How small architectural practices can benefit from a document management software solution

For any architectural firm, having a secure and organized system to manage documents is critical to improving project performance and increasing profitability. For small practices, investing in the correct document management solution means team members can focus more on delivering quality projects, thanks to sped up processes and streamlined workflows that are traditionally manual. Atvero recently had a discussion with James Roach, Director of Roach Matthews Architects, on implementing a document management software solution for small teams of architects.

Document management is crucial for business success

By nature, architects often produce a substantial amount of paperwork throughout the life cycle of any project. From briefs to sketches and blueprints, the growing volumes of documents generated to get a building off the ground means it is critical for architectural firms to store their project deliverables in a secure environment. This is to ensure that highly sensitive documents are never at risk of being lost, damaged or stolen. Moreover, given the large amounts of records produced per project, documents need to be managed and organised in a logical manner for quick retrieval whenever required. Most architectural projects span over the course of months, or even years; therefore, it is important that architects can easily access the documents they need at any point during a project to deliver work to the highest standards.

For small architectural practices, having an efficient document management system is even more important. Besides models and drawings, architects of small teams usually find themselves multitasking to handle administrative duties. “My day-to-day tasks have changed relatively recently. Not until a few months ago, there were only two of us in the practice and we were doing everything. Now that we have recruited more staff members, my role in the company has zoomed out to be a more administrative, managerial role.” ­­– James Roach explained about his role as director of a small architectural practice. According to Roach, staff members at Roach Matthews are taking on other responsibilities outside drawing works, such as managing emails or responding to clients. “As a small company, one of the challenges that we encounter is that our practice doesn’t have enough people so that each staff member can do individual tasks. This means everyone has to do a bit of everything, and we don’t have anyone in our practice who has a definite specialism.” – said Roach. This challenge becomes even more difficult when there are tight deadlines.

The key for small architectural firms to win business success is to work more billable hours, but this does not mean they need to work more hours in general. To improve productivity and avoid having to work overtime to process large workloads, it is beneficial for small teams of architects to reduce time spent on admin duties, especially non-billable ones, and invest more time in billable tasks. This is when a document management software solution becomes useful.

Benefits of implementing a document management software solution

A profitable document management solution is one that can provide a highly secure platform to store and organize project documents, streamline processes to ensure non-disruptive information workflows, and facilitates quality assurance by adhering to AEC standardizations. Moreover, a cloud-based solution will bring even more benefits, as it allows architects to access documents anytime, anywhere and across any device, making it flexible and convenient to retrieve information whenever necessary. Small architectural practices can greatly benefit from investing in one provider that offers all the above-mentioned functionalities in one single solution. This is because they will not have to pay for multiple subscriptions and manage various software solutions for different workflows, saving expenses and avoiding information siloes caused by the lack of native integrations between software's.

“We were looking for a system that helps us control all drawings and documents in one place.” – James Roach explained about Roach Matthews's requirements for a document management solution. “We wanted a system that inherently contains all project information and allows every team member to collaborate on the same platform; a system that can help with improving some very important but often disregarded administrative elements in business management and general running of projects.”

In 2021, Roach Matthews implemented Atvero as their main document management solution. Built on Microsoft 365, Atvero offers a unified cloud-based document control system to manage all project records in a single SharePoint-based platform. With the purpose of helping users better utilise their Microsoft 365 subscription, Atvero leverages the world-class Microsoft 365 technologies by adding AEC standardisations to SharePoint and Teams, including automated issue registers, intelligent document revisioning, transmittals with full audit trails, ISO 19650 naming scheme compliance, and design system integrations such as Revit, AutoCAD or BIM360 add-in workflows. Inheriting the scalability and security of Microsoft 365, Atvero allows users to flexibly collaborate on the cloud anytime and anywhere, with their data protected by Microsoft.

“Atvero helps with productivity as it takes a lot of user errors out of day-to-day running, which means we can focus more on doing the things that we enjoy doing. Everyone in our practice can work on accurate and consistent information while people at the higher hierarchy of the firm can always review information to make sure things are not sent out without approval. By making the most out of Atvero, we can reduce our reliance on other softwares.” – Roach stated.