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New functionality in Nialli Visual Planner enables greater collaboration and flexibility

New functionality in Nialli Visual Planner enables greater collaboration and flexibility

Enhanced tablet and laptop support added via editing, gestures, optimized zooming and more

Calgary, Alberta — Nialli Inc., a visual collaboration company, announces new browser functionality and enhanced tablet and laptop support for Nialli™ Visual Planner, a cloud-based application that is modeled after the Lean Construction Institute’s Last Planner® System (LPS). Construction teams now have greater flexibility using the application on tablets and laptops, allowing them to accelerate processes and actively participate in sessions when they are on a construction site or anywhere. Now, team members can use simple gestures to set tag status in calendar view, create logic ties, add and edit planning elements such as lanes and constraints, participate in phase planning sessions and view reports. Users can also zoom in and out with all content optimized for the screen size to easily view the context and details of a plan. This is especially helpful for the increasing number of fully distributed and hybrid construction teams that require active participation, frequent discussions and on-the-spot decision making.

Traditionally, lean construction teams met face-to-face in the ”Big Room” to plan, update projects and make key decisions together. For the past 15 months, this hasn’t been possible since, like most of the global workforce, these teams have been completely remote or working in a hybrid environment. As people begin to head back to offices, many construction teams will return to their preferred colocated sessions. With some trade foremen and staff continuing to work from a construction site, they need an effective and reliable way to continue those Big Room discussions when they are not face-to-face. The new functionality makes it easy for construction teams to update their job status on the spot, significantly improving productivity while enabling distributed real-time interactions and collaboration. When that knowledge and information sharing can be done from anywhere, projects can progress without the workflow interruptions and delays that lead to extra costs.

Nialli Visual Planner can be used by all project stakeholders from any location, providing the flexibility of having any combination of colocated and remote participants during planning sessions. The solution can also be used on large interactive surfaces such as the Nureva® Wall, to replicate the paper-based big-wall experience with which many construction teams are familiar. By making the process digital, Nialli Visual Planner increases visibility into team progress, and the status of a single task or activity can be updated on the spot, with all data being captured for post-analysis. This saves time and eliminates waste compared to paper-based processes. Because the application is modeled after the Last Planner System and mirrors the same workflow, it is easy for anyone familiar with LPS to understand and adopt the solution quickly.

“We have heard that construction team members need the flexibility and convenience to participate in collaborative pull planning sessions outside of the big room – especially since the pandemic,” said Nancy Knowlton, Nialli’s CEO. “We are excited to deliver this experience that will save teams time and improve their effectiveness on the job.”