Excel spreadsheet with milestones, e-mails with tasks in Outlook, a large wall calendar for vacation planning. Numerous notes, a calculator for the calculation as well as a stack of copied incoming invoices. Of course, the screen is full of post-its, the phone is ringing nonstop, the coffee has long since become cold - and then your boss is standing in front of your desk asking for the current project status. Of course, the same and most beautifully prepared as a template for the next meeting.
Every project manager and project manager knows this scenario and the resulting hectic pace. What few know: With integrated software solutions for project management, the request of the boss described above can be answered with a mouse click. Including key figures, diagrams and target / actual comparison.
Integration instead of isolated solutions
The keyword is "integrated". Integrated means nothing less than processing all data, processes and information in software. And throughout the company and across departments. Under the term "ERP", such software solutions have been widely used in industry for many years. Increasingly, companies from other industries are also discovering the benefits of integrated solutions. More and more project service providers such. For example, engineering firms, consulting companies or software houses are opting for integrated solutions - and thus against the use of isolated standalone solutions.
Because an integrated solution covers all areas of responsibility in the company and also includes the complete financial accounting. All data is therefore in one system and can be assigned to different projects, customers and orders. Data has to be collected only once and is automatically available to all employees throughout the company. The double - and thus error-prone - maintenance of information is eliminated.
time is money
Consistent time recording is essential for all companies working with projects. In many companies, time sheets are used on paper, which are collected at the end of the week or month and entered manually. Integrated solutions have a different approach: times are recorded directly on the PC - when they occur. To this end, integrated solutions provide the employees with a clear mask in which project and time effort can be conveniently recorded. Project and budget progress are always in sync. Project managers see immediately when subprojects or individual tasks exceed the time budget. Incidentally, even employees who work with customers on site, for example, are taken into account on the smartphone thanks to mobile time recording.
Financial accounting as standard on board
Especially with small and medium-sized project service providers, it is customary to outsource the financial accounting completely. What seems comfortable at first glance, often has fatal consequences: If material and travel costs, the billing of external service providers and freelancers or license costs are available only at the end of the month or even at the end of the quarter, there is a distorted view on the profitability of projects: supposedly lucrative Orders slip into the red in one fell swoop. An integrated solution therefore always includes financial accounting. Incidental and planned costs are taken into account in evaluations at any time.
The current project status not only provides an overview of achieved goals and milestones, about open and completed tasks, but also about the costs that have been incurred and expected in the future. Project managers can identify imminent budget overruns at an early stage and counteract them in good time.
What does that mean for you as project manager and project manager:
- Guaranteed ability to provide information: If a process relevant to your project is recorded somewhere in the company, this information is immediately available to you. You have access to all costs, appointments and tasks.
- Automatically generated reports: For project controlling, for example, you no longer need to gather and prepare data from different sources. The software does this automatically for you - and always based on current numbers.
- Integrated resource planning: In project planning, you have access to all resources and identify impending bottlenecks in advance. If you go through if-then scenarios, the system automatically considers holidays or part-time.
- Combined project view: Project and budget progress can be synchronized at any time since tasks and milestones are available, as well as data from financial accounting.
- Convenient project billing: Since all relevant information such as achieved milestones are managed in the system, you can settle project-related, for. B. progress, effort or payment plan.
- Faster processes: Many processes such. For example, the audit of incoming invoices or the release of offers can be digitized and thus considerably accelerated.
Conclusion: more time for the core competences
Integrated solutions ignite not only project management and project controlling, but the next level of efficiency for the entire company. All data and processes are recorded and processed in one system. As a result, problems such as duplicate data maintenance, loss of information or obsolete key figures that cause the use of isolated solutions are a thing of the past. Employees are sustainably relieved of time-consuming administrative tasks. At the same time, project transparency increases with current key figures. The result: more productivity, more process quality and thus more customer satisfaction.
