Company Overview
East River Electric was growing fast—but their project management tools weren’t keeping up. A competitor of Quickbase offered a quick fix, but as projects became more complex, their team faced inefficiencies, lack of visibility, and growing risk. By switching to Quickbase, they centralized workflows, change orders, streamlined schedules, and saved over $440,000 annually through time, risk mitigation, and resource efficiencies.
For Maria Anderson, Project Controller at East River Electric, Quickbase has become the foundation for data integrity, transparency, and future growth.
| With Competitor Software | With Quickbase |
|---|---|
| Project data buried in email | Centralized deliverables, RFIs & submittals |
| Manual schedule updates | Pipelines automatically update schedule progress |
| Change orders hard to track | Dynamic consolidated and filterable change order system |
| 75% user adoption | 84% adoption across 105 users |
| Inconsistent reporting | Configurable dashboards and validation rules |
| No visibility into ROI | $440K+ in efficiency gains, including $165K in annual net savings |
Challenge
Past project management software had been in place since 2018 and initially met basic needs. But as East River formalized its project services group, it became clear the tool couldn't handle their growing complexity.
“As our projects nearly doubled in numbers and complexity, our legacy software didn’t provide the transparency we needed,” said Maria Anderson, Project Controller. “Key personnel did not have visibility into critical details across the numerous project lifecycles. Deliverables were getting lost in email or overlooked. Change orders were hard to filter and track. We were spending too much time chasing information.”
Without a centralized system for schedule updates, RFIs, or document flow, East River’s team relied heavily on email—resulting in delays, lost context, and wasted time.
Solution
With input from project management experts, East River Electric selected Quickbase to build a single source of truth. They integrated it with their P6 scheduling system to sync updates. Change orders, deliverables, RFIs, and reporting were all centralized, giving every team member access to the same up-to-date project data.
They also built in data validation rules and filters to ensure that reporting remains accurate as projects evolve.
Impact
3,180+ Hours Reclaimed Annually
Quickbase eliminated thousands of hours of manual work:
- 2,200+ hours saved across workflows like submittals, scheduling, and reporting
- 675 hours saved by project coordinators
- 700 hours saved on design/compliance deliverables
$440K+ in Efficiency Gains
- $150K saved by freeing up the equivalent of one full-time employee
- $130K in process improvement efficiencies
- $90K in avoided revenue loss from project delays
- $30K in interest loss prevention
Higher Adoption, Stronger Buy-In
- Quickbase: 84% adoption across 105 users
- Past Software: 75% adoption across 55 users
Comparing Quickbase to previous software
In a side-by-side comparison, Quickbase outperformed their previous software in critical areas like task tracking, risk management, and system integration—with a final score of 35/40 vs. 19/40, according to Maria.
Why It Matters
Maria stepped into the Project Controller role to take on a challenge—and Quickbase helped her lead that transformation.
“I came from a very different role and background. When I accepted the challenge of helping East River Electric build a robust Project Management Information System, I took this on knowing it was going to be a huge undertaking,” she said. “Quickbase made it manageable, yet customizable. Quickbase allowed us to carry out our vision of what a Project Management Information System looked like to us. We have built something that can scale as we continue to grow and evolve.”
While she’s still finalizing some of the ROI reporting, Maria’s team is already seeing the results.
Quickbase didn’t just replace previous software—it gave East River Electric a platform to grow on. With better visibility, real-time schedule updates, and centralized control, they’ve reclaimed time, reduced risk, and saved over $440K a year.
