Architectural Consultancy ERP
ERP & Business Software.
A web ERP, client portal and staff mobile app for an architectural consultancy: leads, proposals, projects, drawings, time, finance and client collaboration in one connected system.
- Status
- In development
- Type
- Client project
- Category
- ERP & Business Software
- Client
- Not disclosed
Design concept with sample data, not a screenshot of a released product.
An operating system for an architecture practice.
The problem
A consultancy’s real resources are time, drawings and decisions — and they are scattered.
An architecture practice is not a construction company. It sells professional time and design output. Its work moves from enquiry to proposal to project phases, drawing revisions, client reviews and staged fees.
When proposals live in documents, drawings in shared folders, time in spreadsheets and client approvals in email, it becomes difficult to know what was approved, who is working on what and whether a project is profitable.
The solution
The ERP connects the whole practice lifecycle. A lead becomes a proposal with versioned fees and an internal approval step; an accepted proposal converts into a client and project; projects carry phases, tasks, drawings, documents, time, invoices and payments.
Staff work from the web ERP or a mobile app, and clients see their own projects, proposals and invoices through a client portal — each person seeing only what their role allows.
Separation of duties
The person who prepares a proposal can never approve it; architects add technical scope but cannot price or approve.
Role-scoped data
Directors see the whole portfolio, staff see projects they belong to, clients see only their own.
What’s built
CRM & lead pipeline
Leads move from new to won or lost, with follow-ups, activity history and conversion into a client and project.
Proposals & approvals
Service-based fee proposals with server-calculated totals, versioning, internal review, approval and sending to the client.
Projects, phases & tasks
Project directory, phases, milestones, team membership and task workflows.
Drawings & design packages
Drawing register with revisions, reviews, approval and issue.
Time, attendance & leave
Timesheets, attendance and leave requests with approvals.
Finance
Invoices, payments, expenses and project profitability views for authorised roles.
Client web portal
Clients review their projects, proposals and invoices in a scoped portal.
Staff mobile app
Home, work, projects, calendar, site visits, timesheets and attendance on mobile.
Verified against the system’s own workflow audit and a recorded end-to-end demo walkthrough.
Product & engineering decisions
Permissions enforced on the server
Every API endpoint checks a specific permission; services add row-level scoping on top.
One web app, two audiences
The client portal is the same web application with navigation and data limited by role, so features are built once.
Large files outside the database
Drawings and documents are kept in file storage rather than as database blobs.
Technical approach
- NestJS REST API with JWT authentication and permission guards on every controller
- Next.js web ERP that also serves the client portal
- Expo (React Native) staff mobile app
- PostgreSQL with Prisma, covering CRM, projects, design, workforce and finance
- Fine-grained permissions mapped to roles, plus row-level project and client scoping
Current status
The core workflows are implemented and have been demonstrated end to end. Remaining gaps are listed above and are being worked through before deployment.
Known gaps
Client mobile app
The mobile app currently serves staff only; clients use the web portal.
Account recovery
Self-service password reset is not yet available.
Notifications & audit depth
Notifications and audit history are partially implemented and being extended.
People administration
Employee and role management are read-only in the interface today.
Screens
Design concepts with sample data, not screenshots of a released product.
Need something
similar?
Tell us about your workflow and goals. We will explain how we would approach it and what a sensible first phase looks like.