Turning 15 years of stranded C&E project data into a governed, AI-ready asset
A global construction and engineering firm unified 15 years of project records across 11 business units, reducing storage costs, improving access to critical information, and creating a trusted foundation for AI.
A data estate built up over decades with no plan for what comes next
Over 15 years, project records had accumulated across SharePoint, cloud archives, file shares and business applications with no consistent governance. Administrative files defaulted to SharePoint; legacy engineering data stayed on file shares; nothing was formally retired. With 11 business units operating at 80% decentralization, there was no standard for when data should move, where it should go, or how long it should be kept.
Three problems compounding over time
Storage growth impacting SharePoint adoption
Unchecked data growth and the retaining of long-term content was impacting the widespread adoption of SharePoint, undermining the business case for using it as a collaboration platform.
No single view of a project's records
Data split across SharePoint, cloud storage, file shares, and other systems meant users had to individually query multiple systems. There was no way to find, and be able to use records, related to a project in one search.
No lifecycle triggers across 11 business units
Shadow IT and decentralized working meant long-term data simply accumulated. No defined event, such as project closure, triggered archival transfers. No global cradle-to-grave process existed.
Preservica as the single Digital Preservation archive for all long-term project records
Dramatic cost reduction at petabyte scale
Preservica delivers significant savings at scale. Long-term data held in cloud storage was moved quickly to Preservica eliminating duplicate copies held in SharePoint, cloud storage and system backups
One search across active, archived, and legacy content
Preservica enables teams to surface all records from SharePoint, storage, and migrated legacy systems in a single query. Security and governance controls enforce how each business-unit accesses information
Centralized governance, decentralized operations
Policy-based triggers configured around project closure and other lifecycle events can automate data movement for each of the 11 units. Each business retains autonomy; central guardrails apply consistently.
Historical data made AI-queryable
With records searchable, and preserved in readable formats, the firm is building AI integration to query past projects by geography, specs and precedents, using Preservica's open API capabilities
Measurable outcomes across cost, access and governance
Key Takeaways
Single query
Replaces multi-system search across SharePoint, cloud storage and backups
11 Business units
Governed under one lifecycle framework, retaining operational autonomy
AI-ready
Historical project data structured and accessible for LLM integration
Is your historical data structured well enough to query with AI?
Learn how 15 years of stranded project data was transformed into one controlled, AI-ready archive.
