How OpenAsset Helped Schmidt Associates Organize Data
Jun 30, 2025
When disconnected tools and siloed teams began to hinder collaboration and efficiency, Schmidt Associates set out to improve data management with OpenAsset. Combining the power of OpenAsset‘s DAM and Knowledge Architecture’s Synthesis platform, they created a centralized, visual knowledge hub that empowers project storytelling, supports marketing and operations alignment, and improves firm-wide engagement.
About Schmidt Associates
Schmidt Associates is a women-owned, full-service architecture and engineering firm with offices in Indianapolis and Louisville. The firm serves clients in the community, healthcare, higher education, and K-12 sectors and is rooted in a philosophy of servant leadership. Its team combines strong technical execution with a collaborative design approach to deliver meaningful spaces for the communities it serves.
The Challenge: Disconnected Systems and Siloed Teams
Before OpenAsset and Synthesis, Schmidt Associates managed data across disconnected systems. Project photos lived on Flickr. Proposal copy was stored in Word documents. The intranet ran on SharePoint.
“We were doing a lot of the right things—but doing them five different times in five different places,”
—Greg Hempstead, Project Delivery Systems Manager, Schmidt Associates
The lack of centralization made it difficult to find the right resources and correct any issues promptly. This led to inefficiencies, duplication of work, and internal friction between teams. The marketing and operations departments had separate processes and tools, which made collaboration difficult.
“There was a natural disconnect. We needed something to bring us together.”
—Greg Hempstead, Project Delivery Systems Manager, Schmidt Associates
OpenAsset’s DAM Solution: Centralized Content and Connected Workflows
Schmidt Associates implemented OpenAsset and Synthesis in tandem to centralize project data, connect teams, and streamline marketing and knowledge-sharing workflows.
Knowledge Architecture (KA) provides an intranet and AI search platform for the AEC industry, integrating with tools like OpenAsset. Their platform, Synthesis, connects people, projects, and processes, bringing key information to the surface and building a knowledge-sharing culture across the firm.
With OpenAsset, the team could store and tag photos, generate resumes and project sheets from templates, and link everything to employee and project records from Deltek VantagePoint.
Through its integration with Synthesis, all that rich content now flows directly into the firm’s intranet—known internally as CAL—where staff across departments can search, view, and engage with it.
“Now, marketing can upload photos, tag them once, and those images appear automatically in CAL. It’s all connected.”
—Libby Budak, Data Specialist, Schmidt Associates
The Results
By integrating OpenAsset and Synthesis, Schmidt Associates streamlined their tech stack and transformed how teams work, collaborate, and engage with project data. What began as a solution to content silos has evolved into a system that empowers faster content creation, stronger interdepartmental alignment, and firm-wide engagement.
From AI-assisted workflows to automated proposal materials, the results speak for themselves.
1. Seamless Content Creation
OpenAsset’s InDesign templates have transformed Schmidt’s proposal process. Resumes and project sheets are auto-generated from live project data, drastically reducing the time required to prepare pursuit materials.
“The resume and project page templates have been huge. And now, we can generate multiple at once, saving even more time.”
—Karen Gilmore, Senior Graphic Designer, Schmidt Associates
2. Stronger Collaboration Between Departments
What used to be a siloed workflow is now a shared initiative. Marketing and operations work together to ensure project data is complete and accurate.
This collaboration has also allowed the graphics and marketing teams to trust the data in the systems and access project images more efficiently, improving their performance.
“We finally had a project that both departments could rally around.”
—Greg Hempstead, Project Delivery Systems Manager, Schmidt Associates
The tools serve as a neutral ground to build understanding and awareness between teams, making project storytelling a firm-wide effort, not just a marketing task.
3. More Engaged Employees
Schmidt Associates has created a culture of engagement by integrating project photos into the firm’s news feed and directory. Employees use CAL to explore what their peers are working on, comment on posts, and even contribute their own content.
“People want to engage. They’ll comment, like, and even share their own Throwback Thursday photos. That kind of visibility builds connection.”
—Greg Hempstead, Project Delivery Systems Manager, Schmidt Associates
4. Smarter Use of AI
OpenAsset’s AI search and text generation tools are helping Schmidt Associates work faster. From locating obscure photos (“blue stairs”) to drafting project descriptions, AI speeds up creative workflows while improving consistency.
Synthesis also introduced AI search capabilities to surface project data in seconds, reducing the need for deep manual digging.
“You can just ask a natural-language question, and Synthesis pulls everything—project data, PDFs, posts—all in one place.”
—Libby Budak, Data Specialist, Schmidt Associates
Data Management Lessons Learned
For Schmidt Associates, implementing OpenAsset and Synthesis was about changing habits, aligning teams, and building sustainable workflows.
Along the way, they uncovered key takeaways that made their rollout more effective and their results more impactful. From planning to prioritizing people and processes, here’s what made the difference:
1. Start with a plan.
“When we first got OpenAsset, everyone dumped every image into it. Later, we had to go back and clean it all up,” said Karen. “Think through keywords, image ranking, and organization up front.”
2. Secure leadership buy-in.
“Leadership believed in data,” said Greg, “but we had to elevate the conversation—show how this would improve collaboration, solve their pain points, and connect departments.”
3. Stay people-focused.
Technology helped, but success came from aligning people and processes. Schmidt Associates created clear ownership roles, trained staff regularly, and kept content visible through dashboards and quarterly reviews.
What’s Next for Schmidt Associates
Three years from now, Schmidt Associates hopes to have richer data across all projects, not just the key ones. With firm-wide engagement, a strong foundation, and AI-enabled tools, the team is ready to scale their storytelling.
“We want to keep people engaged. If the system stays relevant and fresh, the stories will keep coming.”
—Greg Hempstead, Project Delivery Systems Manager, Schmidt Associates
Create Your AEC Success Story With OpenAsset
Connecting OpenAsset and Synthesis turned a fragmented data landscape into a unified storytelling engine for Schmidt Associates. From project managers to marketers, everyone can access the right data, at the right time, in the right place.
Their investment in knowledge management isn’t just about systems—it’s about enabling their people to tell better stories, work more efficiently, and stay connected through shared data and visual context.
“It’s not just a bunch of project data—it’s information that’s relevant to people’s lives.”
—Greg Hempstead, Project Delivery Systems Manager, Schmidt Associates
Whether you’re looking to unify project data, strengthen cross-team collaboration, or bring your firm’s stories to life, OpenAsset and Synthesis offer a proven foundation for AEC teams ready to work smarter, not harder.
