Higher revenue, better cash flow, better processes

Building Service, Inc.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Employees: 200
Founded: 1947

Lori Kletzien, vice president of office operations for Milwaukee's Building Service, Inc. (BSI), describes the wealth of information the company's Khameleon system contains as key to managing the business. BSI "designs, builds and furnishes" interiors for business; and they do it all with in-house personnel. Their architects and interior designers work with clients to expertly plan or renovate workplaces, incorporating the latest technologies, finishes, and furnishings.

BSI has been a Khameleon client since 2002, when the company replaced an aging system unable to manage projects as broad in scope as those BSI undertakes. By applying the best practices embedded in Khameleon to bring about internal project management and accounting changes, managers found they suddenly had the information they needed to increase revenue and speed cash flow.

For example, Lori credits the wealth of information contained in the Khameleon system for disclosing how much design work the company was not charging for on specific projects and providing data to resolve the problem. Before Khameleon, there was no way to know how much any one design job cost, so it was difficult to explain to the end user in detail what they were paying for. Design is an area that end users tend not to understand due to its complexity.

Upon using Khameleon, BSI loaded 20 design tasks, including rendering, initial drawing, and finish boards and books, into the system, with designers logging all their hours to the jobs they worked. With this detailed level of accounting, sales could justify asking for payment In addition, since quotes and related design and architectural hours are stored indefinitely, a project that is put on hold for whatever reason can be viewed at any time in the future if the project becomes a sale.

Lori also believes that processes and procedures were altered and sometimes totally skipped to give a customer what they needed. Although people fully intended to go back to complete them after the project was finished, many times they were too busy. As a result, getting paid was a struggle in some cases, often due to poor documentation. Khameleon best practices provided a level of control that helped turn good intentions into profitable execution.

Since 2002, BSI has opened 30,000 projects in Khameleon. Each month Lori and BSI's controller review each of the 600-800 jobs in progress. Armed with information she describes as "phenomenal," they can take action to speed billing and cash flow and improve job profitability.

BSI implemented the fully integrated Khameleon system at once rather than adopting individual modules over a period of time. Lori advises that while it was challenging in the beginning, it was worth it, and she'd do it that way again.

Although she feels BSI still hasn't yet achieved all that it can with Khameleon, Lori recommends using the system to its fullest ability to get the most from the best practices and information visibility. When asked what she would say to companies considering Khameleon, she replied, "You won't regret it. Change is always difficult in the beginning, but is worth it in the end and I would do it again in a minute."