Streamlining Construction Project Management: Automating Procore and Box Integration for Scalable Efficiency

For companies managing thousands of projects annually, manual processes for linking project management systems like Procore with cloud storage platforms such as Box, SharePoint, Dropbox or Google Drive can create significant bottlenecks. Automation offers a transformative solution, enabling seamless integration, synchronization, and scalability. This blog post explores how automation can enhance efficiency by connecting projects created in an ERP system to Procore and linking them with Box, while maintaining ongoing bidirectional synchronization. We’ll dive into practical scenarios, technical details based on the Procore API, and real-world applications to demonstrate how this integration can streamline workflows for large-scale construction operations.

The Power of Automation in Construction Workflows

Construction companies, especially contractors can often juggle hundreds of projects weekly, each requiring precise coordination of documents, photos, RFIs, submittals, and inspections. Traditionally, linking a project in Procore with a corresponding folder in a cloud storage system like Box or Sharepoint / OneDrive involves manual setup, which is time-consuming and prone to errors. By leveraging automation, companies can eliminate these inefficiencies, ensuring that project data is seamlessly connected and synchronized across platforms.

The key to this automation lies in keeping them connected from the start. When a project reaches a specific status in the ERP, it can automatically create a corresponding project in Procore and a folder structure in Box. By utilizing the Procore API, the Box folder’s URL can be stored as a project link in Procore,  The SyncEzy integration then picks up this URL and automatically adds the Procore Project and the Cloud folder location to its Integration, enabling automated setup and ongoing synchronization. This approach not only saves time but also ensures data consistency and accessibility across platforms, supporting enterprise scalability for organizations handling 8,000–10,000 projects annually.

How It Works: Technical Foundation

The Procore API provides robust capabilities for integrating and managing project data. Specifically, the Procore API documentation for links confirms that it is possible to store a Cloud Storage URL as a Procore project link. This functionality allows an ERP system to create a Procore project and simultaneously push the Box / Sharepoint folder URL into the project’s links or a custom field. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of the process:

1. ERP Triggers Project Creation: When a project reaches a designated status in the ERP (e.g., “Open”), the ERP system uses the Procore API to create a new project in Procore, passing relevant metadata such as project name, number, and branch details.
2. Box Folder Creation: Concurrently, the ERP creates a standardized folder structure in Box, tailored to the project’s requirements (e.g., folders for RFIs, Field and Operations, Bidding Information). The URL of the master Box folder is captured.
3. Storing the Box URL in Procore: Using the Procore API’s “Links” endpoint, the ERP pushes the Box folder URL into the Procore project as a link or stores it in a custom field. This link serves as the bridge between Procore and Box.
4. Automated Sync Setup by SyncEzy: SyncEzy’s Procore-Box integration can then detect the new Procore project and retrieve the Box folder URL from the project link or custom field. It then establishes a bidirectional sync for documents and photos, and a one-way sync (Procore to Box) for RFIs and submittals, ensuring that data flows seamlessly between the two platforms.
5. Ongoing Synchronization: Once the initial sync is set up, the SyncEzy integration maintains continuous synchronization. Any updates in Procore (e.g., new inspections) create corresponding folders in Box (e.g., an “Inspections” folder), and changes in Box (e.g., updated documents) are reflected in Procore, maintaining data consistency.  The team has constant access to data in both places and they can directly navigate to the cloud storage locations from the Procore Project Home Page Side panel.

This automated workflow eliminates manual intervention, reduces errors, and ensures that project data is instantly accessible in both systems, supporting large-scale operations with hundreds of projects created weekly.

Sample Scenarios: Automation in Action

To illustrate the impact of this integration, let’s explore three real-world scenarios where automating the Procore-Box connection enhances efficiency:
ure in Box for each project, including subfolders for RFIs, Field and Operations, and Financials. Using the Procore API, the ERP creates a corresponding project in Procore and stores the Box folder URL as a project link. SyncEzy’s integration tool detects the new project, retrieves the Box URL, and sets up bidirectional sync for documents and photos, and one-way sync for RFIs and submittals. This automation eliminates the need for manual folder linking, saving hundreds of hours annually and ensuring that field teams can access project data immediately.

Scenario 2: Managing Inspections for Remote Projects

A contractor working on data centers in remote locations with limited connectivity needs offline access to inspection reports. Their ERP creates a Procore project and a Sharepoint folder structure, with the Sharepoint URL stored in Procore. SyncEzy’s integration syncs Documents and Photos from Procore to a new “Documents” folder in OneDrive, generating PDFs for each inspection. Field teams download these PDFs to their laptops via OneDrive, allowing offline access in areas with poor connectivity. When connectivity is restored, Document updates sync back to Procore, ensuring data consistency. This automation streamlines Documents and Photos and supports operations in challenging environments.

Scenario 3: Maintaining Folder Permissions

A company has a strict folder permission structure in Procore, where five out of six project folders are locked for salaried employees, with one folder accessible to field staff to protect sensitive data like financials. The ERP creates the initial folder structure in Box, which is synced to Procore. A custom script, triggered post-sync via the Procore API, sets the privacy settings on specific folders to match the existing structure, ensuring that field staff see only the designated folder. This automation maintains security protocols without manual configuration, critical for large organizations with thousands of users.

Ongoing Synchronization: Beyond One-Time Setup

The true value of this integration lies in its ability to maintain continuous synchronization, not just a one-time connection. Here’s how it works:

• Bidirectional Sync for Documents and Photos: Changes made in Procore (e.g., uploading a new Document) are reflected in Box, and vice versa. This ensures that both platforms remain up-to-date, reducing version conflicts.
• One-Way Sync for RFIs and Submittals: RFIs and submittals, managed primarily in Procore, are synced as PDFs to Sharepoint, providing a searchable repository and offline access. SyncEzy’s direct PDF download method is often preferred over Procore’s native process for quick views and reading the PDF, Procore process redirects users to the Procore platform, to login and perform actions.
• Dynamic Folder Creation: When new Procore modules, like inspections, are enabled, the integration automatically creates corresponding folders in Box (e.g., “Inspections”) under the project’s root folder. This standardized approach simplifies deployment and ensures consistency.
• Custom PDF Generation: For modules where Procore’s API does not provide PDFs (e.g., observations), the integration generates custom PDFs from Procore data, enhancing searchability and offline access in Box.

This continuous sync ensures that project teams always have access to the latest data, whether they’re working in Procore or Box, and supports scalability for high-volume project portfolios.

Leveraging the Procore API for Seamless Integration

The Procore API’s “Links” endpoint is critical to this automation. As confirmed by the API documentation, you can store an external folder URL as a project link in Procore using a POST request to create the link and a GET request to retrieve it. Alternatively, a custom field can be used for greater robustness, as it provides a dedicated metadata field within the Procore project. When the ERP creates a project, it can make an additional API call to store the external folder URL, enabling SyncEzy’s integration to retrieve it and set up the sync automatically.

The ultimate goal being for field teams to have easier access to documents via their preferred cloud storage tool and for the entire organization data to be in sync.