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News

Skanska USA Building Inc. Brings Efficiency, Quality and Green Construction To Education Project with Vela Systems Mobile Field Software

Burlington, MA - May 27, 2009 - Vela Systems, developer of mobile field software for the AECO industry, today announced that Skanska USA Building Inc., a leading provider of construction management services, is using Vela's Checklists (QA/QC) and Issues and Punchlists software to improve quality control, increase process efficiencies and support green efforts on the jobsite for one of Skanska's latest South Florida projects - Parkland Elementary School "Z."

Many important decisions regarding the quality of a completed facility or project are made during the design and planning stages versus during construction. It is during these preliminary stages that design intent, component configurations, material specifications and functional performance are decided. Quality control during construction consists largely of insuring conformance to these original design and planning decisions. Because the Elementary School "Z" project was the first environmentally-friendly school of its kind for Broward County Public Schools (Owner), expectations and quality standards were very high.

Designed by Song + Associates, Inc. and constructed by Skanska, consistently ranked as a top green builder by the Engineering News Record's Top Green Contractors survey, the new 126,376 square foot school will collect solar energy from photovoltaic panels on its roof. In addition, it will have solar-powered lighting in the parking lot, several wildlife habitats, waterless urinals, wireless Internet, audio enhancement in each classroom, an amphitheater, and four laptops in each classroom.

"Since it's always our goal to provide the best possible service and transparency to the owner at all times, our quality assurance process needed to be advanced yet user-friendly, not overly burdensome, and geared for the customer," said Ricardo Santana, Skanska Vice President of Operations. "Vela Systems software enabled us to go beyond conventional processes and achieve greater time savings and quality control. Vela made it possible for my team and all involved parties to collaborate and automatically synchronize multiple versions of documents during every relevant aspect of the project, while using an inherently familiar environment. And since documented issues were immediately communicated, we minimized downtime in the field."

Executing effective quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) programs requires a consistent approach to jobsite inspections and a structured method of analyzing all gathered information. Today, many construction professionals use paper forms for this process, making it time consuming and error-prone to gather and analyze critical quality information.

Vela Systems Checklists (QA/QC) software replaces a paper-based QA/QC process with easy-to-configure electronic checklists and automated reporting. QA/QC managers, superintendents, and other field personnel simply mark up the appropriate responses using a digital pen on a Tablet PC. Digital photos can be added to specific observations immediately in the field and any written text is automatically turned into typed text by the Tablet PC. Then, the detail is aggregated automatically across projects and the company into executive dashboards.

"This is a case where applied technology is meeting the quality assurance demands of green construction," Santana continued. "Work of this complexity requires very detailed and time-consuming communication from the field back to the architects and designers to make sure that the project meets the design intent. With Vela Systems, we are achieving these goals and aiming towards minimizing or eliminating punch list-type work at the end. What's more, we're able to do it with consistency, without using paper, being more efficient and thinking green at the same time."

About Skanska USA Building Inc.
Skanska USA Building Inc. is a leading national and local provider of construction, pre-construction consulting, general contracting and design-build services to a broad range of U.S. industries including science and technology, healthcare, education, high-tech, aviation, transportation and sports and entertainment. Skanska USA Building also provides pharmaceutical validation services to clients. The company, part of the Skanska AB global group of companies, is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, and has approximately 4,700 employees.

Skanska is one of the world's leading construction groups with expertise in construction, development of commercial and residential projects and public-private partnerships. The Group currently has 56,000 employees in selected home markets in Europe, in the U.S. and Latin America. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Skanska's sales in 2008 totaled $22 billion.

About Vela Systems, Inc.
Vela Systems construction field software automates the execution and oversight of field activities on construction and capital projects for architects, engineers, contractors and owners. Instead of carrying a field notebook and paper plans or specs, jobsite users work with Vela Systems software on mobile computers to electronically access documents and to complete field reports, QA/QC inspections, worklists, punchlists, update the BIM and many other critical field activities. Vela's customers routinely save 5-10 hours per week per user, accelerate project delivery by two days per month, capture the true Cost of Quality® and reduce litigation risk through standardized documentation. Construction happens in the field - Manage it™

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