How a contractor put processes first — and combined HR, onboarding, projects and quality in Gluu

In construction, digitalization often means scattered apps and personal spreadsheets. Holbøll, a Danish civil engineering and contracting company with 220+ employees, chose a different route: put processes first. In twelve months, they went from fragmented tools to one shared, digital foundation for core work—benefiting site crews, clients and operations.

Holbøll built its new ‘holistic quality management system’ around Gluu’s BPM platform, creating end-to-end clarity on who does what, when, and how—across projects, functions, and support teams.

The outcome? Faster onboarding, consistent project execution, data-driven workforce planning—and an ISO 9001 certification with zero findings.

“The starting point for our digital transformation was a simple realization: Projects are unique—but about 80% of tasks repeat from project to project. Repeated work can be described and mapped as processes, and that’s where the system must start. We built the digitalization around what we do well—in one unified system—instead of chasing smart but disconnected software solutions.” — Martin Juhl, Chairman of the Board, Holbøll

The construction sector lags behind other industries in digital maturity. Holbøll recognized that technology without shared processes only adds complexity. By documenting and governing the way work actually happens—then enabling it in Gluu—they turned “how we work” into a living asset used daily on sites and at HQ.

The Challenge: Fragmented tools and siloed ways of working

Before Gluu, instructions and standards lived in emails, folders, and local spreadsheets. Teams solved local problems with ad-hoc tools, leading to inconsistent execution, slower onboarding, and missed improvement opportunities. Leadership wanted one way of working that could scale—without imposing rigid, top-down bureaucracy.

The Solution: Process-first quality management with Gluu

Holbøll flipped the script: define processes, then digitize. With Gluu, they mapped end-to-end workflows, assigned clear roles, connected work instructions, and made processes available to everyone in the field and office. Process owners and editors keep content current; versioning ensures that teams always use the latest standard.

• One shared source of truth: Processes, roles, and work instructions consolidated “in one system,” replacing personal files and scattered apps.

• Live, collaborative mapping: Process owners map with practitioners directly in Gluu—publishing immediately, then iterating as work runs.

• Process governance: Clear ownership, version control, and activity-level instructions make the right way the easiest way.

“Gluu is the tool we use at Holbøll to manage the processes for starting and running a construction project… we can publish [a mapped process] and it becomes active. Versioning runs automatically, so we avoid juggling folders, papers, and email threads.” — Kristian Harding Møller, Project Manager, Holbøll