One Connected Operational System Delivers 2x Faster Data Retrieval and 6x Faster Onboarding
As Avanti Restaurant Solutions prepared for aggressive growth, its project operation needed to scale just as quickly. Avanti partnered with The DORIAN Group to connect fragmented workflows in Airtable, making project information easier to find, shortening the learning curve for new hires, and improving project coverage.
Client
Avanti Restaurant Solutions
Services
Digital Transformation
The Challenge
Avanti's teams were coordinating complex projects across spreadsheets, email, and disconnected workflows. Some project managers oversaw 40 to 50 concurrent jobs, while team-specific processes made standardization and cross-team visibility difficult.
When a client asked about a change order or another project detail, project managers often had to search across multiple sources to piece together an answer. The information existed, but finding it took too long. That fragmented setup also made it harder for another project manager to step in when a colleague was out of office.
Rapid growth raised the stakes. Avanti needed to scale its project management team quickly, yet bringing a new project manager up to speed took approximately six months. Leadership also needed clearer visibility into project risk, revenue projections, team capacity, and execution without adding administrative work.
Our Approach
The DORIAN Group expanded Airtable from a collection of team-managed workflows into a more structured operational platform. The work focused on connecting project information, standardizing repeatable processes, and introducing automation where it could remove manual effort or improve decision-making.
Create a Shared Operational View
Brand- and role-specific interfaces gave design, operations, and project teams a consistent view of tasks, equipment, change orders, delivery dates, installations, and billing milestones. A master calendar and improved time tracking added visibility across active work, while account managers gained centralized weekly reporting.
With key project information in one place, project managers could respond to client questions twice as fast instead of searching through separate spreadsheets, emails, and team-specific systems. When someone was unavailable, another team member could quickly see the current status, outstanding actions, and relevant client details, helping work continue without missed handoffs or dropped commitments.
Standardize Repeatable Workflows
Template-based project setup made it easier to launch work consistently. Project duplication carries forward linked tasks, equipment, change orders, and billing structures without requiring teams to rebuild them manually. Dedicated workflows also supported high-volume chain projects.
The same structure gives new project managers a clearer way to learn how Avanti runs projects. Instead of reconstructing processes from scattered sources, new hires can follow established workflows and find the context they need in one system. Onboarding dropped from six months to four weeks, a 6x improvement that gives Avanti more room to scale with demand.
Turn Project Data Into Action
Automation strengthened financial, capacity, and risk management across the project lifecycle. Recurring AIA billing entries can now be created automatically, with controls to prevent duplicates. Capacity-planning views show upcoming demand using projected task hours, while executive reporting recommends risk statuses based on schedule and order progress.
Centralize
Built brand- and role-specific interfaces, a master calendar, and weekly reporting so every team saw the same project data.
Standardize
Introduced template-based project setup and duplication that carries forward tasks, equipment, change orders, and billing.
Automate
Automated recurring AIA billing, capacity planning, and risk-status recommendations across the project lifecycle.
The Outcome
Across 68 completed or deployed Airtable enhancements, project managers now retrieve key project information for client requests twice as fast, and onboarding has dropped from six months to four weeks. Active work stays covered when a project manager is out of office, and centralized visibility, repeatable project setup, and automated billing, risk, capacity, and reporting workflows support the whole team.
Avanti can now bring new project managers into the business faster, cover active work more reliably, and respond to clients without searching across disconnected sources. The result is a scalable foundation that preserves flexibility across brands and project types while supporting the company's growth targets.
The DORIAN Group has been a very strong partner for us over the past two years. Their ability to understand project requirements and communicate effectively and frequently has helped us to adapt Airtable as our primary project management software in a matter of months. Now our teams are all operating on one platform and the improved workflows are helping us to scale our business more efficiently.
Rory Clarke, President and Chief Operating Officer · Avanti Restaurant Solutions
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