Touchplan

A very collaboratively software combined with the Nureva touch wall.

Comments: we get to run Last Planner system in a large scale project, which is hard without such a tool

Pros:

The ease of use, and how it looks. The software is extremely touch-wall friendly, which is one of the most important features.

Cons:

lack of KPI/metrics. "should do" are missing. There should be more ways to measure. The twin-lane should be integrated so that the notes attached to the correct lane.

It has streamlined our planning and execution of those plans

Comments: Read my prior review. This is a great, industry changing product!

Pros:

Having the ability to breakdown a project as minute and detailed as you want with the designated manpower, duration's, and cost codes, or the ability to do a high level plan when a project is first being designed and engineered.

Cons:

The font on the tickets is too small when zoomed out to look at a couple months duration's, which is the majority of the projects my contractor does. Also having a better file break down system would be helpful. We have one job site, but then we have about 30 jobs in that one folder. If you could break it down to individual Project managers jobs that might be helpful.

Lack of logic ties

Comments: It's a fairly dummy proof program, however, I think it needs to work on more towards something like P6 or Project where there's a critical path in order to have a huge impact and help the construction teams.

Pros:

Live update, multiple user can get in and make updates at the same time, interactive with others. The schedule can be access from any device with internet connection.

Cons:

There is no logic ties between activities. We tried using constraint but was also informed to avoid using constraints on all activities. Undo button, for quick messed up that you did 2-3 secs ago. Quick Copy and paste function for multiple tickets, not the duplicate function. Also, I wish we can copy and paste all the activities from 1 phase plan with its "logic" or positions into another phase plan.

Touchplan Review

Comments: Using Touchplan has made implementing the Last Planner system on my project much easier. The software is easy to use and provide great reports to distribute information.

Pros:

It is very easy to use and provides a way to collaboratively plan work with Trade Partners.

Cons:

Wish that the activity tickets allowed for more detail like prerequisite work.

Touchplan makes the scheduling process much more collaborative than most other methods.

Pros:

The ability to see changes in real time with other people is really great. It makes our pull plan meetings much more seamless.

Cons:

I wish there were more customization options when creating pdf reports. The swim lane feature can be a little clunky too (I realize that it's a new feature).

Overall Great software - and customer support is always there.

Comments: 3 week schedules is the biggest thing

Pros:

It really look like the boards we have on the wall. It prints out great/professional looking reports.

Cons:

It does not print out the swim lanes . I believe this would help the subcontractor understand the location better.

Very easy to learn and easy to have others understand and participate

Comments: Simplicity of use and added to Lean culture to include people that may not be knowledgeable of critical path scheduling.

Pros:

Simple display allows people less knowledgeable about construction to understand and participate. Easy to make changes and track reasons for delays.

Cons:

A backup function would be nice if you accidentally delete or move an activity. The lane dividers are nice to seperate work into areas or categories. A link that that ties two items without hindering movement would be nice.

Touchplan is an easy to use application with room to grow.

Comments: It's easy to use so we can create schedules during team meetings without worrying about the distraction that a more complicated schedule software might create.

Pros:

Touchplan is a simple, easy to use application. It's intuitive interface permits a wide variety of users to utilize it. Customer support is very responsive and eager to help users.

Cons:

The printing feature for the chart does not seem to work properly yet. The reports print well, but the chart itself will not print properly.

Simple and easy

Comments: New vision in automatically schedule project

Pros:

Easy to adjust, understandable interface. Intuitive interface. Delegating authority to changes. I can see whole project in any scale.

Cons:

No automatically checking interfering process. Make multiple versions and layouts. Required pay attention to update real progress for receive actual scheduled and estimated time.

Touch Plan is the Plan

Comments: Overall, it has been a positive experience!

Pros:

I appreciated the milestone scheduling feature the most, as it implemented a means to drive the tasks forward and set a timeline, requirements, crew size, etc. to each task.

Cons:

A bit tedious and had general technical issues that would arise when pulling up reports.

This planning program has made a world of difference to the planning process with our field crews!

Comments: Our ability to plan for tasks has increased at an exponential rate by using this program.

Pros:

Right now, since its new to me, I'm really enjoying the swim lanes feature. It's allowing for very quick and easy organizing of tasks for the different field crews that work out of the same plan. Before swim lanes we had to try and organize ourselves but once a plan had to be modified and moved around it became very unorganized very quick. With the swim lanes it has helped maintain an organized plan.

Cons:

Time. I want to be able to refine my task down to the hour. It wouldn't be used super often but there are plenty of tasks that only take a half day but the smallest time frame I can place on it is 1 whole day.

I plan to implement Touchplan on every construction project I'm ever a part of.

Pros:

It's extremely user friendly, yet effective in getting results. It is very simple to bring in a group of people, teach them the process, and begin implementing within 15 minutes of learning the new software.

Cons:

There is no app to accompany the website. Touchplan could be much more effective if subs could just pull up an app and update their tickets right then and there rather than having to come in, connect to wifi, getting on the website, and then updating.

Touch Plan Review

Comments: Very good for the Lean process.

Pros:

Very easy to use and helps people unfamiliar with scheduling to have input.

Cons:

No way to easily backup if you make a mistake. Would be nice to have a back-up botton.

New Project Set Up

Pros:

User accessibility and reporting capabilities

Cons:

New project set up could be easier. Instead of having to email an employee at TouchPlan to set up your project, it would be helpful to be able to log in and manually enter required information into a project in order for it to be set up. The project would then automatically be created and the employee can just pull the information from the project to keep track. It often is inconvenient to have to wait to hear back from the employee who is setting up your project. Additionally, there could be a company wide library of projects that you have access to because at times it's inconvenient when you want to see a schedule but have not been added to the project yet.

Great tool for pull planning, helps schedule in detail, can generate quick reports.

Pros:

The software easy to learn. This is perfect platform to implement the traditional pull planning session in construction. This is a great planning tool for the contractors, sub-contractors and owners/clients. This can generate customize reports that can help understand a specific trade or the entire schedule.

Cons:

Its a platform which is great but its still a bit short when compared to Oracale Primavera, but I am optimistic it can grow and be very helpful as planning and scheduling tool.

Visualizing the logistics of your project

Pros:

It is extremely easy to use. I teach our tradesmen how to use touchplan with ease. Even for those who are not very computer literate. Touchplan helps you see your plans and create a logical work flow.

Cons:

I do not have any cons that apply to the software itself. It is simple and intuitive.

Touchplan Review

Pros:

That it allows subcontractors to see the status of multiple submitttals, RFI's, and drawing changes in real time, without needing to go through the GC.

Cons:

The drawings section could be a little more user friendly. Viewing drawing sets can be tedious since the program makes you exit out each drawing in order to view other drawing sets. Maybe incorporate a "window" so that you could view multiple drawings at once.

I liked the tickets, easy it was to move them around. I thought it gave a good visual of schedule.

Comments: Avoided having to do a pull planning session in person with a bunch of sticky notes. With touch plan I had the schedule in my pocket, on my ipad, and on my computer at any time.

Pros:

It was easy to make the tickets, assign manpower and add durations. And since most of our tasks are repeating, I liked how you could duplicate them.

Cons:

The constraints were a little confusing. It was hard to know where to schedule things if you were waiting on another trade. You really need every contractor on the project using touchplan to make it work as it should.

It's been an average experience. I dont think it works much better than what we previously used.

Pros:

I like that you can get it online. It's helpful that subs can check at any time and we can keep them accountable.

Cons:

There is no way to undo your moves. When you move around the screen and you accidentally move something it doesnt allow you to start over. Also it is harder to find individual tickets than when we did it through excel.

Helpful in distributing the schedule in the field. Easy to use.

Comments: Helps getting subcontractors bought into the idea of lean construction. Breaks activities into manageable task to help track in scheduling.

Pros:

Great for collaborating ideas in creating the schedule. Subcontractors can view in the field and understand the logic of the flow of work. Easy to track and maintain schedule.

Cons:

Does not push activities that are linked together. Want to see bars with actual length on right side of active line to help schedule prior to moving to left of active line.

Working with touchplan form a subcontractors perspective.

Comments: I thought when Wes did the introductory meeting that it would be tedious to use and not much help. But after going through a project and working with the software my opinion was changed. I now see the value of working collective on the schedule instead of trying to satisfy an arbitrary schedule set by others without consideration of actual project conditions and su

Pros:

I liked that you could project a work schedule forward and it came from the men doing the work, which from the field side is a better perspective. Also once I set a schedule then during the meetings any changes due to priority issues could be identified and worked out between the contractors involved. The superintendent just needed to moderate the proceeding and watch his completion schedule being shortened usually.

Cons:

Working from and IPad I found some of the features to be limited and at some points slow to react.

Software has been a great asset to help us with pull planning and scheduling.

Pros:

It has been easy for our team to begin using with minimal training. Whenever they have run into issues the support team was always available. Very easy to use.

Cons:

We are a subcontractor and often have to coordinate with other schedules as well. There is an export function where we can export our schedule out for someone else to put into their software. I have not found an import function to pull in other schedules. That can be useful for us at times.

Touchplan Review

Comments: It's a great collaborative tool and it's also great to be able to save electronic copies of pull planning work.

Pros:

It replaces traditional hard copy pull meetings and still allows for discussion.

Cons:

Some useful functionalities are missing that would be helpful.

Easy and Quick to get up to speed. I have liked having TouchPlan drive collaboration.

Comments: coordination and collaboration

Pros:

Collaboration. Various roles own what they input and manage. Single source for everyone to use and coordinate with.

Cons:

would like some higher level reporting capabilities. And would like to be able to add in linkages that would allow for "critical path" reporting....and give feedback if critical path is impacted. NOT actually changing things, but reporting.

Use it to plan daily activities

Comments: It is easy to show crews the work flow for the upcoming days and weeks. It is to add and remove activities.

Pros:

The layout within the program (tool bar on the left) is easy to follow and to use. It is relatively intuitive.

Cons:

Within the scheduling area you can not link 2 activities. Therefore, if you lengthen or move one activity you have to manually move all associated activities.