A strategic migration and move to ConnectPlans 360, a modern, integrated project and resource management solution built on the Microsoft Platform.
Executive Summary
The Client: A large engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm with over 8,000 employees and a multi-billion-dollar project portfolio spanning infrastructure, energy, and industrial sectors.
The Challenge: The company was planning for the end of life of Microsoft Project Online, which led to them going to the market to identify and evaluate a suitable replacement for Project Online to manage the delivery of their projects.
The Solution: A strategic migration and move to ConnectPlans 360, a modern, integrated project and resource management solution built on the Microsoft Platform.
The Results:
- 30% Reduction in Software Licensing & Administration Costs
- 40% Improvement in Resource Allocation Efficiency
- Elimination of Data Silos through a single source of truth
- Enhanced Executive Visibility with real-time, customizable dashboards
- Better Management of Tasks and Timesheets from Resources
- 35% Improvement in management and tracking of Project Costs
- Key Functions or Project Online retained plus more
The Challenge: Outgrowing a Legacy System
As a industry leader, the company was managing a complex portfolio of large-scale, multi-year projects. Microsoft Project Online served their purpose well, but was lacking some of the new innovation needs:
- Effective Time Phase Cost Management: Project Managers were not able to plan and manage their costs on their projects effectively. Their ability to import and export cost plans into and from Financial Systems was disconnected.
- Cumbersome Resource Management: Allocating and tracking hundreds of skilled engineers, designers, and construction professionals was a manual, time-consuming process. Project managers struggled to identify available resources with the right skills, leading to either under-utilization or over-allocation.
- High Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Licensing costs for a user base of this size were substantial. More critically, the IT department incurred significant expenses and effort for system maintenance, custom report development, and user support.
- Lack of Flexibility and Integration: The rigid structure of Project Online made it difficult to adapt to unique project workflows. Integrating with other critical systems like ERP (SAP), CRM (Dynamics 365), and financial software required complex and expensive custom development.
The company needed a solution that was not just a project management tool, but a strategic portfolio and resource optimization engine.
The Solution: A Strategic Migration to ConnectPlans 360
After a thorough evaluation of alternatives, the company selected ConnectPlans 360 for its native integration with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, flexibility, and powerful resource management capabilities.
The migration and transition was executed in three key phases:
- Discovery and Planning: A detailed analysis of existing Project Online data, processes, and pain points was conducted to design the optimal structure within ConnectPlans 360.
- Phased Implementation:
- Phase 1: Core project and portfolio management setup, including migrating project schedules.
- Phase 2: Implementation of the advanced resource management module, tracking effort, costs and time on projects and integrating with the HR system for skill and competency data.
- Phase 3: Development of custom Power BI dashboards for executive and project manager reporting.
- Training and Change Management: Comprehensive training was rolled out to over 2,000 users, emphasizing the user-friendly interface and benefits of the new system.
Key Benefits Realized with ConnectPlans 360
The transition to ConnectPlans 360 delivered transformative results across the organization.
1. Significant Cost Reduction
- Direct Savings: By leveraging a more flexible licensing model and reducing the reliance on high-cost licenses, the company achieved a 30% reduction in annual software costs.
- Indirect Savings: The intuitive, easy to manage and administer solution drastically reduced the burden on the IT team. Administrative overhead for system maintenance and report generation was minimized, freeing up internal resources for more strategic initiatives.
2. Dramatically Improved Resource Efficiency
ConnectPlans 360 provided a unified view of all resources.
- Skills-Based Allocation: Project managers could now search for resources based on specific skills, certifications, and availability, leading to a 40% improvement in optimally placing staff on projects.
- Real-Time Utilization Tracking: Dashboards provided instant visibility into who was overallocated, underutilized, or available for new assignments, enabling proactive management and reducing project downtime.
- Forecasting: The company gained the ability to forecast resource demand months in advance, improving hiring and contractor planning.
3. Enhanced Visibility and Decision-Making
- Single Source of Truth: ConnectPlans 360 eliminated data silos. All project and resource data now resides in a centralized Dataverse database, accessible through tailored views.
- Executive Dashboards: Using Power BI, leadership gained access to real-time dashboards showing key metrics like portfolio health, financial performance, and resource capacity vs. demand, enabling data-driven strategic decisions.
4. Increased Flexibility and Scalability
- Customizable Workflows: Unlike the rigid structure of Project Online, ConnectPlans 360 allowed the company to model their exact project governance workflows without expensive custom code.
- Seamless Integration: The platform’s native connectivity within the Microsoft Desktop allowed for smooth integration with Teams for collaboration and update.
Conclusion: Building for the Future
The move from Microsoft Project Online to ConnectPlans 360 was more than a simple software switch; it was a strategic transformation. The engineering and construction company successfully turned a operational bottleneck into a competitive advantage.
By embracing a modern, integrated platform, they have not only achieved substantial cost savings but have also built a scalable foundation that supports agile decision-making, optimizes their most valuable asset—their people—and positions them for continued growth in a dynamic global market.
“The move to ConnectPlans 360 was a game-changer. We’ve moved from managing data to managing our business. The visibility we now have into our resources and program performance is unparalleled, directly contributing to better project outcomes and a healthier bottom line.”
— Chief Operations Officer
About ConnectPlans360: ConnectPlans 360 is a powerful project portfolio management (PPM) solution built on the Microsoft Platform. It seamlessly connects with planning tools and integrates with Microsoft 365 to provide unified project, resource, and financial management in a single, adaptable and user friendly system.