Archon – Tracktive: Improving Productivity and Efficiency Firm-wide

Archon Architect Incorporated (Robert Di- Maio, Settimo Vilardi, principals) is a Windsor, ON based architectural firm that is involved in commercial, institutional, educational and residential projects. Along with its extensive local commissions, the firm has completed projects throughout Ontario and across Canada and Michigan in the USA. 

Prior to using Tracktive® Archon used a combination of MS-Excel and another billing system. While this hybrid met with a number of Archon’s requirements, it was cumbersome to use and did not provide for a single data repository. Additionally, the system forced the user to go to paper for almost every inquiry. 

Archon found that it was difficult to generate a set of time records for an individual employee as the system was inflexible. In addition, the user was unable to add notes to an activity making it difficult to track down issues that were worked on at the time as the user was forced to go to another system to retrieve this information. 

The inflexible nature of the system in use result-ed in Archon seeking an alternative solution to their need for a multi-user activity tracking, project and human capital management application. 

Their criteria for this solution had to encompass: 

• A secure and full multi-user system that is database driven 

• A system that was easy to set-up, user-friendly (in the event of employee turnover, easy to train new users), yet powerful enough to manage multiple simultaneous projects 

• A simple method to capture time, expenses, & sub-contacts for a project in one place. 

• The ability to add extensive notes and comments for each activity 

• The ability to query data onscreen and retrieve information quickly 

• A report generator so that they were not locked into reports as provided by the vendor. 

• Provide management with an onscreen view of project financials in real time. 

In implementing Tracktive®, Archon Architect Incorporated has successfully been able to: 

• Provide the application to all users, as it is affordable and hence drives accountability throughout the firm 

• Access all project activity information in real-time 

• Provide clients with up to date project information immediately when requested. 

• Present the user with a single screen for all data input. Via this unique interface, time, project, expenses and all notes are in one place, making Tracktive® an indispensable project management tool.. 

• Benefit the Firm by having all the information and knowledge in one place (knowledge base), greatly reducing the need to “hunt down” information, saving 30+ hrs/m. 

• Admin/accounting savings of 5-8 hours/week in pay-roll and invoicing processing with direct link to ac-counting application. 

• Take advantage of the built-in reporting engine for limitless reporting. All reports are presented in MS Excel thereby providing additional flexibility in sharing information 

• Proactively monitor and manage projects to reduce/eliminate any surprises 

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