Document
storage systems work space design
Union Square Software - ‘Workspace’ from Union Square Software will centralise company documentation and allow secure external access
Trevor Lahiff Architects (TLA),
headquartered in London, has placed an order for ‘Workspace’, a
knowledge management system from construction IT specialist,
Union Square Software. The new software will improve the
company’s document management processes and allow secure access
to external parties, including outsourcing partners abroad.
Established in 1995, the twenty strong architectural firm
currently centralises its work within London and the home
counties, with an impressive portfolio of projects including
high-end residential builds and interiors, to small-scale
commercial work. Recognising that its current business
applications were in need of improvement, Workspace was selected
to enhance and replace current internal systems for document
storage and communication processes.
Commenting on the company’s working methods prior to using
Workspace, Karen Walton, an Associate at Trevor Lahiff,
explains, “Although the Microsoft Exchange server we had been
using was good, it could not facilitate the needs of a growing
organisation. We were becoming more reliant on Outlook, but the
application couldn’t handle the amount of information we
required to store. Many documents were being held in hardcopy
archive boxes, which was both unsafe and outdated. We needed an
IT system that could centralise all of our business-critical
information and also enable us to share relevant documents
across the organisation.”
Workspace has been designed to develop and help construction
firms improve management of information and prevent valuable
business correspondence and documentation from simply
disappearing into a black hole. The software provides companies
with a simple method of filing, archiving and retrieving all
documents through a central software portal that can be accessed
by any employee or external parties permitted.
Karen Walton continues, “After a successful two-month trial
period, we decided to buy Workspace and opted for a phased
implementation approach, as we felt this best suited our
requirements and would minimise office disruption. Our remote
workers and sub-contractors are already seeing the benefits of
Workspace as all information is now stored in a central
repository and is easily accessible on a 24/7 basis.”
Commenting on the service from Union Square, Karen Walton
concludes, “We like the fact that Union Square are constantly
developing their software and adding new functionality to the
core system. This ensures that we are able to stay at the
forefront of technological innovation in the construction
industry.”
Email:
will.yandell@unionsquaresoftware.com