As the year winds down, many project teams get a welcome break from peak workload. But Q4 is more than a cooldown period — it’s the ideal moment to evaluate whether your project controls software is truly supporting your growth, your reporting needs, and your scheduling accuracy.
Before Q1 closes and Q2 work hits, now is the time to step back and assess: Do your tools still fit your workflow… or are they holding your team back?
Here’s how to evaluate where you stand — and what to address before the new year begins.
1. Are Your Tools Keeping Up With Project Complexity?
As organizations take on larger portfolios, multiple work sites, or fast-moving capital programs, spreadsheets, outdated software, or new software that just isn’t quite giving you what you need and want start to show their limits.
Ask yourself:
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How much of your business process is automated?
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Can you see all the data from your project sites in one place, or do you have to ask multiple different people to pull data out of multiple software’s?
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Can your team easily manage multiple overlapping schedules?
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Are resource conflicts caught early — or only after deadlines slip?
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Does leadership have visibility across all active projects?
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Are you able to maintain the contract reporting requirements without adding work hours to your project team?
If the answer is “not really,” it may be time to explore platforms and we can help.
2. Is Your Data Accurate — and Consistent?
Inaccurate updates lead to inaccurate decisions. If teams are still sending changes through email threads, PDF markups, or shared drives, data consistency becomes impossible to guarantee.
High-performing organizations rely on:
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Real-time updates
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Standardized structures
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Clear audit trails
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Role-based permissions
If your team is sorting through conflicting versions or missing information, a software upgrade — or a process cleanup — may be overdue.
3. Are You Spending Too Much Time on Reporting?
If your team spends hours or days creating reports, dashboards, or schedule snapshots, automation is calling your name.
Tools like OPC, P6, PMWEB, Aconex, Sch. Validator, or Sch. Reader offer:
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Out-of-the-box dashboards
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Automated reporting
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Portfolio-level insights
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Faster forecasting
Heading into Q1 with better reporting can free your team to focus on managing the work — not formatting spreadsheets.
4. Do Your Systems Talk to Each Other?
Disconnected systems create rework, duplication, and risk.
If your cost, schedule, and contract document management tools aren’t integrated, it becomes difficult to identify:
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True schedule drivers
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Risks across the project or portfolio
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Actual performance vs. plan
Q4 is the right time to evaluate whether your tech stack needs integrations — or whether adopting tools like PMWEB, Unifier or Aconex would streamline communication and compliance.
5. Are Your Teams Fully Trained — or Just Getting By?
The best software in the world is useless without confident users.
Before Q1:
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Assess team adoption
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Identify training gaps
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Determine whether new hires need onboarding, or if teams need advanced instruction
CBA’s training programs help set teams up for success before the pace picks back up.
Ready to Improve Your Software Strategy for 2026?
CBA helps organizations evaluate their technology, identify gaps, and implement systems that improve accuracy, collaboration, and forecasting.
Our team supports:
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Software selection & implementations
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Data cleanup & integrations
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User training across all major tools
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Process standardization & long-term adoption
If you want to enter Q1 with cleaner data, better tools, and a more confident team, now is the time to start the conversation.
Let’s evaluate where you are — and where you need to go.
Contact CBA to schedule a software readiness review.