Founded in 1991, tirol kliniken is the largest and most diverse healthcare facility in western Austria. It consists of a range of facilities that form the backbone of medical care in the Tirol region. As the umbrella of the clinic network, tirol kliniken operates and coordinates the four individual facilities.
Thomas Koruga is a Project Manager in the Construction and Technology department of tirol kliniken. In this function, he represents the client of a construction project and works with internal and external stakeholders. Thomas plays a critical role supporting the diverse project players to collaborate, and ensures that information is provided at the right time to the team.
Most workflows in tirol kliniken’s construction projects have so far been carried out manually. The team’s experience of working digitally involved relying on multiple, disconnected solutions provided by trades and contractors. The quality of the projects suffered as a result as colleagues did not have access to the necessary information for their projects. "As building owners, we were not integrated within these systems and relied on trades and partner companies to deliver information, via emails, often in boxes and boxes of paper and multiple trips to the post office,” remarks Thomas.
There was a lack of strategy around the deployment of these solutions, so tirol kliniken started the process of looking for a project platform, to better manage construction project data across all build activity. “We had no central system to record issues and review the insights required to proactively manage our complex hospital projects. We were keenly aware it was time to change our ways of working.”
"When it comes to choosing a technology platform, we first had to understand the need for improvement. Numerous solutions were then evaluated in order to select the best project management tool for our needs. We were looking for a robust project platform that would help us to solve the challenges and problems in our projects, to optimise workflows and to improve project results," explains Thomas.
Long-term and sustainable roll-out strategy
Tirol kliniken examined the advantages of a common data environment with cloud technology and concluded that Autodesk Construction Cloud’s Autodesk Build platform features fitted their needs.
As ever, change is a challenge for every company. In Austria and Germany, the health sector has been working the same way for more than 50 years. In order to convince employees and partners to adopt a uniform solution and to change their current processes, a conscious and well-thought-out implementation strategy was required.
A dedicated Customer Success Manager from Autodesk took care of the ongoing requirements and removed obstacles from the start. This enabled tirol kliniken to focus on the Autodesk Build implementation process within their project teams and prioritise workflows. "It's about taking a step-by-step approach to implementation without overwhelming our colleagues. It's about understanding where we are, where we want to be and how best to get there," says Thomas.
"Creating a standardised programme that drives consistency across our internal and external ways of working is key. You can't just adopt a technology and expect it to be deployed without long-term change management," affirms Thomas.
The current plan is to gradually introduce a project platform over several years and progressively adopt workflows. This will be a radical change for project partners and the team therefore plan to establish measures of success focused on improving productivity and reducing rework and errors in design and on site.
Better collaboration thanks to digitisation
When project information is stored and accessible on a unified platform, it removes confusion caused by saving multiple files in different locations. Thomas explains: “For us, the context of the individual information in the overall project is important. For example, accessing features like task management, schedules, and meeting minutes is very beneficial.”
For Thomas, now is a pivotal time to transform the ways of working in the construction industry. Technology is at the forefront of this change, and it is positively affecting how people will work on construction projects in the future.
With so many layers to a construction project, having access to information anytime, anywhere, and from any device eliminates the risk of teams not having the most accurate data, which can cause rework and lead to schedule delays and cost overruns.
With the project platform, we can work more efficiently and achieve a higher level of coordination and communication," says Thomas. “We plan to use the meeting tool where the agenda is populated in the platform. This will make meetings more efficient as notes are recorded, action items are assigned, and due dates are set, all shared from within the application,” says Thomas.
“The team can also include project references making it easier to find information in real-time to enable faster resolution on projects. This will create more accountability and increase efficiency across our teams,” remarks Thomas.
The digitisation of healthcare is just beginning. But by switching to digital tools and processes, tirol kliniken are well on the way to introducing new and more efficient ways of working. Project managers and project participants can focus on value-adding activities without being burdened with time-consuming and manual processes. This is the biggest change the industry has seen in 50 years, but Thomas is confident that tirol kliniken is in good health to make it a successful change.
