Case Study · CMES Inc. · Civil & Construction
Five systems.
One operational picture.
Commerce Pundit connected finance, payroll, fleet, projects, bids and HR for one of Georgia’s heavy civil contractors - a secure operations portal and three AI assistants, built on the systems CMES already trusts.
- Founded
- 1996
- Team
- 300+ people
- Based in
- Georgia
- Delivery
- 9 months, phased
- Scope
- Portal · AI · Website
At a glance
CMES Case Study: Quick Facts
- Client
- CMES Inc., GA
- Industry
- Civil & Construction
- Challenge
- Data split across ERP, HeavyJob, telematics, HR & Excel
- Solution
- Custom operations portal & AI assistants
- Integrations
- Viewpoint Vista, HCSS HeavyJob, BambooHR & telematics
- Timeline
- 9 months + ongoing expansion
Reported outcomes
Less time assembling reports. More time running the work.
- 3,000+ Hours saved through automation
- 70% Faster operational reporting
- +45% Efficiency improve
- +60% Accurate impressions
01 — The business
A self-performing contractor running on scattered data.
CMES Inc. is a heavy civil and highway contractor based in Norcross, Georgia. Founded in 1996, it operates with more than 300 people and self-performs its work with its own crews - roadway construction, concrete structures and transportation electrical work.
Its operations spanned Viewpoint Vista, HCSS HeavyJob, equipment telematics, BambooHR and spreadsheets. Answering a simple business question often meant pulling information from multiple systems and stitching it together by hand.
The goal was not to replace those systems. It was to give every team a shared operational picture, while protecting the data and systems behind it.
Complex Systems, Connected
Bring ERP, field, fleet and HR together without replacing the systems CMES already trusts.
SI With A Practical Purpose
Make contracts, bid data and HR policies easier to access through assistants grounded in company records.
A Long-Term Delivery Partner
Move from discovery to phased rollout, then continue expanding reports and workflows as the business evolves.
02 — The challenge
One question. Five places to look.
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-
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- Crews, equipment and hours in the field. Every job generates time, cost and fleet data - recorded in different systems.
The question
“Where do we stand this period?”
Five separate sources
The result
Manual assembly, every period
-
Manual reporting
Job cost, work-in-progress, cash flow and payroll checks were assembled from several systems each period.
-
Fleet visibility gaps
Telematics and HeavyJob hours lived in different places, making utilization and standby cost hard to compare.
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Knowledge locked in documents
Contracts, specifications and bid packages had to be opened and searched one by one.
-
A website behind the business
Recruiting, subcontractor and brand content needed a modern, consistent public home.
03 — The solution
Built on what already works. No rip-and-replace.
Viewpoint Vista stays the system of record. The portal connects it with field, equipment and HR data - then adds reporting and super intelligence on top.
Existing systems
- Viewpoint VistaERP · system of record
- HCSS HeavyJobField time & hours
- Equipment telematicsFleet usage
- BambooHRPeople & HR
One data layer
CMES Operations Portal
90+ connected screens
Role-based permissions · Read-only AI · Activity logging
Six business areas, one connected view
Select an area to see what the portal covers.
Financial reporting
A clearer picture of financial performance, without assembling every report by hand.
- Income sheet in eight views, including YTD and budget
- Balance sheet and work-in-progress reporting
- 13-week cash flow forecast
- Financial covenants, GDOT 484 and bonus sheets
Payroll controls
Connect field time to payroll, and make discrepancies easier to spot.
- Pay-period and payroll (PR) registers
- Missing timecard alerts
- HCSS timecard status and man-hours by job
- Employee accumulation reporting
- PTO calculation & approval workflows
Fleet intelligence
Bring equipment costs, utilization and field hours into the same view.
- Equipment cost versus revenue
- Normal versus standby hours
- Telematics versus HeavyJob hours
- Utilization by equipment type and shop analysis
Project & job cost
Give project teams a connected view of costs, commitments and delivery.
- Job cost, revenue and forecast reports
- Buyout logs and purchase orders
- Contract summaries and task management
- Safety incident dashboards
- Resource allocation and scheduling
Bid & pursuit management
Bring opportunities, estimates and bid intelligence into one workflow.
- Bid summaries and item master data
- Pursuit and GDOT letting pipelines
- Wall, bridge and drainage take-offs
- Bid AI Chat for estimating teams
HR & hiring
Connect people information and everyday HR tasks with the rest of operations.
- BambooHR directory and discrepancy reporting
- Openings, job posts and candidate tracking
- PTO requests, approvals and e-signatures
- Onboarding and offboarding automation
- ID card, signature and business card automation
- HR AI Chat for policy and employee questions
04 — AI with a practical purpose
Three assistants. Answers grounded in company records.
Each assistant uses retrieval-augmented generation to answer from approved company documents and records - and shows the source.
Document Chat
“What are the liquidated damages terms in this project’s contract?”
Source → Project specificationContract
Bid AI Chat
“Which suppliers quoted asphalt on the last three GDOT lettings?”
- Read-only accessAI cannot edit records
- Role-based permissionsApproved data only
- Activity loggingQuestions are recorded
- Cited answersSource documents shown
Measurement framework
How We Count Hours Saved
Calculate the time saved for each recurring task, then add the totals across payroll checks, finance reports, fleet reports, HR lookups and document searches.
Hours per run × Runs per year × People involved
Added up across every automated task, this comes to 3,000+ hours, as reported by the CMES team.
05 — How we delivered
Nine months, module by module.
Phased delivery with user feedback built into every stage - and ongoing work on new features and integrations.
- 01
Discover
Map reports, systems and approval flows with finance, fleet, HR and operations.
- 02
Connect
Integrate Vista, HeavyJob, telematics and BambooHR into one data layer.
- 03
Automate
Deliver reports, exports and AI assistants module by module with user feedback.
- 04
Support
Monitor operations and improve reports, security and AI workflows as CMES grows.
06 — The public side of the business
A website that finally matches the scale of the work.
Alongside the platform, Commerce Pundit redesigned CMES’s WordPress website and built a unified brand identity across web, print, events and video.
07 — Ecosystem & architecture
Technology Stack
A cohesive digital ecosystem linking core operations ERP, real-time field tracking, database infrastructure, and secure enterprise AI.
Platform, ERP & AI Integrations
Frequently asked questions
Before You Start
Answers to common questions about connecting ERP, field systems, and AI in heavy civil operations.
Can AI be used with financial and HR data?
Yes. At CMES the assistants are read-only, respect role-based permissions so people only see approved data, and log every question.
Does this replace Viewpoint Vista or HCSS HeavyJob?
No. Viewpoint Vista remains the system of record. The portal connects Vista, HeavyJob, telematics and BambooHR, then adds reporting and AI on top.
How is the 3,000+ hours-saved figure calculated?
Hours per run × runs per year × people involved, added up across every automated task - payroll checks, finance and fleet reports, HR lookups and document searches. The total is as reported by the CMES team.
Can you add super intelligence to our existing systems?
Usually, yes. We connect to the systems you already use and ground assistants in your approved documents and records using retrieval-augmented generation.
How long does a project like this take?
The CMES platform was delivered over nine months in phases, module by module, with ongoing work on new features and integrations.
What does a custom operations platform cost?
It depends on the number of systems, reports and users involved. An operations audit maps your highest-impact workflows first so you can scope a phased budget.
Can you support a team without in-house developers?
Yes. After launch we monitor operations and keep improving reports, security and AI workflows as the business grows.
Who owns the code and the data?
Your data stays in your systems and under your control. Code ownership terms are agreed in the engagement contract.
Your operations, connected
Still stitching reports together by hand?
Tell us which report takes your team the longest. We’ll map how your existing systems could connect - and where AI makes a practical difference.
