Clients, who really owns your data?

Insolvency is a possibility in the most extreme circumstances. All assets are frozen once administrators intervene, including software licenses. Your vital project data is legally trapped by administrators behind layers of red tape and legal fees.

Owning or co-owning your project’s digital file stores offers more than just protection against massive data loss. For clients, developers and building owners, true data ownership leads to greater operational efficiency, future-proofed assets and enhanced simplicity. 

A typical development manager juggles several projects. Under the traditional model, that means logging into multiple different platforms. This is frustrating and inefficient. 

When a client mandates their own software platform, they have a single log-in, get a single dashboard and absolute clarity on where their portfolio stands.

These typical problems will threaten your data if you lack ownership or co-ownership of a project’s digital file store.

Imagine you require a commissioning certificate five years after the handover. But who managed the data hosting? Did the architect upload it to SharePoint, a CDE or a random Dropbox link? Over time, the knowledge fades and no one remembers where your data is.

Even if you find the right system, who’s got the digital key? Your log-in details are no longer valid. Your company granted access to someone who has since departed. You’re locked out of the project’s information.

A contractor could clean up their SharePoint server and delete all your project data. Or they stop paying for the project’s software subscription once the project has been handed over. You might lose your data permanently.

Why do clients, developers and owners continue to entrust all their data to architects and contractors? Here’s what I’m most frequently told: contractual issues; resources; it’s too complex; and cost issues. 

I think these challenges can be resolved without much difficulty. 

Contractual issues are frequently discussed. Clients, developers and owners tell me that they see the value in owning the data, but the contractor will insist on their file store platform of choice. They say getting the contractor to agree to a different approach is contractually hard and costly. My direct experience shows that this is avoidable.  

Forward-thinking major clients, developers and owners are showing that taking charge of the CDE can occur without disrupting the construction industry. There are two straightforward options to take control of your data.

The client procures the platform and holds the commercial license: it is client-owned and contractor-managed. The client mandates the principal contractor to manage the day-to-day administration on their behalf. I have seen this work well, particularly with clients doing repeat business with contractors on a framework. 

This resolves the issue of a lack of resources for clients. They might hire a consultant for oversight and monitoring or let contractors they trust fully manage the platform.

With this technique, clients gain comprehensive control, standardising projects as they require. Clients maintain control over all documents. The full history of comments, markups, decisions and approvals is retained, giving clients a true golden thread for those working on higher-risk buildings. 

This way of doing things won’t work for every client, but setting their document management and platform position at procurement’s outset is essential. Clients should have a mature comprehension of their digital file management needs – and be prepared for contractors’ pushback.       

Increasingly, organisations are opting for joint ownership. The contractor uses their own platform, and the client uses theirs. Normal contractual arrangements carry on, overcoming any contractual objections from contractors about data ownership, insurance, and liability. 

In the same vein as client-owned and contractor-managed arrangements, a consultant might oversee the process. But this is not always necessary. With APIs, it is possible for both parties to transfer information between different platforms.

However, technological difficulties are common with the API approach, especially when linking to multiple platforms. Typically, only approved documents are transferred, and the full history of approvals, comments etc, is not retained.   

With continuous development, technology is becoming simpler to operate. There are now smart integrations. Dalux’s Project Connect automatically and continuously syncs files and folders between a contractor and a client’s Dalux Box. The full history, including previous file versions and metadata, is transferred with the file.  

No coding or APIs are required. Security and file permissions are smart too, so everyone only gets access to sync files they were already given permission to. Best of all is the setup, which can be completed in a matter of minutes. 

As an industry, we must stop treating digital project files as a temporary by-product of construction and start treating them as the permanent, valuable assets they are – whether you want the portfolio simplicity, the ironclad security of protecting your data from administration, or the assurance of an unbroken golden thread.

Stop waiting for a crisis to test your data access. The technology has removed the friction, and the procurement strategies have been proven. Please reach out to me to talk further about this topic.

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