McGregor McMahon have purchased Workspace mini from Union Square Software

Aug. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- McGregor McMahon, a 30 person consulting engineering practice based in Fife have purchased Workspace mini from Union Square Software to centralise information and standardise procedure.  McGregor McMahon provide civil, structural, geotechnical and environmental engineering services to the industrial, educational, commercial and residential sectors, specialising in mixed use developments.

A gradual transition from paper to electronic systems has led to the company identifying a need to improve standardisation in their processes.  Director Frazer Coutts comments, “All documents should be saved in hard copy files but we are finding that people create electronic folders and keep emails in Outlook.  This is creating problems when trying to find all the information relating to a specific project.”  Frazer recognised that by improving storage of emails it would address any future issues if emails need to be accessed.  Frazer also wanted to introduce control over the issue of documents as there is it can be difficult to track what has been issued or received.

It wasn’t until Frazer had an online demonstration of Workspace that he realised that an integrated software application could solve all of their problems.  “When I saw Workspace I could see instantly how it could apply to our practice and address the issues surrounding document control and email management.   When we researched the market we found nothing that could integrate the key business functions as well as Workspace could.  The references from existing Workspace clients in Scotland were very favourable and convinced us it was the right product for us.”

McGregor McMahon are implementing Workspace mini, an ‘out-of-the-box’ version of Workspace which requires less configuration and reduced implementation time.  Frazer was impressed with the fit to the industry and the fact that the system required limited input from them before using it, “Much of the thinking has been done for us based on industry best practice – so we know what we are implementing is right.  The system will form the basis of our QA procedures to help us achieve ISO accreditation.”  Workspace will give the practice a single database of contacts, organisations and projects and centralise the storage of documents and emails to give live information access to all.  The Workspace mini document control functionality will introduce a fail safe way for tracking the full lifecycle of a document, including all reads, revisions and issues.

Frazer is looking forward to the changes the system will bring:  “We expect to be more efficient following the implementation; staff will have an instant overview of a project’s status including documents, emails and any issues, saving a significant amount of time in information search.  In general the practice will be less exposed to risk and I will have confidence in the security of our information flows and archive store.” The system should be live within 3 months; Frazer has been impressed with the working relationship with Union Square, “They have been very pro active in prompting us to meet deadlines and we are confident in the success of the project.”