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Practice management for architects, built around the stages the work moves through

An architecture practice is not a task list. It is a set of projects moving through stages, each producing drawings that get revised, issued, approved and sometimes built from the wrong version. Practice management software either understands stages, drawing sets and revisions — or it is a generic project tool with your firm's name on the login screen.

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The bar a practice tool has to clear

  • 01Design stages as real gates, not status labels anyone can drag
  • 02A drawing register where a revision has a history, an author and a reason
  • 03Transmittals that produce a record of what was issued, to whom and when
  • 04Client approvals captured in writing without asking the client to learn software
  • 05Fees tracked by stage, because that is how they are invoiced
  • 06Time and staff cost visible against the fee before the project is over
  • 07The studio's own accounts, not a spreadsheet the principal maintains alone

Version history is not revision control

Cloud storage keeps versions of a file. A practice needs revisions of a drawing: Rev C superseded Rev B, on this date, because the client moved the core, and it was issued to the contractor in transmittal 14. That is a record, not a file history, and it is the difference between a claim you can answer and one you cannot. The full argument is in drawing revision management.

Stages carry the fee, so they have to carry the work

The reason design stages matter operationally is that they are how architects get paid. If the stage is a label, the fee schedule is a separate spreadsheet and the two disagree. If the stage is a gate — with deliverables, an approval and an invoice trigger — the practice bills on time without anyone chasing it.

  • Each stage holds the deliverables it owes and the drawings that satisfy them
  • A stage closes on a recorded approval, not on somebody's judgement
  • The fee instalment for that stage becomes a receivable when the stage closes
  • The design stages, and why your software should know them explains the sequence in full

Where the practice and the site meet

Across much of South Asia and the Gulf the architect also supervises construction, which means the same firm needs a drawing register and a site report, a design fee and a supervision fee. Splitting those across two systems is how the second fee stops being tracked. Ofivio Architecture and Ofivio Build are the same spine, so a practice that supervises does not become two businesses in software.

Who this is not for

If you are on this list, Ofivio is the wrong purchase and we would rather you know now than in month three.

  • Sole practitioners with two live projects — the overhead is not worth it until drawings are being revised by more than one person
  • Firms wanting CAD or BIM authoring; Ofivio manages the register and the issue record, it does not open the model
  • Practices whose only need is time-sheeting for hourly billing — a dedicated time tracker is simpler
  • Studios that do not issue drawings to anyone outside the office

The products behind this

Ofivio ArchitectureFor architecture and interior practicesOfivio Planning & QSQuantity surveying and cost planningOfivio BooksThe formal books — chart of accounts through to P&L

Questions people actually ask

Does it replace our CAD software?
No. Ofivio holds the register, the revisions, the transmittals and the approvals. The drawing is still authored wherever you author it today.
Can the client see drawings without an account?
Clients get a read-only portal with a login of their own. They see what has been issued to them and can approve in writing; they cannot see your internal working set.
We also supervise construction. Is that a separate product?
It is a separate product on the same spine. The design side is Ofivio Architecture; the site side is Ofivio Build. Both read the same project, so a supervision fee sits beside the design fee rather than in another system.
How does it compare to the practice suites built for North America?
They generally assume the architect does not supervise construction and that fees are billed hourly. We wrote the honest version of that comparison in the best architectural practice management software in 2026.

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