Calculations, specs and project delivery: your firm's engineering workflow
Engineering firms document how technical decisions get made: proposals, calculations, design reviews, specifications, RFIs and submittals. Years of that history across your design tools, project management system and Microsoft 365 is the kind of real operational workflow AI labs are asking for.
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Who fits
- Civil and site engineering firms
- Structural engineering firms
- Mechanical, electrical, plumbing and MEP engineering firms
- Multidiscipline and PE-led consulting engineering firms
What a provider looks at
- A desk team: employees and contractors who work at a desk in your company's email and software. Field and hourly crews who aren't in the systems aren't the desk count.
- Several years of history in your systems.
- Work across systems, such as email, chat, file storage, CRM, tickets and billing.
- Requirements vary by provider, sector and dataset, and the provider confirms fit.
What a licensable workflow can look like
A client's RFP becomes a proposal and scope. Engineers run calculations, issue drawings and specs for review, answer a contractor RFI, review submittals in Bluebeam, revise the design, and the hours flow from timesheets to the invoice.
A generic illustration, not a real client. Labs value the sequence of steps, decisions and handoffs across systems; how personal details are handled belongs in the agreement.
Records that count
- Proposals, scopes and fee workflows
- Drawings, models and revision history
- Calculations, design criteria and specifications
- RFIs, submittals and project correspondence
- QA/QC review and markup workflows
- Timesheets, project accounting and billing workflows
- Standards, templates, SOPs and training material
Good to know
- Design files, drawings and models are among the records these firms keep. What can be licensed depends on who owns them under your client contracts, and that's reviewed before anything is included.
- Client names, contact details and other personal information are handled as the agreement specifies. Client agreements are excluded upfront, and security-sensitive infrastructure details aren't a fit.
- Engineers, designers, drafters, project managers, admin and accounting staff are the desk team, and contractors in your systems may count too, depending on the provider. Field survey and inspection crews who don't work in your systems don't.
- Kept out unless a review and the agreement say otherwise: privileged material and client matter files, health information and biometric data, payment card and bank account numbers, passwords and credentials, data about minors, export-controlled or classified information, another party's data or licensed third-party content, and sensitive personnel, safety or critical infrastructure details. Scope is a choice, so you can leave out anything else, such as pricing or trade secrets.
- Workflow data from QuickBooks, NetSuite and HR systems still counts.
- Usually not a fit anywhere: data involving minors, export-controlled or classified data, mostly paper records with little digital history, or records you don't have the rights to license.
- How personal details are removed or replaced belongs in the agreement, and the provider's review sorts out what's licensable. When in doubt, it's worth a conversation.
Tools your team already uses
Common engineering software we see. Don't see yours? Other systems can hold the same kind of work, and old or retired systems can count too.
Design & CAD
- AutoCAD
- AutoCAD Civil 3D
- Autodesk Revit
- SolidWorks
- Bentley MicroStation
Markup & collaboration
- Bluebeam Revu
- Microsoft 365
Project management & accounting
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Deltek Ajera
- BQE CORE
What counts is your team's own work in and around these tools: the emails, tickets, notes, tracking and billing. No files are collected on this site, and we never ask for passwords.
Product names are trademarks of their respective owners and are listed for reference only; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Engineering FAQ
Who counts as desk staff?
Desk staff: engineers, designers, drafters, project managers, admin and accounting staff, plus contractors who work in your company's email and software, depending on the provider. Field survey and inspection crews who don't work in your systems aren't the desk team. Requirements vary by provider, sector and dataset, and the provider confirms fit.
Can our drawings, models and calculations be licensed?
Drawings, models and revision history are among the records firms like yours keep. Whether any of them can be licensed depends on who owns them under your client contracts, and that's reviewed before anything is included. Your own workflow records, like proposals, RFIs, correspondence and billing, are usually the clearest starting point.
What stays out?
Client agreements, security-sensitive infrastructure details, financial reports and statements, passwords and credentials, and anything you choose to exclude. How client personal details are removed or replaced belongs in the agreement.
See If You Qualify
A few quick questions. No files needed, and we never ask for passwords.
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