Lovelock Mitchell

Summary

How Lovelock Mitchell Architects grew over the years with CMap’s easy-to-use product and steadfast, stable support

Situation

For more than 150 years, Lovelock Mitchell Architects has operated with a collaborative ethos that supports the creation of spaces where people learn, work, and live. That foundation inspires the belief that effective processes lead to effective solutions, and this belief led the firm to adopt CMap in 2012.

“Back then, we decided to transition from spreadsheets and unconnected systems to CMap,” said Chris Rhodes, Commercial Director of Lovelock Mitchell Architects. “It was a time of true collaboration. The CMap team spent quite a bit of time with us here in the office talking about what features the platform should have. They truly wanted to understand our business needs.”

The firm quickly saw the advantages of CMap’s ability to connect its project data across departments. Managers gained real-time visibility into projects, and other staff could access all of their data and capabilities through a single, unified system.

Solution

CMap is a project management tool that assists architects & engineers in winning more work, delivering it more profitably and making better business decisions.

“We use all of CMap’s features to get the most out of the software,” said Chris. “We start with properly applying time and expenses to projects. CMap then tells us whether that project is being delivered within the anticipated timeline and projected budget so we can keep an eye on profitability.“

Lovelock Mitchell Architects also uses CMap’s resource planning and revenue forecasting capabilities to manage profitability. 

“Thanks to CMap’s reports, we can identify trends such as the length of time a particular type of project takes,” said Chris. “With all our data in one place, it is easy for us to visualize the direction the firm is headed.”

Results

Easy-to-Use Software: “Having come from firms that use much more complex tools, I’m very happy with CMap. It does everything you need and nothing you don’t,” said Chris.

Saved Time with Accounting: “The connection between CMap and Xero is critical for us,” said Chris. “The fact that we can use CMap to push invoices through Xero means that we don’t have to input them manually. That saves us lots of time.”

Stable Product with Evolving Features: “There have been ongoing improvements in CMap over the years that have been helpful. The product doesn’t stagnate, like some,” said Chris. “I particularly like the ability to subdivide projects into tasks. It adds an extra layer of flexibility regarding recording time and expenses.