Three processes worth fixing first
These are three places where information often gets stuck between site and office. We work on one at a time, in four steps, scoped around how your teams already work and the systems you already use.
Records that arrive late or scattered
Site-to-office reporting and job records
Most of what the office needs to know about a job is created on site. The problem is how, and when, it arrives.
Usually felt byOperations managers, site supervisors and the office staff who chase records
What typically goes wrong
- Daily records arrive late or in several formats: a paper sheet from one gang, a message from another, a spreadsheet from a third.
- Photographs stay on personal phones and reach the office by message, without a job reference or location.
- Someone in the office spends part of each day ringing supervisors for what has not come in.
What better looks like
- Each record is tied to a job, a date and a crew when it is created, with its photographs attached.
- The office can see what has arrived and what is still outstanding without ringing site.
- Information is typed once and reused by the people who need it.
Approaches range from forms and lists in tools you already use, through structured mobile forms with photographs taken in the form, to a small custom app or an integration with the systems that use the records. Which fits, if any, is decided in the paid workflow review.
Gaps found at the end of the job
Completion evidence and handover packs
Finished work is rarely finished on paper. Before a job can be closed or handed over, its records have to be found, checked and put together in the form the client asks for.
Usually felt byCommercial and quality teams, and whoever assembles packs for the client
What typically goes wrong
- Evidence is gathered at the end of the job, when photographs are harder to find and the crew has moved to the next site.
- Gaps, such as a missing reinstatement photograph or an unsigned sheet, come to light only when the pack is being put together.
- Each client asks for records in a different order or template, so packs are rebuilt by hand each time.
What better looks like
- Evidence is captured against the job while the work is happening.
- A completeness check shows what is still missing, while it can still be requested from site.
- Packs are assembled to each client’s list of required records, from records already held in one place.
It starts with an agreed evidence list for each client and job type, so records can be checked while the job is live. Packs are then assembled in the order and format each client asks for, and kept where they can be found when questions come later.
What a completeness check does, and does not do
It confirms that the records you have agreed to collect are present. It does not judge whether the work meets a specification, and it does not certify safety, quality or compliance. Those judgements stay with your competent people and your client.
Organised records support your commercial team’s review. Whether a variation or payment is due remains a matter for the contract and the people who manage it.
The same details typed more than once
Connecting existing systems and reducing repeated data entry
Many contractors already have reasonable tools. The trouble is that they do not share information, so people end up being the connection between them.
Usually felt byOffice and accounts staff, and anyone who keeps a tracker spreadsheet going
What typically goes wrong
- The same job reference, hours and materials are typed into a field app, a tracker spreadsheet and the accounts system.
- A spreadsheet has quietly become the system everyone relies on, and only one person really understands it.
- Weekly reports can take a day to assemble because the figures sit in three places.
What better looks like
- Details are entered once, where they are first known, and passed on to the systems that need them.
- It is clear which system holds the master copy of each piece of information.
- Transfers are visible, so when one fails, someone finds out.
Configure and connect before building
The review considers these in order and recommends the simplest one that does the job. Building something new comes last.
- FirstUse what is already there
Many field apps, accounts packages and Microsoft 365 already offer imports, exports or connectors that often go unused.
- NextAutomate the hand-offs
Scheduled or triggered transfers between systems, for example with Power Automate or a product’s own API, where the systems allow it.
- If neededFirm up critical spreadsheets
Where a spreadsheet has become essential, moving it to a structured list or database without losing what made it useful.
- LastBuild only the missing piece
A small custom integration or application, where nothing existing will do the job.
Integration depends on what each system allows. Some products limit access to their data, and the review will say so plainly where that affects the approach.
The four steps
Start small. Prove the value.
Four steps, in this order, each ending with your decision. We start with the process, use what you already have, and prove it on real work before it grows. You own everything we build, in your tenant.
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Step 1 · Short, and not the paid review: Initial conversation
A short conversation about one process that is causing trouble: how it works today, who is involved and what you already use.
There is no commitment to go further. If a simpler fix is obvious, we will say so. If a review is worthwhile, we set out in writing what it would cover, who we would talk to and what you would receive.
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Step 2 · Scoped and paid: Paid workflow review
We map the process with the people who do the work, identify the constraints and recommend a scoped approach. The review may recommend configuring software you already have, or buying a suitable product, rather than building bespoke software.
It looks at how records are made today and on which devices, signal on your sites, each client’s requirements, which systems the records need to reach, who checks what, your existing licences, and your IT, security and procurement requirements.
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Step 3 · One team, agreed measures: One-workflow pilot
The recommended approach is put into practice with one team, on live work, against success measures agreed before the pilot starts.
Measures are specific to the process: for example, how soon daily records reach the office, or how many packs are returned for missing items.
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Step 4 · Support scoped separately: Wider implementation
If the pilot meets its measures and you decide to go ahead, the approach is extended to more teams and connected with the other systems involved.
Support after that is agreed separately and scoped to the solution and your team. It is not automatically unlimited or available at all hours.
Before a procurement or tender
Tender advisory
Sometimes the question comes before any process work: you are about to choose software, or a client’s tender sets out requirements for digital records and handover information. We can give advisory input on what you need before you decide.
Our own strengths lean towards Microsoft 365, and we will say where that has shaped our advice.
Ask about tender advisoryWhat it can cover
- Setting out the site and office processes a new system must support
- Turning them into requirements a supplier can respond to clearly
- Reading a client’s digital or information requirements against how your teams work today
This is advisory work, agreed separately from a workflow review. It offers no privileged access to, or influence over, any procurement or tender process, and it does not replace your own procurement, legal or bid advice.
Questions
Before you start
Straight answers on systems, licences, ownership, signal and AI. If your question is not here, bring it to the first conversation.
Ask a questionCan you work with the systems we already use?
That is where we start. The review looks at what you already have, such as Microsoft 365, spreadsheets, an accounts system, field apps or construction software, and whether they can be configured or connected before anything new is suggested.
Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Power Platform are where our strengths lie, and we will say where that has shaped a recommendation. How far another system can be connected depends on what its supplier allows. More on technology and licences.
Will our existing licences cover it?
Microsoft 365 business plans include standard Power Platform connectors at no extra cost. We check what you already have as part of the review, and anything needing an extra licence or subscription is flagged there, before you decide whether to go ahead.
Who owns what is built, and our data?
You own everything we build, in your tenant. How your data is held and handled is agreed in writing before work starts.
If you have particular requirements, for example where data is stored or who can change the solution afterwards, raise them early so they shape the approach.
Will it work on sites with poor signal?
Field connectivity is assessed as part of the review, including the places where your teams actually work: in cuttings, in shafts and on rural sites. Where signal is unreliable, approaches that tolerate it can be considered, such as forms that hold a record on the device until it can be sent.
Not every tool handles this well, so it is checked rather than assumed.
Where does AI fit in?
Only where it helps with a specific task, and once the underlying records are in good order: for example, summarising long site notes or sorting incoming documents. It is an option the review can consider, never a requirement.
Next step
Which of the three is slowing you down?
Tell us about one process, whether it is daily records, handover packs or re-keying between systems, and how it works today. We will talk it through and suggest a sensible next step.
Prefer email? hello@oneinfra.co.uk