In a bid to streamline its enterprise project office (EPO) processes and reporting mechanisms, UTi Pharma has opted to implement Post Vision Technology's project management solution, Project Portfolio Office (PPO). So far, the system has assisted the company in improving time management, productivity and allowed staff to meet deadlines without hours of paper work.
Sonja Snyman, EPO project manager at UTi Pharma, explains that the company needed to bring all the basic project management functions, disciplines and processes together through a simple and easy to use application.
“Previously, our projects were running independently from one another, with no programme or portfolio management capabilities. Reporting was done manually, with the EPO manager having to consolidate 29 different project progress reports into a spreadsheet each month to present to executive management," she explains.
Project management consultancy, PM.Ideas, which has been assisting UTi Pharma with its project management requirements for the past six years, introduced the organisation to PPO partner, Business Connexion, which was selected to supply and implement the project management tool.
"We recommended PPO because it is a cost-effective, Web-based enterprise capable application and a perfect fit for UTi Pharma," says Sean van Rooyen, sales director at PM.Ideas. "While a number of toolsets were considered, PPO catered for almost every need without the need for excessive configuration. Due to its ease of use, it was effortlessly embraced within the organisation. This was an important consideration as it is crucial to establish a project culture without causing undue stress within the organisation."
Says Colette Lundberg, senior manager: Project Services at Business Connexion: "Since the implementation of PPO in May 2009, UTi Pharma has a management view of its portfolio of projects for the first time ever. At a glance, the company can now see that, of the 69 projects registered on PPO, 29 are active with the remainder being either closed or on the radar to potentially begin."
PPO records all UTi Pharma's project information and presents management with a portfolio dashboard of all the projects that are managed within the EPO. This information is also presented in the project managers' reports, providing them with automatic project progress updates at their fingertips. With details of all 29 active projects on their dashboards, both the project managers and the EPO receive accurate management information.
"Using the drilldown capability, PPO allows investigation into further detail of each individual project, which can be accessed online and in real-time," Snyman continues. "The EPO manager is now also able to track the utilisation of the system and gain understanding as to which projects are being updated regularly or not. What's more, the flexibility of licence management, in that PPO licences may be interchanged as required volumes increase or decrease, makes this user-friendly and cost-effective system an excellent project management and reporting tool."
UTi Pharma is planning to roll out PPO to executives and management within the organisation.
According to Post Vision Technology CEO, Guy Jelley, PPO is designed and developed locally to assist organisations to manage projects and project portfolios. Its strong partner network ensures sufficient local capacity to provide ongoing support to clients, making PPO an attractive option for South African organisations.
"Provided on a software as a service platform, UTi Pharma has access to the PPO application on a hosted and rental basis over the Internet with no infrastructure or support-related concerns," he says. "It brings together all the basic project management functions and disciplines into a simple and easy to use application and becomes a simple communication portal for all information pertaining to projects and portfolios managed by the EPO. PPO has a solid track record in the local market and thus the decision to implement PPO was an easy one for UTi Pharma."
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