How a leading engineering consultancy achieved operational excellence with SimplaDocs.
Building Services Engineering
Leading Engineering Consultancy
No backfill needed after PM retired
A leading building services engineering consultancy was managing thousands of projects annually across mechanical, electrical, hydraulics, fire protection, and vertical transportation services. They had hired two different freelance contractors to create an operations infrastructure, but neither implementation could scale to meet the needs of an enterprise company with employees across multiple offices.
Their project management process had become a frustrating cycle of repetitive manual work. The team had implemented a project management tool for architecture and construction, but the tool's rigidity didn't align with how they actually worked. Project managers were manually recreating tickets into Coda, then porting information back and forth between the two systems.
“The difference with SimplaDocs was immediately clear. Instead of relying on a single contractor, we had access to a team that brought structure, accountability, and deep expertise.”
— Operations Director, Engineering Consultancy
SimplaDocs began by thoroughly assessing what had been tried before and why it failed. Rather than jumping straight to building, they worked collaboratively with the client through weekly check-ins and daily async communication.
SimplaDocs identified two critical bottlenecks: manual data translation between systems, and hours spent on routine task creation. They built a bespoke Coda Pack that automated the connection between the existing PM tool and Coda, eliminating the time-consuming double-entry problem. They also added intelligent business logic to automate task generation, transforming hours of manual work into a simple form.
SimplaDocs also trained the team on how to maintain and optimize the new system, ensuring long-term success beyond the initial implementation.
What we delivered
Eliminated double-entry between Synergy and Coda with automated data sync
Reduced task creation time from hours to minutes through intelligent automation
Freed project managers to focus on strategic work rather than administrative tasks
Delivered enterprise-grade reliability that previous freelance builds couldn't match
When one of the firm's project managers retired, they didn't need to backfill the role. Another project manager could seamlessly take on those workstreams, while the firm redirected that headcount investment to more strategic areas like marketing.
The success led the firm to expand their partnership with SimplaDocs to improve how it triages and approves its employees' billable hours.
SimplaDocs didn't just save us time, it changed how we think about our internal operations and investments. We were able to redirect effort and resources away from administration and toward more strategic areas of the business.
— Operations Director, Engineering Consultancy
Every engagement starts with a conversation about what's not working and what could be.
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