Case Study: Northeastern University achieves $9.8M in savings and streamlined capital project delivery with Trimble e-Builder

Northeastern University - Customer Case Study

Northeastern University, a large urban research institution in Boston with more than 29,000 students and a 7-million‑square‑foot campus, manages roughly 280 capital projects a year across a broad cost range. Their program was hampered by obsolete project controls — heavy reliance on Excel spreadsheets, a disorganized shared‑drive approach to documents, and manual "sneakernet" routing for approvals — limiting transparency, efficiency, and scalability.

To modernize controls they implemented e-Builder Enterprise, replacing spreadsheet workflows, automating nearly 9,000 business processes annually, and integrating Archibus to capture campuswide capital requests and embed industry best practices. The change repurposed 27 days previously spent on reconciliation and 67 days on duplicate payment entries (94 days total), helped facilities save $9.8 million in 2014, reduced financial risk, and delivered projects more safely, on budget, and with greater transparency.

Northeastern University

Gary Younger

Project Controls Manager of Facilities