CMiC Team Member Spotlight: Layne Black

nkreeger • October 16, 2024

Everyone on the CMiC Core Team brings a unique perspective to this complex project, providing skillsets and experience to ensure a smooth implementation, rollout, and transition. Layne Black, Director of Change Management, brings his Marketing & Communications experience to the team with an unmatched focus and dedication to the people side of change.

 

Layne graduated from Maryville University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. In 2017, Layne joined the Keeley team as an intern where he spent his summer rotating between every functional group across both Keeley Companies and ADB including Marketing, HR, Recruiting, Accounting, KeeleyU, Safety, and Business Development. Following the conclusion of his internship, Layne remained on the team as a part-time Co-Op in Marketing until graduating from Maryville in 2018.

 

Upon graduation, Layne joined full-time as a Marketing Assistant, providing support to all areas of Marketing. In 2019, Layne was promoted to Communications Manager where he managed all marketing efforts for functional groups & cultural pillars, as well as all internal communications and PR efforts. After taking over all digital marketing efforts and events, he was promoted to Director of Communications in 2021. During his time in this role, Layne managed a team of five responsible for all Digital Marketing, Internal & External Events, Internal Communications, PR Efforts, Marketing Analytics, Marketing Support for cultural pillars & functional groups, Marketing Support for the M&A process, Market Research, and overall Marketing Strategy & Support for the MAP Process. He also served as the marketing account manager for ADB Companies – participating in strategic planning and managing all ADB and subsidiary marketing & communications initiatives. Layne was a valued member of the ADB M&A team, providing support from diligence through integration for six completed acquisitions. He managed all marketing & communications efforts and participated in all aspects of the integration process alongside other functional & operational leaders.

 

Most recently, in September 2024, Layne transitioned out of Marketing into his new role as Director of Change Management where he will be focused on bringing the change management framework that we are building out alongside the CMiC rollout to other major organizational changes such as M&A integration, software rollouts, pioneer investments, market expansion efforts, and any other major changes within specific groups or companywide. Layne received his designation as a Prosci Certified Change Practitioner in 2024.

 

As Director of Change Management, Layne is dedicated to helping the company navigate major organizational changes with a focus on people. His top priority currently is the successful rollout of CMiC, focused on ensuring the organization is ready to adopt the change. This includes creating & leading the communication strategy, training processes, collaboration with stakeholders, and any overall organizational readiness activities.

 

“Improving our systems & processes and adopting smarter, more scalable solutions is incredibly important as we continue to grow. In order to be a billion-dollar company and beyond, we have to operate like one – and systems like CMiC that help streamline & standardize operations are key to helping us get to the next level.”

 

People are our most important asset and Layne is ready to make sure that Keeley’ns have the awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement they need in order to navigate and adopt this major change. If you have any questions or want to learn more about what CMiC means for you and your team, you can reach out to Layne directly at lblack@keeleycompanies.com

100 Days in CMiC

By Jonathan Cox • August 22, 2025
We’ve officially been live in CMiC for over 100 days! While we know these first few months have come with challenges and plenty of learning, it’s important to take a moment to celebrate progress. Our Keeley’ns are making strides, and we’re excited to highlight some of the wins that are already making a difference! Improved Processes through CMiC Time entry is quicker and easier, with mobile access making it especially helpful for our field teams. Having one platform across departments creates consistency and continuity. There was a steep learning curve that came with frustration, but as Keeley’ns have learned the system we have received lots of positive feedback! Check runs are faster and can handle larger volumes than ever before. From an Operations perspective, AP coding has been working smoothly, specifically the ability for detailed tracking throughout the process, helping teams stay accurate and efficient. From an Accounting standpoint, we’ve recently made updates to the AP process to increase speed & efficiency (workflow changes, CMiC enhancements, and more). Job setup is streamlined — no more duplicate data entry! Plus, the Salesforce integration has now been turned on which will further improve this process. Subcontract and PO workflows now include full audit histories, giving us visibility into the history and status of the subcontract or PO. Change order management through CMiC allows for more accurate forecasting and better project tracking. The Redlist and Fieldpoint integrations have gone live, both pulling time entered in those systems into CMiC for much easier payroll processing. Reports & Data Easier than ever through CMiC Teams have easier access to the data they need, supporting smarter, faster decisions. Custom dashboards allow Keeley’ns to organize information in the way that works best for them. Job cost drill-down reports & queries provide visibility into spending trends for reference and the opportunity to identify cost savings. Reduced syncing issues between systems mean fewer headaches and smoother workflows. Financial reporting is customizable, so anyone from AP to Project Managers can see exactly what matters most to them. Other Wins & Improvements Custom security settings keep data safe while allowing flexibility where it’s needed and our CMiC & IT teams continue learning more about security to make it work better for us. Training resources through CMiC continue to help Keeley’ns build confidence and learn as we go – with many more training materials to be delivered by the end of the year! There are so many more updates, enhancements, and process improvements that have come to life over the last 100 days since going live with CMiC. All of these wins are a testament to the hard work, patience, and collaboration of Keeley’ns across all teams. Thank you for embracing the challenges, supporting each other, and helping us get stronger every day. We’ll continue sharing wins as we grow with CMiC — and together, we’ll keep making progress!

Salesforce + CMiC Integration Details

By Jonathan Cox • August 14, 2025
This integration will share opportunity and account information between CMiC and Salesforce. Once an opportunity is created or updated in Salesforce, all relevant opportunity and account information will be automatically passed to CMiC. Updates to opportunities in CMiC will also be automatically passed to Salesforce. Once a job number is created in CMiC, it will be sent back to Salesforce automatically. It is important to note, however, that opportunities created in CMiC will not be passed to Salesforce, so all opportunities must be created in Salesforce . How the integration works: When an opportunity in Salesforce reaches the Proposal stage or beyond, its data is automatically synced to CMiC. Data from Salesforce to CMiC will be synced every 10 minutes at the :01 mark – ex: 11:01, 11:11, 11:21, etc. Data from CMiC to Salesforce will be synced every 5 minutes on the :00 & :05 marks – ex: 11:00, 11:05, 11:10, etc. The following fields will sync between the two systems: Salesforce ID (Links the opportunity across both systems) Organization / Business Partner Name Current Sales Stage Opportunity Financial Fields Key Dates Organizational Details (Department, Division, Office) Required Opportunity Fields Site Address Important Note: If an opportunity comes over from Salesforce to CMiC and the customer does not exist in CMiC as an Organization – then the customer will show as “New Organization”. If that is the case, then the customer either doesn't exist in CMiC or the Salesforce Account is not linked to an existing CMiC customer. First, search for the customer in the lookup for assigning the organizing. If the customer does not exist in that list, then the customer will need to be set up by Accounting. Please reach out to Sean Fleming for support. With questions or concerns regarding the integration between Salesforce and CMiC, you can reach out to your Operational Finance Team or submit a helpdesk ticket by emailing helpdesk@keeleycompanies.com

AP Process Changes

By Jonathan Cox • August 14, 2025
The transition to CMiC has uncovered some challenges to our AP processes for project and accounting teams. Over the past 90 days, we’ve been working through these challenges to improve the speed & efficiency of our process. See below for some highlights of these major changes & improvements. New Commitment Policy for Purchases over $25K As of August 1 st , Project Accountants have been rejecting any invoices over $50,000 that lack a valid commitment. As of September 1 st , this threshold will drop to $25,000. This means that commitments will be REQUIRED for all purchases over $25,000. This is a critical change aimed at enforcing procurement discipline and improving visibility over large expenditures. Workflow Adjustment for Invoices Less than $2,500 Invoices under $2,500 are now being routed to the PM only for approval and the Project Accountant is no longer part of the workflow. Approximately 70% of our invoices fall below this threshold, so this change is expected to significantly reduce the volume of approvals and streamline processing for small-dollar invoices. As a PM, please exercise extra discipline in the approval process since you are the last set of eyes on the invoice before it gets paid! Ability to Change/Reassign Invoices Users in operations have the ability to change the job number in the flysheet (header) in Image Manager within CMiC. This means less invoices should be returned to data entry and should result in a quicker turnaround on invoice processing and approval. Users in operations can also reassign invoices to others, rather than needing to reject them back to AP to be redirected. Additional training on this process is taking place in each of the business units. If you miss that training, please reach out to the Operational Finance Team (formerly Project Controls & Project Accounting) within your business unit for support. Importance of Quality Rejection Notes Users in operations will now be asked to categorize their rejections to clear up confusion and streamline the AP process. The three buckets in which you can categorize your rejection are DO NOT PAY, DATA ENTRY, and VENDOR ISSUE. Providing productive comments when rejecting invoices is extremely helpful in getting the invoice corrected or reassigned. If you have any questions regarding how to reject invoices or leave comments, please reach out to the Operational Finance Team (formerly Project Controls & Project Accounting) within your business unit for support.