Canadian Construction Firm Restores Operational Continuity After Consolidating Fragmented Managed IT and Project Systems
The Challenge
GraniteWorks Construction, a national infrastructure contractor operating across multiple provinces, suffered recurring project delays and cost overruns due to inconsistent managed IT operations. Over the years, the company had outsourced critical digital services—ranging from project management systems to site connectivity and data storage—to multiple vendors without a unified oversight model.
This fragmented approach created gaps in accountability and visibility. When a core scheduling and procurement platform failed during a major highway expansion project, no single provider assumed responsibility for incident resolution. The outage paralyzed project coordination for an entire week, delaying subcontractor payments, disrupting client reporting, and incurring financial losses exceeding $2.3 million.
An internal audit revealed the absence of centralized monitoring, coordinated service-level management, or defined escalation procedures. Field offices and subcontractors operated with inconsistent access controls, increasing privacy and compliance risks under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The lack of integrated oversight left the organization exposed to both operational disruption and regulatory scrutiny.
Our Solution
Our Managed Services and Operations team was engaged to design and implement a Unified Construction Managed Operations Framework tailored to the industry’s multi-site and high-compliance environment.
The engagement began with a comprehensive operational assessment covering IT, project collaboration platforms, and field-based systems. Based on these findings, we implemented a single governance structure consolidating service delivery, monitoring, and accountability.
Key initiatives included:
– Establishment of a centralized Construction Operations Center (COC) providing 24/7 visibility into project systems, networks, and field data flows.
– Migration of all vendors and service providers onto a shared IT Service Management (ITSM) platform to standardize ticketing, change control, and audit documentation.
– Introduction of a vendor performance scorecard linked to compliance metrics, uptime guarantees, and response times.
– Development of unified escalation protocols to ensure accountability and rapid incident remediation.
– Implementation of proactive maintenance automation, patch management, and verified data backup routines across all regional sites.
– Alignment of operational processes with PIPEDA, ISO/IEC 27001, and Canadian Cyber Security Standards for Construction Services.
Through this transformation, GraniteWorks shifted from reactive vendor management to predictive, performance-driven operations that supported both resilience and compliance.
The Value
Within eight months, GraniteWorks achieved substantial improvements in operational reliability, accountability, and compliance maturity:
– 75% reduction in unplanned downtime across digital construction platforms.
– Improved mean time to resolution (MTTR) from 10 hours to less than 90 minutes.
– Seamless coordination among IT, field operations, and subcontractors via a unified service governance model.
– Successful renewal of cyber insurance coverage and audit confirmation of full PIPEDA and ISO/IEC 27001 compliance.
– 20% increase in project delivery efficiency, enabling on-time completion of delayed infrastructure contracts.
The unified operations framework positioned GraniteWorks as a trusted, resilient partner in public and private infrastructure delivery—transforming managed IT operations into a foundation for long-term competitive advantage.
Implementation Roadmap
1. Assessment (Weeks 1–3): Audit existing vendor contracts, service dependencies, and field technology integrations.
2. Framework Design (Weeks 4–6): Develop Construction Managed Operations Framework, define escalation hierarchy, and service-level metrics.
3. Deployment (Weeks 7–12): Establish centralized COC, migrate workflows to ITSM platform, and integrate automated monitoring.
4. Optimization (Weeks 13–16): Roll out vendor scorecards, automate maintenance cycles, and refine SLA compliance dashboards.
5. Continuous Improvement (Ongoing): Conduct quarterly operational performance reviews, risk assessments, and compliance audits.
