Switching construction management platforms isn’t something that teams can do on a whim. You’re not just buying new software (which can be a massive financial investment), but you're also budgeting for migration costs, carving out time for training, and figuring out how to keep live projects moving throughout the process.
If not done right, switching platforms can be challenging. But if you have the right platform and migration plan, the effort and investment will pay off.
Case in point: Cleveland Construction, a national general contractor serving markets like K-12, multifamily, hospitality, and historic adaptive reuse.
Cleveland Construction started looking at Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) after evaluating the costs of Procore, their software at the time. The firm ultimately made the switch not only because the cost model no longer made sense, but because they saw an opportunity to modernize how their teams worked.
In our recent webinar, From Procore to ACC: Cleveland Construction’s Blueprint for a Seamless Transition, leaders from Cleveland Construction and its implementation partner, IMAGINiT, shared their step‑by‑step migration process, the business drivers behind the change, and the unexpected wins they achieved with ACC.
Clear communication and transparency are some of the key pillars of successful change management. This is particularly important if you’re swapping a major part of your tech stack, like your construction management platform.
Since multiple teams are impacted by the platform change, you need to set the context and build buy-in early.
This is exactly what Cleveland Construction did.
“The biggest thing we did right out of the gate was explaining to everybody why we were looking at ACC and why it made sense from a financial standpoint,” said Elliot Christiansen, Sr. Vice President of Operations at Cleveland Construction.
In addition to explaining the “why” behind the switch, Elliot also involved users and stakeholders in a number of software demonstrations and got their input.
Teams were brought in after the selection process to use ACC in a hands-on, practical way.
“We got them involved in creating forms and making sure that the daily job report was the way the superintendents wanted it. We also made sure that the approval workflows were a way that would work for our project management staff,” recalled Elliot.
All of that was easy to do with ACC thanks to the platform’s modular structure that enabled teams to align new workflows with the company’s existing operational needs.
All in all, Elliot says that involving teams beyond the executive level helped make the transition smoother.
Don’t just treat the migration process as the means to swap your software; rather, view it as an opportunity to level up your processes.
Many teams migrate by trying to recreate their old system inside a new one. Cleveland Construction used this transition as a strategic opportunity to modernize workflows, eliminate legacy friction, and standardize processes company‑wide.
Elliot and the team didn’t approach migration as a one-to-one rebuild. They treated it as a chance to step back and ask harder questions about how work actually gets done.
According to Elliot, this is an approach that he would’ve doubled down on, knowing now how beneficial it was to implement those changes as the firm migrated to ACC.
“I would have spent more time thinking about what in the company I would change, when it came to how we do things,” he explained. “Do we need to change some of our workflows? Do we need to change some of our sign-off thresholds? This is a great opportunity to do those types of things.”
One excellent example of this mindset in practice is how Cleveland reworked its approval workflows. Instead of routing internal approvals through DocuSign, Cleveland now handles those workflows directly in ACC.
“Even internal approvals were done in a DocuSign envelope,” Elliot said. “So we were paying for it every time, even if it got rejected.”
With ACC, internal approvals happen in-platform, and only finalized items move to DocuSign for external signatures. The same thinking applied to subcontract generation. Templates now auto-generate from the cost tool, route for signature, and save back automatically. “It probably reduced our contract admins’ workload by 75%,” Elliot noted.
Switching platforms can be daunting. The good news is that you don’t have to do it on your own. Find a partner that can support with transitioning your workflows, leveling up your processes, and keeping the rollout on track.
For Cleveland Construction, that provider was IMAGINiT Technologies, an Autodesk Platinum Partner that helps firms implement technology solutions and maximize their ROI.
Vince Daniele, IMAGINiT's Construction Solutions Team Manager, says the key is to treat implementation as a structured, phased process that starts with deep discovery. “We meet with different teams and really understand how they’re using their current platform,” Vince explained. From there, IMAGINiT typically configures a foundational ACC project template and train a core group of admins using real workflows.
What made Cleveland’s rollout faster was using live data. IMAGINiT migrated an active Procore project into ACC so teams could train in an environment that already felt familiar. “They weren’t just seeing a new tool,” Vince said. “They were seeing their own RFIs, sheets, and logs.”
After go-live, IMAGINiT stayed involved with mentoring and fine-tuning. The result was a smooth transition completed in just three to six months.
If your construction management platform doesn’t work for the field, it won’t get used consistently, no matter how powerful it is.
Cleveland kept field teams in mind throughout the entire process. In addition to having superintendents in the loop from the get-go, they built mobile‑first experiences with easy forms, fewer clicks, and in‑context automation.
All that effort paid off, with ACC being quickly adopted in the field.
ACC was well received by Cleveland Construction’s field teams, which was one of the biggest surprises of the rollout. “That’s actually where I thought I’d get the most pushback,” Elliot said.
Daily reporting was a major concern early on. “Procore has a very good daily log tool,” Elliot said. “But by spending time with Vince and his team to really get this right in the forms tool, I think we actually have a better setup in Autodesk than we had before.” Cleveland rebuilt daily reports using ACC Forms and Issues, turning them into structured, field-friendly workflows instead of free-text logs.
Superintendents now answer simple yes-or-no questions, like whether a job was delayed by weather. If the answer is no, they move on. If it’s yes, ACC requires them to create an Issue before they can close the report. That Issue pulls from a predefined template, with dropdowns instead of typing, and automatically notifies the right people. The same logic applies to deliveries, inspections, and other delays.
“We combined multiple forms our teams used to fill out into one,” Elliot explained. “It made it easier for everyone.”
Field teams also responded well to ACC’s mobile experience. The system tags photos, captures GPS location, and behaves much the same way teams were used to. Sheets and markups worked as expected, and the mobile app let teams choose which projects to sync so devices didn’t get overloaded. “If you’re working on multiple projects, you’re not eating up all the memory on your device,” Elliot added.
Even scheduling landed well. “The schedule tool has been very well received,” he noted, especially since updates can now happen directly from the field.
Upgrading your construction management platform doesn’t just benefit your internal teams; it can also remove friction from how you work with external partners.
In the case of Cleveland Construction, ACC helped enhance collaboration between the firm’s teams and the external architects they worked with.
"It wasn't necessarily something that I thought about when we were evaluating it originally, but as a byproduct of switching, we do have a much easier time coordinating RFIs and submittals with our architecture partners. We always used to get a lot of pushback forcing Procore on them,” remarked Elliot.
With ACC, Cleveland was able to meet its partners where they already work. “Now we’re giving them access to ACC,” Elliot explained. “Most of them already have an account, so we can bridge folders together.”
That flexibility opened the door to deeper integration. Using IMAGINiT’s Pulse integration platform, Cleveland now syncs submittals between its ACC environment and an owner’s ACC system. Submittals move automatically into the owner’s workflow, route through architect review, and return with statuses like approved, approved as noted, or revise and resubmit. “That was never something we could have accomplished in Procore,” Elliot said. “They never worked together that well.”
Trade partners benefited too. According to Elliot:
“We're starting to notice that a lot of the subcontractor trades have used ACC quite a bit and are pretty familiar with it. Some even have their own accounts, and it's easy to share files back and forth.”
Asking people to adopt a new platform is a big ask, so identifying, communicating, and celebrating wins—big and small—can build momentum.
Early proof that the switch is working gives teams more confidence, especially when those wins show up in their day-to-day work.
Some of the biggest wins that ACC helped Cleveland Construction achieve include:
Beyond that, Elliot also called out incremental wins, like saving 30 seconds at a time throughout the day.
Projects now start with hundreds of files already loaded instead of being manually uploaded. And because ACC uses flyout windows rather than full-page reloads, teams stay in their flow. “It sounds like a small detail,” Elliot said, “but if you’re saving 30 seconds a hundred times a day, it adds up. It’s a little thing, but it goes a long way for a project team.”
Switching platforms doesn’t have to mean disruption. Cleveland Construction’s experience shows us that when you involve stakeholders early and engage the right implementation partner, migration can become a catalyst for better workflows and stronger collaboration.
Watch the on-demand webinar to see how Cleveland Construction planned, executed, and scaled their move to Autodesk Construction Cloud.
