Fulcrum Business Solutions has implemented its EPM in a Box solution at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) to ensure the organisation`s employees are able to better manage their projects according to accepted international project management standards. Fulcrum also trained SAICA staff in the use of the software and in the principles of project management.
Developed by Fulcrum, EPM in a Box is a packaged enterprise project management (EPM) solution, based on Microsoft`s EPM software. It is designed to meet generic organisational project management requirements and is pre-configured with standard project management processes and best practices to provide customers with faster project initiation times, lower costs and greater control.
SAICA is one of the leading accounting institutes in the world, providing a wide range of support services to its members, enabling them to play a key role in developing the rapidly changing South African economy.
David Goodyer, project management officer at SAICA, says the organisation runs multiple projects each year. "Not only were multiple projects running concurrently with no centralised management, they were not all run according to the same methodologies and processes. EPM in a Box provided a company-wide, standardised approach."
"EPM in a Box allows organisations to improve on their project delivery without requiring large upfront investments in requirements analysis," says Adeline Cruywagen, project manager at Fulcrum Business Solutions. "The solution was implemented at SAICA in only three weeks and the institute now has a centralised project management office able to provide effective control and improved information distribution to all role players in the organisation."
All projects the company undertakes will now be run according to international best practices. This means better visibility into every project, from broad, enterprise-level insight through to specific, executive-level information that can be delivered in status reports.
In the past, SAICA also had no mechanism for reliably tracking the time spent on specific tasks or even on entire projects. After implementing EPM in a Box, tasks can now be tracked more accurately and the company is better able to plan and manage its projects.
"Fulcrum did not only train SAICA staff in the use of the software we installed," explains Cruywagen. "We also delivered training courses on the principles of project management to ensure that users understand why it is beneficial to run projects according to set standards. Fulcrum will continue to support SAICA in its efforts to better manage and streamline its projects by providing one-on-one mentoring to employees as they go about their daily tasks for the foreseeable future."
SAICA looked at various options to solve its project management problems and decided on Fulcrum Business Solutions because, according to Goodyer, the company provided exactly what was called for both in terms of expertise as well as a cost-effective solution. He also praises Fulcrum`s implementation and training, noting the company ran the whole project very professionally.
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