Materials testing seems to happen behind the scenes, but it is a critical part of a construction project that every stakeholder—no matter how separated from the test itself—should be well aware of. In this blog, we discuss the role of project owners in construction materials testing (CMT)—and how CMT software can help enhance collaboration and transparency in your projects.
Construction project owners have a lot of responsibility.
You’ve taken stake in an infrastructure project and developed the building program. You’ve defined the project scope, created the budget, provided the funding and hired all the professionals you need to get the job done. You’ve also met with regulatory bodies and signed off on project timelines and approvals—and will continue to do so every step of the way—even though you’re not the one doing the work.
Financials, safety and reputation are all on the line.
You have a process to follow. You know that before you can move to the second floor, for example, you have to first approve the materials in use. The CMT lab is responsible for the testing, but you are liable to the results.
This means you should care about who you work with and what tools they use to verify materials. You should care about construction materials testing software.
What is CMT Software?
CMT software is a platform that consists of three essential building blocks:
- Private cloud database
- Interface for accessing and communicating with that database
- Two-way integration with testing machines and other software
Even though, as project owner, you don’t do the testing, you still benefit from this type of tool. CMT software automates how data moves through the testing workflow in a structured, unalterable and secure format that is stored forever. It can connect to Construction Management, Building Information Management (BIM) or Business Intelligence systems that your firm already uses, bringing together not only the entire testing process but also the construction project as a whole.
Construction materials testing software is much more than a tool for testers. It’s important for capital project owners who rely on the very data that testers produce. Here are three reasons why CMT software helps project owners:
#1. Trust Materials
CMT software helps you trust materials in two ways:
- More accurate results
- Provable record of results
First, you know that the test results you receive are 100 percent accurate—if you are receiving said results from a lab equipped with CMT software integrated with their automatic testing machines.
This is because the combination of integrated automatic testing machines and CMT software eliminates the potential for human error every step of the way.
More labs than not use automatic machines, which replace the inefficient and highly variable control of manual machines. Tests run by automatic machines are much more accurate and consistent. With CMT software, it’s nearly impossible to identify specimens incorrectly or test on the wrong date and results automatically flow from the machine to the private cloud database. There is simply no room for error or bias.
CMT software also provides a reliable, provable record of test results to project owners who can access the data immediately through intelligent workflows. So, not only are you sure that the results are accurate, you are also sure that the results did not change on their way.
#2. Trust Your Decisions
Construction project owners have to make a number of decisions every day, balancing costs, schedules and various risks. One of the most critical decisions you have to make is whether or not to approve materials and move on to the next step in the project.
So, when you better trust your materials, you can make better (and safer) decisions – and stand by them.
You know that CMT data was tested, checked, recorded and approved correctly, which means you can move forward with the confidence that your project is under compliance with industry standards.
#3. Keep Projects Moving
With trustworthy materials and better decisions, you can keep projects on track and moving faster than ever.
Also, construction materials testing software makes it easy to track and review the lineage of CMT data for all your construction projects. So, you can keep all your projects moving at the right pace, from anywhere.
When the labs you work with leverage automatic testing labs and integrated CMT software, they can get more done in less time, accelerating construction schedules. CMT software also eliminates all redundant administrative work, handwriting, retyping and data entry. You also save time from sifting through data spread across emails, PDFs, spreadsheets and paper files.
Finally, CMT software sends proactive alerts and smart notifications, so you can discuss progress and problems in real-time—instead of finding out about a problem right before a critical deadline.
Conclusion
CMT software is a solution for the entire construction materials testing workflow, from the field to the lab to the project owners, from initial concrete pour to the final building floor.
So, construction project owners need to care about this solution. It’s something you can deploy to manage all your projects, and something you should make sure your testing organizations deploy, too.
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