. This means an easy passage of a lead into theACB Group pipeline. With the integrated system to manage leads,ACB Group can build on and improve lead to tender reports with an automated system. If a project enters in level one or two, it can be tracked from the moment it enters through to a tender being issued or the project being won or lost. Figure 4. New Process Map and Deep Dive on Levels The PowerTeam used the following Lean tools and techniques to map the process as we migrated from the traditional ACB system to the newer ConstructionBos system. BottleneckAnalysis A bottleneck analysis was used by the Power Team to map the process and identify issues.This was undertaken to look at the current workflows and processes in place, thus helping to improve the processes and eliminating most operational challenges, and thus enabling a streamlined tendering process. Plan-Do-Check-Act The team devised a plan using the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) framework. Figure 5 illustrates the detail of the process undertaken by theACB team. Figure 5. Plan-Check-Do-Act Map Case 4
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