Get in the Driver’s Seat with Microsoft Project

Increased Customer Confidence from Improved Project Results

Organizations using Microsoft Project often experience increased value to their business. Hirschmann says Microsoft Project has helped Projility increase business, be more competitive, and increase client faith in the organization right from the beginning. When Projility builds client proposals, it provides a view into the Microsoft Project plan listing all the tasks that will be done in the project. This level of detail becomes a differentiator for Projility that the firm has thought through everything in advance.

Microsoft Project not only provides value to organizations but also to their clients. Konverge clients benefit, according to Bozzo, because it gives them a window into what is going on in the development cycle. They can see what people are working on, what’s taking longer than expected, what’s getting done quicker than expected, and when they will receive their milestone or deliverable. Bozzo says it especially helps them understand when changes are made and how this has impact on the rest of the development cycle.

Konverge’s experience with Newsgroup, a North American magazine distributor, illustrates a Microsoft Project success story that is still going strong two years later on version 4 of the tool. Konverge built a custom application that takes into account the “science” behind higher sales when the magazine sits in one position on the newsstand versus another. The tool helps Newsgroup be able to reconfigure magazine display positions on the fly to drive the most revenue for the retailer. What started out as a three-month project ballooned into something much bigger as Newsgroup discovered opportunities resulting from the use of this tool.

“At each segment where we had to make a change, we gave them the total impact of the change in a complete calendar scheduling view,” Bozzo relates. They took this information back to their superiors confirming that if this change is made, this is the result in terms of dollars and time. This makes the whole process transparent, Bozzo says, and much easier to go back to management and say, “This is what we’re doing.” Bozzo says his organization likes to put some meat behind what they say, rather than a developer saying, ‘It’s going to cost this much more.” Microsoft Project enables this type of business decision, increasing value by empowering companies to understand the impact of everyday decisions.

As a result of using Microsoft Project, Konverge won awards for its application for the magazine industry. Revenue increased 30 percent in some cases because they could adapt to what the customer wanted.

“If you’re dealing with a system that’s an idea--an unknown--it’s going to change a lot,” Bozzo says. “The more transparent the project management tool you use, it’s going to help, especially with multiple levels of approvals, scope changes and budget changes.” That’s the power of using a project management tool - understanding the impact of decisions on your and your client’s business.

Konverge clients also benefit using Project Server, a Web portal that allows all team members to be involved in managing a project. Users put their time against a particular task on a project.

Projility implements project management systems for clients and shows them how to get better results using Microsoft Project. Projility teaches basic project management process and good use of the tool, which helps clients achieve a successful project that pleases the customer and adds profitability, according to Hirschmann. Take the executive, for example, overseeing 30 software development projects. Using Microsoft Project consistently throughout the company, the executive can view the Web dashboard, see status on projects, and quickly determine which projects are on schedule and which projects may require additional resources. In this case, Microsoft Project can enable executives to take action earlier, making informed decisions quicker, which may have a positive impact on profitability and customer satisfaction.

“We’ve done this for clients, and they can start to identify problems early on and work with project managers to address those and make sure the project is successful,” Hirschmann relates.

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