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A lesson on centralising for streamlining project

15th Jun 2017
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Harry Mowat, MD, Greentree Software talks about the pitfalls of small businesses running projects with siloed systems and offers Plymouth Marine Laboratory as an organisation doing things right 

Move quick or miss out – that’s the new mantra for any organisation in this competitive economical climate.  And one of the most critical cogs in running an agile business is ensuring everyone has access to all the latest information at any time, so they can make quick decisions and judgements on next steps. Yet, having the right system in place to support well-informed project management is something a lot of businesses put on the back-burner, sometimes still relying on Excel spreadsheets to handle a multitude of projects – and at other times using different systems for different aspects, i.e. separate finance or payroll platforms – to run things.

But these siloed methods for running projects spell danger. It’s setting an organisation up to hold its information disparately, so it’s impossible to get one clear grasp of what’s going on across any project at any one time. Different systems mean no one single version of truth. And that will often ruin the running of a project as not everyone involved – whether internal staff or contractors – has a clear view of what’s going on. So, how to make sure everyone is on the same page? For me, ‘single view’ is the most important aspect in running a successful project – and that means managing everything pertaining to that job in one centralised system.

I have an example of a UK business who needed to rejuvenate its project management and streamlined all aspects with one a centralised system – and I’ll give you a quick overview of what they did.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) is a world-leading marine science establishment, involved in environmental projects across the globe. It has over 100 research projects underway at any one time and employs some of the best scientists in the world. Its work includes studies on air-sea gas exchange, aquaculture, biodiversity and ecosystem function, and geo-engineering. PML needed a project management and accounting package that would give access to multiple stakeholders, with live visibility of data, a proper customer relationship package, and remote access for its staff.

The growing complexity of its project management was putting a strain on PML’s business applications and it was using separate Sage systems for its financial management and payroll. The functionality and connectivity between these systems was very poor and users had only limited access to project information, with a lot of manual processing conducted offline on spreadsheets. Sound familiar?

For PML, one centralised package that would allow access by multiple stakeholders, with live visibility of data across the entire business was what they needed – and that’s where we came in to help out. Now using Greentree, PML has full project management, with an overview of the status of each project at any given time. That means they can slice and dice information about often-complex proposals and contracts, not just keeping internal business stakeholders updated, but people from outside the business too. They can now keep their customers readily informed, in just a couple of clicks, recording their feedback. So not only have they streamlined project operations, but customers are also impressed with their responsiveness.

This is just one of the organisations that has brought all its systems into one place to make sure projects are run effectively. Nearly always, the issue with keeping track of project status is that key stakeholders just don’t have the relevant information at their fingertips to make the best decisions and keep things moving. That’s why getting everything together in one centralised system is so important. Take heed from PML and look at the way you’re running your projects. If you can’t get the latest on one of them in just a couple of clicks, it might be worth considering a project management system upgrade.

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