Field · July 2026 · 4 min read
Getting site engineers to update progress
Progress stays blank when the update is a favour to the office. It gets filled in when the task on the phone is the task the engineer is actually doing.
Asking a site engineer to “update the sheet” at the end of the day competes with everything else that has to be closed before they leave. The update happens when it is the same list they use to see what they were assigned.
Give each person tasks with an owner. A shared pool that says “the team” belongs to nobody, so nobody updates it. Status, percent complete, and actual hours are enough for a progress picture. A long form will not be filled in from a noisy floor.
Best CPMS lets an assigned user open their tasks in the web app or the field API and post progress. Managers can see tasks they did not personally receive. Workers do not need the budget screen to report that a task moved.
Agree what the percent means before the job starts. “50” should mean half the quantity, or half the area, not “we have been here for half the planned time”. If the meaning changes by person, the progress report cannot be compared across tasks.
Look at the updates in the same week they are made. An engineer who reports progress and never hears it used will stop. The point of the update is the Gantt, the milestone status, and the progress report — not a folder of screenshots.