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Digital Era Hub
Digital Engagement Experts

B for BIM Consulting – Zoho Project Management & Time-Tracking Automation
​Success Story

Industry:Consulting / Engineering | Headquarters:Skåne/Sweden

Zoho Apps Used: CRM, Analytics, Forms, WorkDrive

Executive Summary

B For BIM Consulting is a Building Information Modeling firm led by founder Basel Al Mashreki, specializing in BIM Families modeling and architectural, structural, and MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) system design for the construction and architecture sectors. With a lean team of in-house employees and external contracting engineers, the company relied on ad hoc methods to intake client tasks, distribute work across a distributed team, and track billable hours with no centralized system tying the process together.

Digital Era Hub built an integrated Zoho environment covering the full project lifecycle: a client-facing portal for task intake, an internal system for distributing work between employees and contractors, and automated hour-tracking feeding directly into financial reports. The shift moved B For BIM from a fragmented, manual workflow to a single connected system spanning client request through billing.

The Challenge

  • No centralized system existed to track and measure work hours across engineering tasks
  • Task distribution between external contractors and internal staff was disorganized, with no clear system of record
  • Work reports and summaries were not compatible with the end client's accounting system, creating friction in the billing cycle
  • Heavy engineering files (modeling and MEP deliverables) lacked a secure, structured way to be stored and shared between team and clients
  • No direct API access existed for the destination accounting system, requiring a workaround for financial data transfer

Why It Mattered

For a distributed team of contractors and in-house employees, imprecise hour tracking isn't just an inconvenience, it's a direct risk to revenue and trust. Without a system to document exactly who worked on what, B For BIM had no reliable way to bill accurately or hold contractors accountable, and every reporting cycle meant reconciling data by hand before it could even reach the client's accounting system. Left unaddressed, this kind of gap caps how many client engagements a lean firm can take on at once, since growth depends on the back office keeping pace with delivery not the other way around.

The Solution

  • Zoho CRM (Central Hub): Customized as the central management interface for the entire project lifecycle, receiving new projects and tasks, distributing them across the team, and tracking completion status in one place, replacing the informal task-assignment process.
  • Zoho Analytics (Reporting & BI): Deployed to process operational data into two report types administrative reports on team performance and precise financial reports. Structured specifically to match B For BIM's technical and billing requirements.
  • Zoho WorkDrive (File Management): Set up as the secure cloud environment for storing, managing, and sharing large engineering files, including modeling and MEP deliverables, between the internal team and clients.

 

Integration

The client needed to integrate with their accounting system BQE, to upload time log entries and generate invoices. However, there were no direct authorized access to BQE API, so Digital Era Hub designed an offline/manual integration path instead structuring the financial report outputs for direct upload compatibility with BQE, which avoided the need for duplicate manual data entry despite the lack of a live connection

Results

  • Financial/time-log data structured for direct upload to BQE
  • Billing cycle acceleration due to BQE-compatible, accurate reporting 
  • Improved transparency and accountability with external contractors through precise work-hour documentation
  • Full transition to a unified digital workflow: client (portal) → team (task system) → billing (reports)

Digital Era Hub gave us one system where tasks, hours, and billing finally flow together. The BQE-compatible reports alone save us hours every week. Infrastructure our small team couldn't have built on our own.

Eng. Basel Al Mashreki

CEO

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