Shared deliverables, one shared view.
A medical device manufacturer’s product development life cycle had several departments sharing deliverables, but little visibility into schedule status or resource allocation beyond stage gates. Digineer revised its project management processes, implemented Microsoft Project Server with a custom issue and risk rollup, and piloted it with 100 resources.
At a glance
- Client
- A medical device manufacturer
- Program
- Enterprise project management for product development
- Scale
- Multiple departments sharing deliverables; pilot of 9 schedules, 100 resources and 6 project managers
- Engagement
- Enterprise project management implementation, 2006 to 2007
- Capability
- Organizational Effectiveness & Change Readiness · Transformation & Value Management
The situation
Stage gates were the only window into development
The company had an established product development life cycle, and several departments shared its deliverables. Outside the defined stage gate deliverables, it had little insight into how development was going.
Leaders wanted visibility into resource use, accurate views of project cost and progress, quicker recognition of project health and more consistent project management across business units.
Warning signs
- Little view of overall schedule status
- Resource allocation hard to see
- Insight limited to stage gate deliverables
- Project health recognized late
- Different project practices by business unit
What we did
Fix the process, then the tool
Digineer reviewed, revised and created project management processes, then designed, installed and configured Project Server. Managing the organizational change was part of the approach from the start.
Processes and scheduling
Existing processes were revised and new ones created. Project managers were trained on building dynamic, realistic schedules in Microsoft Project and on using it with Project Server.
Issue and risk rollup
A custom interface rolls up issues and risks for programs and their child projects, so they can be tracked at both their highest and lowest levels of consequence.
Adoption built in
Custom reports and corrective actions monitored whether resources and project managers were using the tool as intended, backed by change management activities.
The outcome
The foundation for a shared view
Pilot in place
The solution rolled out first to a pilot of 9 project and sub-project schedules, 100 resources and six project managers.
On time and on budget
The project met the business need and was completed on time and within budget.
The means to see health and resources
The solution gave the company the means to increase visibility into resource use, get more accurate views of cost and progress, and make project management more consistent.
Ready to expand
The company planned to extend the implementation to its manufacturing and operations departments.
Enterprise project management
Do your departments share work but not a view of it?
Digineer brings practical project processes, the tools to support them and the change management that gets them used.
Give departments one view of the work
Client name withheld for confidentiality.