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Case Study  |  Commercial Construction  |  Public Sector

How Accenture turned its construction management platform into its competitive edge 

With VPO, Accenture gives clients more value for less: real-time project visibility, customized reporting, and no software fees. 

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The Background

A construction manager delivering public infrastructure at scale 

Anser Advisory, now part of Accenture, specializes in capital program funding, program management, project management, construction management, and executive advisory services nationwide. In Southern California, Paul Buckley, P.E., Senior Vice President and Managing Director, leads construction management for governmental agencies and architecture, engineering, and construction firms delivering large capital improvement projects.

Buckley has managed projects for more than 25 years, including buildings, bridges, harbors, roadways, utilities, and airports, with contract values from $1 million to more than $50 million. VPO has supported Buckley’s work for public clients, including Orange County, California, one of the largest counties in the country.

$50M+
Contract value on the largest public projects in portfolio

$25k+
Software fee Accenture keeps off client invoices

10+
Hours saved every week on manual reporting and filing

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The Challenge

The growing costs of manual project management

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Before VPO, project documentation was entirely manual. PDFs that arrived by email had to be printed, scanned, tagged with a unique identifier, and filed in a folder structure in Windows Explorer.

Reporting took dedicated manpower. Staff built reports by hand, and a dedicated admin spent hours populating Excel spreadsheets and Word documents before each meeting. Larger projects required additional staff, which raised costs and limited the firm’s project capacity. Clients depended on Buckley’s team for information and often worked from outdated reports handed out at the previous week’s meeting.

The available software options added a cost burden. As a construction manager, Buckley must provide a software solution for each client's project. Procore required a minimum lump sum of $25,000 to roll out a single project. Other enterprise systems carried astronomical implementation costs, requiring a full-time administrator and forcing teams to adapt their processes to the software.

Buckley needed to streamline documentation and reporting, reduce his team’s time spent on clerical work, and improve client service without increasing internal and client-facing costs.

“Prior to VPO, everything had to be manually scanned. Reporting of logs didn’t exist. Reports were created manually, which took additional manpower by a dedicated admin.” 

Paul Buckley, P.E.
Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Accenture (formally Anser Advisory)
The Solution

A customizable platform that was ready to use from day one 

Buckley chose VPO over other solutions for three reasons: cost, customization, and support. VPO implemented the platform with best-practice workflows and reporting customizations, and their team rolled it out in weeks with: 

3KWTP

Low-friction implementation

Buckley’s team was able to start using VPO within weeks, avoiding a frustrating multi-quarter rollout and IT hurdles.

Client access to their own data

PMs teach clients how to use VPO so they can pull customized, real-time reports whenever they need them.

Real-time reporting built into daily work

Project managers process submittals, complete reviews, and update fields that flow straight into reporting logs, with ball-in-court and due-date tracking to keep responses moving.

Built-in administration and support

VPO helped Accenture save $100k+/year on a full-time platform administrator. When a client requests a change, the VPO team rolls it out quickly without affecting existing work.

Project templates and forms

Staff start new projects by completing standard forms, with no new VPO contract required. As Buckley puts it, “It feels like VPO is part of my staff.”

Predictable pricing

Accenture knows exactly what it spends and covers VPO as a cost of doing business, so clients never see a software fee.

Customizable workflows and dashboards

Teams run every project the way its client wants it to run, without adapting its processes to the software.

A Microsoft 365 foundation

VPO is cloud-based, runs on the business apps teams already use, and is accessible from any device.

“I’ve been able to come to VPO and request a customization for a client. VPO can roll it out in no time, without affecting anything else that we’ve been doing. How do you put a price on keeping a client happy?”

Paul Buckley, P.E.
Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Accenture (formally Anser Advisory)
The Result

Enterprise-level project visibility
without the enterprise cost 

With VPO, Accenture eliminated hours of manual reporting and administrative work each week. Project managers can handle documentation as they work, with project data flowing directly into reports.

That shift changed how Accenture staffs its projects. On smaller jobs, Buckley and his PMs can manage documentation without a dedicated office engineer. On larger projects with more consultants, phases, and submittals, Buckley adds staff based on PM workload, not paperwork.

The result is more capacity to take on additional work without adding unnecessary staffing costs to the project budget.

Clients see the difference, too. They can access current project information and pull customized reports themselves, rather than waiting for Accenture’s team to compile the latest update.

The Three Kings Water Treatment Plant began producing drinking water for Park City’s municipal system in May 2024. The completed plant now produces up to 7.2 million gallons per day.

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The VPO Difference:

10+ hours of clerical work
eliminated each week

Reports generate automatically, so project managers spend that time managing projects.

Real-time transparency for clients

Clients can view current project data whenever they need it, without waiting for the next meeting report.

More work with fewer people

Accenture takes on more projects and generates more revenue without adding staff to match.

Less support staff on every project

Client self-service reduces the need for dedicated personnel supporting each project manager.

Faster response times

Ball-in-court and due date tracking keep submittals and reviews moving.

More confident status reporting

Client contacts have current information when they need to update their own leadership.

A competitive edge

Accenture can offer clients a customized project platform without adding a separate software charge.

“Our clients understand the value of VPO every day on their projects. It makes them feel good about selecting us. You can’t put a price on that.” 

Paul Buckley, P.E.
Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Accenture (formally Anser Advisory)
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Do more with the team you already have 

Schedule a demo, and we’ll walk through how your firm manages projects and reports today, then show how VPO would be configured for your team. 

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