GB Card & Partners Improves Profitability Insight and Resource Control Through Smarter Project Management

GB Card & Partners uses Milient's Project Flow, previously known as Rapport3.

As a niche consultancy experiencing increasing demand, GB Card & Partners recognised that their spreadsheet-based approach to time and project management was no longer sustainable. Capturing data, analysing profitability and producing reports was time-consuming, limiting their ability to scale efficiently.

Managing Director Geoffrey Card explains: “As a consultancy, we sell expertise and intelligent design solutions, not a tangible product that you can put a unit price on. Our team handles projects in a number of countries, so we needed a system that would allow us to easily input project cost profiles and ongoing variations in real-time, wherever we are operating in the world. We also needed to be able to drill down and examine time spent against any given project so that we can ensure we are providing the best service for our clients whilst optimising resource efficiency wherever possible.”

In addition to improved project control, the business needed clearer insight into profitability and a system that could support the development of its Quality Assurance processes to meet ISO 9001 standards.

Choosing Milient

GB Card & Partners researched and trialled several project management systems to ensure the right fit for their business model and the way their engineers work.

Geoffrey explains: “As well as delivering everything we needed from a new practice management system, Project Flow’s interface stood out as being much more intuitive than the others. It has a synergy with how we think as engineers, and this logical set-up has helped with getting the system up and running with very few difficulties.”

Project Flow stood out for its intuitive design, logical structure and ability to support both operational and strategic requirements.

Benefits of Milient

Although Project Flow had only been operational for a short time, it quickly began delivering against GB Card & Partners’ key objectives — particularly around invoicing and time capture.

Geoffrey notes:  “Creating an invoice is much simpler now, with Project Flow automatically capturing time and expenses against each project for us. We’re engineers, not accountants, and we want to optimise our time designing solutions for clients.”

The HR and Contacts modules have also played a crucial role, enabling accurate resource planning, visibility of availability, and tracking of qualifications, specialisms, and CPD. This allows the team to assign the right people to each project and build strong, lasting client relationships.

Integration and Quality Assurance

Project Flow’s cloud-based access provides GB Card & Partners with the flexibility to manage projects wherever their teams are working. At the same time, the QA module supports compliance with quality standards and facilitates continuous improvement.

Reflecting on the overall impact, Geoffrey concludes: “Project Flow was definitely the best choice for us. It’s intuitive, project-oriented, and allows me to generate and examine the reports I need to run the business. We can carefully manage our profitability whilst ensuring that our prices are fair and our services are good value for money. Project Flow’s cloud-based hosting enables our team to access the system from anywhere, and the QA module will help us meet BSI Standards for Quality Assurance. Having Project Flow in place will also provide us with more efficient management of our projects, now and in the future; the way I see it, we’ll grow, and Project Flow will grow with us.”