How AKM Consultants Organize Construction Defect Photos in Daminion

AKM Consultants, Inc. (AKM) is a professional firm specializing in forensic investigation consulting services for construction defect litigation cases involving residential and commercial structures throughout Colorado and many of the surrounding states. AKM provides expert engineering and architectural comprehensive evaluations and opinions to clients in the legal and construction industries.

AKM is one of Daminion's long-term customers, and in this interview, we will delve into how Daminion has proven to be a valuable asset for their unique workflow, discover the challenges it has helped them overcome, and how this powerful software has revolutionized their photo management process.

The QA with AKM's Team

Daminion: As a valued long-term customer of Daminion, we are eager to understand how the software has contributed to enhancing your work over the years. Can you recall when you first integrated Daminion into your workflow?

AKM Consultants: It's been quite some time! We've been utilizing Daminion since 2015.

Daminion: That's indeed a remarkable span of time. Could you share what initially led you to adopt our software? What challenges were you facing back then?

AKM Consultants: So, our work revolves around construction defect litigation cases. Within our office, we have a team of engineers and architects responsible for investigating and evaluating various residential and commercial type structures and capturing images of distress and/or construction defects observed.

Daminion: Before using Daminion, were there any other similar tools you utilized?

AKM Consultants: There was another tool we tried, although I can't recall its name precisely. However, it didn't come close to meeting our needs. It served the purpose of creating basic contact sheets, as we heavily rely on hard copies and frequently print out our materials.

Daminion: I'm curious, can you recall the moment when the idea of adopting Daminion first surfaced, and the thought of organizing all your photos and assets struck you?

AKM Consultants: Actually, it was one of my former coworkers who initially proposed the idea. She no longer works with us, but she recognized the pressing need for a more efficient way to handle our growing photo collection.

Despite AKM being a smaller firm, our operations mirror that of a medium-sized company.

Daminion: Just a personal question for you – how often do you find yourself using Daminion?

AKM Consultants: Every day. It's an essential part of our daily routine.

Daminion: Could you take me through a typical day when you use Daminion? I'd love to understand the daily tasks you perform with Daminion.

AKM Consultants: A typical day with Daminion can vary depending on the current project demands.

For example, if we are significantly involved in an arbitration or trial, my morning might involve spending around an hour searching for specific defect conditions in the photos that will be utilized as exhibits during the trial/arbitration.

I then gather and organize the relevant images into my tray and create contact sheets based on the requirements - usually with 16 images per page, accompanied by essential information below each image.

On other days, I might focus on tagging photos with different locations, preparing contact sheets, and printing albums.

Additionally, our engineers and architects utilize the tagging features within Daminion to “add” a customized tag to the photos based on their assessment of the photos. Adding these tags allows us to later revisit/retrieve photos based on the selected tag(s) for future use in reports and for a number of other purposes.

Each day presents new tasks, it really could mean that some days I spend 2 to 3 hours on it, while other days I might spend the majority of my day.

Daminion: Why is it important to create contact sheets in Daminion and who are they presented to?

AKM Consultants: It’s an essential part of our documentation process. We have field notes and photographs binders that we maintain for each of our projects.

When our engineers/architects go out to the field and take notes and photos, we tag the corresponding locations of photos in Daminion. These tagged photos are then printed out as contact sheets, organizing all the images taken at a specific location on a particular day. These contact sheets are organized into binders for easy reference.

During depositions, arbitrations, or trials, we can bring these binders, these physical copies of our investigation notes, to present as evidence. In certain legal proceedings, there might be a request to review all computer files, which necessitates careful handling, especially when some materials are still considered work-in-progress.

Having the hard copies of the organized contact sheets provides a reliable and tangible source of information for these occasions.

Daminion: That’s impressive! Now, I'm curious to know which specific features of Daminion do you find yourself using very frequently?

AKM Consultants: For instance, we've customized categories to accommodate our intrusive testing procedure, where a contractor will remove layers of the building facade such as siding, stucco, building paper, etc., each layer of removal is performed as a separate “cut” of the building.

With our customized categories created in Daminion, it has become significantly simpler to track this information for future recall/use. Although this process might not align precisely with the Daminion’s original intent, Daminion has allowed us to work much more effectively.

Daminion: Have you explored the possibility of using custom tags in Daminion?

AKM Consultants: Yes, we did experiment with custom tags to some extent. However, as we initially started using Daminion, we had around 3 or 4 catalogs with customized names, each containing up to ten projects.

With the sheer volume of photos, we handle and the constant need for filtering, this setup became incredibly unwieldy. With one of Daminion’s recent updates this past year allowing unlimited catalogs, we have made a shift toward one catalog per project to significantly improve our workflow.

This approach has proven to be much more manageable, allowing us to easily differentiate between projects and ensure that we're precisely where we need to be. The utilization of different catalogs has significantly simplified our asset management process.

Daminion: I see. And if I were to ask you what you like the most about Daminion, what would that be?

Daminion: Besides the aspects of customization and user-friendliness, are there any specific features or functionalities you feel are lacking in Daminion overall?

AKM Consultants: To be honest, I don't think there's anything inherently missing, but from what I've gathered, Daminion offers more than what we currently utilize.

For instance, we've heard that it can handle documents as well, which is very relevant to our work since we also deal with a voluminous number of documents for each project. However, we haven't fully explored this capability yet.

Incorporating document management into Daminion is on our radar for the next phase of improvement. We are aware of its potential and believe Daminion has the capability to accommodate this aspect effectively, though we haven't ventured into it as of now, we look forward to exploring Daminion as a possible solution for our document management as well.

Daminion: I see. You mentioned using Daminion every day. How challenging was it for you to learn how to use Daminion when you first started?

AKM Consultants: Admittedly, there was a slight learning curve in the beginning. However, since I've been using it daily, it has become second nature to me. In fact, I've become somewhat of the go-to person for any Daminion-related queries within our team. If someone needs assistance in finding something or navigating through the system, I'm usually the one they turn to, as I've become quite familiar with the ins and outs of using Daminion effectively.

Daminion: Let's delve into the topic of efficiency. Has Daminion played a role in enhancing your company's overall efficiency? If so, could you share some specific examples?

AKM Consultants: You see, while our company utilizes Daminion for unique purposes, it has significantly improved our photo management and report generation processes.

For instance, when putting together reports, selecting the right photos to include becomes much more streamlined.

Additionally, we tag each photo with different defect conditions that we observe during our investigation. This tagging system allows us to quickly access all photos with a particular defect condition by simply clicking on a corresponding radio button.

The separation of catalogs has further simplified this process. This approach ensures that we can swiftly find and include relevant images in our reports. It makes our workflow more productive.

Daminion: I see, that's great to hear! If we were to compare the time before using Daminion's automated methods to now, how much time would you say it has saved you?

AKM Consultants: Oh, definitely a significant amount of time. Previously, searching for photos within numerous folders on Explorer was time-consuming and often tedious.

Daminion: Do you believe you could achieve the same results without using Daminion?

AKM Consultants: No, not at all. We were in the process of searching for software with similar capabilities, we stopped when we found Daminion. Daminion has become an indispensable tool for our efficient workflow. Without Daminion, we would undoubtedly be spending significantly more time managing our photos.

Daminion: I understand. Now, in your opinion, does Daminion offer good value for its cost?

AKM Consultants: Yes, I believe it does for the most part. For a small firm it can become quite expensive to purchase per user licenses for software products, especially when not all staff use that product on a regular basis.

We appreciate that Daminion offers a “shared” licensing option that allows us to have a lesser number of licenses than staff. As long as only the number of staff needing to use Daminion at any given time does not exceed the number of licenses we have, all works perfectly for us.

Daminion: Great! Lastly, which types of businesses and companies would you recommend Daminion to, and what makes it a suitable choice for them?

AKM Consultants: In my honest opinion, I believe Daminion would be beneficial for virtually anyone in our line of work, as we have specific and specialized needs.

However, beyond our industry, Daminion could prove extremely helpful for those in the photography business. It can efficiently organize photos by family, date, or any relevant criteria, making it a valuable asset for photographers.

Furthermore, even in legal settings, such as for lawyers, Daminion's organization features could play a crucial role in examining incident photos, allowing for better understanding and presentation of the visual evidence.