Construction Package 2-3 (CP 2-3) of the California high-speed rail project is a multi-year, civil infrastructure initiative that involves 65-miles of fully grade-separated high-speed rail development. When the Dragados-Flatiron Joint Venture first began work building CP 2-3 in California’s Central Valley between Fresno and Kern counties, its leadership team was using another project management software, but quickly realized it wasn’t going to meet their needs.
They knew that the design-build project would be complex, due to the sheer size and number of people involved, and the contractor's IT Manager recommended they consider Fieldwire after having used it for many years on a variety of projects at their company.
Real-time updates across multiple sites
At any given time, there are about 340 people using Fieldwire to work on the high-speed rail project. With work spanning 65 miles across three field offices, it was critical that the team be able to communicate changes efficiently and effectively.
Having all teams communicating directly within Fieldwire ensures that everyone working on the project is up to date on the latest plans and changes, enhancing collaboration and efficiency.
User access key to project coordination
When the project first got underway using a different platform, it was difficult for team managers to oversee user access not only at the account level but also for each individual design package.
The high-speed rail project team was inundated with having to manage multiple users who needed access to specific documents and Fieldwire was able to offer them the use of unlimited projects and users to alleviate that issue and provide a more robust field solution.
Valuable features unmatched by the competition
In addition to real-time communication and enhanced tools for collaboration, the high-speed rail project team has found immense value with several other Fieldwire features as well.
Fieldwire’s customizable task features significantly enhance the project’s Quality Control (QC) process. Teams can pin tasks to plans and attach QC forms, organizing documentation by element and location on the plans instead of by date. This improved organization and visibility for daily signoffs and overall project completion in the field, saving significant time during the handover process.
Project teams also found great value in using the task feature to track work acceptance, allowing the team to view data from virtually anywhere and see the job progressing through photos. This has resulted in significant time savings versus people having to physically go out in the field multiple times because work was incomplete.
Another feature heavily used by the project teams is forms. Not only are they customizable, but the Quality Manager says, “having the inspection forms kept in the platform is an invaluable feature; there is no worry about a paper inspection form getting lost in someone’s truck or not turned in before they leave a project.”
How Fieldwire compares to the competition
The project’s Quality Manager shared that the transition from the previous platform was very smooth thanks to Fieldwire’s intuitive user interface and an easy-to-use app structure. They also greatly appreciate Fieldwire’s engaged account representatives who take the time to listen to product feedback and answer questions, something that they were not receiving from their previous platform and was a primary reason for making the switch to Fieldwire.
Set for success thanks to Fieldwire
Overall the teams working on the high speed rail project continue to find new and innovative ways to optimize their use of Fieldwire. A large-scale, multi-year project like this depends heavily on real-time communication and tools to enhance collaboration – all made possible thanks to the game-changing decision to switch platforms. Thanks to Fieldwire, California’s high-speed rail project is full steam ahead.
