Effective project management is key to advancing company-wide strategic goals and ensuring projects are delivered within scope, budget, and on time. This is all easy to say, but applying project management methodologies throughout a project’s lifecycle can be quite complex, especially when you are trying to manage multiple internal and external projects concurrently.
Our old-school ways of managing projects without agile project management software are just not sustainable anymore. That’s why we suggest looking to technology to help boost project outcomes. Not only will your organization gain a competitive edge, but you’ll simultaneously drive business growth by leveraging innovative solutions. According to a 2019 study from PMI, businesses that use technology to manage projects hit objectives at 76% more than those that don’t at only 61%.
To get specific on what technology we mean, here are five ways Infor CloudSuite Industrial (CSI) agile project management software can help you successfully hit your project objectives:
Establishing a Project & Setting Budgets
Managing projects is much more than documenting tasks, assignment resources, and providing updates. Infor CSI’s project module applies in practice, organized processes and controls that are designed to manage every aspect of your business. This includes accounting, inventory, resources, relations, and production, while also unifying your staff with its integrated data.
Infor CSI’s project module starts you off on the right foot by letting you establish and organize the project and budget right at the beginning and according to your project’s unique needs and scope. Additionally, the project’s budget can be developed for all phases and then broken down into categories if desired. We realize projects cannot be handled in a one-size-fits-all approach. Infor appreciates that by allowing its users to create a project-specific umbrella that manages each distinctive facet.
Establishing Tasks
Once the project and budgets are formed, you’re ready to set up individual tasks that will help lead the project through to the end. Infor CSI’s project module lets you establish tasks related to certain steps in the project. Since 81% of workers can reach breaking point if they do not tap automation to handle volumes of work, this is key for team management. You also have the option of assigning resources to these tasks, or not, and recording labor without creating a work order or a service order. All of this gives you a fuller picture of performance and the work completed.
You can breathe easier knowing you have the information you need right when you need it by streamlining cost roll-up from task to overall project. Alternatively, if a more granular view is needed, you can report separately on each level of the project. Real-time analytics at a simple click of a button drive data-driven decisions and enhance project performance without sacrificing accuracy and limited resources.
Assigning Resources
What’s a project without its resources? A failed one. Blunt, but true. Resources are what drive a project forward, and we need to efficiently capture them throughout the entire project. There are all sorts of resources that are helpful to a project, and some aren’t all easily trackable. It’s a jarring reminder that 11.4% of resources are wasted due to poor project management.
Infor CSI’s project module allows you to track materials, tools, and even non-inventory items such as labor, and then lets you seamlessly roll these resources up into the overall costs of the project giving you a more fulsome view and accurate representation of a project’s actual costs. In the case of labor, the CSI project module also integrates with Infor CSI payroll for added ease of use.
Reporting Status
Project status reports are a key communication tool. They allow you to share the status of a project’s progress, risks, deliverables, and actual vs projected budget costs. It provides a snapshot of where things are at and if we need to change course. Infor CSI’s project module allows for custom reporting by using a user-created report type form for reports on demand or automatically, and DataViews for impromptu reports created in the spur of the moment.
Cost Management and Revenue Recognition
While we touched on costs earlier, we want to dive deeper into them. Infor CSI’s project module cost schedules help to determine a project’s deliverability (if you can deliver on objectives) and profitability (how much money you can make). They help decide if a project is worth pursuing with the effort and risk involved.
Utilize built-in work breakdown structures to run a cost analysis that realistically calculates the cost of labor and materials by project or task. Infor CSI’s project module costing capabilities help you uncover hidden costs, make decisions faster and easier, and identify variables that could potentially derail a project.
Revenue recognition and invoicing by milestones allow you to schedule customer billing cycles based on flexible milestones. This will give full exposure to a project’s phased profitability.
If you’re still in the “exploring phase” and are browsing the different project Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that are out on the market to help you manage your projects, that’s great. We suggest that! We also suggest you consider the topics discussed today like customizability, reporting functions, cost capturability, and simplicity of establishing tasks and assigning resources. These areas are key in an agile project management software’s ability to manage projects effectively.
Project management is an integral part of running a business whether it’s for internal projects, like implementing a new ERP system, or managing external projects, like the development of a client’s business and manufacturing strategy. For more information on how Infor CSI can be the foundation for guiding you along the project management path, drop our team of experts a line. We look forward to hearing from you.
