Engineering Project Management

Easy With ProWorkflow Nexus

Natasha Robinson
June 15, 2025

The engineering and architecture industries can face a series of factors that cause project delays due to the complex nature of the work, making organization and robust project management crucial. Luckily, ProWorkflow’s new and improved Nexus tool is here to help!

With its project schedule features, planning capabilities, and budget tracking software, Nexus has proven itself as an ideal partner in delivering successful projects in the engineering industry.

Let’s dive into some examples of issues that strike these industries and explore how a state-of-the-art project management tool like Nexus might help resolve them.

Issue #1: Lack of Interdisciplinary Coordination with Project Teams

Problem: Architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical designs often evolve independently, leading to clashes during construction (e.g., HVAC ducts conflicting with beams).
Cause: Siloed teams, poor use of coordination tools like BIM.
Impact: Rework, delays, increased costs.

Resolution #1: Connected and Collaborative Teams

At its core, ProWorkflow is a tool that ensures all project requirements are clearly organized in one place. This means that various phases and engineering tasks are clearly defined and tied together, eliminating confusion. You will always know exactly what is happening, when it’s happening, and who is working on what. Best of all, each member of the project team will have a clear idea of where their work lies in relation to other job components, simplifying planning.

All members will be aware of when they can commence work on other modules within the engineering project, as well as who to contact and what information needs to be confirmed before they start. This means that, although you have a team of professionals from diverse backgrounds and skill sets working together, each has a full appreciation for what different team members are doing and how their work will interact with the broader picture. Nexus aims to break down silos, minimizing the chance of rework to the greatest extent possible and ensuring project goals are fulfilled.

Issue #2: Unclear Roles and Responsibilities

Problem: Ambiguity in who is responsible for what during design, review, approvals, and client communication.
Cause: Poorly defined project structures or communication hierarchies.
Impact: Delays in decision-making, blame-shifting, and reduced accountability.

Resolution #2: Defined Roles and Smartly Allocated Resources

Nexus orients its projects around “Items.” Items can be anything from a to-do or task-type activity to a material or an expense. For each Item, we store a range of resource-related data, including who is working on it, who created it, when it starts, when it finishes, the time expectations, files and deliverables, messages, and even a staff-centered estimate of the Item’s progress.

We also have customizable statuses called Workstages that allow you to see the relative progress stage of the Item, as well as when it moved into that stage and who moved it there. These Items are also organized by phases, so at all times you will have a clear idea of the work’s relation to the wider engineering project. This means accountability is always crystal clear, and expectations are all communicated in one easy-to-reach place. This was designed to ensure that if your engineering project experiences any delays, you will know exactly who is responsible and how that impacts the profitability of not only the project but also the specific section or phase to which the Item belongs.

Issue #3: Inefficient Communication with Clients and Stakeholders

Problem: Misinterpretation of client requirements or failure to communicate design constraints.
Cause: Poor briefing processes or lack of regular updates.
Impact: Misaligned expectations, late-stage design changes, scope creep.

Resolution #3: Robust Communication

Nexus has Item and Project-specific messaging systems that allow for focused communication related to specific engineering project components. There is an added advantage in that it is not limited to only internal members; these communications are also open to your clients. Even better, we provide a free client access mechanism that allows your clients to view a tailored version of your project page. In some cases, they may not even need to contact you directly, as the information will be accessible to them with the most up-to-date data available.

This access is tailored based on the specific projects they can view and then whether they have access to all Items or only some. You can also determine whether they should have access to time and/or financial data. If this is still too broad, you can also build and save reports that are sent out on a scheduled basis. This may be helpful if you have a very specific version of the information that you want your clients to see. It may also be useful in dealing with broader stakeholders; for instance, you may have a report that details all Items completed in a given period and is sent to the management team.

Issue #4: Design Changes and Scope Creep

Problem: Frequent client-driven design changes or poorly managed scope increases.
Cause: Inadequate change control processes or unclear initial briefs.
Impact: Schedule delays, budget overruns, strained client relationships.

Resolution #4: Attentive Budget Tracking

ProWorkflow’s Nexus tracks a host of fiscal data. For any given project component (task, expense, etc.), you can determine both what it costs you and what you will charge for it. You can also make these determinations separately if you are charging on a fixed basis; for instance, a contract might be for a fixed amount of $20,000.00, and you can track the distance between that figure and your costs as they accumulate over the course of the project. This means we also track the estimated cost, as well as the real, current cost.

Whenever the scope of the project changes, you will see in real-time how this impacts your overall profits and decide if and how you should charge for this additional work with a complete picture in hand.

As the project progresses, we can also use the worker completion estimates to assess future profitability, i.e., if you are on track to spend 110% of the time allotted, how does that affect the overall picture?

Because of Nexus’ centralized communications, it will always be clear what changes the client requested to the project, and when they were requested. This means there will always be some degree of accountability, and no more “but I didn’t ask you to do that!”