Nicole van Est, work planner at Van Mourik Bouw B.V.
“Everything is accessible to everyone, everywhere.”
Van Mourik Bouw, with locations in Ophemert and Culemborg, is specialized in utility construction and realizing luxurious residences. Over the years, the family business has grown from a regional company to a company that operates nationally and even across the border. To ensure all this runs smoothly, Van Mourik Bouw uses Prostream as a document management system. We asked work planner Nicole van Est about her experiences.
Van Mourik Bouw has been working with Prostream since February 2023, but has been working with its predecessor Docstream since 2019. At the time, Nicole introduced Docstream to the organization. “They were working on digitization here. The company I worked for before also worked with Docstream, so I suggested it and they were immediately enthusiastic about it. The implementers were a bit hesitant at first, but they soon discovered that the system is very useful. Especially that you can access everything and that everything is accessible online. You no longer have to email everyone, all the information is simply in one place.”
For example, subcontractors who only need one drawing, I simply send a link of the drawing in Prostream, so I am sure that they have the correct version.
Manage and distribute documents
“We are mainly concerned with managing and distributing documents,” says Nicole. “We are ISO certified and we have also entered all our ISO documents into the system. This no longer has to be done via a separate SharePoint or Drive. Everything is now accessible online, but can also be shared. That is a major advantage compared to a SharePoint. Our customers, subcontractors and other stakeholders also use the system. All documents are easy to find, you can easily distribute them and you can be sure that people are working with the latest version. These are the most important advantages for us. For example, subcontractors who only need one drawing, I simply send a link of the drawing in Prostream, so I am sure that they have the correct version. What is also useful is that you no longer have to print everything. For example, people can also easily print a fragment of a drawing.”
If companies are dreading the transition from Docstream to Prostream, I would say: just do it. It’s not complicated at all and actually happens naturally.
Smooth transition
The switch from Docstream to Prostream was very simple, says Nicole. “It takes some getting used to at first because it looks a bit different, but the program is very intuitive and the interface is user-friendly. It’s actually just a kind of explorer, but online. Prostream looks slicker and is even more approachable than Docstream. If companies are dreading the transition from Docstream to Prostream, I would say: just do it. It is not complicated at all and actually happens naturally.”
Prostream looks slicker and is even more approachable than Docstream.
Ready for the future
Nicole is also satisfied with the collaboration with Pro4all. “There is a good help desk, if there is a problem, they will help you. I meet with our representative every quarter to go through everything and discuss whether there are any points of interest. That’s all going well. If it runs, it runs. The program is also still in development. We are happy that we can now view 3D models in Prostream. When the “Snagstream part” (ensuring quality, ed.) is ready in Prostream, we also want to start working with that. I would definitely recommend Prostream to other construction companies. Especially if you still want or need to digitize, I think this is a very good addition. This really makes you ready for the future.”