A single version of the truth
Graham's creation of Toolbox achieved true integration of data.
Data exchange and data integration are not the same. Many companies say they have integrated data systems, but very few do – most really mean they have ways of exchanging data among systems and applications. Data exchange combines field capture of raw data with a mechanism to export and import data among different systems and applications.
Data exchange has a basic vulnerability. As data is moved from place to place, platform to platform and application to application, the inconsistent methodologies it is subjected to makes it vulnerable to being changed, which potentially could make it wrong, leading to errors in reporting or even project execution. This creates a constant need for reconciliation of varying reports, or "different versions of the truth". Real-time accurate reporting is essentially impossible. Even if the ultimate report can be made accurate, reconciliation is time-consuming, expensive and arduous for everyone.
Toolbox leaps across these barriers. It has overcome the challenges of the information-intensive construction industry, with its numerous cycles of information generation, feedback and modification.
Toolbox meets the need to accumulate, store, produce and share vast amounts of information – accurately and in real time. That's because Toolbox achieves genuine integration of data – creating "one version of the truth".
After being created or captured, each piece of data is stored one time, in one place, where it resides permanently, unaltered. The original data isn't passed through a succession of hands, where it could be re-fabricated. Instead, each authorized Graham user has direct access to the original data. The results – everything from a procurement order to a paycheque – are thereby guaranteed to be accurate, and can then flow anywhere for use by stakeholders.
Integration delivers unmatched accuracy – and also real-time availability. As soon as it's keyed into the system for the one and only time, it becomes available to all users. For example, when a site worker books one hour of labour, this information must flow to accounting and payroll, the project manager (costs and productivity), estimating (historical vs. actual production), the client (billing, invoicing, reconciliation) and possibly others. Traditional systems risk creating errors every step of the way. Toolbox's genuine data integration means the information resides in only one place and flows through the system with complete integrity. That's what it means to have a single version of the truth.
The primary benefits of Toolbox are clear: accuracy and immediacy, even when the challenges are steep. For example, clients overseeing complex and expensive industrial projects often require daily costing for auditing and control purposes. Most systems only provide approximations, if anything – because their data varies from form to form. Toolbox can deliver accurate, substantive reports on daily work performed, materials used and costs incurred – down to the individual shift.
Please click here for more on Toolbox's numerous benefits.
