On July 19, 2022, we went to meet Jérémy, Myriam, Johann and Mogan, respectively works manager, topographer, job site and team leader at Cise TP Pont l'Abbé. Kraafteurs for more than a year, they tell us about their experience.
This agency, based in Finistère, is specialized in the installation of pipes and various networks. It is the Public Works subsidiary of the SAUR group and operates in the 29 and 56 regions.
Today, the teams welcome us to job site to renew the Juch water tower, ordered by Douarnenez and the surrounding municipalities. "The difficulty on this kind of project is the co-contracting, and the fact of not depriving the residents of water for more than one day", begins Johann.
Traceability is therefore essential. The project owner, the project manager, the co-contractors, the elected officials: everyone needs to have the information from job site quickly to ensure the quality of the execution and react quickly in case of difficulties. "Before Kraaft, I would put my photos from job site taken by my phone in the company cloud. The problem is that we have phones from job site with limited memory. So we had to be careful with storage, delete photos and it wastes time. Since we're always on the go, it was an added bonus," says Mogan.
However, rapid feedback is essential. The design office needs it to modify the plans and to know when to take measurements in the field. The driver needs it for the end-of-month situations. The project manager needs it to anticipate difficulties. "I should go to the field every day to see what the guys are doing, to rectify what is wrong and to make the client note the permanent modifications we have on job site (...) but I manage between 2 and 4 sites at the same time. The challenge for me is to find the time," says Jeremy.
As a result, the teams spend a lot of time on the phone, or the foreman in the car to go to his sites. Myriam, a topographer, has the same problem. "We do the recollection plans, that is to say that we go back to the field to take note of what has been installed (...) before I had photos that I had to collect from right to left, it was not easy". Notably because it is not always easy to know when to go on the field to make the recollections.
"The deployment was very natural (...) the teams understood that it worked both ways: as soon as they explained to us what was happening on job site (good or bad), we bothered them a little less", says Jeremy.
And indeed, the principle is simple. For each job site, the driver creates a conversation on the mobile application. As easy to use as WhatsApp, Kraaft centralizes all progress photos, hazard forms and milestone validations in the job site news feed. "On Fridays, for example, the driver sees that the job site is clean, that the marking is done and where we have arrived. That way, if there is a deterioration on the weekend, we have the proof. No need to move around: we all gain in autonomy" continues Mogan.
Knowing that all the photos sent via the messaging system are automatically geo-located on the satellite map of job site. "It allows us to find where it was taken (...) the driver can answer us directly in Kraaft, it avoids calling each other all the time" adds Johann. A time saving that Jérémy validates: "I use Kraaft on the computer. At the end of the day, it allows me to go around the sites and see what has happened. In the end, I am only called when there is something very important (...) I save about 30 minutes a day".
"We use Kraaft so much every day that it has become a routine (...) it saves time and I will never go back" (Johann, manager of job site at Cise TP Pont l'Abbé)
"Kraaft is permanently open on my computer", Myriam begins. "I can see the progress of the job site, it allows me to say to myself 'ah they have arrived there, I must go and make some measurements' (...) when I draw, it allows me to have all the pieces, I know exactly what has been installed, the nature, the diameter, I put some comments (...) I don't need to wait anymore for the colleagues to transfer me the photos".
The web application (on the computer) also allows to output photo reports. And the topographer adds Kraaft reports to the survey plans as an appendix, to explain, for example, the elevations and the layout of the pipes. "On big sites, I can't do without it (...) now I have everything, it's instantaneous".
"Kraaft is a small revolution for us" (Myriam, topographer at Cise TP Pont l'Abbé)
"I use Kraaft every day, when we have network crossings, unforeseen events: everything is reported in real time", underlines Mogann. This then allows Jeremy to classify photos of hazards to generate Word reports of additional work directly from the software.
"It reassures the customers because they see that we have nothing to hide," Jeremy continues. "They don't have direct access to Kraaft, but they see that we're doing a good job of following up with our reports. We've had a lot of positive feedback about our transparency." Every month, the construction manager then reports situations that have slowed down crews and bills them to the MOA. "We have the information right away and that allows us to approach things differently with our clients, who are informed in real time of the difficulties of job site, which they do not always realize. The teams are even beginning to generalize the photo reports of marking and staking on the application.
"The other day, the MOE asked us to produce a report with all the photos for the connections, with Kraaft it is very simple. (...) That way, if he has to do future work, he can see what has been done and how. He can see what's in the ground and where it is. It's a good complement to the plan" concludes Johann.
"I am much more serene when I arrive at the end of the month for my financial part, to justify and to prepare my situation." (Jérémy, works manager at Cise TP Pont l'Abbé).
✅ Easy company-wide membership in a WhatsApp-like field tool.
✅ Better traceability for month-end financial situations
✅ Time and quality savings for topographers' photo reports (geo-located and time-stamped photos)
✅ More responsive and transparent collaboration with project owner/manager
✅ Less time on the phone and less unnecessary travel
