www.agc.org Contact Us Archives/Subscribe Advertise IT Forum IT Forum Steering Committee

agcXML – Key to Software Collaboration and Productivity

agcXML – Key to Software Collaboration and Productivity

By John Nabholz

With the advent of email and cell phones, some level of confusion still seems to be a part of every American building project. As an industry, we continue to see improvements in productivity in all areas of the economy, with the exception of construction. Per government statistics, the construction industry is less productive today than it was just 10 years ago! At the same time, all non-farm industries (including construction) have enjoyed at least a 20% increase in productivity. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept of Commerce 1990 – 2001). While communication is just one area where the construction industry can improve, it is a critical requirement to risk management and reducing rework.

Many companies are using "Project Management" software to handle their document management needs. Unfortunately, we are creating islands of information where each RFI, Supplemental Instruction, Change Order, Pay Request, etc., has to be keyed into each contractor’s document management system. This duplication of effort continues up and down the food chain, with each party attempting to protect themselves with profuse documentation.

Other industries are way ahead of the construction industry. The automobile industry, for example, does all or most of their contract and supply management electronically between the computer systems of manufacturers, engineers, suppliers, etc. You may have heard the buzzword "XML" that came out a dozen years ago, and how it was going to revolutionize the business community. Well, like most things, XML has not lived up to the hype, but it is being used daily in many industries to improve efficiencies. So, what is this XML thing? Simply, it is just a standard way of tagging information such that it can be sent from one computer system to another, either within a single company or between systems at multiple companies, with no loss of information and no re-keying. Think of it as the "Rosetta Stone" for mapping or translating a document from one system to another. With it, different computer systems can be programmed to read the common standard format and thus exchange documents with all other systems that support the XML standard.

Some vendors suggest that the solution is for everyone to simply use the same Project Management system in a collaborative environment. Clearly, this solves the "Tower of Babel" of competing project/document management systems that don’t talk to each other. Unfortunately, there is not one project/document management system the whole industry can use! Follow the contracting food chain to its source and you will see that owners have the most influence as to what project/document management system should be used by the building team. How will the construction industry improve productivity, if we can’t even pick our best method of managing the paperwork on a project!

If we follow the lead of other industries, we can preserve the productivity of each company picking their own Project Management system, and establish a standard way of transferring or routing communications directly between each company’s Project Management systems. These small efficiencies will also improve your information worker’s job satisfaction, as mundane and redundant tasks are eliminated. The larger benefits, though harder to quantify, will come from the more rapid exchange of information and more consistent information available to all members of the project team.

The good news is that the AGC has been working on this problem for several years and released a standard called agcXML. Currently, several software companies are working to incorporate agcXML into their products. Once enough systems support this standard, everyone will be able to use their favorite Project Management or Accounting system and easily exchange standard construction documents. More importantly, we will be using the project management system that best fits our company, and not the one dictated by each of our very different customers.

Please contact your software vendor and ask them when they will be including agcXML support in their product or go to www.agcxml.org for more information.

About the Author
John Nabholz is information services manager at Nabholz Construction and a member of the AGC IT Forum and AGCxml Taskforce.