Implementation of PM Software in Multi-Sector Projects

Project management software significantly improves the performance of project teams, increases their efficiency, and reduces the risk of overruns, delays and project failure. The advantages of adopting structured tools far outweigh the disadvantages. The absence of such tools increases the risk of information disorganisation — particularly in the construction industry, where projects are fragmented between various stakeholders and complex sub-processes that must be coordinated across multiple specialist disciplines simultaneously. This article examines the results of a survey conducted among construction companies in Poland to identify the real-world benefits of IT tools in supporting project management across complex, multi-sector programmes.

The construction industry in Poland suffers from poor project performance because construction work is fragmented between various stakeholders and different sub-processes. It is crucial for construction practitioners to understand, visualise, quantify and simulate the components which affect how construction work is delivered. A questionnaire survey was carried out to collect research data for analysis and assessment of IT tools supporting the management of multi-sector projects, with a particular focus on the use of project management software in construction companies.

In total, 11 companies participated and 20 completed questionnaires were submitted, with some companies having more than one employee participate in the survey. The questions focused on two main areas: the company's profile and overall fit as a project management entity, and the actual use and assessment of IT tools used by relevant teams in project management, often across multiple sectors.

The survey asked whether each participating organisation had established a Project Management Office (PMO) or equivalent department. The results reveal that the overwhelming majority of respondents operated within organisations that had formalised their project management function. This structural commitment to dedicated project oversight reflects the operational scale and complexity of the companies surveyed, most of which manage large volumes of concurrent projects across multiple infrastructure sectors.

Respondents were also asked about the average number of projects the organisation implements and whether these include multi-sector projects. The average number of projects implemented across the participating companies was 105. The projects included construction contracts covering a wide range of infrastructure types: road, rail, industrial, energy and cubature. This volume of concurrent activity underlines the operational complexity these organisations face and the scale of coordination required across project teams, subcontractors and specialist disciplines.

The next question concerned working in a multi-industry environment. The vast majority of participating companies, 80% or 16 respondents, confirmed they pursue multi-sector projects. Construction companies engage teams of specialists from various industries in the implementation of their complex infrastructure investments. For a cubature project, professionals qualified across architecture, structural construction, electrical installations and sanitary installations are all required. Only 4 respondents indicated that no multi-sector projects were being implemented within their company at the time of the study.

Respondents were asked whether project management software had been adopted by their organisation. The results showed that 85% of the sample confirmed this was the case. Analysing the results in more detail, the negative responses came consistently from representatives of the same company that was not pursuing multi-sector projects at the time of the study. In total, project management software was implemented in 10 out of 11 construction companies surveyed.

The survey data reveals a clear pattern: the construction companies operating at scale, managing hundreds of concurrent projects across multiple infrastructure sectors, have almost universally adopted structured project management software. The one outlier in the sample, the company without PM software, was also the only one not engaged in multi-sector delivery. This correlation is not coincidental. When a project requires coordinated input from architects, structural engineers, electrical specialists and sanitary engineers simultaneously, informal coordination through spreadsheets and email creates information disorganisation that compounds as the project progresses.

The study also highlights a significant gap between having software and being satisfied with it. While adoption is high, a meaningful proportion of respondents indicated their current system does not meet expectations. This points to a common challenge in the industry: organisations implement tools that were not designed for the specific demands of multi-sector construction delivery, and the mismatch between tool capability and operational need leaves gaps that revert to manual workarounds.

The findings of this survey align closely with the operational capabilities that Quantim was designed to address. For construction businesses managing multiple concurrent projects across different infrastructure sectors, the platform provides the centralised operational framework that the survey identifies as both widely adopted and frequently underdelivered by existing tools.

Quantim's timesheet and job costing features give project managers live visibility of labour costs against budget at the activity level, making it possible to identify cost drift before it compounds. Holiday and resource planning modules connect staff availability directly to project timelines, so the multi-discipline scheduling challenges common in complex infrastructure projects are managed from a single view rather than across disconnected systems. The platform's expense tracking and variation management features address the commercial transparency requirements that multi-sector projects demand, where costs from multiple specialist subcontractors need to be tracked separately and accurately throughout delivery.

For the construction companies in this survey that have adopted PM software but report it does not meet expectations, the gap typically lies in integration. Tools that handle scheduling separately from cost tracking, or that manage timesheets independently of resource planning, require manual reconciliation that reintroduces the information disorganisation that software was supposed to eliminate. Quantim's unified approach, where all project data flows through one connected system, addresses that gap directly.

The Polish construction industry survey confirms what practitioners in complex project environments already know from experience: project management software significantly improves the performance of project teams, increases their efficiency, and reduces the risk of overruns, delays and project failure. The advantages of adopting structured tools far outweigh the disadvantages. The absence of such tools increases the risk of information disorganisation and coordination failure, which is especially damaging when multiple industries and specialist disciplines are involved in the same programme.

The survey also points to an important distinction between having software and having software that meets the operational demands of the business. High adoption rates combined with significant dissatisfaction indicate that the market for construction PM tools still has a quality gap. The construction companies that will perform consistently across large, complex, multi-sector programmes are those that invest in platforms built specifically for the operational realities they face, rather than adapting general-purpose tools to fit a context they were never designed for.

To find out how Quantim supports construction and project-based businesses with time tracking, job costing, resource planning and project reporting, book a free demonstration and see how the platform fits your operational workflow.