How Baxall Construction Used Optimisation to Improve the Way It Worked with Deltek PIM

Many organisations invest in a powerful system like Deltek PIM, get it up and running, and then carry on with business as usual. But what happens when the business changes?

Baxall Construction found themselves asking exactly that question.

New processes develop, teams grow, people find workarounds, manual tasks become part of the daily routine and features that could make life easier may go unused simply because nobody knows they are there.

The challenge

Baxall Construction is a regional contractor delivering project management, design and building services across sectors including education, health, leisure and commercial.

As the business expanded its services, including building and facilities management, the need for a connected and robust information environment became increasingly important.

Baxall had already implemented Deltek PIM but over time some functionality wasn't being fully adopted, processes were still being handled manually, and there wasn't enough ongoing engagement with the Deltek team. Employees had also developed assumptions about what PIM could and couldn't do.

The result was that Baxall was potentially missing opportunities to automate processes, reduce administration and improve the way information was managed across the business.

The challenge, therefore, wasn't simply about technology. It was also about people, processes and making sure the technology was being used to its full potential.

The Solution

Rather than immediately looking for another system, Baxall took a step back and asked a much simpler question:

"What can we do better with the system we already have?"

Baxall established a solution working group to identify areas for improvement and then worked with Deltek through a series of optimisation workshops.

These workshops proved particularly valuable. Baxall brought a list of issues and requirements to the table, only to discover that some of the things they wanted to achieve were already possible within PIM.

In some cases, the technology wasn't the limitation. It was simply a lack of awareness about what the system could do.

That realisation opened up a number of opportunities to improve existing processes and make better use of the functionality already available.

Baxall's Approach

The approach was practical rather than revolutionary. Baxall focused on identifying individual problems and finding ways to solve them using the tools already available.

This included automating routine processes, improving approval workflows and reducing manual administration around timesheets. PIM could also be used to manage employee training and certification records, making important information easier to access.

Just as importantly, Baxall recognised the people problem. Technology only works when people understand it, use it and see the benefit. Training, communication and ongoing user engagement therefore became an important part of the process.

To maintain momentum, Baxall also created sub-working groups, each focused on specific PIM objectives. Once an objective had been achieved, the group could move on to the next improvement.

It was essentially a process of:

Identify → Assess → Plan → Implement → Review. Similar to the Prince 2 way of identifying risks!

Rather than attempting to transform everything at once, Baxall focused on smaller opportunities and built from there.

The three major lessons from the case study

Deltek highlights three lessons that Baxall learned through the optimisation programme.

Lesson 1: Start with basic processes

Digital transformation doesn't always need to start with a major project.

Baxall's experience demonstrates the value of looking at the everyday processes that people or companies often take for granted.

Where are employees still doing something manually? Where are there unnecessary steps? Where is information being duplicated? And what could be automated?

Small improvements can be easier to implement, easier for employees to understand and can provide a foundation for larger changes further down the line.

Start small. Demonstrate value. Then build on it.

Lesson 2: Regular "health checks" are necessary

The second lesson is that organisations shouldn't assume that their software is working optimally simply because it has already been implemented.

Businesses evolve, people change and technology develops. A process that made sense several years ago may no longer be the most efficient way of working.

Baxall's experience highlights the importance of regularly reviewing how a system is being used and maintaining engagement with the people using it. Without those reviews, organisations can end up with sophisticated systems being used in relatively basic ways.

The natural assumption to health checks can be:

"We're too busy to spend time reviewing the system."

Baxall's experience suggests almost the opposite:

If you don't create time for optimisation, inefficiencies can become permanent.

Lesson 3: Be clear about what you want to achieve

The third lesson concerns preparation.

Before bringing employees into training or optimisation workshops, Baxall believes organisations need to understand:

• What problem are we trying to solve?
• What process are we trying to improve?
• What do we want employees to learn?
• What outcome do we expect?
• Why does the change matter?

Without this preparation, training sessions can become unfocused and may attend without understanding why they're there or what they should get out of the session. This can be applied to any workshops or meetings you have in your company.

Baxall therefore emphasises creating a clear objective before beginning an optimisation exercise.

Written by Summer Woodward