How Data Visualisation Improves Project Management

Data visualisation is transformative for the rail construction industry. It allows huge datasets to be broken down, represented and key metrics to be isolated for analysis. Visual representations of construction data help spot anomalies and trends, leading to improved project delivery overall.

The construction industry uses huge amounts of resource across many years and locations. A big picture view is needed for helpful, profitable analytics & information.

Monitor Project Status

Create an overall view or split your project into key areas such as budget, schedule and resource. Compare planned to actual with charts, tables and graphics to highlight discrepancies. Data visualisation ties everything together and gives vital context. For example, linking your spending to real-time project activity gives more insight into your budget allocation, speeds up accounts administration and helps to calculate the average cost of individual activities.

Support Decision-making With Data

Filter and interact with different variables to predict outcomes and support your decision-making. An interactive data visualisation dashboard makes it easy to find the information you need, when you need it, rather than trawling through rows of data on Excel.

Analyse Risks

Before each rail construction project you should define the risks and the factors that contribute to them. Then, using data visualisation, you can monitor those variables and spot potential problems early.

For example, a visualisation of hours worked, both in total and filtered to an individual level, could help with fatigue management. Or, tying close calls to specific activities might identify recurring risks that could be fixed with a different work process. The result is improved processes, avoiding any costly delays and more successful team management.

Manage Dependencies

Often, certain elements of a project depend on others to be finished before they can move forward. For example, certain activities on a day shift not being completed could block the night team and force them to re-plan their shift at the last minute. This is particularly difficult to manage and communicate in the rail industry where you have teams in different locations, with different specialisms and working different shift times.

Clearly plotting the connections between different tasks and shifts means that your team Supervisors and Construction Managers can clearly see these dependencies and prioritise their work accordingly.

Improve Communication

Real-time data visualisation provides a single source of truth, with the most up-to-date information available for everyone who needs it. With everyone on the same page, no one will end up working to out-of-date plans or designs. This improved shift, activity and communication management facilitates collaboration and problem-solving.

That’s Where Raildiary Comes In…

Raildiary enables rail construction teams to report on key project metrics such as resource, planned and actual progress, close calls and budget. Our in-depth reports can be integrated with Power BI and other software for insightful data visualisation to improve project management. Our Power BI experts can even build you a dashboard tailored to your business needs.

In conclusion, data visualization is a valuable tool for rail companies seeking to improve their services and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. By using data visualization to analyze their operations, optimize their services, and communicate their findings to stakeholders, rail companies can make better decisions and build trust with their customers. However, it is important