Eighteen status reports, now one.
After rapid growth and several acquisitions, a pharmacy benefit manager had 18 different project and program status reports, and management could not get a clear picture of financial, resource and project interdependencies. Digineer project management consultants helped build one common project status report on the SharePoint environment the company already had. Benefits arrived within three months.
At a glance
- Client
- A pharmacy benefit manager
- Program
- Common project status reporting for the enterprise project management office
- Scale
- 18 separate project and program status reports
- Engagement
- Project management consulting and SharePoint development, 2011
- Capability
- Transformation & Value Management
The situation
Eighteen reports and no clear picture
Rapid growth and multiple acquisitions had left project management reporting fragmented and repetitive. With 18 different project and program status reports, management could not see how finances, resources and projects depended on each other.
The company had a SharePoint environment with little to no customization. It wanted to keep using SharePoint, model the data so it could integrate with financial and time tracking systems, and give users a cleaner interface for entering data quickly.
Warning signs
- A different status report for every program
- No view of cross-project dependencies
- Recurring data reconciliation problems
- An uncustomized collaboration platform
- Slow, cluttered data entry
What we did
One report, on the platform already there
The company chose to build a new common project status report on its existing program management site, improving its functionality through custom design. Digineer project management consultants supported the build, with scale and the coming platform upgrade in mind.
A simpler way to enter data
A custom InfoPath form gives project teams a cleaner interface for entering status quickly.
A model that scales
Dynamic SharePoint lists and forms, together with Excel Services, simplified the data model and provide drillable metrics.
Ready for the upgrade
The solution was built in SharePoint 2007 with close attention to portability to SharePoint 2010, because an upgrade was imminent.
The outcome
A clearer view in three months
18 reports became one
Eighteen project management reports were consolidated into a single common report.
Benefits in a quarter
With a January start and a March go-live, the company realized benefits within three months.
Simpler data, fewer reconciliation problems
The data model is less complex, and the design offers a cost-effective answer to ongoing data reconciliation issues.
Better communication
Communication improved across a large company, and file sharing increased across departments.
Enterprise project management
How many versions of project status does your leadership read?
Digineer helps project offices give leaders one consistent view of the portfolio, built on the tools they already use.
Create one version of project status
Client name withheld for confidentiality.