For employee-owned EllisDon Corporation, a global leader in construction services and technology, collaboration is everything. As their website declares:
“We want our employees to have the confidence to express and apply their unique innovations and expertise. We also believe in partnering collaboratively with our clients so together we can innovate beyond the boundaries traditionally associated with construction.”
And, with more than 4,300 employees in 17 offices around the world and relationships with hundreds of design and trade partners, for EllisDon, collaboration means digital collaboration, especially for construction planning. As a critical component of their industry-leading construction technology stack, they selected the planning platform that would:
- Be simple, and easy-to-use, with minimal user training
- Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of collaborative planning
- Reduce latency and improve accuracy of planning decisions
- Enable, consistent, uniform planning across all project types
- Reduce operational risk with scalable, enterprise-grade technology
After the business’ experience with a variety of solutions and exhaustive evaluation of newer offerings, EllisDon selected Touchplan® as the digital planning platform for use on all their projects around the world.
A Design-Build Challenge for EllisDon
A large, complex Design-Build project like the 400,000-square-foot Thunder Bay Correctional Complex showcases why EllisDon chose Touchplan as their construction planning solution. In addition to its size and complexity, the project was further challenged by its geographic location, a remote municipality in Northwestern Ontario with constrained access to labour equipment material. It is a big project with little room for error.
As a mission critical project, when completed, the new 345-bed, multi-purpose correctional facility will operate 24/7 and improve access to programming, living conditions, and education while updating automation and technology.
The project has been designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. It prioritizes safety, sustainability, and rehabilitation through advanced automation, energy-efficient systems, and improved access to behavioral health services, natural light, and outdoor space.
To keep this complex project on track, the team must carefully sequence tasks, avoid trade stacking, and continuously monitor progress throughout construction.
Moving Beyond Push Planning
On the Thunder Bay Correctional Complex project, EllisDon replaced traditional push planning with collaborative pull planning using Touchplan. With Touchplan, they can ensure safety and quality measures are in place before crews arrive, constraints are addressed early, and teams can adjust the project plan in real time to stay on schedule and even stay ahead of schedule.
Christian Correa, Construction Manager at EllisDon, emphasizes how this process helps improve project execution. “The ability for us to re-sequence the work and communicate with trades quickly and effectively allows us to stay ahead before those issues materially impact the project,” he explains. “When materials are delayed or setbacks occur, the team adjusts their plan in real time to maintain momentum and minimize downtime.”
While P6 scheduling, based on the traditional Critical Path Method (CPM), offered a high-level view of project milestones and overall progress, the team also needed a more interactive, task-level approach. Using Touchplan, they broke down scheduled work into weekly tasks, enabling more detailed coordination of field activities and real-time responsiveness to project conditions.
“Being able to see time the way you see it inside Touchplan is very advantageous,” said Correa. “P6 only gives you a dates and durations, but in Touchplan, you can break it into weekly and daily tasks, track them, and stay on pace.”
The combined use of P6 and Touchplan strengthened coordination between the field and the office, helping the team keep schedules aligned and responsive to real-time conditions. By regularly forecasting future work and sequencing tasks in advance, the team could identify potential issues early and make informed decisions to maintain momentum on-site.
The team used Touchplan not only for detailed scheduling but also to manage safety and quality. They created dedicated roles within the platform for safety and quality planning and treated these roles like trade partners. This novel approach helped identify essential steps such as inspections, testing, and documentation early in the process, ensuring work began safely and on time.
During planning, the team flagged important safety and quality deliverables that needed to be in place before work could begin, which helped reduce downtime and rework. As Correa notes, “It’s not only about sequencing tasks; it’s about everything that must happen before boots hit the ground.”
A Shift to Digital Lean Planning for Each Project Phase
The Thunder Bay Correctional Complex project exemplifies how EllisDon uses Touchplan as their digital Lean planning solution to improve collaboration and performance in Design-Build projects. With the project still under construction, the team is applying Touchplan across all project phases to maintain continuity, reduce risk, and align teams from preconstruction to handover.
The Thunder Bay Correctional Complex was the first project where EllisDon expanded their use of Touchplan to the design phase, allowing the team to coordinate planning between design and construction before breaking ground. By identifying and resolving potential constraints early, the team reduced the risk of delays during execution.
“We successfully integrated design with construction using Touchplan at the start of this project,” explains Correa. “That success led us to explore how it can become a standard approach for managing design on future jobs.”
Maintaining continuity of information across these phases has been a major benefit. Instead of relying on multiple disconnected solutions, Touchplan gives EllisDon a central, real-time view of the project, reducing miscommunication and helping teams stay on track. “Keeping data and information in one place is a huge benefit,” says Correa. “The continuity of information is crucial, and with Touchplan, it doesn’t get lost in translation as we move through different phases of the project lifecycle.”
To manage long lead times in a remote location, EllisDon used Touchplan to break down procurement timelines into weekly tasks tied to construction milestones. This made it easier to track progress, anticipate material needs, and place orders early to avoid delays.
“Touchplan bridges the gap between procurement and construction,” says Correa. “It keeps us on pace in a way a 100-page P6 schedule can’t.”
Digital Transformation in Action
EllisDon continues to redefine construction leadership by pairing deep industry expertise with a forward-thinking approach to technology. With a clear commitment to building a purpose-driven technology ecosystem, the organization empowers project teams, improves collaboration, and delivers greater value to clients.
This strategy is in full effect on the Thunder Bay Correctional Complex project, where EllisDon is applying its innovation-first mindset to every phase of delivery. By adopting Touchplan, EllisDon equips teams with an intuitive, best-in-class solution that improves decision-making at all levels and drives efficiency throughout the project lifecycle.
“Touchplan has provided great benefit to us,” says Correa. “We are regularly finding new ways to leverage it within operations. It’s a great planning solution overall—and if you think outside the box, you can apply it across all stages of the project lifecycle, not just construction.”
As EllisDon continues to advance its position as a leader in the construction industry, Touchplan remains a key part of that journey. “I love seeing how Touchplan is evolving alongside us, with new features coming out regularly and a team that’s always working to improve the product,” added Correa. This ongoing partnership between EllisDon and MOCA Systems, Inc., provider of Touchplan, reflects a shared commitment to innovation, continuous improvement, and delivering better outcomes across every phase of the project lifecycle.
