John Holland rethinks document control for infrastructure projects: a case study

John Holland rethinks document control for infrastructure projects: a case study

John Holland rethinks document control for infrastructure projects: a case study

John Holland rethinks document control for infrastructure projects: a case study

John Holland rethinks document control for infrastructure projects: a case study

John Holland rethinks document control for infrastructure projects: a case study

John Holland rethinks document control for infrastructure projects: a case study

For John Holland, the functionality of Drawboard Projects has made the review process much simpler for the whole Rozelle Interchange team.
Edith Kamberaj

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works for the Westconnex Rozelle Interchange, says that having an overview of the documentation through Drawboard Projects was a huge advantage. 

As one of the leading engineering contractors in Australia, John Holland provides property and infrastructure development services across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. Known for their work on delivering large scale projects, John Holland is continually looking to improve the way that they work to allow for more efficient and effective processes.

Having secured the contract for the Westconnex Rozelle Interchange, a project consisting of a combination of tunnel and surface works, taking close to 4 years, the John Holland team were on the lookout for a better way to manage their markup and drawing documentation.

“The advantage of Drawboard Projects is that you have an overview of progress right across the whole project”.

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange

Solving a complex problem

A complex project like the interchange requires a large amount of tolling, fire, safety and communications. Combining this with realignments and relocation of many utilities meant that a number of drawings were continuously being edited by various engineers.

“Within our larger documentation packages we have up to 200 drawings, while smaller ones might have a dozen. Each of those have got to be either redlined with any changes that we identify as far as field notes or non conformances, revamped to say changes or no changes, and then that goes through the design redraw process”.

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange
Westconnex Rozelle Interchange, Sydney, NSW

Prior to using Drawboard Projects, the team at John Holland used a paper based and traditional markup process when finalizing drawings. Which was resulting in a lot of wasted admin time, and inaccuracies during the process.

“Document Control would print out hard copies of the construction drawings, the engineer would look at the work he was responsible for and markup those drawings with a red pen” Millgate explains. 

“We’d then scan them and send them through to Document Control. They’d be reviewed by a project manager, and then sent back through to Document Control who would package it up and send it over to our red line drawing contractor, who would then CAD those drawings”.

Simplifying processes 

Millgate knew the team was desperately in need of a more streamlined and integrated process. After an initial meeting before the Rozelle Interchange project commenced, he was asked to find a new method. 

“Through various investigations internally and externally, we decided on Drawboard Projects and evaluated it against two other options. Then we put a business case to our directors and said we want to go down the Drawboard Projects route, developing our internal management and document control systems around that”.

Drawboard Projects was implemented by John Holland for the project, and the overall response from team members has been very positive. 

“The engineers, they love to grab hold of these opportunities to use something a little more paperless, and at the same time they’re finding more functionality with it”.

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange

An integrated solution 

With Drawboard Projects, Millgate has observed significant improvements in daily workflow efficiency. This is especially due to Drawboard Projects integrations.

“One of the biggest draw cards for me was the way it works with Aconex. We use Aconex for our document control, our drawing control, and the way we can pull those drawings and interfaces from Aconex is 80% of the reason why we decided to go down the Drawboard Projects path”.

The functionality of Drawboard Projects has made the redlining process much simpler for the whole Rozelle Interchange team. 

“The way the drawings are managed within each project; you can just scroll across and pull each one up, and then do your red lines and then scroll back and forth. The actual functionality of that part is something I’ve had positive feedback about”.

The layers tool has also streamlined processes for engineers across the team that are often working on the same drawings at the same time. 

“They can pull up the drawing and mark it up without worrying about whether the other person has done their markup. You’ve got the layers which you can separate or have them all incorporated, so that’s pretty powerful as well”.

A Competitive Advantage

Given the success of the improvements throughout the Rozelle Interchange project, Millgate is hopeful that Drawboard Projects will be adopted by other teams and projects at John Holland in the near future.

“John Holland is a very good team to jump on new ideas and opportunities which save money and time - along with providing all the benefits that come with that to make the whole process better for everyone” he explains. 

“To be able to manage and report on progress with red lining is a definite advantage, and the integration with Aconex makes the whole document control process and management of red lining so much easier”.

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works for the Westconnex Rozelle Interchange, says that having an overview of the documentation through Drawboard Projects was a huge advantage. 

As one of the leading engineering contractors in Australia, John Holland provides property and infrastructure development services across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. Known for their work on delivering large scale projects, John Holland is continually looking to improve the way that they work to allow for more efficient and effective processes.

Having secured the contract for the Westconnex Rozelle Interchange, a project consisting of a combination of tunnel and surface works, taking close to 4 years, the John Holland team were on the lookout for a better way to manage their markup and drawing documentation.

“The advantage of Drawboard Projects is that you have an overview of progress right across the whole project”.

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange

Solving a complex problem

A complex project like the interchange requires a large amount of tolling, fire, safety and communications. Combining this with realignments and relocation of many utilities meant that a number of drawings were continuously being edited by various engineers.

“Within our larger documentation packages we have up to 200 drawings, while smaller ones might have a dozen. Each of those have got to be either redlined with any changes that we identify as far as field notes or non conformances, revamped to say changes or no changes, and then that goes through the design redraw process”.

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange
Westconnex Rozelle Interchange, Sydney, NSW

Prior to using Drawboard Projects, the team at John Holland used a paper based and traditional markup process when finalizing drawings. Which was resulting in a lot of wasted admin time, and inaccuracies during the process.

“Document Control would print out hard copies of the construction drawings, the engineer would look at the work he was responsible for and markup those drawings with a red pen” Millgate explains. 

“We’d then scan them and send them through to Document Control. They’d be reviewed by a project manager, and then sent back through to Document Control who would package it up and send it over to our red line drawing contractor, who would then CAD those drawings”.

Simplifying processes 

Millgate knew the team was desperately in need of a more streamlined and integrated process. After an initial meeting before the Rozelle Interchange project commenced, he was asked to find a new method. 

“Through various investigations internally and externally, we decided on Drawboard Projects and evaluated it against two other options. Then we put a business case to our directors and said we want to go down the Drawboard Projects route, developing our internal management and document control systems around that”.

Drawboard Projects was implemented by John Holland for the project, and the overall response from team members has been very positive. 

“The engineers, they love to grab hold of these opportunities to use something a little more paperless, and at the same time they’re finding more functionality with it”.

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange

An integrated solution 

With Drawboard Projects, Millgate has observed significant improvements in daily workflow efficiency. This is especially due to Drawboard Projects integrations.

“One of the biggest draw cards for me was the way it works with Aconex. We use Aconex for our document control, our drawing control, and the way we can pull those drawings and interfaces from Aconex is 80% of the reason why we decided to go down the Drawboard Projects path”.

The functionality of Drawboard Projects has made the redlining process much simpler for the whole Rozelle Interchange team. 

“The way the drawings are managed within each project; you can just scroll across and pull each one up, and then do your red lines and then scroll back and forth. The actual functionality of that part is something I’ve had positive feedback about”.

The layers tool has also streamlined processes for engineers across the team that are often working on the same drawings at the same time. 

“They can pull up the drawing and mark it up without worrying about whether the other person has done their markup. You’ve got the layers which you can separate or have them all incorporated, so that’s pretty powerful as well”.

A Competitive Advantage

Given the success of the improvements throughout the Rozelle Interchange project, Millgate is hopeful that Drawboard Projects will be adopted by other teams and projects at John Holland in the near future.

“John Holland is a very good team to jump on new ideas and opportunities which save money and time - along with providing all the benefits that come with that to make the whole process better for everyone” he explains. 

“To be able to manage and report on progress with red lining is a definite advantage, and the integration with Aconex makes the whole document control process and management of red lining so much easier”.

Garry Millgate, Quality Manager – Surface Works

Westconnex Rozelle Interchange

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About Drawboard

We are a PDF and collaboration company. We believe that creating more effective connections between people reduces waste.

Our best work has been overtaken by busywork. That’s why we’ve created ways to help people get back to working wonders without any paper in sight.

Drawboard PDF lets you mark up and share with ease, and Drawboard Projects brings collaborative design review to architecture and engineering teams.

At Drawboard, we work our magic so our customers can get back to working theirs.

About Drawboard

We are a PDF and collaboration company. We believe that creating more effective connections between people reduces waste.

Our best work has been overtaken by busywork. That’s why we’ve created ways to help people get back to working wonders without any paper in sight.

Drawboard PDF lets you mark up and share with ease, and Drawboard Projects brings collaborative design review to architecture and engineering teams.

At Drawboard, we work our magic so our customers can get back to working theirs.

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