Provian adopts intelligent document management

Building and engineering contractor future-proofs internal processes to combat economic climate
 
Provian Construction, the building and civil engineering contractor, has purchased 'Workspace', a web-based information-sharing portal from specialist construction software author, Union Square Software, in a deal worth in the region of £60,000.

The software is being deployed in order to safely store business-critical information into a centralised, company-wide database and will allow employees to retrieve data from any location nationwide. By Summer 2009, Workspace's email and document management functionality will be fully rolled to 40 staff at head office as well as remotely located staff, with a full return on investment anticipated within twelve to eighteen months.

Provian Construction. is part of Brett Group, one of the largest construction and buildings materials groups in the UK, established in 1909.  Provian has developed a reputation as a leading Building & Civil Engineering contractor in the South East offering the 'Total Construction Service' to both clients and professionals.

Provian's decision to invest in an electronic information-sharing solution was triggered by an immediate and critical requirement to manage its paper-flow more effectively and ultimately reduce company overheads. As Rick Archer, Design Manager at Provian Construction explains: "The sheer volume of documentation being exchanged between ourselves and our clients, combined with our limited storage capacity, meant it was essential for us to adopt a more intelligent and slicker approach to document management. A great deal of our work is currently paper-based, meaning that as a company we spend a large budget on outsourced printing and off-site storage, a need which will be almost entirely removed by Workspace. The time and efficiency savings will dramatically reduce costs for the business, and, we anticipate seeing an ROI comfortably within two years."

Archer continues: "As an organisation, we have suffered occasional problems with information management and have tended to store business-critical documentation across multiple, segregated systems.  Now that we can maintain all data within Workspace's central repository, it will make accessing information much easier for all of our staff, and because everyone is working to an identical and current system, it will ultimately help to ensure operational consistency. All employees will now be kept up-to-date with the latest project information, which will not only prevent us from potentially duplicating documents and work, but will also enhance our ability to track and accurately monitor information across the business. Where staff would previously have had to wade through various databases and filing systems just to identify a single document, this will now be rapidly accessible through a single integrated system."

Workspace was designed to facilitate construction firms' management of information and prevent valuable business correspondence and documentation from being lost or misfiled. The software provides construction companies with a simple method of filing, archiving and retrieving all documents through a central portal that can be accessed by any employee or external parties with access rights, thereby removing the problem of each office, or even employee, having their own isolated storage system.

Workspace was selected ahead of four competitors due to its user friendly design and in-built flexibility. As Archer comments: "The true beauty of Workspace is that it is a tried and tested system that, unlike some other solutions we tested, could be easily configured to suit our specific business processes. Union Square's expertise and existing client base has meant that they have been able to offer us the level of time and support required to ensure that we meet our goals and we are confident that with their help we can truly streamline our administrative operations."

Archer concludes: "In order to survive the current economic crisis, businesses will need to take calculated steps in order to ensure that their internal processes are both slick and lean. With Union Square, this is what we are hoping to accomplish.  By ensuring our systems are in order, we believe that Provian will be well prepared to optimise the future upturn."