PROJECT WORKFLOW
A CLEAR FLOW OF WORK
Start with a job-specific draft, then review the stages, tasks, owners, dates and completion criteria with the people delivering the work.
Set task dependencies and key dates, then use the schedule view that helps the team understand timing, sequence and progress.
Link the drawings, questions, submissions and delivery checks that affect the work, so the project record carries the context forward.
ONE DELIVERY WORKFLOW
Construction project management brings together more than a schedule. Follow the work from its planned sequence through task review, trade coordination and the records that support a decision.
Gantt, network, WBS, line-of-balance and board views.
Explore this workflowStage-grouped work lines, quantities and scope changes.
Explore this workflowCurrent revisions, review, publication and task links.
Explore this workflowProject questions, trade submissions and review records.
Explore this workflowExpected materials, arrival checks and task holds.
Explore this workflowDRAWINGS THAT CARRY THE DECISION
PLAN AND SEQUENCE CONSTRUCTION WORK
A construction schedule is useful when people can trace a date back to the tasks and decisions behind it. Novato brings task owners, planned dates, dependencies and key project dates into the same delivery workflow.
TASK MANAGEMENT
Assign an owner and reviewer, plan the dates, and record the completion criteria that show what done means. A task can depend on other work, making the wait visible instead of leaving the next step implicit.
During delivery, the owner starts the task, records checklist results and evidence, then sends it for review. The reviewer can approve it or return it with a reason, keeping the outcome beside the task.
CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULING
Use the Gantt view to see dated tasks across time, compare the current forecast with a saved baseline, and identify the forecast finish and critical path. The network (PERT) view shows dependencies as a sequence, with duration estimates and the chance of meeting a key date when those estimates are available.
The schedule also includes Lifecycle, WBS, line-of-balance and Board views. Each works from the project's tasks, so the team can look at delivery in a view that fits its planning question.
PROJECT MILESTONES
Record important project dates as milestones and connect the tasks that lead to them. Where a milestone needs review, assign an eligible reviewer so responsibility for the decision is clear.
Before locking the plan, readiness checks surface missing task owners, dates, completion criteria and milestone reviewers. The team can resolve gaps while the plan is still under review.
TRADE SCOPE OF WORK
Build a trade scope as ordered work lines, grouped by project stage when useful. Record descriptions, quantities, units, inclusions and exclusions, then set the engagement's pricing and payment terms.
A trade can suggest changes to scope lines for the builder to accept or reject individually. A scope draft can also start from project facts and selected files, but its proposed wording and quantities remain for a person to check and edit.
DRAWINGS, DECISIONS AND MATERIALS
Project records are easier to act on when they point back to the work they affect. Keep drawing revisions, questions, submissions and delivery outcomes alongside the relevant project tasks.
DRAWING MANAGEMENT
Keep drawing sheets in a project register with their sheet number, title, discipline and current revision. Older revisions remain in the sheet's history, where they are marked as superseded rather than mistaken for the current issue.
Add pins to a drawing revision to identify a location, connect it to a task or issue, and give the team a specific place to follow up.
DOCUMENT CONTROL
Add a document as a draft, upload a revision and send it to a named reviewer. Once approved, that revision becomes current while earlier revisions and review comments remain available in the document record.
Link a document to tasks that rely on it. When a new revision is published, affected tasks are flagged so their owners know to check the updated information.
REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION
Send an RFI to a project contact with the question, a due date and relevant links to a task or record. External contacts can reply from the email link without signing in, and the response stays with the RFI for the team to refer to.
CONSTRUCTION SUBMITTALS
Manage submissions such as drawings, product data, samples and method statements. Keep files by revision, set a required-by date and reviewer, then record the decision and comment against the submitted revision.
Link a submittal to the task that needs it, so the team can see which planned work depends on an approval and when the submission is due.
DELIVERY COORDINATION
Record expected materials or equipment, their arrival and a delivery docket. A supervisor checks each line as accepted, short, damaged or incorrect; a discrepancy raises an issue and tells the person who ordered.
If the order is set to hold linked tasks, an arrival by itself does not release the work. The tasks remain held until the delivery is accepted, rejected or cancelled, giving the team a recorded check before it proceeds.
COMMON QUESTIONS
No. A job-specific template gives the team a draft to review and shape. Confirm the stages, tasks, owners, dates and completion criteria against the actual project.
After the build plan is locked, its saved baseline can be compared with the current forecast. This helps the team see how planned dates have shifted without losing the original reference.
Yes. Send the RFI to an external contact, who can respond using the link in the email without signing in. The question and response remain in the project record.
A delivery can be set to hold linked tasks. Recording that it arrived does not release those tasks, the delivery must be checked and given an outcome first.
YOUR NEXT JOB, BETTER CONNECTED.
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