Scenarios

An Impossibly Busy Schedule

Goal:

To find the time to focus on project management when there are barely enough hours in the day for your normal responsibilities.

Challenge:

Walk into any room and take quick poll...If you ask how many people think that project management is important, chances are that every hand will go up in the air. Now ask those same people how many think they have the time to implement project management techniques. Sadly, nowhere near as many hands go up (if any at all). Jonathan is no different. Jonathan realizes that project management could help him run his business even more efficiently if he only had the time.

Solution:

Jonathan was plagued by the same project management issue that plagues most managers the fear of the impending avalanche of tedious data entry required to keep projects up-to-date. Being a hands-on manager Jonathan knew that there was no way he could effectively manage his business and manage the projects if he was chained to his computer all day. The ideal solution came to him with Project X's unique and innovative approach to collaborative project management.

Step one was to make sure that Jonathan would not be a slave to the data entry process. Fortunately, Project X has a WebApp feature that allows Jonathan's project team to communicate online. First a team member access a web page that lists her individual tasks. Then, in just a few minutes out of her day, she submits her project updates and includes time sheets, costs, notes, documents, or any other relevant information. With that one feature alone, Jonathan was able to eliminate the need to spend time consolidating everyone's updates and doing the data entry. Not only that, Jonathan also eliminated the barrage of email updates and status reports. He even canceled the dreaded weekly roundtable status meeting to everyone's relief!

But the real magic is what happens next. From the comfort of his desk and with just one click Jonathan is able to instantly update the entire project. In less time than it takes to take a sip from his favorite mug, his entire project is updated. Instantly, Jonathan has access to a myriad of reports covering the project's progress, resources, costs, and more - it just doesn't get any easier than that! And in the event that Jonathan wants to keep closer tabs on the information being submitted into the project, he has the option of reviewing each submission before approving the updated information. And, if the submissions are not up-to-par his team will know because they will get an e-mail alert.

But that's just part of the reason why Jonathan swears by Project X. Being a man that's constantly on-the-go, Jonathan wants to feel that he has access to project information at any point in time. Right from his desktop, Project X's Widgets let Jonathan know whether his projects are on target, ahead or schedule or behind schedule. He can also see whether his team members have submitted project updates and decide whether it is time for another one-click project update. All this and Jonathan doesn't even need to open Project X.

Using Project X, Jonathan has been able to institute project management techniques into his daily business without negatively impacting his already busy project schedule. In fact, any time he can cut down on email and meetings, things are already looking up. Plus, when it's time to take action, Jonathan has quick access to a number of reports that provide him with critical information such as resource, cost, and timeline information and that's just the way Jonathan likes it. After all, he didn't grow his business by sitting on the sidelines. Project X has enabled Jonathan to avoid the drudgery of project management data entry and instead spend his time where it really counts - managing his business.

Key Project X Features:

• One-click project updates
• WebApp collaboration
• Desktop Widgets
• Customizable views to see and analyze project data