Love me Tender
The morning glance into your inbox sparks joy: there’s a new, exciting tender. The framework conditions sound relevant, and excitement grows. But then, you look at the performance specification—and your mood plummets faster than the required excavation work. “Data management,” “BIM system,” “online platform”?
Uh… sure. Sounds incredibly modern—but what exactly is being asked for? What’s the point? And who can actually deliver this technology?
Spoiler: We can usually handle this pretty well. But let’s take it step by step.
Between Wish Lists and Reality
Let’s be honest: tenders—and especially performance specifications—are a genre all their own. Somewhere between a shopping list and a letter to Santa, hidden among long enumerations, lies not just plenty of room for interpretation, but usually a very concrete, deeper wish. The problem? It’s not always easy to spot.
For example, what does “digital” really mean? Is scanning a handwritten note and saving it as a PDF enough?
What should a “central system for all project participants” actually do—central, local on-site, on the construction manager’s hard drive? In a central cloud solution?
The terms are about as uniformly defined as “the” recipe for birthday cake (and how big is that mysterious “cup” you’re supposed to measure ingredients with, anyway?). Different parties use different terms for the same concept—or, even better, the same term for completely different solutions. Confusion and uncertainty are practically guaranteed.
The Root of All Wishes
Before deciding which system might fit, ask yourself a different question: What does the tendering party actually want to achieve?
Is it purely about permanent digital data storage—say, for bureaucratic requirements? If so, saving various reports and protocols as PDFs and providing them at project completion (or at the requested intervals) might suffice.
Or does the client need all participants to access the same up-to-date information at any time—whether on-site or in the office? For example, to monitor critical conditions in real time? In that case, we’re talking about a central, web-based system that clearly manages roles, access, and data security. A simple digital file storage won’t cut it.
Should the system go beyond mere information provision and include automatic analyses and evaluations to support decision-making in critical situations? For instance, real-time monitoring of settlements in built-up areas, ideally with automatic alerts? Once you understand this need, it’s easier to determine which tools are suitable to fulfill it.
(And yes, eguana SCALES can handle simple digital data storage too. You could even use it just to store photos and PDFs. But that might be overkill—like breaking out the hammer drill to mount a new bulletin board. Unless, of course, you’ve got reinforced concrete walls. Or you just really like using your hammer drill. But that’s another story…)
A Little Cheat Sheet
Philipp, our managing director, puts it this way:
“Most people actually want the same thing—a central, functional solution for their project data. They just often don’t know how to describe it.”
Fundamentally, there are three approaches to managing project data digitally.
Manual Data Collection
This involves mostly manual documentation, like scanning handwritten notes or using spreadsheets. It’s common when only a small amount of data is involved and no ongoing evaluation is needed.
Spreadsheets are a good start—as long as it’s just about simple documentation. But as soon as someone asks, “Where did this limit value come from?” or “Who made which changes and when?”, you need more than a spreadsheet.
This approach works for basic documentation tasks but not for monitoring. As soon as requirements like automatic recording, continuous data collection, or traceability come into play, it’s no longer sufficient.
This is where eguana SCALES comes in: with seamless data history, central access, and traceable automation—for those who see data not just as an administrative task but as a control element.
Device Software (Manufacturer Solutions)
At first glance, device software seems like a big step forward. Data comes directly from the machine, diagrams are generated automatically, and initial limit values can be monitored. For individual devices and clearly defined tasks, this works well.
But the limits become apparent quickly as projects grow more complex—especially when multiple devices are in use, different manufacturers are involved, or data needs to be interpreted collectively. Each device software only tells the story of its own system, not the entire project.
What’s missing is the context
How do injection data relate to settlement measurements?
How do drilling progress, water levels, and alerts fit together over time?
And how can this information be provided uniformly and traceably for all participants?
When tenders require central availability, cross-manufacturer evaluation, consistent documentation, or continuous monitoring, you need a layer above. A platform that consolidates different data, contextualizes it, and makes it usable for decision-making.
Generic IoT or Cloud Solutions
Generic IoT or cloud platforms initially seem like the elegant answer to many requirements. Data can be transferred automatically, stored centrally, and accessed from anywhere. Technically, a lot is possible.
The problem rarely lies in data transport but in what happens afterward. These platforms often don’t understand what they’re storing. A timestamp is just a timestamp—whether it relates to a settlement measurement, an injection, or a drilling operation doesn’t matter to the system. Technical contexts, normative logic, or project-specific rules must be painstakingly defined externally.
In practice, this means
A lot of configuration effort, many individual workarounds, and high dependence on people who understand both the technology and the domain.
Changes during the project—new measuring points, different limit values, additional trades—quickly become complex and error-prone.
For simple data collections or pilot projects, this approach can work. But when tenders require traceable documentation, standards-compliant evaluation, comparability over time, or a shared data view for different roles, generic platforms reach their limits. Not because they can’t do enough—but because they don’t understand how construction and geotechnical projects work.
What’s missing here is the domain logic. A structure that understands which data belongs together, how it must be interpreted, and what significance it has in the project context. Without this layer, there’s a lot of technology—but little orientation.
Specialized Industry Software for Construction Data Monitoring
To avoid misunderstandings: this is our home turf. eguana SCALES is highly specialized software developed specifically for the complex requirements of data management in special foundation engineering and tunneling.
In general, specialized industry software is designed for the kinds of requirements often found in tenders: automatic data collection, continuous recording, real-time monitoring, central evaluation, and standards-compliant documentation.
Whenever tenders combine these requirements, a specialized monitoring and evaluation platform is technically necessary—and eguana SCALES is the right solution.
The Big Picture
In practice, uncertainty rarely arises from individual terms but from their combination. As long as requirements appear in isolation, they can often be met with simple means. But when, for example, automatic data collection, ongoing evaluation, and central availability are required together, the technical requirements change fundamentally.
Many projects start with pragmatic solutions like spreadsheets, device software, or cloud storage. For small amounts of data and manageable projects, this makes sense. But as the project grows, so does the effort—exponentially. Data must be manually consolidated, checked, and interpreted. Overview and decision-making confidence are lost.
The crucial shift in perspective is to read tenders not as a collection of terms but as a description of a desired state. The relevant question is not: Which tool fulfills this term? But: What technical infrastructure is needed to meet these requirements sustainably and reliably?
Those who read tenders this way quickly recognize recurring patterns. Certain formulations are clear indicators that a central monitoring and evaluation platform is required because the combination of properties cannot be realized otherwise.
More Questions Than Answers?
Life is complicated enough. If a performance specification raises more questions than answers—feel free to ask us. Together, we’ll figure out what the digital minimum requirements of the project are, what considerations might be behind them, and how to implement them in practice as simply as possible.
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