SSOE GroupEfficient RFIs Tracking with Kanban

SSOE Group, an internationally operating architecture and engineering firm with HQ in Toledo, Ohio, is known for delivering unparalleled client value that advances the AEC industry.

We've had the pleasure to interview Robert Remski, a Senior Project Manager with SSOE, about how his team utilizes Kanban Tool to track information requests in a fast paced project delivering over a thousand of independent design packages.

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Please, tell us what your work is about.

SSOE is an internationally ranked architecture and engineering firm. We design and build facilities for multiple industries, public, and private sectors. Industries served include: High-Tech, Food, Pharma, Consumer Goods, EV/Battery, Government Buildings, Hospitals, Corporate HQ’s, Glass, and Chemical, and General Manufacturing.

SSOE Group is the #2 Manufacturing Design Firm (ENR) offering a range of architecture and engineering services. Over the company’s 75-year history, it has earned a reputation for providing quality project solutions to high-tech and general manufacturing clients in the semiconductor, automotive, battery, food, chemical, and glass industries. SSOE also provides forward-thinking design across healthcare and general building sectors such as corporate workplace, education, and judicial—with projects completed in 40 countries.

We are using Kanban Tool on a large, fast paced project where we need to deliver over 1,100 independent design packages over a 6-8 month schedule. We needed an easy and visual way to document package progress, answer questions that come in from the trades, and track scope changes to capture change orders and additional fees.

What kind of processes do you manage using Kanban Tool?

• Requests for Information (RFI) and QA/QC process for a specific client & project.
• Design Change Notices. As new scope comes in, we have a separate board that tracks requested changes to a specific IFC, allowing us to estimate and capture associated costs to submit in a change order.

Could you describe your RFI Process workflow?

RFI questions and answers are communicated via an AEC platform administrated by the General Contractor. While the platform provides the needed documentation of engineering and design changes, it does not have any capability to help manage the internal process of getting to the answer. And on vary large, fast paced projects, there may be 10-20 RFI’s per day.

RFI Process flow:

• Incoming RFI’s are logged in from the GC’s platform. Triage and initial assessment are completed during logging.
• Once logged they’re assigned to a designer / engineer for the appropriate discipline (electrical, mechanical, process, etc).
• The designer / engineer moves & assigns the card to QA checks once completed.
• QA Checkers will then move / assign the card to a Professional Engineer (PE) for review and stamping (if needed). If there are QA items to pick-up, the QA Checker sends the card back to the designer w/ action needed.
• PE reviews and approves work similar to the QA Checker. If there are issues, the PE will send the card back to the Checker or designer as needed. Once approved, the PE sends the card to Document Control for uploading / posting to the GC’s platform.

What does your card template look like?

What adjustments did you make in order to improve your workflow?

The ability to quickly change and reorganize the board to reflect changes needed in the process is very helpful. Also, the ability to update the card templates to adjust information collected helps us track the scope involved for each task. We adjusted the board on the fly as our process was developed and refined. We added checklists, adjusted step order, added swimlanes for ownership, and adjusted card templates to reflect what was needed.

What features or integrations do you value most in Kanban Tool and why?

Task organization and communication.

One feature the team values the most is the premade checklist option. This helps easily add a checklist to a card. The team enjoys being able to check off a task once it is done and they can see their progress throughout the process.

Another feature they like is when a card has not been touched in a long time, it starts to dim in color. This feature has saved time from searching for what to do next and helps minimize the risk of forgetting to complete a task.

Card Blocking also helps as it provides communication to others as to why a task is not moving forward and it reminds the team to follow up on needed information.

The visual work nature of the board is also very helpful in seeing where items may be bottlenecked. Combined w/ color coding, it’s very easy for project management to see where the work is and if any resource adjustments are needed. For example, if there’s a bottleneck at a step in the process, the PM can bring in additional resources to clear it quickly and keep construction moving.

What are the most important benefits of using Kanban Tool for you and your team?

• Centralized task communication across remote offices. Kanban Tool allows us to not only track the work & status of each effort. The Comments and History sidebar for each task holds all communications. It’s card specific and reduces the requirement to search across emails, meeting notes, or Teams messaging.
• Categorizing and assigning work: It’s easy to get overwhelmed in fast paced, high information flow projects. Some of the most important benefits would be tracking our RFI's and knowing what stage they are in. We are able to easily search for cards and provide a status if needed. We are also able to assign task, so people know they need to work on the drawings to keep the process moving. The built in auto-emails for task assignees and overdue items keeps everyone informed on the status of each task.
• Keeping work visible: The visual nature of the Board shows exactly where the work is. And the process of moving cards from one stage to another provides the team with a sense of accomplishment.
• Cross-network accessibility: Our team is split across two geographic locations and isolated networks, with a majority of the team working on the client’s site behind a firewall. Kanban Tool allowed us to communicate across the independent networks and work together as a single team.