Few companies have been able to climb the maturity ladder to increased profitability as fast as RNE, a multidisciplinary engineering company based in Sasolburg and Secunda. Within a three-year period, RNE has implemented a wide range of strategic and operational control systems to manage the business more efficiently.
"With Sciforma, we are able to make informed decisions, which has significantly increased our profitability," says financial director, Gert van Deventer. "Without Sciforma, we will not be able to manage the business."
"We run a wide range of engineering projects for the petrochemical industry," says Deon Groenewald, Operations Director for the Sasolburg office. "Some time ago, we identified that we needed a system to help us manage all aspects of the business. After implementing Sciforma, we have experienced a dramatic improvement in performance across the board." The system covers a wide range of areas, including financial and sales analysis, project management, resource analysis, workflow, operational delivery and even HR elements.
Project culture
RNE has nailed the project culture. According to Sciforma project implementation manager, Corrie de Jonge: "We have been able to align project thinking across RNE, including aspects such as planning, profit targets and focusing on important concepts such as deviations. We do resource gap analysis - for example, do we have sufficient staff with the right skills for projects in the pipeline? This is possible because all projects across all disciplines are planned and scheduled in a consistent manner in Sciforma."
"Workflow with its automatic notifications is adding a lot of value," says De Jonge. "Sciforma Workflow enforces correct project governance. For example, with Workflow, we can prevent people from booking time against future project phases that have not yet been authorised."
Efficiency of execution
Cost variances are instantly flagged by validating the remaining work compared to actual cost and budget. "Sciforma helps identify trends, such as scope creep, and allows us to act proactively," says De Jonge. "We identify people churning on projects and who are not making progress." Employees capture time sheets directly in Sciforma in addition to their travel and disbursements costs.
Contract management
Sciforma is also used for managing sub-contractors, quotations, invoice forecasts, cash flow variances and progress claims based on NEC. A seamless link to the corporate financial system is an important element in the solution.
Sales
On the sales side, Sciforma is used as a CRM tool to analyse sales trends. Performance gaps between the pipeline and the forecast are quickly identified and analysed. "Clients who do not maintain their level of purchases are quickly flagged," says De Jonge. "By keeping track of client follow-ups, we can analyse the root cause."
Implementation
RNE has developed over 140 meaningful reports in Sciforma covering all these areas. One innovative bubble chart, for example, shows the schedule and cost status of all projects at a glance, with bubble colours indicating risk. "This report tells us exactly where we are for each project with drill-down to expose details."
Implementing the system has had its fair share of challenges. "One manager resisted implementation, but today he is our biggest champion," says De Jonge. "Support from MPS [Management Planning Systems] has been very valuable. They were always available to quickly assist us."
Share