Forum Design: coordinating architecture and interior design teams across sector-specific projects with GanttPRO
“We can have up to 20 projects per Studio, running in parallel, and everything, from the early entitlement and design all the way through construction, has been scheduled in GanttPRO”.
A story about how an architecture and interior design firm manages department coordination, client-facing updates, and portfolio visibility as a single system with GanttPRO.
Company overview
Company: Forum Architecture and Interior Design
Roles interviewed: Jeff Suchan, Principal
Project types: multifamily, student housing, senior living, and hospitality design projects
External pressures: client expectations and deadlines, the need for coordination across the corporate structure – between different studios and the staffing within them
Tool history: various products including Microsoft Project
Problems hinted at: financial side and excessive complexity of Microsoft Project
Summary
Company Background
What does your company focus on?
Forum is an architecture and interior design firm with around 70 employees, primarily working on multifamily housing, student housing, and senior living projects. With the company divided into six studios, one of its biggest challenges is managing numerous initiatives across departments while effectively coordinating human resources.
“We can have up to 20 projects running in parallel in each studio, and everything, from early entitlement and design stages all the way through construction, has been scheduled in GanttPRO, together with staff allocation as the plan evolves. For the studio directors and each team’s project managers it’s a way to visually present the scope to the whole company. For designers – the ultimate status checking. For me personally it’s an efficient way to get a high-level picture effortlessly.”
“Microsoft Project was a solid product, but it offered many features we just didn't need. That's why we started looking for something easier that would help us build a Gantt chart in the simplest way.”
Struggle
How did your approach look before GanttPRO?
In the past, some teams used Microsoft Project as part of its Windows-based environment. However, due to the cost and excessive complexity, they began looking for a simpler alternative that would better fit their needs.
“Microsoft Project was a solid product, but it offered many features we just didn't need. That's why we started looking for something easier that would help us build a Gantt chart in the simplest way.”
Solution
In a fast-changing environment like Forum's, adapting to change is part of the operating context. Adjustments are inevitable and should be integrated as seamlessly as possible, without creating additional manual work or taking up valuable time.
“As our schedules can change quite rapidly, being able to adjust a single date and have all related tasks updated automatically is extremely efficient. That’s the optimization task dependencies bring to our workflow.”As the company's processes are built around coordinating parallel projects, the activities surrounding them require having the entire scope visible in a single place.
“With the portfolio view, I find that it is especially helpful to have that high-level view of all different teams and also be able to check the status of the projects.”As the team’s workflow is heavily client-oriented, providing visual updates is very important. Instead of relying on screenshots, GanttPRO allows to export and share progress in a more visually clean and professional way.
“Being able to export views for clients and keep everyone aligned, without onboarding or interference, has been a great fit for our client-based process.”“Throughout the office we've got some standardized forms designed for each department and it makes starting off incredibly easy, especially when we add a new member. Adapting is not an issue this way.”
Impact
What does your work look like now with GanttPRO?
“It was incredibly easy to jump in and start off."
The team has been using GanttPRO for four years now: as a strategic planning tool for senior leadership and a day-to-day coordination mechanism for the rest of the participants, for checking the statutes and distributing resources as projects evolve. For Jeff personally, it provides a high-level strategic view through Portfolio management and overall simplicity of the interface.