Every engineer worth his or her salt knows that mere centimetres can make or break a design. Precision is crucial as every calculation, data analysis, and report must be accurate for a smooth build.
However, you’re bound to have inaccurate data when there is manual data entry and calculation. Engineers can be overworked and tired; time may be limited to write reports, and mistakes will be made from time to time. This can lead to costly mistakes, bad decisions, project delays, and cost overruns.
What if we use AI to replace manual, repetitive tasks when writing a technical report? Well, when it comes to complex engineering reports, ChatGPT isn’t going to cut it. You’ll need something a lot more powerful that’s designed for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sectors.
Before we delve into our AI-powered Citation solution, let’s briefly explore the dangers of manual data collection and processing when writing engineering reports.
Reports help document the progress, safety, and compliance of design and construction projects. Whether it’s a design or technical report, it helps teams make informed decisions as well as update relevant stakeholders, such as project managers, contractors, and clients.
The report writing process, when done manually and using different data sources, can be complex and lengthy. Below are just a handful of the pitfalls when this process is mostly done by hand:
1. Data entry mistakes: Long hours of manual data entry can lead to fatigue, which increases the likelihood of errors. You can also lose precious data if information is accidentally deleted or overwritten.
2. Lack of traceability: With manual data entry, it can be hard to trace the origin of a calculation or data when you need to rectify a mistake.
3. Disparate data sources: Without a centralised report writing platform, you may struggle to gather all the required data for a thorough analysis.
4. Inconsistent structure and format: You often end up with multiple reports with inconsistent organisation, formatting, and layout. This makes it hard to compare and analyse different reports for comparison.
When you’ve got inaccurate data or missing data, you’re likely to run into project delays and cost overruns. Miscommunication will be rife, resulting in flawed decisions, and regulatory non-compliance.
In the worst case, reports with errors on site conditions, material specifications, or safety protocols can put workers and the public at risk.
Citation is an AI-powered report writing software that addresses the challenges of manual report writing. It learns from your previous reports and creates a standard template that’s unique to your company, so you can generate a report in minutes. Other features that help you gather accurate data include integration with engineering systems, data analysis to help you detect mistakes, verification with engineering and building codes, and the use of customisable report templates.
Citation can seamlessly pull in data from ESRI ArcGIS and other geospatial systems for location data automatically annotate your maps. Additionally, the software can connect with online data sources to extract relevant data for your report.
By pulling data in real-time, it ensures that all information is current, accurate, and complete. Engineers no longer need to worry about outdated data skewing the results of their reports.
Citation can process vast amounts of data for analysis, ensuring that engineers don’t overlook critical issues that could compromise the safety and compliance of the project. Additionally, AI tools can compare current data to historical trends or benchmarks, helping engineers spot deviations that may indicate problems.
Reports need to have a consistent structure, layout, and formatting because they are easier to share, understand, compare, and analyse. With customisable templates, Citation can standardise the report-writing process across multiple projects, so you’ll have the same look, organisation, and feel with all your company’s reports, to reduce the likelihood of missing sections or overlooking important details.
Compliance with industry regulations is a critical component of engineering reports, and Citation can check whether compliance criteria are met. It has built-in compliance tools powered by AI that automatically generate the relevant sections of the report based on current regulatory requirements. This decreases the risk of non-compliance and ensures that the report accurately reflects all necessary safety, environmental, and legal standards.
Furthermore, the advantages of using an AI-powered report writing software such as Citation are clear.
AI-powered tools such as Citation present a significant improvement in engineering and documentation. By automating data extraction and integration, you can minimise errors, enhance precision, streamline workflows, and improve the overall quality of the project.
In short, Citation is a game-changer if you’re still using manual processes for reporting. Traditional methods of reporting take a long time and are prone to errors. Citation is designed to solve these drawbacks with its automated features and benefits.
Be one of the early adopters of Citation, and transform your reporting process to drive better project outcomes. Don’t hesitate—take the first step towards smarter, faster reporting now.
