How to onboard your Construction Processes

Setting up Project Templates, Payment Schedules, and Permitting/Inspections

Before you start getting live data into the application, it's important you take a step back and set yourself up for success. We do this with new clients over the Startup Call, but even so, you might want to add a second project type or backtrack at some point. The order of operations in how we set things up matters, so handle it in this order: 

1. Hone your Project Template (Go to Settings > Project Types) 
2. Start creating Agencies, Permits, and Inspections. The inspections will become subtasks of the phases that you dialed in on your project template. (Parent Task: Steel; Subtask: Steel Bonding Inspection)
3. Create a Draw Schedule 

How to set up your Project Template

Take time to dial in your project template! It is the foundation of many workflows in Poologics. Important principles to consider as you go:

1. KISS principle. Keep it simple, stupid. When you're onboarding a team into an unfamiliar software, crawl before you sprint. You don't need extreme granularity on the template - keep it manageable for your team and iterate towards greater and greater complexity. Look to simplify. 
   1. You can add, edit, delete, and move phases when you're launching projects. 
   2. You can templatize subtasks and activities, but again, start simple for your team's sake and iterate towards more complexity as they get acclimated to the software. 
   3. No need to add inspections to these templates -- they will be overlayed onto these phases in project creation. 
   4. For subtasks, utilize different task types. We have a financial task type that you can use to create a draw phase on your project board. Additionally, you can also queue up Selection Subtasks to have them pre-populate the Selections tab within projects. 

1. Trim the fat. Combine tasks where you can. If your task will be done by separate subcontractors, don't combine the task. It'll make it easier to coordinate activities with two tasks instead of one in this scenario.
2. Look to optimize. What in the planning and construction stages could be done earlier to avoid potential problems? Selections? Purchasing? Could you set aside milestones to update the client beyond sending them the draw invoices? A little bit of communication can go a long way.
   
   

Onboarding Tips and Tricks

Again, keep things simple. If you can utilize one template, do so. We'll be overlaying inspections and draw schedules onto the templates, so it will speed up your onboarding if you hone in on one template.

BUT, if you're a builder that does significantly different project types such Gunite/Shotcrete, Fiberglass, and Vinyl Liner Pools, then consider separating them out for simplicity. We do make it simple to Duplicate project templates so that it's easier to onboard the second template. 

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1. Go to Settings > Project Types 

2. Select the template that you want to clone

3. Click on ACTION

4. Click on Duplicate

5. Rename the Duplicated Project Type

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How to create your Agencies, Permit, and Inspection Templates

While this is not a prerequisite to start launching projects, it's a small investment of time that goes a long way. If you set this up, it's one less moving part to think about in your project creation stage and also the construction stage. 

How to create a Draw Schedule

You're ready to create a project! 🍾🎉