Outset Architecture – Zoho One Setup & Proposal Automation Case Study
Industry: Architecture & Design Services |
Location: Santa Barbara, California, USA |
Team Size: 2
Apps: Zoho CRM, Books, Projects, Analytics, Writer, WorkDrive, Forms, Survey
Executive Summary
Outset Architecture is a full-service architecture firm providing design, permitting, and construction administration services, with a focus on residential, accessory dwelling units, and small commercial projects. With a two-person team in Santa Barbara, California, Outset launched with Zoho One to run operations in one place. However, they needed guidance on setup, best practices, and making the apps work together from day one.
Zenatta helped Outset configure Zoho CRM as the operational hub, connect Zoho Books and Zoho Projects, and improve reporting with Zoho Analytics. In addition, Zenatta automated a proposal workflow using CRM, Writer, WorkDrive, and Zoho Sign—helping the team move faster while staying organized.
The Challenge
Outset chose Zoho One as an all-in-one platform, yet the team needed training and practical setup support to make the suite work as a cohesive system. In their previous firm workflows, they had experienced wasted hours moving data between disconnected tools. Outset wanted to avoid repeating that inefficiency, especially as a small team managing multiple project phases and financial workflows.
“We started this company using Zoho One as it looked to be the best all-in-one solution on the market. The challenges were training and setting up the Zoho software suite to work together, Zenatta got the software to talk to each other and took the guesswork out of what are the best practices. At previous firms, I managed a studio of architects BQE Core, Google Docs, Excel, and GanttPro. With that workflow, needless hours were wasted weekly inputting and exporting data from one system to another. I didn’t want to repeat that and when looking into Zoho, Zenatta looked to be the go to knowledge source to help set everything up.
Additionally, Books wasn’t talking to Projects, and was adding extra steps to track hours or import and export project data.” – Adam Grosshans, CEO & Architect, Outset Architecture
Why It Mattered
With only two full-time employees, Outset needed a system that reduced administrative overhead instead of adding it. Therefore, improving communication between CRM, Projects, and Books was critical for accurate time tracking, billing workflows, and project visibility. Additionally, a standardized proposal process was essential to respond quickly to new opportunities and maintain consistency across documents.
The Zenatta Solution
Zenatta focused on molding Outset’s Zoho One apps into a unified workflow that supported sales, delivery, and finance. The work centered on CRM, Analytics, Projects, and Books, while also using Writer, WorkDrive, and other Zoho apps to streamline documents and day-to-day operations.
- Zoho CRM + Analytics – Consolidated project dashboard: Built an Analytics dashboard to pull and consolidate project data from multiple sources. Then, Zenatta mirrored that dashboard inside CRM by creating a custom module that reflected the key metrics and project visibility Outset needed day to day.
- Books + Projects + CRM connectivity: Improved the relationship between projects, customers, and accounts by aligning how projects were assigned and tracked across Books and CRM. Because timesheets were not linking properly into Books, Zenatta implemented a workaround to ensure the data Outset needed from Projects, CRM, and Books could be shared reliably.
- Proposal automation with CRM, Writer, WorkDrive, and Sign: Implemented a Deal button in Zoho CRM that generates a fee agreement document using data from the Deal record, including owners, address, brief, and fee structure line items. The document added signature tags and saved the file into the Deal’s WorkDrive folder for consistent organization.
- Training and best-practice guidance: Provided training around Books processes, including retainers and other functions that required practical workarounds. This helped Outset avoid extra steps and reduce time spent troubleshooting or rebuilding project and finance data.
“They got us using CRM as a hub to connect the data between the projects. Zenatta used CRM, Writer, Workdrive, and sign to automate our proposal process. I can now send out a proposal out in 20 minutes, it is amazing.” – Adam Grosshans, CEO & Architect, Outset Architecture
Results
Outset is still refining systems as a newer firm, yet Zenatta’s work provided a strong operational foundation. As a result, the team gained a connected CRM hub, improved project and finance data flow, and a faster proposal process supported by automation and consistent document handling.
- Established Zoho CRM as a hub to connect project and customer data across Zoho apps.
- Streamlined proposal creation with automated fee agreements generated from CRM Deals.
- Reduced time spent troubleshooting Books and Projects workflows through training and practical best practices.
“We have only been in business for 9 months, so we are still in the implantation phase and refining systems. Overall it was been great.
– Adam Grosshans, CEO & Architect, Outset Architecture
They got us using CRM as a hub to connect the data between the projects. Zenatta used CRM, Writer, Workdrive, and sign to automate our proposal process. I can now send out a proposal out in 20 minutes, it is amazing.
We had some issues with our bookkeeping and Zenatta helped give us training to correct how we were inputting data. It would have taken us a day or more to figure out what we were doing incorrectly and it was cleared up with an hour of our time. Tapping into Zenatta’s team knowledge has been fantastic.
They went above and beyond by helping with our marketing material and setting up our website. There as been a few minor miscommunications on features and setup, but that was to be expected.”
