Online Induction >> Contractor Management System
Published 01/11/2024
Best Practice Contractor Management System
Guide for Setting Up Contractor Management Software
Best practice contractor management involves establishing a full life cycle contractor management system of effective contractor workflows from initial prequalification and safety and contractor risk review through to contractor induction and subcontractor management, safety and compliance checks and assessments, issuing induction cards through to sign in on site, tracking and ongoing compliance spot checks, completion and review of safety documentation and materials, ongoing training, awareness of hazards and safety procedures through to contractor performance management.
Contractor management software is a crucial tool for helping organisations manage their contractors and ensure they are compliant, inducted, insured and manage their ongoing post day 1 activities from safety reviews and permit management through to contractor performance evaluation, training and compliance monitoring.
Integrated Comprehensive Contractor Management System
At its core, a full contractor management system will encompass a number of integrated workflows starting with how contractors are engaged through contractor prequalification and induction. From here, workflows around ongoing performance review, compliance management and sign in / site access on site will be a critical part of ongoing contractor management.
This often involves contractor compliance checks and ongoing management, performance and safety review of contractors with ongoing evaluation of contractor works on site and documentation management. This involves documentation verifications through to ongoing daily checks, daily documentation for job safety, work authorisations / permits to work and approvals), ongoing workflows and workflows relating to job exit.
View Contractor Management Templates, Forms and Examples
Discover our full contractor management system:
The Importance of Contractor Management Software
The importance of utilizing an effective contractor management system cannot be understated.
When considering what is important about using a contractor management system, first and foremost should be focusing on detailed administrative oversight - such as contractor onboarding processes (see an example contractor induction), compliance & legal formalities as well as performance evaluations & feedback loops. These are ingredients which enable organizations to manage third party risk while ensuring both parties are adhering with contractual obligations reliably & competently. It pays huge dividends aligning professional objectives between firms/individuals whilst reducing cost through modernized contracting methods by gathering data with quantitative analytics!
Setting up best practice contractor management software helps with engaging, prequalifying, manging, tracking and ensuring the ongoing compliance of your contractor workforce, subcontractors, suppliers and sole traders. From tracking them on site through to contractor inductions, issuing contractor cards, insurance management, supplier accrediation, contractor management procedure, safety and risk reviews and contracting company management.
As part of a contractor management system, you can now also issue a contractor safety passport to conduct spot checks on the overall compliance status of contractors. This is used to conduct a spot check on their licenses and certifications through to insurances, permits and other safety materials and can be issued as part of the induction.
Full Life Cycle Contractor Management System
Contractor Management System workflow map: from contractor prequalification and induction through to compliance and performance management
What is contractor management and why do you need Contractor Management Software?
Contractor management is a critical aspect of any business operation that involves the engagement of external contractors to provide services. Essentially, contractor management refers to the
process of overseeing and coordinating the activities of these external parties to ensure that they align with the business's requirements and standards. This includes tasks such as contractor selection, pre-qualification, onboarding, monitoring performance, compliance with regulations, and ensuring safety protocols are adhered to. Effective contractor management is essential for mitigating risks, ensuring quality service delivery, and maintaining a safe work environment for all stakeholders involved in the project.
Contractor management is the process of engaging and managing the contractors and
subcontractors working in your workplace across areas such as pre-qualification, induction, compliance checks, sign in on site, inusrances and tickets tracking and ongoing day to day contractor management activities. Your organisation may hire one off contractors to perform adhoc work or you may hire preferred contractor companies to perform ongoing and regular work on site.
(Enhancing Contractor Management 2018)
This could range from clearning contractors, maintenance, gardening though to security contractors. Think of the suppliers and vendors your company engages and do these organisations provide staff that visit your workplace to conduct work?
If so, you need to manage these staff and of course the relationship you have with these contractor companies. Are they compliant to continue a working relationship with your organisation? Has their performance been satisfactory in the last 12 months? Do you want to continue using this contractor?
These areas form the foundation of a
contractor management system.
(Online Training as a Medium 2010)
Further below we go over our contractor management software features and best practice contractor management setup
Setting up Contractor Management Software
When it comes to streamlining your operations and maximizing efficiency, setting up a contractor management system is a crucial step for any organization.
With a contractor management system can ensure compliance of contractors with regulations, track contractor performance, and maintain a centralized system for all contractor-related activities.
With an effective contractor management system, managers can effectively engage and onboard contractors, monitor and review safety performance, track arrival on site and enhance communication with contractors.
The system setup starts with identifying the areas and gaps for where the following areas might be help with contractor management such as:
- Prequalify all contractors before they start work. Full safety assessment, upload insurances, SWMS, JSA's, Risk Assessment, Incident History, should this contractor be an approved contractor?
- Induct the contractor company and all contractors and subcontractor staff, ensure they acknowledge and understand risks, safety, policies, procedures, environment, check lists, quality and other important site specific issues through a contractor induction
- Digital sign in of all contractors and sole traders as they arrive on site. Spot check of their compliance and cross check in real-time their validity, insurances are up to date, fully inducted, checked in and track on site
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- Full
contractor compliance cross check, integrated with induction and
pre-qualification process
- Supplier review: 12 months on,
review performance of contractors through a contractor evaluation process including full safety review of contractors and their compliance (insurance, method statements, safety materials)
- Automatic reminders on expiring
insurances and certifications
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Contractor verification options on
insurances and certifications
- Approved contractors list: including review, approve and rating system of contractors
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Australian contractor management system
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Contractor Management Process
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Contractor Surveys for generating contractor insights and comparison
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How AI is helping improve contractor management
- List of contractors to assign jobs to (ensure only fully compliant contractors receive work)
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Mobile App
- Full Work Order integration. Raise a work order, assign to a preferred contractor, track job status.
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SMS and bulk communication options to contractors for emergency events and other notifications
Setup your contractor management process on mobile
5 Core Components for Setting up a Contractor Management System
Contractor Selection and Engagement
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Company Prequalification
(Safety history, risks profile and insurance review)
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Contractor Induction and Onboarding
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Sign in / Sign out / Site Access Management
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Ongoing Contractor and Company Monitoring
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Discover our Contractor Management Software
Creating Effecient Contractor Management Workflows
Contractor management involves many different workflows, industries, regulations, situations and changing circumstances from permit to work workflows through to information you need to cross check when contractors arrive on site, the different site specific workflows you setup based on the varied complexities of different unique workplace requirements through to different supervisor, security and manager awareness, notifications and approvals that you might trigger.
With effective contractor management software, organisations can better handle what might be a constantly moving and evolving target is through contractor management workflows where you might design and setup different prompts, notifications, content and automatic workflows for your site, project and contractor workforce.
For example, a workflow that covers the prequalification and prescreening of contractors, the sign in process and the forms and checks they need to complete as part of arriving and working on site, the inductions they need to complete through to when a contractor access card is issued.
Sample contractor management system workflow: from sign in on site through to contractor pass
Try setting up your own
contractor management workflows right here. Create different rules for subcontractors, supervisors, site access, prescreening and prequalification.
Top 6 Contractor Management System Modules
Guide for Managing Contractors
When contractors are working on site, its critical to make sure all aspects of their safety are managed before they begin their job task, activity or role, during their time on site and when they leave the workplace as well (
Contractor Safety Management, 2019).
Best practice contractor safety management is divided into several approaches to ensure contractors are engaged and prepared for working safely on site, are empowered with the right processes and procedures to ensure their own safety and the safety of their co-workers, have gone through and conduct the necessary safety checks and processes, have the systems in place to conduct their job task safely and finally, leave the workplace in a safe condition for the next worker (
Contractor Safety Management, 2019).
Using
contractor management software to manage these areas, you can manage all your contractors from scheduling automatic reminders to your contractors for a wide range of compliance requirements to profiling their progress, collecting required documentation, a searchable database, live activity, reporting, who is on site and much, much more.
Example Induction for Contractors
Scan the following QR code to view an example induction for contractors, a core first step in the contractor management journey:
Create your own QR code induction here
Managing Contractor Permits
A big part of a contractor management system is the management of permits. Contractors will conduct different job tasks or activities and when the activity is a high risk task, it may require a high risk permit.
Job tasks or activities that involve working at heights, HV or LV electrical works, some isolations, hydraulic works, asbestos or confined spaces just to name a few are all common work categories that would require a permit to work.
With a contractor management permit system, you can have a process to issue, review and approve permits as part of your contractor management process. This might involve different levels of approval such as an engineer sign off or knowledge expert sign off.
This might lead to contractor
permit to work management where you manage contractor high risk permits such as:
Hot work permits, radioactive materials, dangerous chemicals, excavations, power supplies, confined spaces, excavation, working at heights and electrical permits.
View Permit to Work Templates
It is important to manage contractor authorisation to work before they arrive on site to ensure the safety of both the contractor and employees. This helps to reduce the risk of injury or accidents to employees, contractors, and visitors. It also helps to ensure that all contractors are qualified and experienced to carry out their assigned tasks. Furthermore, it allows the organisation to ensure that the contractor has the necessary training, qualifications, and insurance required to work on the premises.
By ensuring contractors are authorised to work on site before they arrive, organisations can prevent any disruption or delays to their operations due to contractors not having the necessary permissions or qualifications. It also allows organisations to ensure that the contractor is adequately insured for any damages or liabilities that may occur during the course of their work. Finally, it helps to protect the organisation from any potential legal liabilities that may arise due to the contractor's actions on site.
Contractor Management System Features
The most common features in a contractor management system include:
Track your contractors ongoing compliance
Collect certifications, expiry dates and licenses
Use mass contractor communication tools
Work Flow functionality
Compliance reminders
Contractor site training online
GPS map of current contractor locations
Collect emergency contact, next of kin, medical information & more
Contractor Management and Prequalification Process
Before contracting companies and sole traders start, they should go through a contractor prequalification process to review their risk and safety history. This would be applicable to subcontractors to. Should they become and remain an approved and preferred contractor?
Things to include here are:
Contractor / Supplier Registration
Pre-qualification + Required Documents (collect insurances, certifications and more)
Contractor / Supplier Verification
Individual induction
Compliance spotcheck as they arrive on site / sign in & out tracking
Ongoing compliance and reminder verification
We offer you a custom built portal for contractor management requirements such as:
- Contractor Online Induction
- Contractor compliance control
- Property / Building Induction Software
- Online tests with scoring
- Document management portal
- Online Hazard Registry
- Facility induction cards for contractors
- Load all your own material and manage for your self
- Site specific inductions as well as organisation wide inductions
Ensure that all suppliers / contractors undertaking physical work know your safety requirements and are able to work safely on all our sites.
Ensure that suppliers / contractors are safe while working on sites and that your customers, visitors and staff are also kept safe.
Provide one standardised induction to enable all suppliers and contractors to access all sites rather than have to complete many brand specific inductions.
Managing Subcontractors
A major part of contractor management is understanding the relationships between contractors and their subcontractors. Who is actually subcontracting to who and is there a break in the compliance chain between a principle contractor and their subcontractor?
If a subcontractor is non compliance, that can affect the principle contractor that they subcontract to. Enabling contractor administrators to have oversight of their subcontractors, manage their compliance and systemise the reminders and tracking around insurances, certifications and ensure they adhere to important safety policies, procedures and have the systems in place to work safely and be aware of risks and hazards that can affect their job task or activity on site.
Having a comprehensive system in place for briefing and evaluating potential subcontractors is vital in selecting reliable and trustworthy partners. This involves taking into account their capacity, references, qualifications and any guarantees offered by them. Not only will this help to mitigate potential risks, but it can also help keep subcontractors up-to-date with all the latest regulations regarding construction work - an invaluable aspect when it comes to compliance.
Effective management of subcontractors is essential for any successful project. Having a well-structured framework in place will not only help keep track of all activities but also guarantee that each party receives fair compensation for their endeavours within a timely manner. Therefore, giving careful consideration towards managing your subcontractors will go a long way towards ensuring overall success!
Contractor Monitoring
Setup a systemised and autonomous approach you can rely on for your organisation wide contractor management:
The Contractor
- Alert the contractor about expiring documents such as insurances through to other safety materials provided.
Ensure they are updated prior to the due date. Establish a contractor suspension system for non compliance.
Annual Review Process
- Setup an annual contractor review process covering the contracting company performance to ensure they meet the requirements of your organisation
Contractor Workers
- Ensure all workers from the contractor are inducted and receive reminders when inductions are due to expire. Setup a verification process around this.
Collect and Manage other Forms and Contractor Workflows
- Implement adjacent processes around other important contractor management compliance areas such as a modern slavery questionnaire
Classifying Contractors by Risk Level
Using a contractor prequalification process, you can truly classify what level of risk your contractors are based on their job activities and trade types
Low Risk
- Roles like a photographer, a town planner, entertainment, employment consultant
Medium Risk
- Roles like IT contractors, event management, gardeners, small equipment suppliers
Hisk Risk Works
- Here you might see some contractors in roles like plumbers, waste removal, gas suppliers, large equipment suppliers
Elevated Risk
- Commonly these might be roles in fire protection, electrical contractors and related high risk works
Contractor Management System Checklist
A common check list you might set up as part of your contractor management system might look at:
Collecting and verification of insurances
Evaluating subcontractors engaged
Unpacking contractor's employment practices
Collecting safety policy
Evidence of a safety management system
Evidence of environmental management
Providing method statements for high risk work
Understanding chemical management
Contractor Induction for all workers and contractor onboarding process
Site access check when arriving on site
Permit to work checks for high risk works
Contractor review process
Verifications
Re-compliance annually
Discover our contractor management software for establishing a systemised process to setup and manage all these areas.
Contractor Management Platform Demo
Explore our contractor management system for full end to end contractor engagement, management of licenses, contractor performance, induction and sign in on site
Frequently Asked Contractor Management Questions
What are common pre day 1 activities for contractor management
There are quite a few pre-day 1 activities for contractor management that can help make the onboarding process smoother and less stressful.
You must make sure new contractors understand expectations at the outset and also guarantee adequate safety precautions. To do this, create procedures all new people follow on Day 1 so they know what is expected from them during the job contract period. Document any relevant legal forms like tax clearance documentation, background check authorization letters, role contract agreement formalities, health protocols as part of these activities upfront, this way comes in handy when dealing with labor authorities later on!
To minimize paperwork even further after taking care of all the above steps, use automated contractual agreements & employee onboarding tools such as software designed specifically for contractor management tasks - they'll automate most aspects around recruitment & onboarding and free up resources needed elsewhere plus provide peace of mind knowing names are safe always updated in compliance with industry standards. Doing advance planning officially as well unofficially (informally) helps create stronger relationships between employees and contractors right off from day one.
What are common post day 1 activities for contractor management
Post day 1 activities may vary from project to project and organization to organization, they all have common elements which need attention. Paying careful attention to these details when starting up new contracts will help ensure an effective start.
When beginning contract work with your clients, certain aspects of managing the transition must be addressed. One of your first tasks is usually getting acquainted with their culture and procedures in order for both parties to successfully understand communication protocols as well as expectations for outcomes. This includes introducing relevant personnel within either team (e.g., contracting partners/vendors) & putting leadership structures into place; managing time frames; understanding organizational documentations such as NDAs or working agreements; negotiating payment schedules & more! The goal is ultimately make sure that everyone involved has a clear picture of what needs to happen next under the contractual agreement - sometimes this might involve consulting external advisors if legalities become complicated or confusing during negotiations so don't forget about those extra resources just in case!
It's also critical that you build up trust with each side while creating relationships across vendor/client divides - no one wants surprises popping up unexpectedly later down the line due to misunderstandings about roles/responsibilities on either side! Post-day-one activities can give you real insight into how non-contractual policies change over time and should include checks around things like logical continuity between different stakeholder groups at arm's length distance. Discussions throughout this process to keep everything on track by providing presenters/participants with topics pertaining directly towards solutions being discussed rather than opinions or complaints which could easily derail progress made thus far.
Other post day 1 activities include managing permit to work through to ongoing contractor induction and safety inductions.
There could be ongoing induction checklists to acknowledge through to ongoing understanding and acknowledgement of a contractor handbook.
How to write a subscontractor management procedure?
A contractor management procedure is an essential tool for managing subcontractors compliance and onsite tasks. Read more on how to write one right here.
What is contractor onboarding and why is it important?
contractor onboarding is a standardized process that the newly hired contractors undergo before or immediately after beginning their work which is designed for efficiency improvement and reduction of risks.
See more on contractor onboarding here. See also supplier onboarding.
How do you prevent bad contractors from being engaged by your company?
Pre-qualifying contractors on their safety history, insurance and business registration, safe work method statements and compliance can prevent the big issues down the track.
How do you manage contractor performance?
Once contractors start working with your workplace, site or project, it is important to conduct performance analysis on their safety, provision of service, compliance with procedures and overall contractor performance management to understand fully, should the contractor remain an approved and preferred contractor?
How often do you check if your contractors should remain an approved and preferred contractor?
Using our contractor performance management, review areas of safety, provision of service, defects and employee feedback
View forms, check lists, registry and tools
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