The PATH acronym has 3 levels of meaning as illustrated in the Table above from my Amazon best-selling book An Architect’s Guide to Construction. It starts with four Elements, then asks you to consider them using four steps. When implemented, it works with any combination of the four media listed, although it is optimized for Transportable (laptop) and Handheld (smartphone and tablet) media.
PATH also comprises only four tools which I manage on the Smartsheet.com platform (SS does not pay me to talk positively about them):
PATH-Work is the work plan or work breakdown structure for a project. A PATH subscription includes a representative Master PATH-Work that is designed to allow easy customization for your practice or business. It grows as your work grows. Each procedure or process in a project’s PATH-Work includes working instructions; each is also connected instantly to your firm’s Subject Matter Experts so that Juniors can get guidance whenever they need it. This mentoring also works for the other three PATH tools.
PATH-Actions are the planned and unplanned bytes of work on your projects. Some are anticipated, such as submittal review. Others are emergent, such as deficiencies. All are managed similarly. They may originate on a laptop or a smartphone in the field and they may change as they are considered, for example, from a Site Instruction to a Contemplated Change to a Change Order. Regardless, they are immediately communicated to those who need to act, and those actions and responses are recorded and communicated without any team member, including those outside your organization, needing to learn any more than basic email management. And all is automatically captured to your project’s database.
PATH-Tables are the Checklists that remind you of more complex steps and sequences that need to be considered for richer actions you define such as field testing, complex submittal review, root cause analysis, etc. Any failed or problematic Table steps behave like an Action—they can be assigned from the Table for follow-up and are tracked to resolution just like Actions. No copy/pasting is required.
PATH-Pay is the PATH’s payment certification tool, combining the simple math of a contractor breakdown spreadsheet with the Actions communications capabilities. For example: the assignment of specific cost items can be assigned to relevant consultants and tracked to resolution; costs can be challenged without leaving their line item; and payment certificates can be issued without the need for separate or extra transmittals.
Each of the four PATH tools can stand and work alone, but they are optimized to work together.