01 of 05
Deltek Clarity: the firm's numbers on one screen
Backlog, work not yet invoiced, receivables and utilization, current every day, without the month-end spreadsheet.
The problem
The numbers were all in Deltek Vantagepoint. Getting them out meant an export and a spreadsheet, so leadership saw last month's numbers next month.
What was built
A read-only connection to Vantagepoint and one screen: backlog, work not yet invoiced, receivables by age and days to collect, utilization against target, and fee by client, office and principal. Each figure is defined once, and questions can be asked of it in plain English.
Outcome
Leadership reads this month's numbers whenever they want them, and nobody rebuilds them in Excel at month-end. Nothing in Deltek was changed to do it.
Built with .NET, SQL Server, Deltek Vantagepoint (read-only)
Shown on Alder Street Architects, a made-up firm. No client's figures appear.
02 of 05
Project email: filed once, found in a second
Every project email the firm files, searchable by any word, person or attachment, in under a second.
The problem
The email that settled a question was in someone's inbox, or in the inbox of someone who had left. Finding it took an hour when it could be found at all, and the tool that filed it was priced per seat.
What was built
Filing from Outlook straight into the project, with the sender, recipients and attachments indexed, and one search across every project and every year, narrowed by project, date or attachment in a click.
Outcome
Anyone on the team finds last year's email in a second. The per-seat licence it replaced is gone, and the filing, transmittals and file sends it covered now run in-house.
- 372,000+ project emails across 955 projects since 2014
- Searchable in under a second
- A C$25,000-a-year Newforma licence retired (40 seats)
Built with .NET, SQL Server full-text search, Outlook
Shown on Alder Street Architects, a made-up firm. No client's email appears.
03 of 05
Transmittals: every download recorded against a name
Know who has the revised set, and when they got it.
The problem
Sets went out by email or a shared link. When the question came back weeks later, nobody could say who had downloaded which revision, or when.
What was built
Transmittals and large-file sends with a separate link for each recipient, a numbered register, and notes written on the PDF's own bookmarks and printed on the cover sheet, so the reader sees what changed without hunting.
Outcome
When someone asks whether a consultant had the revised set, the answer is a name, a date and a time, not a search through sent mail.
- 2,682 downloads recorded against the named recipient
- 829 transmittals sent this way
Built with .NET, SQL Server, Microsoft Graph, SharePoint
Shown on Alder Street Architects, a made-up firm. No client's people or drawings appear.
04 of 05
Pursuit research: the project before the RFP
Who owns the land, who is designing it and which seats are open, read from public filings every week.
The problem
The firm heard about most projects when the RFP arrived, after the architect had already chosen the team.
What was built
A pipeline that reads public sources, matches every organisation in them into one record, and turns new rezoning and permit filings into short briefs: the site, the owner, the design team named so far, and the seats still open.
Outcome
Business development sees projects while they are still at rezoning and permit stage, and knows which owners it already works with, before any RFP is written.
- 111 public data sources feeding one pipeline
- 9,641 organisations, each matched into one record
Built with .NET, SQL Server, public planning and permit portals
Shown for Alder Street Architects, a made-up firm. The sites, owners and firms are made up.
05 of 05
Standard details: placed from a palette inside Revit
The current version of every standard detail, one pick away for the drafter.
The problem
Details lived in personal templates and old projects, so a drafter copied whichever was closest and nobody could be sure it was the current one.
What was built
One numbered library of the firm's standard details, and a palette inside Revit: the drafter picks an approved detail and it is placed in the job. Behind it, a workflow for drafting, approving and publishing details.
Outcome
In use at the firm's first workstations: the drafter gets the current detail into the job without searching old projects. The time it saves has not been measured yet.
- 608 standard details in one numbered library
- A Revit toolset of 145 commands
Built with .NET, the Revit API, SQL Server
An illustration with generic detail names, not a screenshot of the firm's library.
