Field Operations & Job Management Platform
A three-portal internal operations platform that replaced manual spreadsheets with a unified system for job management, real-time cost estimation, worker logging, profit tracking, and client invoicing.
Client
Warrington Installations
Product
Internal Operations Platform
Service
Product Engineering
Engagement
Custom Internal System Build
Client Overview
Warrington Installations Ltd is a UK-based shopfitting and installation services company with operations across Northampton and London. They provide end-to-end commercial installation services — from project management and manufacturing to logistics and nationwide rollouts — serving clients in retail, hospitality, office, and events sectors. With a growing workforce of 30+ field workers and 20+ active clients, managing day-to-day operations had become a significant operational challenge.
Operations were managed entirely through spreadsheets and Excel sheets. Worker job logs, mileage, hours, overtime, and expenses were all tracked manually. Profit calculations per job required manual arithmetic — subtracting all logged expenses from the client budget with no automation. Client job requests came in via email or phone, and invoicing was a time-consuming manual process with no centralised visibility across the business.
The goal was to replace all manual spreadsheet workflows with a purpose-built internal platform — giving admins, field workers, and clients each their own dedicated portal, with automated calculations, real-time job estimation, and instant invoice and report generation built in.
Problem & Challenges
Business Problems
- Worker job logs, mileage, hours, overtime, and expenses were scattered across disconnected spreadsheets with no centralised visibility
- Profit calculation per job required manual effort — no system to automatically compare client budget against actual logged expenses
- Clients had no self-service way to request jobs or receive cost estimates without going through email or phone
- Invoice generation was a fully manual process, time-consuming and prone to errors
- Admin had no real-time visibility into worker performance, job progress, or business revenue across active projects
Technical Challenges
- Designing three distinct portal experiences — admin, worker, and client — with appropriate role-based access controls within a single Next.js application
- Integrating Google Maps API for real-time postcode-to-postcode distance calculation to power accurate travel cost estimates
- Building a dynamic pricing engine flexible enough to support different worker types, hourly rates, overtime multipliers, and vehicle costs per mile — all admin-configurable in real time
- Generating formatted PDF job reports using jsPDF and full Excel exports using ExcelJS, both downloadable directly from the platform
- Integrating Google Drive API to automatically save generated reports to the client's cloud storage
Objectives & Success Criteria
Our Objectives
Success Criteria
Three-Portal Architecture
Build dedicated admin, worker, and client portals with role-appropriate access and purpose-built functionality for each user type
Success Criteria
Full Spreadsheet Replacement
Eliminate all manual Excel-based tracking — every workflow moved to the live platform
Real-Time Cost Estimation
Integrate Google Maps API to calculate instant job estimates based on distance, worker type, hours, and dynamically configured rates
Real-Time Business Visibility
Admin has live oversight of all active jobs, worker performance, and business revenue at any time
Dynamic Pricing Engine
Allow admin to configure worker hourly rates, overtime multipliers, and vehicle costs per mile — reflected instantly across all calculations and estimates
Instant Client Estimates
Clients receive accurate, auto-calculated job estimates in real time without admin involvement
Automated Profit Tracking
Calculate profit per job automatically from client budget versus all logged worker and expense costs
Zero Manual Profit Calculation
Profit per job calculated automatically — no manual arithmetic required
Invoice & Report Generation
Enable invoice creation per client per time period with downloadable PDF job reports, Excel exports, and Google Drive sync
Scalable Operations
System supports growing worker and client numbers without any process changes
Our Solution
We designed and built a full-stack internal operations platform on Next.js with MongoDB as the data layer, deployed on Vercel. The system comprises three purpose-built portals secured with NextAuth.js: an admin dashboard for full operational control, a worker portal for logging jobs and expenses in the field, and a client portal for submitting job requests and receiving real-time estimates. A dynamic pricing engine sits at the core — powering Google Maps-based travel cost calculations, automatic profit tracking per job, and invoice generation. Reports are generated as formatted PDFs via jsPDF, exported as Excel files via ExcelJS, and automatically saved to Google Drive.
Admin Operations Dashboard
Real-time overview of revenue, invoices, worker performance, and job status across all active clients — powered by Recharts visualisations
Worker Job Logging Portal
Field workers submit job logs with hours, overtime, mileage, itemised expenses, and supporting documents — all linked to specific jobs and clients
Client Estimation & Request Portal
Clients submit a job request form and receive an instant auto-calculated estimate before confirming — no back-and-forth required
Google Maps Distance Engine
Real-time postcode-to-postcode distance calculation driving accurate travel cost estimates multiplied by the configured vehicle rate per mile
Dynamic Pricing Configuration
Admin-configurable worker rates, overtime multipliers, and vehicle costs per mile — changes apply instantly across all estimates and calculations
PDF, Excel & Google Drive Export
Job reports generated as formatted PDFs via jsPDF, full Excel exports via ExcelJS, and auto-saved to Google Drive for cloud record-keeping
Twilio SMS Notifications
Automated SMS messages sent to workers via Twilio for job assignments, updates, and alerts — ensuring field staff are always informed in real time
Implementation & Delivery
Scope of Work
Vantagon managed the complete build — from system architecture and database design through to full-stack development, third-party integrations, and Vercel deployment. The core challenge was building three distinct user experiences within one coherent application, with calculation logic accurate enough to fully replace the manual spreadsheet processes the business depended on daily.
- Three-portal web application architecture (admin, worker, client) with NextAuth.js role-based access control
- Next.js frontend with dedicated interfaces, navigation, and data flows for each portal type
- Next.js API routes for all business logic — job management, logging, calculations, and reporting
- MongoDB schema design for jobs, workers, clients, expenses, invoices, and pricing configuration
- Google Maps API integration for real-time postcode distance and travel cost calculation
- Dynamic pricing engine — admin-configurable rates for worker types, overtime, and vehicles
- Automatic profit calculation per job (client budget minus all logged costs)
- Invoice generation system per client for configurable date ranges
- PDF job report generation with jsPDF and jspdf-autotable for formatted output
- Excel data export with ExcelJS for full financial and job records
- Google Drive API integration for automatic report saving to cloud storage
- Cloudinary integration for document and image uploads across worker and admin portals
- EmailJS integration for job assignment alerts and status notifications
- Twilio SMS integration for automated text message notifications to field workers
- Recharts dashboard visualisations for revenue, performance, and job metrics
- Vercel deployment with production environment configuration
Spreadsheets to Live Platform
Replaced every manual Excel workflow with a live digital system — zero spreadsheets required for day-to-day operations
Real-Time Cost Engine
Google Maps API calculates travel distance between postcodes and multiplies by the configured vehicle rate to produce instant, accurate job estimates
Automated Profit Visibility
Every job automatically displays profit based on client budget versus actual logged worker costs and expenses — no manual calculation
Multi-Format Report Exports
Job reports exported as formatted PDFs, full data exported as Excel files, and reports automatically saved to Google Drive
Dynamic Pricing in Real Time
Admin can update all rates centrally and every estimate, invoice, and profit calculation across the platform updates immediately
Technology Stack
Next.js
React
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS
MongoDB
Vercel
NextAuth.js
Google Maps API
Cloudinary
EmailJS
Twilio
Google Drive API
jsPDF
ExcelJS
RechartsResults & Impact
Warrington Installations replaced their entire spreadsheet-based operation with a live platform that gives every stakeholder — admin, field workers, and clients — a purpose-built experience. Job profit is calculated automatically, client estimates are generated in real time, and the admin team has full visibility across revenue, worker performance, and client billing without a single manual calculation.
70+
Total Platform Users
30+
Field Workers Managed
20+
Active Client Companies
100%
Manual Spreadsheets Eliminated
Evolution & Long-Term Value
Since launch, the platform has become the operational backbone of Warrington Installations' daily workflow. Admins, workers, and clients operate entirely within the system — no emails for job requests, no spreadsheets for expense tracking, no manual invoice calculations. As the company grows, the dynamic pricing engine allows rates to be updated centrally and reflected immediately across all active jobs and future estimates.