StarTech Goes Paperless and Reduces Manual Work by 90% with ProjectBase

About StarTech

Company: Startech
Industry: Infrastructure & Project Execution
Employees: 52

Startech is a growing infrastructure execution company with offices in Kolkata, Mumbai, and other cities. With a lean team of just over 50 employees distributed across departments Purchase, Site, Estimation, and Accounts, Startech previously struggled with inefficient, paper-based workflows and disconnected systems. Their reliance on email trails, spreadsheets, and legacy software like E-Resource and Tally made it difficult to maintain visibility, ensure timely approvals, and streamline operations.

Challenges Before ProjectBase

Before implementing ProjectBase in November 2024, Startech faced several pressing issues:

• Delayed Approvals: Approving POs manually often took multiple days, slowing down procurement and causing on-site delays.
  
  
• Fragmented Communication: Site teams and purchase departments exchanged critical information via email, often leading to lost requests, delayed actions, and forgotten materials.
  
  
• Cumbersome Paperwork: Most operations were dependent on printed documents—making tracking, approvals, and record-keeping inefficient and prone to errors.
  
  
• Lack of Visibility: Project timelines, material flow, and billing statuses were difficult to monitor in real-time.
  
  
• Disparate Tools: E-Resource and its updated versions, Tally, and manual Excel sheets were used in tandem without integration.
  
  

For example, a particular material request could be buried under a chain of emails and might be pushed to the next month by the purchasing team. With no system to surface forgotten or low-priority requests, delays sometimes stretched for months.

ProjectBase Implementation

Startech onboarded ProjectBase to bring structure, speed, and visibility into their operations. With modules designed for procurement, site expenses, project management, and document tracking, ProjectBase offered an integrated ERP-like environment tailored for infrastructure teams.

Key outcomes of ProjectBase implementation:

• Paperless Operations: The entire organization from top management to site engineers has drastically cut down on paper usage.
  
  
• Rapid PO Processing: PO approvals now happen within 30 to 60 minutes, instead of 2–3 days.
  
  
• Centralized System: Every request, document, and process now flows through a single platform, eliminating data fragmentation.
  
  
• Mobile Access: Site teams submit expenses and upload documents via mobile, avoiding office trips and enabling real-time inputs.
  
  
• Management Oversight: Dashboards offer visibility into project bottlenecks, procurement status, and expense trends.

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Team-Wise Improvements

Purchase:

• Seamless MRV-to-PO conversion.
  
  
• Instant vendor communication post-approval.
  
  
• Easy access to price history for informed decision-making.
  
  

Site:

• Mobile-friendly expense and document submission.
  
  
• Drastically reduced need for paperwork and office dependency.
  
  

Estimation:

• Centralized access to historical project data.
  
  
• Streamlined coordination with accounts and purchasing.
  
  

Accounts:

• Automated tracking of payments and approvals.
  
  
• Reduced paperwork and reconciliation errors.
  
  

Management:

• Superboard integration makes document checking faster and more efficient.
  
  
• Quick retrieval of past records for audits or review.
  
  
• Real-time visibility into approvals, site updates, and cost breakdowns.
  
  

Quantifiable Results & Impact

• ~90% reduction in manual work across departments.
  
  
• PO approvals reduced from 2–3 days to under an hour.
  
  
• Complete elimination of paper-based trails for most operational tasks.
  
  
• Significantly fewer delays in procurement and site execution.
  
  
• Faster onboarding for new employees trainees pick up the system within 2–3 months.
  
  

Scope for Improvement

Despite a successful implementation, the team shared a few improvement areas:

• Tally Integration: Minor recurring issues (typically resolved within 15–20 mins).
  
  
• Admin Expense Tracking: A dedicated transaction page is requested for better visibility into non-project expenses.
  
  
• Workflow Precision: Current role-based approval structure could be improved by introducing job-type-specific workflows.
  
  
• User-Based Configurations: More granular workflow setups by user responsibility (especially for specialized projects like EMC).
  
  

Client Feedback & Support Experience

"Earlier, even small requests got buried in emails or forgotten entirely. With ProjectBase, we have full visibility, zero confusion, and 90% less manual work. Our teams are faster, our paperwork is gone, and we’re finally able to focus on what matters: executing projects."

Support Feedback: Rated 4/5, with quick responses and efficient issue resolution. Startech looks forward to a dedicated support team with SLAs once the system fully stabilizes.

Conclusion & Lessons for the Industry

With ProjectBase, Startech has made a fundamental shift in how it executes and tracks its operations. The transformation from manual, paper-heavy systems to digital, streamlined workflows has not only improved efficiency but has created space for growth and scalability.

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