May the Fourth Be With You: How ConstructionOnline Could Have Prevented the Destruction of the Death Star

In honor of Star Wars Day - celebrated across the galaxy each year on May 4th - we thought it would be fun to take a look at one of the greatest construction fails in cinematic history: the Death Star. You know, the giant, planet-exploding space station that was destroyed by a single well-placed shot? That Death Star. 

Now, let’s be clear - the ConstructionOnline Team does not support the Galactic Empire’s project goals here (or the whole “planet killer” vibe). But if you're going to sink that much time, manpower, and government funding into building a space station, you better have the right construction management software. Unfortunately for the Empire, they didn’t. So, let’s explore how ConstructionOnline could have prevented this infamous, catastrophic failure - and the serious dent it put in the Empire’s reputation. 

The Fatal Flaw: Poor Communication and Zero Oversight

The trouble started early. Despite the Empire’s massive resources and galaxy-spanning workforce, no one caught the glaring flaw in the Death Star’s design. Why? Because crucial project information wasn’t shared beyond a select inner circle.

Had the Empire used ConstructionOnline, here’s how things might have played out differently:

• Using the real-time collaborative markup tools in Redline™ Planroom, Galen Erso’s thermal exhaust port plans would have been reviewed - and subequently, questioned. Maybe something along the lines of “Wait…a direct line from the exterior to the main reactor?
  That seems…dangerous.”
• ConstructionOnline helps teams streamline project communication, so our fictional foreman droid, R3-CLMZY, could’ve instantly sent out a quick message to the via Envoy™ Chat for immediate feedback:
  “Hey team, just dropped a bolt into this weird open shaft. Anyone know what it does?” (Spoiler: It blows up the whole thing.)
• With centralized cloud-based storage for project Files & Photos, a red flag would have instantly been raised when R3-CLMZY uploaded a selfie showing him and the never-ending exhaust port. A few annotated images in the project gallery could have initiated a much-needed design review that could have ultimately preempted the entire Death Star disaster. 
• The right construction management software helps to ensure consistent quality assurance measures across all projects. If they had been using ConstructionOnline, Bobon the Craftmaster would have needed to complete a full walk-through using Punch Lists to flag any safety concerns or design flaws - including, perhaps, the torpedo-sized vent hole and the unstable reactor.

Galen Erso Tried to Warn You

Here’s where it gets even messier. The flaw was intentional. Galen Erso - a brilliant scientist coerced into playing a critical role in the Death Star project - embedded the fatal flaw on purpose in an effort to support the Rebellion. And, he even told them about it.

Now, let’s imagine the Empire had ConstructionOnline in place:

• Once again, let’s consider Redline Planroom. Serving as a centralized source for project planning, the entire team would have had visibility into Galen’s alterations to the Death Star’s plans - keeping any sneaky exhaust ports from slipping by unnoticed. 
• It’s critical that all design decisions for any project are run through the appropriate channels for necessary review and approval. Using a tool like ConstructionOnline’s Client Selections, key design decisions (like, say, routing a missile-sized port into your reactor) would have been documented and tracked. Harder to sneak that one past the Emperor when it’s tied to a selection log. 
• Speaking of effective project tracking, Daily Logs would have been key in flagging inconsistent installations - or suspicious patterns in the work being done. If workers keep logging, “thermal port alignment complete” every day, someone’s going to notice. 
• Using a shared space for managing all project files, photos, notes, and communication would mean that Galen’s schematics, diagrams, and “oops, I did a sabotage” clues would be committed to the project record. Makes sending hidden messages to the Rebellion a bit challenging. 

The Aftermath: Warranty Claims and Project Analysis

Let’s say the Empire did manage to finish construction - suspicious exhaust port alterations and all. After the big boom, ConstructionOnline could have helped process the fallout quickly and easily. 

• With Warranty Tracking in ConstructionOnline, a clearly documented warranty issue could have been immediately submitted to initiate review and coordinate next steps: “Thermal port vulnerability exploited by X-Wing. Requesting inspection and repairs (again).”
• With flaws and failures to this degree, the Emperor is going to want answers. ConstructionOnline provides intelligent insights into what went wrong and where with powerful business intelligence tools like the Project Health Scorecard. Project milestones are automatically recorded and key metrics are automatically calculated, then logged to ConstructionOnline’s intuitive dashboards. 

So…Could ConstructionOnline actually have prevented the destruction of the Death Star?

It seems so. With better planning, documentation, and team-wide communication - made possible by ConstructionOnline’s powerful project management platform - the Galactic Empire might have had a fully operational Death Star for more than, say, 20 minutes. But alas, a single oversight (and one extremely accurate pilot) changed the course of the galaxy. 

We’ll leave you with this: While The Force is great, having the right software might actually make all the difference.

May the Fourth be with you!

Can you tell we're big fans of Star Wars?

Here's a little inside look at some past fun the ConstructionOnline Team has had on May the Fourth: