Our Blog | Imerso

It's Here: Automatic Progress Tracking for Construction

Written by Imerso Team | Mar 26, 2025 8:08:06 AM

TL;DR: See it in action

The new integration with SYNCHRO gives projects the unprecedented ability to track daily progress at the site and automatically check the site performance against the work schedule. No more guesswork. No more surprises.

 

What is Bentley SYNCHRO used for?

SYNCHRO 4D is a powerful virtual construction planning and scheduling software developed by Bentley Systems that integrates 3D modelling with scheduling data to create a comprehensive 4D planning solution. It enables construction teams to transform design models into detailed construction models, incorporating cutting-edge model-based quantity takeoffs, scheduling, and construction simulations.

At its core, SYNCHRO serves as a real-time source of truth for construction projects, helping teams solve the time-cost conundrum, increase safety, and reduce both employee and project risks. The software extends the value of 3D models by adding time as the fourth dimension, allowing users to plan, optimize, and track projects in a single visual environment.

How to track progress in construction?

Tracking construction progress is crucial for several reasons:

  • Timely issue identification and resolution. Tracking onsite progress closely allows for early detection of potential problems, enabling proactive problem-solving and risk mitigation.

  • Schedule maintenance. Progress tracking helps ensure the project stays on schedule by identifying deviations that may impact timelines.

  • Cost control and budget management. It facilitates effective tracking of expenses and resource utilisation, preventing budget overruns.

  • Quality assurance. Monitoring construction activities ensures workmanship and materials meet required standards and specifications.

  • Stakeholder communication. Regular updates foster transparency and informed decision-making among clients and project teams.

  • Risk management. Continuous monitoring allows for timely addressing of potential risks and uncertainties.

  • Resource optimisation. Visual progress monitoring enhances understanding of task progress and resource utilisation, allowing for better allocation and improved productivity.

Why is construction progress tracking so difficult?

Conventional methods of tracking construction progress encounter various obstacles. The process of gathering and inputting data by hand is not only time-intensive but also susceptible to errors, which can compromise the quality of decision-making. The involvement of numerous teams working concurrently, each using their own reporting techniques, creates hurdles in obtaining a comprehensive view of the project's status.

To further complicate the problem, many traditional approaches rely on retrospective tracking, where progress updates are logged after events have occurred, resulting in delayed decision-making and the potential oversight of critical issues. Moreover, the dynamic nature of construction sites, including challenges such as obstructed views, varying lighting conditions, and constantly evolving environments, poses significant difficulties in automating progress monitoring, particularly for interior construction work.

Read here why 360 Panorama Cameras are not sufficient for automatic progress tracking in Construction.

And even in today's age of AI, there is still a deep shortage of AI/ML algorithms trained specifically on construction site objects and large construction site datasets.

To solve this, we've teamed up with Bentley's team to build our own solution.

Introducing the new Imerso integration with SYNCHRO for Progress Tracking

Our new integration allows to automate construction progress tracking in three main steps:

Step 1 - Setup your project in SYNCHRO

Load your BIM models and project schedule into SYNCHRO as normal. SYNCHRO will connect your work plans to the BIM objects and tasks, so you can visualise what is meant to be built over time. The next step is to check whether the onsite reality is following this plan.  

Step 2 - Inspect the onsite status with 3D Scans in Imerso

Imerso's automations enable anyone onsite to pick up a laser scanner and start capturing the site as easily as taking a photo, regardless of prior surveying experience. This allows projects to routinely capture the As-Built status in parallel with the construction activities. Imerso automatically analyses each object in the captured data against its counterpart in the BIM plans and reports on their onsite status.

For example, on the image below, Imerso is flagging the onsite status for the selected object categories (structural columns and openings). Objects in green are marked as build onsite within tolerance. Orange are out-of-tolerance. And red objects are missing, not built onsite.

Once the analysis is done, we have a categorised report of the current onsite As-Built environment. Time to load this into SYNCHRO to calculate the % Complete and check whether the project is ahead or behind schedule for the scanned area.

Step 3 - Load results to SYNCHRO and calculate % Complete

The integration maps the Imerso inspection results to the BIM models. Bringing this into SYNCHRO gives us a view on the onsite status of the objects captured in the scans, whether they are built onsite correctly, installed out of tolerance, or missing completely (a likely delay). Using this data to run SYNCHRO's % Completion calculation gives project teams an objective view on site performance, 100% data driven and fully automated.

Repeat every day or every week, as needed, and eliminate outdated non-value adding tasks.

This is just the beginning of a new era in the construction industry, where data-driven decisions lead to more successful projects. We can't wait to see how this solution will help shape the future of construction and elevate project management to the next level.

About Imerso

Imerso is a software platform that combines BIM, Reality Capture, and AI technologies to automate construction site supervision and quality inspections with one simple workflow. We help construction companies cut project risks and delay costs with real-time monitoring of site status and work quality.

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