ALEC
When Andy Boutle moved from the UK to join ALEC in the Middle East, there were no standardised information management templates on the company’s management system. What started as a push to align with ISO 19650 turned into something much bigger — four departments, 20+ daily users, and use cases nobody saw coming.
Executive summary
ALEC, a large main contractor in the Middle East operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, needed to modernise their project management and move beyond Excel-based workflows. By adopting Morta and aligning resources to ISO 19650-2, they built standardised information management templates with dynamic table relationships across projects. They integrated with Aconex for real-time deliverable tracking, built automated package progress matrices pulling data from multiple sources, and extended the platform to non-BIM use cases including workforce mobilisation (20+ daily users), newsletter content management, Revizto feature tracking, and automated pre-qualification document generation.
One of our most successful implementations has been using Morta to track agency labour. We have about 20 people inputting into the system, and now it just runs in the background. Everyone gets on with it, and it works beautifully.
Andy Boutle, Head of Digital Construction @ ALEC
The results
The transformation was not just technical — it changed how departments talk to each other. What started as an information management tool for ISO 19650 expanded into four additional departments, each building their own solutions.
The workforce mobilisation tracker is probably the clearest success story. Agency labour onboarding — job offers, visa applications, start dates, current status — used to live in a massive Excel spreadsheet with multiple people inputting to it. Nobody could see the trends. Now it runs in Morta with 20-plus people inputting daily. As Andy described it: “It’s just running in the background. Everyone’s getting on with it, and it works beautifully.” Power BI dashboards embedded back into Morta show arrival trends and scheduling at a glance.
The newsletter workflow replaced a monthly email blast to 40–50 content ambassadors. Now submissions come through Morta form views, webhooks trigger emails to the marketing team on submission, and a separate approval workflow lets department heads review their sections — with automated notifications throughout.
Across the board, the dynamic table relationships mean data is entered once at source and reused everywhere. On projects with 50-plus work packages, Abdelrahman’s package matrix pulls live data from Aconex and automatically calculates engineering progress per work package — no manual reconciliation, refreshed daily.
When I came over to ALEC, the first thing I look for is standardised templates on our QMS. We didn’t have any defined templates for information management resources. So it’s quite a nice opportunity to start fresh and align resources to ISO 19650-2.
Andy Boutle, Head of Digital Construction @ ALEC
The challenge
When Andy Boutle arrived at ALEC from the UK, the first thing he looked for was standardised templates on the company’s management system. There were none. The latest project’s documentation would simply be carried over and made project-specific for the next one — no consistent approach, no alignment to standards.
The team was living in Excel. Workflows meant pinging spreadsheets back and forth by email. As Andy put it: “We don’t want to be using Excel in some form of workflow to collaborate on and ping spreadsheets back and forth.” For a main contractor delivering projects typically valued at over a billion dirhams, with 50-plus work packages spanning engineering, procurement, and construction — the manual reconciliation was unsustainable.
Different departments used different tools. The QAQC team needed to check every CDE upload against the information delivery plan, but there was no clean way to do it. Visibility across teams was poor. And the bigger the project got, the worse it became.
It’s really interesting how complicated it can get with Morta. We had to sit down, me and Andy, and try to understand how things are. And he created this map to try to figure out what we’ve created so far — and it’s still growing.
Abdelrahman Negm, Project Template Developer @ ALEC
The solution
The key insight was to treat information management resources as a connected database, not a collection of static documents. ALEC built what they call the “IM Hub” — a templates project in Morta containing all the ISO 19650-2 resources a lead appointed party needs: BIM execution plans, EIRs, TIDPs, MIDPs, responsibility matrices. For each new tender, they duplicate the whole thing into a fresh project and customise.
What makes it powerful is the relationships between tables. Andy mapped it all out: each box is a table, the red lines are table joins, the blue lines are select picklists. Data gets entered once at source and flows through to every connected resource. That alone eliminated a huge amount of human error and double-handling.
For TIDP entry, they split by department with role-based permissions. Each team — commercial, QS, and so on — sees only their filtered view and adds deliverables through pre-defined pick lists. It guides people into completing TIDPs correctly without needing to understand the whole structure.
On the integration side, ALEC connected Morta to Aconex and ACC Docs for real-time information delivery tracking. Abdelrahman Negm built a package matrix that automatically pulls project team composition data, receives dates from planners, and tracks engineering progress from Aconex — showing issued versus approved drawings per work package with automated percentage calculations. Power BI dashboards are embedded directly within Morta for reporting.
One of our most successful implementations has been using Morta to track agency labour. We’ve got about 20-odd people inputting into this project. It’s just running in the background. Everyone’s getting on with it, and it works beautifully.
Andy Boutle, Head of Digital Construction @ ALEC
The implementation
ALEC tested Morta on a new project starting in Saudi Arabia. They began with a BIM execution plan and an information delivery plan. Quick success with some good learning along the way validated the approach, and it snowballed from there — first into standardised templates across all new projects, then into entirely new departments.
The key to adoption was not trying to do everything at once. Andy’s advice is straightforward: identify a use case, start small and test. Work with at least one other person as a resource builder — Andy had Abdelrahman, and together they mapped out the entire table relationship structure. Some Python knowledge helps but is not essential. Bring IT along for the ride early to avoid architecture conflicts. And once you have a working example, engage other departments and empower them to start building their own resources.
The fact that four departments beyond information management — People & Culture, Marketing, Digital Construction, and Pre-Qualification — now run their own Morta solutions speaks to how the platform scales when you give people the tools and let them solve their own problems.
Before & after
No standardised IM templates on the QMS
Full ISO 19650-2 templates duplicated per project
Excel workflows pinged back and forth by email
Dynamic tables with data entered once at source
Agency labour tracked in a massive Excel spreadsheet
20+ people inputting daily, running in the background
About ALEC
ALEC is one of the largest construction companies in the Middle East, headquartered in the UAE and operating in Saudi Arabia.
What's next
Continuing to expand into new departments and use cases. The table relationship structure is still growing, with each department empowered to build their own solutions.
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Frequently asked questions.
Common questions about this template and how it works.
How does ALEC use Morta beyond information management?
ALEC has extended Morta into four additional use cases: (1) People & Culture: A workforce mobilisation tracker with 20+ daily users handling agency labour onboarding, visa tracking, and job offer management. (2) Marketing: Newsletter content collection via forms from 40–50 content ambassadors, with webhook-driven email notifications and a separate approval workflow. (3) Digital Construction: Revizto feature request tracking with two-way views for ALEC and Revizto teams. (4) Pre-Qualification: Automated generation of pre-qual documents by selecting required sections from a multi-select and producing formatted PDF outputs.
How did ALEC structure their information delivery planning?
ALEC built an “IM Hub” Templates Project aligned to ISO 19650-2, containing all information management resources including BIM execution plans, EIRs, TIDPs, MIDPs, and responsibility matrices. Each table has dynamic relationships — red lines for table joins and blue lines for select picklists — so data is entered once at source and reused across all connected resources. For each new tender, they duplicate these resources into a new Morta project and customise them.
How does ALEC track work package progress?
Abdelrahman Negm built a package matrix that pulls data from three sources: the project team composition table (packages and subcontractor details), planner inputs (key dates and weightings), and Aconex integration (document submission and approval status). The matrix automatically calculates engineering progress percentages per package based on issued and approved drawings from Aconex, refreshed daily.
What is ALEC’s approach to information delivery planning with the CDE?
ALEC’s QAQC department checks every CDE upload against the IDP — if a deliverable is listed on the MIDP, it proceeds; if not, it should be rejected. Morta integrations pull metadata from the CDE to track status, upload dates, and plan-vs-actual compliance automatically.
What tips does ALEC have for organisations starting with Morta?
Andy’s advice: (1) Identify a use case, start small and test. (2) Work with at least one other person as a resource builder. (3) Some Python knowledge is an advantage but not essential. (4) Bring IT along for the ride to avoid architecture conflicts. (5) Engage other departments and empower them to build their own resources.
Full community session transcript
Andy: I think Mo’s a bit generous with the title, Going Beyond Information Management, which is why I’ve put a question mark there, because I don’t think we are. It’s all information management. Probably we are starting to now use Morta for things wider than information management according to ISO 9650, which is probably where the titles come from there. So yes, I’m head of digital construction for ALEC, large contractor in the Middle East, in UAE, we operate in KSA as well, in Saudi Arabia. And we brought Morta in, coming up with two years ago when I moved over from the UK to ALEC. And I’ve got a mixture here of slides, but I’m going to do a bit of a live demo and dive into some of our use cases to show you how we’re approaching things. It’s very much a team effort. I’ve got a really good team who are all embracing Morta and some of the other tools we’re using and helping us to build resources and drive some of the benefits.
So Mo asked us to, you know, what’s your vision for information management? So information management in a galaxy not so far away. This is my not so amazing vision. It’s practical and where I hope we’re not too far from. So unstructured information is the exception, not the norm. Drawings are purely a medium to understand 2D views of a model with annotation and carry little contractual weight. All information exchanges, formal communication, appointments, project plans, trackers, and schedules are via systems and databases. Software vendors make IFC easy for users who haven’t got in-depth knowledge of the schema. Excel is used by individuals for ad-hoc personal business use only. Email is used more infrequently and for informal communication to external parties only. And task teams keep TIDPs up-to-date without prompting.
So when I came over to ALEC, it was a lovely opportunity. The first thing I look for is standardized templates on our QMS. We do have a management system called ALEC Central where lots of things live, but we didn’t have any defined templates for information management resources. So it’s quite a nice opportunity to start fresh and align resources to ISO 19650-2, for us as a contractor. And do we want to stay with good old Word and Excel or do we want to try something different? Database approach felt right and we looked at a few and I was already aware of Morta and we had an initial engagement with the guys and it became pretty obvious quite quickly that it was the right solution for us. Key benefits: no code, low code solution. Highly configurable. Dynamic resources and tables, a massive advantage. Integrations and automations. And really credit to the team, first-rate customer support. And it is affordable.
The first step we did when implementing was we had a new project starting in Saudi Arabia and we decided to test this in action. We started with building an execution plan in Morta and also the key one was an information delivery plan. Very quickly we got success with some good learning on the way and it just validated for us that this was a system that we wanted to take forward.
That then led to us developing our standard templates or our Information Hub standards which has all the 19650 resources in there for a lead appointed party. Whenever we get a new tender, we create an instance for that project in Morta, and then we duplicate all of those resources across and start making them project specific.
I’ve mapped this out a few weeks ago. Each one of these boxes is a table in that templates project. This shows just the tables that have relationships. The red lines are table joins and the blue lines are where it’s a select from a picklist. These tables really are dynamic. We’re entering data once at source and then joining to bring through data from that table to another table. That alone is increasing efficiency massively and also massively reducing human error.
For our TIDP approach, we’ve split by department for TIDP entry. We’ve got a view only, overall view for ALEC’s TIDP, but then we give contractual permissions for different people from each department to be able to go and build and add their deliverables.
Now I’m going to dive into Morta to show you some other use cases nothing to do with ISO-19650 or BIM but we’re really getting some good traction with some of our other departments. One for people and culture — agency HR. Marketing and comms — newsletter collection and approval. My own internal departmental project for Revizto implementation. And pre-qualification document creation.
For people and culture — it’s a labour tracker where we employ agency labour across projects. That was managed in Excel — onboarding, visas, start dates, job offers. Multiple people inputting to this huge tracker. No one could see the trends. This is probably one of our most successful implementations. We’ve got about 20-odd people inputting into this project. It’s just running in the background. Everyone’s getting on with it, and it works beautifully. We’ve got Power BI dashboard embedded back into Morta as an iframe.
For newsletter content and approval — our marketing team has a monthly internal newsletter. The way the guys were collecting content from content ambassadors was a monthly email going out to all those people. We’ve got a really nice process going now in Morta using form views for collecting it. When that form is submitted, our webhook automation triggers an email to the marketing team with a link. Then we have another process for content approval.
My tips for people starting their journey with Morta: identify a use case, start small and test. Work with at least one other person as a resource builder. Having some form of Python knowledge is an advantage. Bring IT along for the ride. Engage with other departments and empower them to start building resources.
Abdelrahman Negm: My name is Abdurrahman. I’m from ALEC, working with Andy. And we’ve been developing our project templates on Morta for almost two years now. What I found fascinating about Morta is the ability to link multiple tables together and validate data between them and also join tables so I can bring more data from different sources. We actually went ahead and created a map for the different tables that we have. It’s actually pretty complicated.
What I’m going to talk about today is the package matrix. We’re trying to track the progress of each work package. Usually, ALEC tends to have projects that are over 1 billion dirhams. So it’s quite complicated. We have a lot of work packages — 20 or 50 plus work packages to keep track of.
The package tracker is informed by the project team composition table, gets dates from the planners, gets progress from Aconex and then presents it on Morta. For those who are onboarded, I’m able to get the total number of sub-drawings, the issued number, and then the issued approval, and the approval number. This gives me the percentage of the issued drawings and percentage of the approved drawings, which reflects their progress when it comes to engineering. And this gives me an automated way to get their progress which is fed again into the package matrix.
This is all live on Morta. Using the Power BI visualization, we push this into Power BI which is published into Morta. We share this process with our team, with the upstream also, so they have an idea of what’s going on.
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