What is Provizual?

1 Provizual will show you the most current Procore inspection at each location.

2 The dashboard will provide insight into what Procore inspections and Provizual progress checklists are being done and who is doing them.

3 The Inspections page is where you can see what inspections have been synced from Procore, and select the color you want them to show on the drawings.  

Let's start with the problem. We found that it was difficult to understand where exactly a project stands from both a quality control and a progress perspective. Of course you can read a schedule, but that schedule will only tell you where you should be, not necessarily exactly where you actually are. To make the schedule reflect actual finishes, it requires some communication between the field staff and office staff. This schedule updating process can be difficult, and is often not kept up to date. So the problem we wanted to solve was, "How can we provide clarity to a complex (and always different) construction project?"

Let's start with Quality Control. Quality Control is an important part of what we do as a general contractor. It is our job to ensure the work being put into place is done correctly and is inspected for quality prior to it going onto the next step in the construction process. For example, prior to insulating and hanging sheetrock, we need to inspect that all the MEP systems have been installed per plans, and that we have the proper rough openings for the finishes that come later etc. If we move ahead without checking these things, we may have to remove sheetrock, fix the issue, then rehang sheetrock (maybe even tape/bed, texture, paint). It is important that when doing quality control inspections that they are done as a checklist so that you can ensure that everything has been checked consistently.

Progress updates are also critical to what we do. Some things may not cause rework like a quality control inspection, but they may lead to the next trade being unable to do their job. For example, tracking the progress of kitchen cabinet installation helps the countertop subcontractor know where they can measure/deliver/install countertops. This task of tracking progress is typically assigned to an assistant superintendent and from my experience is either tracked on a paper list, the notes app on their iPhone, an excel list, or in their head. All of which scare me, and for different reasons. Mostly because they either are not able to be viewed/shared easily with the team and project stakeholder or that they take a deep understanding of the project to know how to understand where this progress is happening because it isn't tied to the drawings. 

Look back up at the first paragraph... notice I didn't say the words "look" or "see." That's because reading a schedule is just reading words and dates and trying to make sense of what it is telling you, it doesn't visually show you on the drawings where things are happening. That's where Provizual comes in. Provizual was created to be a visual aid for your construction project. With Provizual you can use colors to visualize your Procore Inspections on the drawings so you know exactly what has and has not been inspected, and what status it is in. Procore does a great job at providing us the tool to inspect, but its not easy to understand where these inspections have occurred, or if every location has been inspected. Another feature of Provizual is that you can create progress checklists within Provizual and use them as a way to track anything from city/3rd party inspections, interior finishes progress, owner turnover progress etc.

Provizual was built to be flexible to use for visualizing anything. Use it as a tool to relay information from the field to the project manager to update the schedule, use it as a tool in sub meetings or OAC meetings to show where the work has happened, use it to show your insurance company that you completed all the required QC inspections. There are tons of ways to use Provizual, and we want to hear how YOU use it and what we can do to improve it. 

TLDR: Provizual adds color to your drawings to make it easy for all project stakeholders to understand the status/progress at every location.