Building systems design consulting requires precision, consistency, and seamless information flow across multiple disciplines and locations. Design Engineers, a 70-person and growing building systems design consultancy specializing in plumbing, heating, HVAC, and electrical power systems across the Midwest, was struggling with scattered information and inconsistent processes. When implementing the EOS system revealed just how fragmented their knowledge really was, they knew they needed a centralized solution. That's when they discovered Waybook.
Before Waybook, Design Engineers faced knowledge management challenges that were limiting their operational effectiveness and growth potential
Information was scattered across SharePoint sites, server structures, and PDF documents with no clear ownership or version control. Critical processes existed in various forms, but employees often couldn't find what they needed when they needed it, leading to inconsistent execution across projects.
Project managers performed similar tasks in completely different ways, and new hires lacked access to essential information that others took for granted. The mentor-driven culture assumed knowledge transfer happened through osmosis or proximity, but this informal approach created gaps and inconsistencies.
During their EOS Core Process implementation exercise, a recurring theme emerged across the organization - people didn't know critical documents existed. Valuable processes and procedures lived in employees' minds rather than accessible, documented formats that could be shared and standardized.
As our staff continued to grow, our processes and systems were not evolving at the proper pace to support more people needing access to up-to-date and consistent information.
Waybook provided Design Engineers with the centralized knowledge management platform they needed to transform their operations and culture.
Waybook became the single repository for all company-related content - policies, procedures, and essential information that everyone in the organization needed. No more hunting through SharePoint or wondering if documents were current; everything lived in one accessible, searchable location.
The platform enabled Design Engineers to build comprehensive onboarding processes using learning paths, ensuring new hires received consistent, complete information. This reinforced face-to-face training while providing a reliable reference employees could return to whenever needed.
Instead of scrolling through 17-page PDFs to find PTO guidelines, employees could simply search and find exactly what they needed instantly. The platform also made updating and maintaining information dramatically easier, with collaborative editing and clear version control.
We started out with the approach with Waybook of getting our company content in there - company-related content - so not discipline specific, but the type of information that is important to everyone, such as our company policies, procedures. We also built out our onboarding processes.
Design Engineers took a strategic approach to implementation, focusing on building the right foundation and maintaining momentum through dedicated team support. They started with company-wide content before expanding into department-specific information, ensuring broad adoption before diving deeper. The key to their success was establishing a team of four people who champion the platform, review usage data weekly, and continuously advocate for its adoption across the organization. Leadership buy-in proved essential, as did treating the implementation as a culture change rather than just a new tool.
I would say my role with Waybook is to champion - this is a culture change, and I feel like we are just starting to get our content in Waybook. We've come a long way. There is a team of four of us that meets every week. I think that the weekly time we set aside and devote to discussing improving, advocating for Waybook has made a significant difference in how it has been adopted in our organization.
Six months after going live, Design Engineers has seen significant improvements in how their organization manages and accesses information.
Employees now instinctively know where to go for information, with Waybook becoming part of everyday conversation. People reference finding things "in Waybook" and direct colleagues there first before asking questions, showing true cultural adoption.
What used to take 10+ minutes of searching SharePoint, asking colleagues, and scrolling through lengthy documents now happens instantly. Employees can search for specific terms like "PTO" and get immediate, accurate results without the frustration of hunting through multiple systems.
New hires receive more comprehensive, organized information through structured learning paths. The onboarding coordinator sees fewer follow-up questions because employees know they have a reliable resource to reference independently.
Updating policies and procedures went from a cumbersome process of finding Word documents, saving PDFs, and emailing for review to seamless collaborative editing with immediate publishing. This improved accuracy and encouraged more frequent updates.
What may have taken 10 minutes to go to SharePoint and look at the company policy, ask a couple of other people if they know where it is, find it, and then look through a 17-page document to find the information I need is now instant! I go into Waybook, search for a keyword, I have my guidelines, and I'm done.
Waybook fundamentally changed how Design Engineers operates as an organization. The transformation went beyond simple efficiency gains to create a culture where information is valued, accessible, and consistently maintained. Employees feel more educated and empowered with information at their fingertips, allowing them to focus their energy on their core expertise as building systems design consultants rather than navigating processes and hunting for procedures. The weekly team meetings and ongoing commitment to evolution show how Waybook became embedded in their operational DNA.
The more you use it, the more efficient operations become, consistency happens, employees are satisfied because they feel educated and have information at their fingertips and then they can use that time for their superpowers and for us that's in performing their work as building systems design consultants and not in navigating and poking for processes and procedures.
Design Engineers continues to expand their Waybook implementation, moving into department-specific content and more granular procedures. They're building out software and tools sections while maintaining their weekly team meetings to champion adoption and gather feedback. The organization recognizes that their biggest efficiency gains will come when daily work information is fully integrated, allowing them to measure concrete time savings in their core engineering activities.
We're kind of in that hybrid role until we're all in Waybook. I'm excited for that day. That's going to be a game changer when the team is searching for something in a design guide versus going to find the design guide.
Design Engineers successfully transformed their knowledge management culture with Waybook, creating the single source of truth they desperately needed. Through strategic implementation, dedicated team support, and strong leadership commitment, they've built a system that not only organizes information but fundamentally changes how their 70-person team accesses and shares knowledge across multiple offices. The platform has become an essential tool that ensures employees have updated, relevant information to perform their jobs well while saving significant time previously lost to information hunting.
