Our partner’s problem
Our partner is a large, multi-disciplinary architectural practice which designs and engineers a range of significant buildings, from health centres to international business headquarters to mosques. They work on many projects at any one time, across many different sectors, using a wide range of subcontractors, and rely heavily on a FileMaker system for managing timesheets, customer and supplier records, purchasing, HR and so on. Everyone and every department across the business uses the system in one way or another.
The FileMaker system hadn’t been invested in and was ageing. The person who originally built it had left the company and the system hadn’t evolved, even while the business was changing and growing. Every department used the system in different ways and every department had their own problems with it.
One of the biggest challenges was a sprawling, time-consuming invoicing process. Each month a member of the accounts team would manage this, working with directors and project leads to ensure every detail was correct. It was a laborious, manual process involving dozens of conversations and meetings. It was not only time-consuming but risked introducing errors and losing sight of details of projects. Ultimately the complexity of the process directly threatened the business’s future growth.
