A Single Document Management Solution

Many companies experience the challenge of having different teams working on the same project while using a variety of tools that may not communicate with each other. Cleveland Electric found that achieving the company’s important goals was made more difficult because of scattered software solutions and workflows and the use of multiple document solutions. As Jason Stewart, Electrical Project Manager, put it, “Document control was a problem. We needed to get everything to one platform in the same location.” The company’s legacy workflow involved keeping job files on inhouse servers. SharePoint, Bluebeam Studio and Microsoft Teams were locations where project information would be held and organized. Along with the spread-out workflows, most communications – internal and external – were by email. GC communications added another layer to that.

Nathan Reinhardt, Electrical Project Group Manager, explained, “We wanted to reel all those options back in and standardize the processes. We needed to get everything in one location.” When Stewart and Reinhardt were ready to seek out that solution, the company’s IT group reached out to Applied Software, its Autodesk technology partner. Cleveland Electric chose to compare Autodesk Build and Procore, testing the limits of both. According to Reinhardt, the company also benefitted from an objective document discovery conducted by Autodesk. Cleveland Electric has a significant building information modeling (BIM) group and has been using Autodesk Revit for about twelve years. So, during the vetting process, Stewart focused on what would work best for the design team, while being something everyone in the company could use. “We wanted something that would be adoptable, Reinhardt explained, “something that would stick.”

Reinhardt explained, “Build was the right product that did everything we needed it to do. We felt most confident that it would be useable and adoptable by our users.” The fact that Build is cloud-based also solved the issue of dispersed project files. Stewart, who Reinhardt described as the company’s “Build champion,” worked with all the company’s managers in implementing Build on all new projects. In addition, a few mid-stream projects were converted on a gradual basis. Reinhardt referred to Stewart as the company’s “subject matter expert,” because he figures things out and gives the end users one-on-one assistance. The company favors a slow and steady implementation process as the best approach to success.

Five hundred of Cleveland Electric’s approximately 1,000 field personnel use technology. They, along with about 100 office workers, are now able to work together and communicate on their Build cloud-based projects without workarounds, enabling the company to continue serving customers with a high level of quality, safety and integrity.

With the partnership of Autodesk Solution Provider Applied Software, Cleveland Electric found Autodesk Build to be adoptable and usable in standardizing processes and meeting the company’s project document management needs.

Delivery Date

Project Duration

Autodesk Solutions

• Build
• Docs
• Revit

Services Provided

• Configuration & Deployment

Customer Industry

• Construction