Illustrative example. A fictional 120-person civil contractor. The numbers are made up to show the format; they are not results from a client. Yours would use your own processes and figures.
Summary
The time sits in three places: variations, finding the current version of a document, and site paperwork re-keyed in the office. Those three account for over half the hours. One process is better left alone, two should wait until the first build is in, and one approval chain should lose a step before anyone automates it.
Where the time goes
Hours a week across the team × 46 weeks × $65/hr. Fictional figures, to show the format.
What we would do, in order
| Process | Verdict | Fix | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Variation approvals | Build first | Variation register on a phone, approval routed in Teams, client sign-off by link | Scoped build, 4–6 weeks |
| Finding current drawings and forms | Build next | Project sites that set themselves up, with one current version per document | Scoped build, 6–8 weeks |
| Prestarts re-keyed from paper | Build next | Prestart app that works offline and files itself | Scoped build, 3–4 weeks |
| Purchase order approvals | Quick win | Remove the department-head step that has never rejected a request | A policy change, this week |
| Plant bookings by text | Quick win | A shared SharePoint list with a calendar view | Half a day |
| Ticket and licence expiry | Quick win | Expiry list with reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days | Inside a retainer, about 2 weeks |
| Timesheets chased and re-keyed | Later | Cut the form to five fields first, then automate the reminder | After the first build |
| Monthly project report | Later | Agree what "margin" means first; Power BI once the definitions hold | After the first build |
| Year-end asset stocktake | Leave as is | Twice a year, an hour each: a written checklist beats a build | — |
The first build, in detail
- 01Agreed on siteverbally, with the client's rep
- 02Texted to the PMphoto, if someone remembered
- 03Typed up laterfrom memory, days after
- 04Claim disputedthe evidence never made it
- 01Logged on a phonephotos and the rep's name, even offline
- 02Priced in Teamsrouted to the PM automatically
- 03Client signs a linkapproval in writing
- 04Ready for the claimin the register, with evidence
On time alone, this build pays back in about 19 months at the low end of the range: 25% of $35,880 is about $9,000 a year against a fixed price in the low-to-mid teens. That is before counting disputed variations, which this example does not try to price. If the real figure were worse, the report would say so and recommend the quick wins instead.
Licences
All three builds and every quick win run on the Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences this business already has. The prestart app uses SharePoint lists rather than Dataverse, so no premium Power Apps licence is needed for its 40 field users.
Roadmap
- Week 1Quick wins: remove the PO step, set up the plant calendar
- Weeks 2–7Build 1: variation register and approvals
- Weeks 8–11Build 2: prestart app, piloted on one site first
- Weeks 12–19Build 3: project sites and document clean-up
- Quarter 2Review: re-measure, then decide on timesheets and reporting
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