Problem
Manual Reporting Chaos Stalls Scalable Energy Project Delivery
A specialized engineering and tax consultancy managing hundreds of energy efficiency projects was buckling under the weight of its own reporting process. Each project required assessing energy conservation measures (ECMs) across potentially hundreds of buildings—with up to six custom documents per building. Staff were spending hours manually compiling PDFs, merging data from Salesforce, Excel, Word, and Box to prepare tax deduction reports.
Worse, there was no clean way to scale. The legacy system relied heavily on Conga for document generation and Box for document management, creating costly bottlenecks. Field data arrived in inconsistent formats, and the operational team struggled to assign cost attributions proportionally by square footage without extensive Excel gymnastics. The document generation pipeline was “an asinine amount of manual work,” as the project lead put it. They needed a platform flexible enough to accommodate building-level variability, yet robust enough to automate complex reporting logic across multiple tax code scenarios.
Q1
Solution
A Custom SmartSuite Backbone for Automated Energy Project Reporting
Using SmartSuite, the firm restructured its entire workflow from the ground up. Projects, buildings, and ECMs were modeled relationally using linked records. A junction table was introduced to associate each ECM with individual buildings, with logic for proportionally assigning costs based on square footage. Key tables were enhanced with formula fields, dot notation, and lookup relationships—replacing a fragile web of Excel files and redundant lookups.
A custom dashboard interface was built to dynamically summarize ECM application by year, show costs in both conservative and best-case projections, and offer drill-downs to project-level detail. SmartSuite’s document designer was initially used for quick wins, then paired with Make (formerly Integromat) for full automation—triggering PDF generation and sending compiled documents directly to Box and stakeholders.
Operationally, the team adopted forms and task workflows for project intake, cost approvals, and internal QA. Work was split across “phases,” starting with data cleanup, then progressing to automation and integration with HubSpot for client visibility.
Q2
Result
6 Tools Replaced and Multi-Building Reporting Cut from Days to Hours
What once took a team days now happens in hours—automatically. SmartSuite’s no-code relational model allowed them to cleanly apply ECM costs across 500+ buildings with surgical precision. Document generation is now fully automated and version-controlled, with complex logic handled natively through formulas and workflows. Filters and toggles ensure that only buildings relevant to each ECM are included in reports.
As of rollout, the team has eliminated 6 legacy tools and centralized their data, projects, and reporting in SmartSuite. Reports no longer require merging Word documents or chasing Excel formulas. Task workflows are clearer, permissions are role-based, and client-facing dashboards are underway. Their previous mix of Salesforce + Conga + Box has been consolidated into one cohesive ecosystem.
Q3
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