Oracle Customer Success—Davis Construction

In 1966, James G. Davis, Sr., made trust, excellence in service, integrity and building relationships his core values when he founded James G. Davis Construction Corporation (DAVIS) in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Rockville, Md. Over the next four decades, staying true to those values enabled the company to become the 45th largest general contractor in the United States and the third largest in the Washington, D.C., metro area. DAVIS has earned its trusted reputation to provide consistent excellence in building, remodeling, and interiors without risk to workers or owners and has made a commitment to making safety a number one priority. Today, DAVIS performs more than $815 million of construction work annually.

With their reputation and experience, DAVIS was successfully awarded the cityVista project in 2005. CityVista consists of a three-building multi-use complex that encompasses an entire city block at K Street and 5th Street in Washington, D.C. Four-hundred forty condos and 240 apartments in 12 stories surround one acre of private green space for residents. Amenities there include an Urban Lifestyle Safeway grocery, a Results gym, and the Busboys and Poets coffeehouse and bookstore. cityVista represents ideal city living—exciting living spaces with convenient transportation, employment, shopping, dining and entertainment.

• Challenge: Companywide Excellence Through Better Inspections

  DAVIS sought a software system to coordinate its safety and quality assurance processes, from scheduling inspections to generating deficiency reports. Mobile and web-based software on book-sized, portable tablet computers would allow superintendents and inspectors to better collaborate with subcontractors and owners on resolving quality and safety issues.
  
  DAVIS’ inspections were experiencing issues associated with maintaining the high levels of consistency and accuracy that DAVIS requires for each project. “A list of standard issues means that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you go out,” said Heather Baker, IT Business Analyst for Davis. “We wanted our new checklist system to combine all of our inspectors’ knowledge to reduce oversight.” Standardized, easy to use checklists streamlined the inspection process on the cityVista project and could be reused on future projects as well.
  
  A collaborative, web-based software system allowed DAVIS to better coordinate and synchronize their inspection efforts. After previously managing the inspection process with a paper based system in an earlier phase of the cityVista project, DAVIS wanted a better way to communicate with subcontractors and the ability to document those communications. Generating and emailing reports and recording schedules, communications, and deadlines ensured that project participants were following instructions and keeping up with specifications.

• Solution: Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service Fulfills DAVIS’ Needs

  After having recently begun using Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service (formerly Textura Latista) software on other projects, DAVIS already knew the program’s uses and benefits and wanted to apply those to cityVista. Using Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service gave DAVIS superintendents constant access to project documents, communications, and records to ensure that quality standards were being met.
  
  Using Motion Computing portable LS800 and F5 tablet computers, DAVIS superintendents could access plans on the jobsite, document deficiencies using a checklist, illustrate issues with photos, and enter everything into a single database. Because everything was organized into one central point, DAVIS had one person, Assistant Superintendent Jeff Finley, collecting and distributing all of their reports to subcontractors. Subcontractors on the cityVista project always knew whom to contact with questions or problems.
  
  “Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service took away subs coming to us and saying they didn’t know about a deficiency,” said Finley. “Now I can just show them everyone I sent the email to and what the email said. We also have reports of when the subcontractor finished the job and when we inspected it.”
  
  Senior Superintendent on the cityVista project Josh Roe appreciated how much time was saved. “For every unit, we schedule three walkthroughs and three verifications, and we want to do at least five units a day. When we’re in the heart of a project, that’s 50 walkthroughs a day!” he said. “Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service let us do that with only four people.”

• Results: DAVIS Improves Quality for This Project and Future Ones with Primavera Construction Field Management Cloud Service

  After completing phases two and three of the cityVista project, DAVIS recognized the software as a valuable part of their quality assurance initiative. The company licensed the software companywide and plans to encourage its use on all future projects. “The company is adopting Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service to provide the quality construction we’re looking for,” said Heather Baker, “and everyone in the field likes using the technology because it’s innovative and it makes things so much easier.”
  
  The same inspection processes used on the cityVista project for quality inspections will also help DAVIS achieve its primary goal of job-site safety. “Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service helps us share knowledge so that people know where to focus their attention,” said Chris Scanlon, Vice President of Operations Support and Information Technology for DAVIS. By referencing a checklist rather than filling out a blank inspection sheet, safety inspectors can ensure that they have examined everything for hazards and defects. “Safety is the priority above all else at DAVIS,” said Scanlon. “Using Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service in our inspection processes will help us identify, communicate and remedy issues faster at the jobsite. It also allows us to analyze the data collected over time to identify trends in data. Ultimately, the goal is to anticipate and eliminate safety issues before they occur.”
  
  For DAVIS, in addition to the quality and safety inspection improvements, the benefit of Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service is the comprehensive reliability and security it imparts on the company’s inspection processes. “Oracle offered DAVIS an enterprise-wide solution that is web-based and mobile, the best of both worlds for a construction environment,” added Scanlon. “We are excited with Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service’s direction and the investment it is making in its infrastructure and technology. We’re looking forward to offering the benefits of using Oracle Latista Field Management Cloud Service on all our projects from now on.”
  
  This story was originally published on www.texturacorp.com.