Project Management Software for Engineering Consultancies

An engineering consultancy needs project management software that ties four things together: discipline-level tasks with owners and deadlines, the files behind every drawing revision, client requests that cannot slip through an inbox, and reports from engineers on site. Hamahang, built by P-Soft (Barsavosh Fanavaran), keeps all four in one workspace, on the web and on Android, hosted in the cloud or on your own office server.

This guide is written for design and supervision firms: architecture and structural practices, MEP consultants, multidisciplinary engineering offices and the project controls staff who keep them on schedule. Rather than repeat generic project-management theory, it walks through the specific friction points of consultancy work and shows how to structure a tool around them.

Why engineering offices outgrow spreadsheets and chat groups

Consultancy work is unusual because the same small team is spread across many jobs at different stages. On any given Monday, the office may be finishing concept design for one client, issuing construction drawings for another and attending site inspections for a third. Each client communicates in their own way, and the information ends up scattered across email threads, phone notes and messaging apps.

The symptoms are familiar to most practice managers:

• Someone keeps working on a superseded drawing because the latest revision was shared in a chat and buried.
• A client change reaches the structural engineer, but the MEP team only hears about it at the coordination meeting.
• Snag lists from site visits stay on paper, and nobody owns the follow-up.
• The director cannot see which discipline is overloaded or which deliverable package is late.
• At the end of a stage, it is unclear which fee milestones have actually been invoiced.

What should engineering project management software cover?

The table maps common consultancy needs to the matching Hamahang feature and the plan that includes it. There are three plans: Start for teams of up to 15 users, Pro for up to 50, and Elite with no user limit. Each higher plan contains everything in the plan below it.

A structure that works: job, stage, discipline

Decide the structure before anyone enters data. A pattern that suits most design offices: one project per appointment, one group of tasks per contractual stage (feasibility, concept, developed design, technical design, construction-phase services), and task names that begin with a discipline prefix such as ARC, STR, MEC or ELE so the list can be filtered at a glance.

Hypothetical example: a firm is in developed design on a mid-rise office block. The project lead creates three architecture tasks (general arrangement plans, elevations, key details), two structural tasks (analysis model and calculation report, framing drawings) and one task each for mechanical and electrical services. Every task has an owner, a due date and a reminder. When the architects finalise the floor plans, they attach the file to that task, and the structural engineer is notified that the package is ready for them.

The progress report then stops being a single percentage. The director can see, job by job, whether structures is waiting for architecture or the other way round.

How to keep drawing revisions under control

Be clear about the boundary: Hamahang is not a drawing viewer, a design application or a model-coordination platform, and it does not connect to them. What it does is give every file a home and a context. Four habits make that reliable:

1. Attach each revision to the relevant task, never only to a general chat.
2. Agree a file-naming convention covering job code, discipline, sheet number and revision letter, and apply it office-wide.
3. In the attachment note, record which client request or comment the revision responds to.
4. Mark the issued set clearly so it is never confused with working copies.

Our article on project files and attachments covers the file-discipline side in more detail.

Turning client requests into trackable tickets

A client request in a consultancy is rarely trivial. “Can we move the plant room to the roof?” touches structure, services and architecture at once. Left in someone’s inbox, that request has no owner. In Hamahang, an email from the client, or a form submitted on your website, becomes a ticket with a number, a status and an assignee, and tasks for each affected discipline can be raised from it. Setting this up is explained in email to ticket.

There is a commercial benefit too. At the end of a stage, the ticket history shows how many changes the client asked for and how much work each generated, which is useful evidence when discussing additional fees or a variation to the appointment.

Site supervision from a phone

Resident engineers and inspectors spend their day on site, not at a desk. With the Hamahang Android app, an engineer can log an observation as a task while standing in front of it, attach a photo taken on the phone, and assign it to the responsible party. Follow-up inspections go into the shared calendar with reminders, so closing out defects does not depend on one person’s memory.

Kanban, Gantt and dashboards for project controls

Once a firm is running more than a handful of jobs, task lists alone are not enough. On the Pro plan, the kanban board shows where each deliverable package sits (in design, internal check, issued to client, client comments, revision), while the Gantt chart lays stages along a timeline so overlaps between disciplines become visible. Dashboards and reports put all live jobs side by side, and notification automation keeps people informed without manual chasing. Our companion guide on kanban board software for teams explains how to set up the columns.

The team messenger, also on Pro, links each conversation to the task or ticket it is about, so a discussion about a connection detail stays with that detail and can be found later.

Client and subconsultant access: only their part

A consultancy holds information for several clients at once, and no client should see another’s job. Three Elite features address this:

• Organisational access levels: each user, including external subconsultants, sees only the projects and areas assigned to them.
• Custom workflows: you define the approval route for a deliverable, for example designer, discipline lead, project director, then issue to client.
• Customer portal: clients follow their own requests and their status without calling the office. Read more in customer portal ticketing.

Fees and invoicing per project

Consultancy fees are normally paid against stages. Hamahang includes finance and invoicing, so each stage invoice can be linked to its project and you can see which stages are delivered but not yet billed. It does not replace your statutory accounting system; it closes the gap between “work issued” and “invoice sent”.

Cloud or on your own server?

Hamahang runs either as a cloud service, convenient for smaller offices and teams spread across cities, or installed on your firm’s own server, which suits practices with sensitive projects or strict internal rules about where data lives. The web version and Android app are available in both cases. Existing job records kept in Excel files or a legacy tool can be moved across by the P-Soft team; how much is migrated depends on the plan and the agreement you sign.

Rollout checklist for a consultancy

• Agree the file-naming convention and job codes before go-live.
• Pilot with one live project rather than loading every job at once.
• Name a lead per discipline who keeps that discipline’s tasks current.
• Set up the client-request mailbox that feeds tickets.
• Get supervising engineers onto the Android app and record one real inspection.
• Review progress reports with the director after a month and adjust the structure.
• Use the trial period to test all of the above on real work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a ten-person design office too small for Hamahang?

No. An office of up to 15 people fits the Start plan, which already has tasks, ticketing, a calendar, file attachments, progress reports and the Android app.

Can we open and mark up drawings inside Hamahang?

No. Drawing files can be attached to tasks and tickets and downloaded, but Hamahang is not a viewer or design tool.

Can clients track their own requests?

Yes, through the customer portal on the Elite plan. Each client sees only their own requests.

Which plan includes the Gantt chart?

The kanban board and Gantt chart are included from the Pro plan upwards.

Does our project data have to be in the cloud?

No. Hamahang can be installed on your own server, or used as a cloud service if you prefer.

To see how Hamahang would handle one of your live jobs, visit our project management and ticketing software page and request a demo and trial.

Further reading

• What Is a Ticketing System and Why Do Companies Need One?
• The Best Project Management and Enterprise Ticketing Software in Iran: A Buyer’s Guide (2026)
• Enterprise Messenger vs. Ticketing System: Key Differences

Complete guide: project management and ticketing software