PLOT's schedule-linked procurement workflow connects technical approvals, material dates and trade updates, illustrated by Swinerton's SDSU Evolve work.
-- PLOT connects construction procurement software for general contractors to the sequence from technical review through material readiness and installation. Its Procurement Log brings those dependencies into a collaborative record, with Swinerton's work on San Diego State University's SDSU Evolve student housing project providing a documented application.
"Most commercial projects run procurement through the same chain of approval, release, lead time and delivery," said Chris Callen, founder and CEO of PLOT. "PLOT ties that chain to the schedule so the GC and the trades see it together."
Illustration: a project team reviews procurement status together on site.
PLOT's definition of a construction procurement log includes materials, equipment and services, their quantities, responsible parties, delivery dates and status in one central record. Project engineers and managers use that information to follow materials toward the construction activities that require them. PLOT describes this coordination across commercial project sizes, with approval status and delivery commitments following the installation sequence.
Working Backward From Installation
PLOT links procurement to the critical path method, or CPM, schedule, which connects project activities and identifies the sequence governing completion. In PLOT, Required on Jobsite identifies when a material must be available for the associated work. Lead time, the duration allowed for progress toward delivery, determines the release deadline calculated backward from that date. Review duration sets the earlier deadline for submitting technical information.
PLOT uses Submittals for that technical review information, including drawings or product data, and Material Orders to track material commitments. Installation Activities represent the scheduled work awaiting those materials. PLOT's Procurement Log represents connections in both directions: one Submittal can relate to multiple materials, and one material can relate to multiple Installation Activities.
PLOT's documentation explains why these relationships matter when deliveries arrive in phases over several months, separated by floor, zone or building. Representing that work in a spreadsheet with one approval, delivery and installation date per row requires additional handling. Revised dates then have to move across the separate tracking records.
Direct Updates Replace Repeated Data Entry
In PLOT's Oct. 6, 2026 Swinerton case study, the three-person team on Apartment 2 of San Diego State University's SDSU Evolve student housing project estimates saving 14 to 16 hours each week using PLOT. The team started using the platform in early May 2026, replacing its Excel procurement log.
Rico Quinta, senior project engineer at Swinerton, described the previous process in PLOT's case study: "It was all manual data entry," Quinta said. "We were relying on subs to provide us with their updated procurement logs, and then having to manually enter that into our spreadsheet so we could track it."
PLOT's case describes trade partners, the subcontractors handling individual scopes, entering their procurement-date changes directly. Swinerton's project team uploads revised Primavera P6 schedules and links activity codes, allowing the associated material dates to update automatically. The shared view places installation dates beside procurement progress and scheduled deliveries during coordination meetings.
For the Apartment 2 integration, PLOT connects to Autodesk Forma, formerly Autodesk Construction Cloud, which holds the team's trade partner and Submittal information. Swinerton's IT department reviewed the connection before implementation, with Callen explaining the data path. According to PLOT's case, the connection reads Forma data without writing back to Forma. PLOT also retrieves Submittal status and identifies items at risk of delay.
The PLOT case records seven trade partners entering procurement-date updates and 10 trades using delivery scheduling. Swinerton's team estimates eight hours saved weekly on field management and trade partner coordination, plus six to eight hours on office and back-office processes. The same team estimates saving 10 minutes for each hour of meeting time.
Separate industry context comes from FMI Corporation and PlanGrid's 2018 “Construction Disconnected” report: among 599 construction industry leaders surveyed, including 500 in the United States, respondents estimated an average of 5.5 hours a week spent searching for project information. PLOT's Swinerton account addresses the practical coordination of that information through a procurement record shared by the general contractor and trades.
The account can be read at https://www.getplot.com/latest-news/swinerton-102m-student-housing-project. PLOT's October case also describes delivery scheduling as an area of expanding use on Apartment 2, with Quinta identifying truck arrivals, crane windows and traffic control as applications as activity increases.
A Procurement Record in Excel
For contractors continuing with spreadsheets, PLOT maintains an open-source procurement log spreadsheet template on getplot.com. Its editable format accepts imported CPM activities and Submittal information, connecting material records to activity start dates and review status through identifiers.
PLOT's template supports either a manually entered required-on-site date or one tied to a schedule activity. Entered durations drive backward calculations for material release and submission deadlines, while subcontractor assignments identify responsibility. Colors distinguish overdue, near-term and later deadlines; Version 1.1, dated Feb. 17, 2025, added material status based on actual milestone dates.
About PLOT
Founded in 2021 by second-generation contractor Chris Callen, PLOT is a construction technology company providing construction procurement software for general contractors and trade partners. Procurement and delivery workflows come together in PLOT's live, collaborative Procurement Log, connecting Submittals, Material Orders, lead times and Required on Jobsite dates with the CPM schedule. PLOT's capabilities also include site logistics mapping, delivery scheduling, apps for iOS and Android, and integrations with Primavera P6, Autodesk Forma and Procore.
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