Operations for design, supervision and construction firms: projects, site diary, drawing register, permit tracker, inspections, and billing that follows progress — in one place. Built for the principal, the engineers, the accountant, the site — and a read-only view for the client.
For engineering consultancies and contractors. Screens show a sample firm. Contractor modules are switched on per firm; the site phone app is in beta.
Sound familiar?
Mixed in with family groups and forwarded jokes. A week later nobody can find the one that showed the cover blocks.
final_final_v3.dwgThree folders, four revisions, and the site is building from whichever one was printed last.
“Where are we with the building permit?” — “Ask Omar, he went to the municipality.”
Who was billed, who paid, who is three months late — reconstructed every time someone asks.
What gets lost: which drawing revision the site is building from, whether the plinth inspection happened before the column pour, which client owes what, and which engineer was actually on site last Tuesday.
A week at a consultancy
One example firm: five people in Dubai with a family villa in Al Barsha, a row of townhouses in Jumeirah and an office fit-out in Business Bay. Your week will have different names, currency and rules; the shape is the same.
The people in this story
An example firm — the names and projects are illustrative.
MonMonday, 9:10 am
Eng. Layla · Principal
Layla opens Datumly with her coffee. Six things need her. The foundation inspection at Jumeirah Townhouses is nine days late. Al Barsha Villa is 62% done but billed only to 50%. Each line opens straight into the thing — nobody has to ask around the office.
In Datumly: Today · lenses per role
TueTuesday, 11:30 am
Omar · Site engineer
Slab formwork is up on the first floor. Omar logs the visit — crew of 12, sunny, formwork braced — and runs the pre-pour checklist. The cover blocks are missing. That “no” becomes a defect with his name on it, due in seven days, before any concrete is mixed.
In Datumly: Site diary · Inspections · Defects
TueTuesday, 6 pm
Eng. Layla · Principal
Omar's diary lands in the approvals inbox with everything else that needs a decision. Layla reads it and approves it, and the record says so: approved by Layla, as Principal. Khalid will see the visit and its photos — never a draft, never the materials note.
In Datumly: Approvals inbox · Audit log
WedWednesday
Priya · Draftsperson
The electrician asked about a socket height. Priya revises E-01 Electrical layout to Rev C and sends it for approval. When Layla approves, Rev B is marked superseded on its own, and a transmittal records that the set of three went to the contractor today. The site builds from one drawing: the current one.
In Datumly: Drawing register · Transmittals
ThuThursday
Omar at the municipality · Eng. Layla
Omar spends the morning with the authority's inspector, and the foundation inspection is finally signed off. Layla marks the stage complete with today's date. The overdue line drops off Today, and the structure inspection starts its own clock.
In Datumly: Permit tracker
FriFriday
Joseph · Accountant
The design stage at Al Barsha Villa is approved at 100%, so Joseph doesn't re-type anything: Datumly drafts the milestone bill from the approved phase. Layla approves it, it is numbered on issue and prints on the firm's letterhead — your date format, VAT 5 %, “Ninety-five thousand UAE dirhams only.” When Khalid pays by bank transfer, Joseph records it against the bill.
In Datumly: Bills · Payments · Letterhead
FriFriday evening
Khalid · Client
Khalid opens the client view in his phone's browser: 62% done, Tuesday's visit with its photos, Rev C of the electrical layout, the permit stage. No internal notes, no rates, no other clients — and fewer “how is it going?” calls for everyone.
In Datumly: Read-only client view
How AI helps
The writing nobody has time for — the site diary, the morning round-up, the Friday update — drafted from what your team has already recorded, and handed to a person to check.
Nothing to install
Datumly's office app runs in any modern browser — open it at your desk or on a laptop on site. Bills save as PDF on your letterhead, ready to send to a client's phone. The site phone app is in beta.
Works where you work
Currency, calendar, tax lines, permit stages and checklists are per-firm settings and templates, with starting points for several countries. Each card says what works today.
Each firm picks its currency and number grouping — thousands (1,200,000) or lakh / crore (12,00,000). Every bill keeps the currency it was issued in.
Gregorian, or Bikram Sambat with AD alongside — with your own fiscal-year start, working week, time zone and date format.
VAT, GST, TDS or any other line — your rates, copied onto each bill when it is issued.
Tax lines, fiscal year, working week and approval stages for Nepal, India, the UAE, the UK, the US, Australia and a generic set. Starting points to confirm with your accountant and authority — all editable.
Dirhams, a January fiscal year, a Monday–Friday week and a 5 % VAT sample line.
Rupees in lakh and crore, an April fiscal year, a Monday–Saturday week, CGST + SGST sample lines.
GBP with VAT 20 %, USD with a sales-tax line you set, AUD with GST 10 % — each with its own fiscal year.
BS dates with AD alongside, fiscal year Shrawan–Ashadh, NPR in lakh and crore with the amount in words, and municipal permit stages for Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Pokhara.
VAT bills and credit notes sync to IRD's CBMS as they are issued. Built to IRD's published spec; IRD enlistment pending.
Nine stages from setting-out to finishing, as templates. Building-code references on each item are coming.
The whole office app in English or Nepali, chosen per person — technical terms kept the way engineers say them. More languages to follow.
| Eng. Layla | Principalfirm-wideAccountantfirm-wideProject engineerAl Barsha Villa |
|---|---|
| Omar | Site engineerAl Barsha VillaProject engineerJumeirah Townhouses |
| Joseph | Accountantfirm-wide |
| Khalid (client) | ClientAl Barsha Villa |
Multi-role
Roles are bundles of permissions. A person can hold several at once — firm-wide, like Principal or Accountant, or on one project, like engineer or site supervisor. Their permissions add up, and they get one home with a lens for each hat instead of four logins.
White label
What a house owner sees should look like your firm: your name, logo and colours on the office app, the client view, bills and the sign-in page at your own address.
Legal name, address, tax registration number and logo on every bill.
Across the office app, the client view and bills. Colours are checked for readable contrast before they are saved, and you see a live preview first.
yourfirm.datumly.app on every plan, with your brand on its sign-in page. Your own domain, like portal.yourfirm.com, on higher plans: add two DNS records and Datumly checks them. The secure certificate for your own domain is connected by the Datumly team after the check — not automatic yet.
A small footer mark. Business and Enterprise remove it; on Pro it’s an add-on.
Security & trust
Every request is checked against the person's roles on the server — hiding a button is never the only protection.
The client view is built separately: approved visits, approved drawings, passed inspections. Never drafts, internal notes, rates or other clients.
Approvals, role changes and money changes are logged with who did it and in which role.
Passwords are stored only as salted scrypt hashes, and sessions only as hashes of the token.
Your firm’s data is stored in the Singapore region.
Export bills, payments, ageing and timesheets as CSV whenever you like — Excel-ready.
Getting started
Client, authority, plot number, fee. Pick the project type — building design, design + supervision, structural audit, valuation, infrastructure — and the phases come from a template.
Invite the team and give each person the roles they actually hold — firm-wide or per project. One person can be Principal, Accountant and engineer at once.
Everyone opens Datumly to the things that need them: approvals waiting, permit steps overdue, tests due, work done but not billed, bills to chase.
Start with one project, invite the people who work on it, and give each of them their roles. Everything else can follow.