When a new building is constructed, everything must be built from the ground up. The project site must be analyzed, requirements gathered, concepts designed, plans created, schedules finalized, and construction performed to create the final product.

Similarly, creating a company’s data infrastructure and solution must also be built from the ground up.

It is important to visualize the full scope of the company’s wants and needs, regardless of whether they are in the beginning stages of planning or if a large quantity of data has already been accumulated, compiled, and analyzed.

The construction financial manager (CFM) performs a key role in connecting operations, systems, and data into a comprehensive system.

As data is compiled, there are key questions to answer:

• What makes up a quality data solution?
• How does a company go about determining which pieces will make up the final product?
• What are the steps to put an effective data solution in place?

The CFM’s goal is to provide answers to these questions while laying out a simple data architecture.

Every company has different systems and needs. However, the data solution end goal is the same for all companies: Put a system in place that captures data quickly, removes redundancy, provides accurate information, and makes it easy to measure and assess the business.