Cannon Design and Primavera: A Single, Virtual System
Project Management Highlights: • Primavera used by 700 architects, engineers and construction managers in 15 offices • Sharing of best practices and expertise enabled by more collaborative, virtual work environment • Project delays caused by late RFIs and submittals have been eliminated • Primavera allows Cannon to protect its owner clients by coordinating closely with contractors
Construction managers and contractors are well accustomed to using Primavera. Architects usually are not. But by training its architects as well as its engineers and construction managers in the use and application of Primavera Contract Manager (formerly Expedition), Cannon Design has created a whole new business model – and replicated one that is centuries old. Cannon Design’s practice encompasses a wide range of interrelated services that include planning, architecture, engineering, interior design and project delivery, all provided by more than 700 professionals located in 15 offices across the United States and Canada. The firm, however, operates as a single virtual office, drawing talent from wherever it’s located, and using one central Primavera database for project tracking, submittals, requests for information (RFIs), reporting, and all the minutiae of a complex project.
This comprehensive approach reflects Cannon Design’s philosophy of offering inclusive services – from planning and design, through engineering and construction management. In short, Cannon Design acts as the master builder of old, able to take responsibility for the entire project and ensure the creation of buildings that reflect the image and spirit of their clients from beginning to end.
Single firm, multi-office
The 60-year-old firm operates as if all its staff were based in a single location. “Our practice approach is known as singlefirm, multi-office – SFMO,” says Gustavo Lima, AIA, architect and associate principal as well as director of construction administration. “We operate as a single profit center, drawing staff resources and talents appropriate for each project regardless of location.” Among the professionals Cannon
Design employs are urban, educational, sports and health care planners; architects; interior designers; mechanical, structural and electrical engineers; and construction managers. Although Cannon Design’s projects span many market segments, from airports, banks, and convention centers to large athletic facilities, to name a few, the organization is recognized nationwide for its health science and educational projects. For example, the company is currently monitoring the construction of a new state-of-theart $46.6 million psychiatric hospital for the County of Essex, N.J., whose team, according to Lima, “includes health care planners from Baltimore, Md., and Buffalo, N.Y.; designers and project managers from New York City; and electrical and mechanical engineers from Washington, D.C.” Cannon Design also recently completed the $187 million Student Recreation Center and Harry Agganis Arena for Boston University. Here the architects and construction administrators were from Boston, the principal designer was from Washington, D.C., and the structural, mechanical and electrical engineers were from Buffalo. In addition to enabling the organization to assemble the best individuals for a project, Lima says, SFMO allows the company to operate efficiently because there’s no need to maintain every type of expertise in each location, and it is easier to share the workload to keep everybody fully engaged in client work. SFMO also facilitates and encourages collaboration among architects, engineers and construction managers who otherwise would be isolated from one another.
1988,” Lima says, adding that eight years ago, the software was implemented in construction administration so that the organization’s architects and engineers could have the same document control capabilities as the construction managers (CMs) and general contractors (GCs) whose contract fulfillment they monitored. “Now, we are beginning to employ it in the design phase of our projects, making it easier to record meeting minutes, manage documents and technical specifications for separate bid packages and other similar tasks.” Cannon Design first installed Primavera in its field offices, then its regional offices, and now maintains one system firm-wide, with one database housing information on all the firm’s projects, typically some 200 per year. “Anyone in the company, anywhere, at any time, can obtain any information he or she needs about any project under construction,” Lima says. “If we hadn’t begun using Primavera years ago,” he adds, “our operations would still resemble those of any other architectural firm.”
A level playing field
But Cannon Design proudly says that it stands apart from most other architecture and engineering (A/E) firms. Even though other firms monitor builders for compliance, most tend to rely on drawings and specifications provided by the architect. They also can be at a disadvantage because they tend to use more traditional tools like spreadsheets and word processors to manage their projects. However, construction companies are much more likely to work with sophisticated document control software that provides detailed tracking of all records in a project. “At Cannon Design, Primavera helps us level the playing field,” says Lima.
The need for speed
Lima explains that, in the past, late RFIs and submittals accounted for a large portion of project delays. “Before Primavera, contractors faxed RFIs directly to the project architect or construction administrator, who frequently was unavailable the day the RFI arrived. By the time that person returned to the office, he or she may have found that the RFI actually needed to be answered by somebody else – who, in turn, may be out of the office for a day or two. The process was inefficient, very time consuming, and delays were not uncommon. But with Primavera, everything is electronic and instantaneous.
Primavera a common thread
Primavera is a common thread in the firm. “We began using Primavera in our construction management operations in
“When we act only as the A/E in a project, the RFIs arrive via fax or e-mail to our local construction administration coordinators (CACs) who enter them in Primavera along with any attachments, and forward them to the reviewers. However, it is when we act as both A/E and CM that the true power of Primavera’s collaborative approach to document control shines. In that case, our professionals in the different offices receive the RFIs electronically directly from our field staff via Primavera, and answer the questions online without having to re-enter any data. Digital photos and sketches are routinely included as attachments and also become available online. In all cases, the most appropriate person can respond to the RFI immediately over the Internet from wherever he or she may be. Checking submittals to ensure they meet our specifications is similarly expedited.” The CAC is a new position Cannon Design created to guarantee effective communication. Every office now is staffed with a CAC who is responsible for all data entry into the Primavera system – freeing the architects and engineers from having to deal with data entry at the end of a busy day. The CACs operate as a group, sharing work and collaborating on all projects, while forwarding RFIs, submittals and change orders to the appropriate individuals, eliminating bottlenecks.
“Another advantage of a unified, comprehensive and live database,” Lima points out, is that “we can monitor compliance with our internal best practices in real time. Primavera’s powerful reporting capabilities and online status graphs enable management to quickly identify problem areas and focus our resources and expertise on those projects that need more help. “Our clients clearly are the primary beneficiaries of extending the use of Primavera to the firm’s architects and engineers,” Lima says. “Because our document control capabilities match what CMs and GCs use, Primavera enables us to better protect the owner from poor compliance with the contract documents and allows us to enforce the rules of the game. It puts us on a par with the contractors, so we can make sure that they deliver what they’ve committed to. We are now able to be the owner’s true shield and sword.”
Many hands, one dataset
Over the course of a project, most architectural firms coordinate with a number of specialty consultants. For legal reasons, the work these consultants produce must be checked by the primary architectural firm before it is released to the contractor. “But because many of our specialists are in-house, we can return most submittals and RFIs directly to the contractors, saving precious time,” says Lima. “Although the documents may have been handled by several different offices, before we attend an on-site meeting, we can access all the data via Primavera and know the precise status of everything.
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