By Dennis Stejskal Your construction client’s projects are complex. Just one job can involve hundreds of individuals from multiple companies working together to create a structure on time and on budget. Collaboration among everyone involved is critical but still a major challenge because of the paper intensive way information is exchanged. Contractors are looking for better way to communicate information electronically, in other words, to integrate the various software programs they use. In construction there are basically two types of integration needed. The first is integration between the software systems used within a contractor’s own company. As a contractor’s business grows this becomes increasingly important to break down communication silos that can easily form between various groups, both in the office and the field. The second type of integration is between software systems used by building team members outside of a contractor’s company. This includes data exchange with subcontractors, prime contractors, building owners, and suppliers. Integration is easier said than done. Much of the software used by various contractors has been developed independently by different vendors so integration often doesn’t exist. The Construction Open Software Alliance (COSA) is working to change that. The goal of this relatively new organization is to build a community of software developers and providers who support the transfer of cross-application data. As an early member of COSA, Sage, along with other member firms , is steadily working towards this goal. Since 2012 COSA has worked alongside the Associated General Contractors of America to develop a set of standards that will better connect construction project data across independent software providers. Today there are five standard schemas available. These schemas will assist in the transferring data from contractor records, timesheets, plan rooms, ConsensusDocs 721, and RFIs. What does all this mean for your construction clients? Essentially it will allow them to choose the software they feel best fits their business needs while allowing them to easily share information with internal coworkers and external members of the building team. True software integration will go a long way to remove the barriers to collaboration that they face today. For more information about Sage Construction and Real Estate products, call us at 1-866-565-2726.