Archaeological Services Inc (ASI) Case Study

Archaeological Services Inc. Background

Archaeological Services Inc. (ASI) is a Canadian-owned and Toronto-based archaeological consulting firm in Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1980 in response to increasing public awareness of the importance of Ontario’s archaeological and cultural heritage. Archaeological Services Inc. provides a variety of services including both archaeological and built heritage resource/cultural landscape pre-development assessments, large-scale heritage planning studies for municipalities, as well as Stage 4 salvage excavation of archaeological sites.

Business Challenge

In early 2000, ASI found that the volume of their work dramatically increased due to broadening of the existing legislative mandate. This legislation requires archaeological assessments to be done in advance of housing, transportation, de-forestation or commercial property developments to ensure that any archaeological remains present are properly identified, assessed and salvaged.

The company started handling 500 projects or more annually, yet as the office quickly grew, so did the administrative functions and processes. Each project required multiple document and task associations, and client, government and employee to employee interactions were made frequently each day. It became exceedingly time-consuming to keep track of current clients and past clients’ inquiries in their home-grown system, and disparate information was either kept in physical files with handwritten notes and emails, or resided with each individual employee.

With no central database, ASI also found that keeping its satellite office plus the excavation field directors working out of the office updated on most recent communications and collaboration on projects difficult, as was maintaining standardization across the company.

Other concerns that came with ASI’s growth were logistical. Crews carrying out field projects needed to be scheduled based on a number of variables, and recovered artifacts needed to be documented from the field projects

This combination of acute compliance, collaboration, and logistical needs spurred ASI to seek a more effective solution.

The iExtensions CRM Difference

In August 2004, ASI chose iEnterprises’ iExtensions CRM due to its tight Lotus Notes integration, extensive functionality and potential for modifications for project management. The ASI team worked diligently to improve, streamline and re-engineer its business processes, and by marrying the newly defined processes with the flexible CRM product, benefits were quickly realized. iExtensions CRM became a hit among its 35 employees, and company-wide adoption occurred within six months. The most notable benefit was that all project- related information, whether proposals, forms, invoices or field reports, became more accessible and also more accurate and therefore reliable. Each project’s status and progress was always available at all employees’ fingertips. This visibility into the entire picture of each project in one, easily accessible location helped employees respond faster to current client inquiries as well as information requests on projects completed in the past. Due to this centralization alone, customer service at ASI increased by 60%, and ASI has since been frequently complimented by their clients for the company’s prompt attention and organizational best practices.  

“We stretched the product in all different ways – and iExtensions CRM always did what we wanted it to do,” said Debbie Steiss, Partner at ASI.

To further maximize the product’s inherent flexibility, ASI found a valuable partner in Kinetic Synergy Inc. (KSI), a Toronto based technology consultant that specializes in Lotus Notes/Domino customizations and integrations. KSI designed a series of custom modules which allowed ASI to enter and catalog each artifact, tag it to reports and emails, and associate it with the appropriate project. iExtensions CRM’s Document Library feature enabled ASI to house critical forms and company documents for easy access and submission by remote field directors and other employees, as well as the ability to share the information immediately with others within the organization.

iExtensions CRM also helped ASI manage seasonal crew scheduling and calendaring. The company can now link all project proposals, reports, invoices, etc. to clients with iExtensions CRM, and maintain the connection between the Toronto head office and the company’s Burlington satellite office, enabling real-time visibility and access into all database activities. Deadlines have become more realistic, and the most surprising find, says Steiss, is that work morale has improved as employees no longer had to “waste the day looking for information that only one person knew, that was squirreled away on a server, or having to fish in a file cabinet.”

“Everyone—even the skeptics-- loves the efficiency gains that iExtensions CRM brings and the ability to speak knowingly about each project,” said Steiss. “It’s one of the best things we’ve done.”