invextech
Case study
Estimating lived in one system, project activity in another, and reporting in a spreadsheet built fresh each month. Every handoff between them was a person retyping something.
The challenge
Estimates were produced in one place, the work was tracked in another, and anything resembling a management view had to be assembled by hand at month end. Because the systems never reconciled automatically, discrepancies were found weeks after they occurred, at which point nobody could remember what had caused them. Field teams were submitting updates that office staff then re-keyed.
Our approach
Most of this was solvable with existing products. We scoped custom work only for the join between estimating and delivery, which nothing standard handled the way the business ran.
Updates had to be entered once, by the person closest to the work, and flow everywhere else from there.
Reconciliation at month end was the real cost. Discrepancies needed to raise themselves immediately.
What we built
Approved estimates now flow into project records directly, so the plan and the actual work sit against the same reference.
Site teams record progress and variations once, from the place the work happens, and the office sees it without re-entry.
Differences between estimated and actual raise an exception when they occur, and reporting builds itself from live data.
How it ran
We mapped the gap precisely and recommended off-the-shelf tools for everything that did not need custom work.
The first release covered the estimate to project join only, so value arrived before the full budget was committed.
Working software was reviewed regularly with both office and field users rather than demonstrated at the end.
Code, hosting and documentation sit in the client's accounts, with handover written for a developer who has never spoken to us.
The outcome
Field updates reach the office without anyone re-keying them.
The plan and the delivered work can be compared without assembling anything.
Exceptions raise themselves immediately instead of appearing at month end.
Management views build from live data rather than a manual monthly exercise.
On names and numbers. Client names are withheld and performance figures are not published here. Both belong to the client, and we share either only with their written approval.
Systems and technology
Services involved
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