Case Study - ARA Electrical
ARA Electrical Streamlines National Operations with Workbench
Part of the broader ARA Group established in 2001, ARA Electrical’s foundations date back to 1975 through one of its founding companies. Today, ARA Electrical delivers design, engineering, construction, and maintenance services across a diverse range of industries including mining and resources, infrastructure, steel, defence, renewables, and government.
With more than 750 employees operating across Australia, the business has grown significantly through strategic acquisitions and a strong focus on safety, quality, and risk management. ARA Electrical provides true in-house, turnkey electrical solutions ranging from small service jobs through to major projects valued at up to $50 million.
The Challenge
As ARA Electrical expanded geographically and through acquisitions, managing operations consistently across multiple entities became increasingly complex.
The business operates under numerous enterprise agreements and required a solution capable of handling a large and diverse workforce while maintaining consistency in systems, processes, and reporting.
In addition, ARA Electrical needed software that could support both fast-paced service work processing and detailed job management for large-scale projects. Existing systems, including LeveSys and Excel spreadsheets, were no longer providing the scalability, efficiency, or visibility the business required.
ARA Electrical also wanted to move away from paper-based processes and manual workflows to improve efficiency and support future growth.
Why Workbench?
When evaluating solutions, ARA Electrical was looking for a scalable, web-based platform that could grow alongside the business while supporting the complexities of the electrical contracting industry.
Workbench stood out for several key reasons:
- Strong job management and job costing capabilities
- Seamless integration with MYOB Acumatica
- Web-based accessibility across national operations
- Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) interpretation capabilities
- All-in-one job management functionality
- Strong period-based controls
- An experienced team that understood their industry and work-in-progress requirements
The Implementation Experience
ARA Electrical described the implementation process as structured, collaborative, and well supported.
The Workbench team guided the business through configuration, data migration, training, and rollout, with clear communication and hands-on assistance throughout the project.
The business identified valuable lessons from the implementation, including the importance of finalising internal purchasing policies and procedures earlier in the process and allowing additional time for testing and user acceptance training.
The Results
Since implementing Workbench, ARA Electrical has achieved significant operational improvements across the business.
Key benefits include:
-
Improved system reliability
-
Faster and more efficient month-end processing
-
Streamlined workflows and time savings
-
Greater operational consistency across entities and projects
-
Enhanced visibility into project performance and job costing
One of the team’s favourite features is the Job Enquiry screen, which provides quick access to detailed job information and supports better decision-making across projects.
Looking Ahead
ARA Electrical plans to continue expanding through growth, mergers, and acquisitions while further enhancing its use of Workbench and electronic workflows.The business sees Workbench as a key platform that will continue supporting operational efficiency, scalability, and consistency as the organisation evolves.
Keep up to date with what's new and exciting with Workbench
Blog subscribers get email updates daily, weekly or monthly. Automagically.