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Experts in process improvement implement User Interface Applications™ (UI-Apps), provides savings of approximately $4.8 million annually in project management workflow efficiencies.
Challenge:
HDR's project managers were struggling to manage project plans, budgets, and forecasts in Oracle Projects. Using Microsoft Excel worksheets outside of the system to execute these functions, management had limited visibility into project status and financials, and potential issues, changes, and risks. In addition, HDR's pipeline information was incomplete because change orders were not reflected in the reports.
Month-end revenue recognition was also a big challenge. Controllers and area managers were attempting to pull together information from different sources, including Oracle, Excel, and custom legacy applications. HDR estimated that they were spending more than $500,000 each period to recognize revenue accurately.
Solution:
HDR selected Project Partners to design a complete end-to-end project management solution using Oracle Project Costing, Billing, Project Planning, and Control. Project Partners' UI-Apps solution was also implemented to consolidate Oracle E-Business Suite user efforts in creating, updating, and reporting on project information.
Project Partners conducted the following enhancements:
- Redesigned project lifecycle statuses with workflow-based review and approval.
- Improved project planning functions using workplans, budgets, and forecasts.
- Simplified the use of planning resources to ease the planning process.
- Combined progress collection with forecasting so that PMs can perform both functions in one step.
- Refined project change management workflow, starting with change identification to estimating the cost, forecasting the change, and finally (upon required approval) implementing the change to update the project plans.
Outcome:
- Project managers are now able to manage the entire project lifecycle in one place, including planning, execution, and closeout:
- develop work breakdown structure and schedule activities.
- develop a project budget.
- manage project progress and forecasts.
- manage project changes.
- review and approve customer invoices
- Project managers utilize a simplified user interface called Pronto in conjunction with Project Partners' UI-Apps to work with Oracle.
- Controllers and area managers now receive all of the information that they need for project review in one place - Oracle Projects.
- Month-end revenue recognition processes have been significantly automated by using information directly from Oracle. This has resulting in savings of over $400,000/month due to efficiencies achieved in the revenue recognition processes.
