It’s 8 a.m. Do you know where your ad is?

It’s a universal challenge among advertising agencies: How to effectively manage and coordinate hundreds or even thousands of projects under development by their creative teams.

The Integer Group says it has the answer, with a project management software program developed by its Des Moines office to standardize and centralize its entire ad design process. In the past two years, agency executives estimate the program has increased efficiency and reduced costs by about 25 percent per year.

The program, dubbed “The Butler,” enables Integer’s clients to receive proposals and updates from the agency throughout the ad design process via an interactive Web site they can access at any time from any computer. Internally, the program maintains a complete electronic trail of the design process, beginning with a comprehensive creative brief outlining the ad’s concept. The Des Moines office now has nearly 5,000 ad projects archived on the system and adds 200 to 300 new projects each week.

Integer’s Denver headquarters is in the process of adopting the program, and plans to install it in each of the agency’s 16 offices throughout the country by the end of the year. Additionally, the agency has licensed the program to four advertising agencies and several large companies that have their own advertising and public relations departments.

“As we developed this, we initially had no intention of selling it,” said Mike Ferrari, director of technology services for Integer’s Des Moines office, and the leader of the team that designed the program. “But as clients saw it, they’d ask, ‘Where did you get that?’ ‘How does it work?’ and ‘Can I get it for my office?’”

Integer’s 125-person Des Moines office is experiencing an unprecedented level of growth, said Frank Maher, president of Integer’s Midwest office, who last week said the agency gained five new clients in a single morning. The Butler allows the agency to handle large volumes of work efficiently, he said.

“It’s kind of a full-service approach that no one else has been able to wrap their hands around,” he said. “I’ve been in advertising now for 20 years, and there’s nothing as comprehensive as this system that’s built from a user’s perspective.”

Maher said he expects the program will be adopted systemwide by Integer’s parent company, New York-based Omnicom Group Inc.

“It’s a huge compliment for us to be the leader in an international agency’s processes,” he said. The global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company provides services to more than 5,000 clients in 100 countries.

“The big story will be where it (the program) is a year from now,” Maher said. “I think it will really blossom out.”

Though it may take a manager up to an hour to set the parameters for an ad project within the system, that time is ultimately recouped at least four-fold in greater efficiency, Ferrari said. In addition to providing an overall timeline and daily schedule for each ad designer involved in a project, it also allows the ad traffic manager to closely monitor projects and reallocate resources if necessary.

“It’s been a pretty powerful tool in acquiring clients as well,” he said. “When clients want an agency that has a strong project management philosophy, that’s what we do here.”