Insights · EMF Griffiths WA
How EMF Griffiths WA mapped its job lifecycle and built an AI roadmap.
Discovery and solution design turned an undocumented process into a documented, validated and costed plan. The three proposed builds were scoped for a later decision, with implementation outside this engagement.
7
Process maps
Across three workflows
3
Requirements documents
Validated by the business
3
Solution designs
Costed at a fixed price
The client and the challenge
Senior people carrying the engineering and the admin behind every job.
EMF Griffiths WA is a building services engineering consultancy in Western Australia. The team designs mechanical, electrical and ESD services for commercial, health, education, residential and industrial projects. The Managing Director is involved in almost every job, and the business handles around 100 new enquiries a year.
They wanted to know where AI and automation could take repetitive work off senior people without putting engineering judgement or client relationships at risk. First, the process had to be written down. The pressure points were:
- 1Every new job set up by hand in BQE Core, Teams, SharePoint and two master spreadsheets
- 2Proposals built by copying a similar past job, at around ninety minutes each
- 3Drawing set-up repeated manually for every project and after every round of architectural updates
- 4End of job reporting skipped when the team was busy
Nobody had put a time against each step, so there was no baseline to judge an investment against.
What Elevion AI did
Four stages, with requirements agreed before any design.
- Stage one
Current state process mapping
We walked the way work actually runs and mapped it across three workflows: enquiry to invoice, drawing set-up, and design support. Every task carries a time estimate, and drawing set-up was captured from a narrated walkthrough of a live project.
- Stage two
Systems and data analysis
We tested the existing systems rather than assuming, including a working session with a technical specialist from BQE Core. The vendor confirmed custom fields, live connection, reads and writes. Limits such as export restrictions and project level fees were recorded to design around.
- Stage three
Business requirements, one per problem
Three requirements documents were written in process order and sent back to the business to confirm before any solution design began. Proposal content was separated into standard, tailored and service-specific sections, with naming and folder conventions agreed.
- Stage four
Solution design and costing
Three solution designs were built from the validated requirements, each with an approach, delivery plan, controls and a fixed price, so the business could compare the investment against its own figures.
Three proposed projects
Designed and costed, ready to build when the business chooses.
Job Intake Automation
One filed enquiry sets the job up across BQE Core, Teams, SharePoint and both master spreadsheets. A review card is confirmed by the business before anything is created.
AI Proposal Writer
Drafts the first version of a proposal and estimates the fee from past jobs. The review and the final call stay with the engineer.
Drawing Set-up Agent
Handles the repeated drawing preparation work for each new project. The engineering design work is left untouched.
The agreed rules include never guessing a value, never deleting anything, and no access to banking or invoicing. The job intake design requires review before records are created.
The result
A plan with a sequence, a cost and requirements anyone can build from.
A documented, validated, costed plan
The full job lifecycle mapped and time costed, with three build-ready designs at a fixed price.
Vendor-confirmed capability and limits
What BQE Core can and cannot do, confirmed with the vendor before any build was scoped.
Human approval and permissions agreed up front
Guardrails, permissions and approval points set, with requirements confirmed by the business line by line.
A staged sequence, foundation first
Job Intake Automation can be delivered on its own as a first step. Nothing depends on committing to all of it at once.
Documentation the business keeps
Process maps, mapping workbooks and requirements that hold their value whoever builds from them, plus a baseline to measure any future change against.
In the client's words
“Ethan and the Team at Elevion were fantastic to work with. They created a positive and collaborative environment to pitch and share ideas and work through how to bring them to life. We came out of the experience with a clear understanding of what we wanted to achieve and how to get there, which was of great value to us.”
NBNathan Bryce
Managing Director · EMF Griffiths WA