The IPM Blog

I found an article this morning about how social media is evolving in organisations to become more than just a marketing tool. Social media is now becoming a part of many departments in big organisations from HR right through to project management. And even smaller companies are jumping on board. So that got me thinking, what are some of the ways you could use social media to manage your projects?

The important thing to remember about social media is it is not confined to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Blogs, wikis, online pinboards and team websites all fall under the social media umbrella. Organisations are even creating their own in house social media platforms, or adopting software with integrated social media tools to help incorporate this growing trend into their everyday operations.

So how can social media help you manage your projects? Here are four ways:

1. Communication
As Gen Y and Gen Z’s enter the workforce, we are beginning to not only see a trend of multi-generational project teams, but also less reliance on email. As the article I mentioned above shows, many of the younger people entering the workforce don’t like email and prefer a more team oriented communication. As such, some companies such as IBM are adopting Facebook and Twitter style communication platforms, where team members can share project information quickly and collaboratively. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, you can find and follow other users in the What’s New section, which gives you a chat-like feature to share comments and insights with team members about projects. This reduces a huge amount of internal email communication in favour of succinct responses.

2. Collaboration
Similarly to helping with communication, products like SharePoint that can be integrated with your project management software allow for the creation of team wikis and websites, where all team members can contribute and store appropriate project information for other team members to access and edit. This really fosters a collaborative approach to managing your project, no matter how far spread your project team members are around the world. The project also ultimately benefits, with ideas and solutions continually evolving as team members contribute their expertise.

3. Keeping up to date with contacts
Another tool that can be integrated with some project management software products such as IPM is the Outlook Social Connector. The Outlook Social Connector enables you to look at your Outlook contacts’ activity in social networks such as Linkedin, Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Viadeo and Xing. This way, you can stay up to date with contacts as the project progresses, build up your network for the future and keep up to date with new projects that may be coming up.

4. Keeping track of lessons learned
This way of using social media has been mentioned on the PMI Voices on Project Management blog as a way of keeping track of lessons learned and project review. Using some of the tools above, internal social media pages can be set up to capture comments for lessons learned. As Bernadine Douglas says, this allows you to reach stakeholders in their habitat, which could result in more candid and useful comments for future projects.

Whilst it has traditionally been viewed as a consumer product or a marketing tool, social media can also have very effective applications in other areas, in particular project management. Can you think of any other way social media can help manage your projects? Feel free to post a comment below.

On a project, documents can be approved, changed, updated and reapproved all the time, often being sent back and forth between multiple people working on a Job. It’s no wonder then that it’s easy to lose track of where a document is at, and who is holding up its progress.

That’s why we’ve added a cool and exciting new feature to all the project documents in IPM. It’s called routing, or otherwise referred to as ‘ball in court’. Now every document in our project management software has a grid where you can add details of each of the people responsible for the document, and at what stage of the process they are responsible for it.

Then, through the power of Microsoft Dynamics workflows, you can set up a whole range of processes that automatically update the routing as the document moves from one stage to the other. This way you can see who’s court the ball is in at any given time – and more importantly, who is holding the process up.

But we’ve not only included the routing feature on the individual document forms – there is also an overall routing view where you can see all the outstanding balls in court for your project. And with the customisability of Microsoft CRM, you can change the view to see whatever you like, including outstanding balls in court, balls in court for one particular user or balls in court for a single spec. section or trade. What’s more, CRM’s conditional formatting also lets you highlight the list in whichever way works for you – we’ve found it works really well to highlight all the overdue balls in court in bold red, so you can see at a glance what needs actioning quickly. You can also choose to view the routing information as part of a dashboard that appears when you first log in.

As you can see from the options above, the combinations of how you can use this new functionality are endless; it’s all down to how you want to customise the workflows, the view, the conditional formatting and your dashboard. You can tweak it so that it best suits the way you manage your projects, and it means you will always know who’s court the ball is in on all your projects.

For more information on this new feature, or to see a demo of it in action, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Many construction companies can often be mistaken in thinking they don’t need a CRM system to help manage their projects – after all they are in the business of managing projects, not customers. However with developments in CRM technology in recent years, CRM tools are no longer just about contact lists and sales leads. That’s why I’ve put together the following reasons why project managers should be using a CRM tool as well as a project management tool to help manage their projects:

1. You can build and manage relationships
Apart from delivering the project on time and on budget, nothing is more important than managing the relationships you form on a project. You never know who you may need on future projects, or how far someone else’s recommendations of your work will take you. Keeping up to date contact details for all your project stakeholders and maintaining a good working relationship can go really far in ensuring the success of your project.
 
2. It helps you stay up-to-date with your outstanding activities 
New features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM such as conditional formatting means you can not only view a list of outstanding project activities in CRM, but it can also automatically highlight those that are due soon, or even overdue.

3. You can easily monitor and manage your supply chain
In order to finish a job on time, you need to have everything delivered on time. With a CRM tool, you know exactly who your suppliers are and have their contact details at your finger tips to keep track of everything that is supplied to site. CRM also lets you integrate with your accounting software, so accounts and payments are kept up to date.

4. It helps you to track your enquiries and tenders
Due to its tight integration with Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM has one of the most advanced email tracking facilities available. It can automatically file all your emails relating to a particular enquiry or tender to ensure you also keep track of your project communication.

5. All your customer and project information is in the one place
A CRM system gives you the ability to store all your contacts, accounts and project data in the one database that can be accessed by everyone in your organisation, and from anywhere. It helps everyone stay up to date with everything that’s happening on your project and also ensures there is only one set of data, rather than multiple versions.

6. It gives you a single view of your customer and project data
Not only does having a CRM mean having a single database, features like the dashboards added to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 give you a great overview of the data on your project. You are also able to customise these dashboards so you can see the information that is relevant to you.

7. You can focus on retaining your customers and growing your business
Finally, similarly to what I mentioned in my first point, it’s all about relationships. You can only continue to manage projects if people want to continue working with you and that’s why it’s so important to manage your working relationships as well as your projects. The combination of a CRM system with your project management tools can help you achieve this.

So even though it may feel like a sales tool, a CRM system can be invaluable when it comes to managing your projects. There are many CRM systems out there to choose from, but we believe Microsoft Dynamics CRM has the most features that can translate across to project management, and that is why our project management tool is built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform.

What about you, can you think of any more reasons a project manager might need a CRM tool? Let us know in the comments below.

I’ve talked often on this blog about the benefits a Microsoft platform can bring to a project management application. As a product certified for Microsoft Dynamics, IPM has been able to use the Microsoft Dynamics platform to build on and create a useful, well designed project management solution that is suitable for a number of industries.

However, the Microsoft platform doesn’t just give you a stable base to build on. It also allows you the option of extending your project management capabilities (and also the capabilities of other functions in your organisation) in a number of ways. Firstly, you can apply any number of independent add-ons built specifically for Microsoft Dynamics CRM that can enable expansion in a number of areas, such as marketing, customer and sales management, manufacturing and distribution. 

Not only that, take a look at this list of five Microsoft tools every business should know about. The ability to integrate with Microsoft tools such as Sharepoint and Lync is a serious advantage for any project management application, and being part of the Microsoft Dynamics family, one that IPM can boast. In particular, a tool like Sharepoint gives project managers the ability to collaborate on projects and share information quickly and efficiently.

Not all project management applications have such a flexible, fluid software platform to work with, and one that gives them access to and integration with some of the best applications in the world. With the changing nature of how we operate and communicate in this technology dominated world, having fluid and adaptable software that can extend across various applications and departments is not only a huge advantage now, I believe it will also be commonplace in a few short years.

Here at IPM we’ve been busy developing a new product in the IPM suite; an integration tool for Oracle Primavera P6. As an additional product in the IPM suite, the integration tool gives you the option of extending your project management capabilities by incorporating features from both systems.

But what exactly does the integration tool do? Primarily, it synchronises all your Primavera P6 job activities with IPM, which gives you a more comprehensive break down of all the work being completed on your job. Within IPM, you then have the ability to manage the job activity completion dates and update resource, purchase order item and subcontract item information for each activity. This gives you a better overall view of each of your projects as you have the ability to link job activities to information that is not available in Primavera P6.

The integration tool also works both ways, so once you have finished adding information to job activities in IPM, you can synch the information back to Primavera P6 to accurately record and track the expenses on your project.

This tool is an exciting addition to the IPM suite as it gives project managers a way to fill small gaps in their project information, and it also means you get a fully encompassing view of exactly what is happening on your project.

We are currently running the Beta version of the Primavera P6 integration tool, so if you’re a current IPM customer and would like to be involved with putting it through its paces, please contact us or leave a comment below. Feel free to contact us too if you’d like more information on the whole IPM suite.

At the end of last year, I came across a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, which was released in May. Looking closely at the findings, they are impressive. So I thought what better way to kick off the New Year than to highlight just how much benefit using a CRM system for your project management needs can give you. If you’re already using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 with IPM, then rest assured, you’ve made a solid investment. And if you’re not, then perhaps you may have just come across a belated New Year’s resolution?
 
The study found that a 2000-employee composite organisation with an initial CRM deployment of 50 users would see a “three-year, risk-adjusted ROI of 243 percent”. That sure is a solid ROI. But what I found even more interesting in the study’s findings was the increased productivity of 5% due to CRM’s ease of use and interoperability with Microsoft Outlook. There is also a productivity saving of 16 man-hours per month associated with using Microsoft Dynamics CRM due its better reporting tools, data consolidation, reporting automation and dashboard capabilities.
 
I have mentioned many times before on our blog the benefits project managers can gain from using project management software such as IPM, combined with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. But now there is independent, quantifiable proof that using Microsoft Dynamics CRM increases productivity. And even though these benefits are based on the CRM system, IPM users have access to all the same functionality when managing their projects with IPM. What’s more, IPM is built around this functionality, so the CRM features that increase productivity are key to the way IPM works, meaning they also increase productivity for IPM users. Interoperability with Microsoft Outlook in particular is one of the main reasons project managers find using IPM so easy, as they are already familiar with the Outlook environment.
 
You can check out the Forrester study on the economic impact of CRM here, and if you would like any further information about how to increase your productivity and ROI with IPM, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
 

As we near the end of the year and begin winding down for the festive season, I thought I’d take the opportunity to reflect on the year that was for IPM Global.
 
We’ve had a very busy year at IPM and here are just some of the standout achievements we are really proud of this year:
 
-   The development and release of IPM 2011 to be compatible with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
-   The release of the hosted version of IPM
-   Signing of new channel partners, Hardhat Technologies and Stenstrom Group
-   Attendance at various tradeshows and exhibitions throughout Australia and North America such as Civil Contractors Federation, Major Projects Conferences, CMAA and World of Concrete
-   The signing of our new North American clients - this market is still tough, but our North American partners are seeing the enormous benefits that IPM gives them
 
It has definitely been a whirlwind year of growth for IPM and we are incredibly excited at the possibilities the New Year will bring.
 
All of the team at IPM wishes you the very best for Christmas and the New Year and I look forward to sharing more blogs with you in 2012. Merry Christmas!

There’s no denying the economy is struggling.  The ripple effects of the 2008 ‘Global Financial Crisis’ are still being felt across the world, worse in some places, but still being felt all the same. Australia hasn’t been quite as hard hit as our European and North American counterparts, but there is still a noticeably sluggish feel to the economy compared to the boom years of 5 – 10 years ago.

One of the sectors that has seen a slump all over the world is construction, and with a slump comes reduced profits, and ultimately less confidence in ‘expensive’ investments such as new software.

But software could actually be a smart investment during a downturn. As John Chaney pointed out in the CFMA’s May/June issue of Building Profits, in previous economic downturns the contractors who have emerged stronger from recessions are those who have embraced new technologies.

Cloud computing is one such new technology that is becoming a buzz in the IT industry. And, according to Joe McKendrick of Forbes, in the present economic climate cloud computing makes sense. Cloud computing is essentially like renting a house.  You pay a monthly fee to use the software housed on someone else’s servers, and the fee is calculated on a per user basis, so you only pay for what you need.

This means less upfront costs for your own infrastructure and more flexibility and innovation to customise software. Updates and maintenance are also taken care of by the software provider, and the data is backed up and safe in the event of a natural disaster or power outage at your office.

Cloud computing is paving the way for small business start ups and larger companies to test new innovations without a large capital investment and long term commitment. Through developments in cloud computing, construction companies are able to, in the middle of a downturn, invest in new software to help streamline processes and save money. And this is exactly the kind of innovation and forward thinking needed to steer construction companies through the current economic downturn and come out stronger at the other end.

If you’d like to know more about the cloud version of IPM’s project management software, please do not hesitate to contact us.

I’ve talked often on this blog about the availability of project management software for the past 20 years being limited to highly specialised, inflexible, out of the box solutions. And in order to make these solutions fit their organisation, companies were either forced to change their processes, or pay for customisations to be made in order to suit them better. Both these options seem unappealing, so what is the answer?

With many software programs, customising the software to suit your business needs often requires changes to the code, which can be expensive. Not only that, extensive customisation will often take you out of the upgrade loop, as the software is either now too specific to be compatible with the upgrade changes, or customisations you have made will be overridden by the upgrade changes.

On the other hand, you can go with software out of the box, with little or no extra customisation, and adapt your working processes to fit the way the software has been designed. This option is cheaper, and means the software can be upgraded with minimal disruption to the existing code as there are very few customisations.

But neither of these options sounds very appealing. On the one hand, you have the added expense of customisation that can take you out of the upgrade loop, or you have to change your business process to suit the software. But with the introduction of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 this year, there is now a way you can have the best of both worlds.

Using the foundation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, IPM is one particular project management software program that can be configured very flexibly without the need for code changes. By using workflows and simple customisations such as field labels, role based forms and dashboards, IPM can be configured to suit each individual organisation’s processes without making any changes to the original code.

What’s more, these configurations and workflows can often be executed and managed by users with the appropriate security level, reducing the need for (and costs associated with) outside consultants.

If the simple configurations are not enough to suit your processes, the software can also be easily customised. In the past, we did have problems with these customisations being overridden during the upgrade process, but now with the introduction of CRM 2011 all customisations can be carried through to new versions. This means IPM can support both user defined configuration and customisation without limiting you in the future by taking the software out of the upgrade loop.

If you would like to know more about how IPM can be configured for your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a free demo.

Since March, I’ve been keeping this blog updated from my new home for the next few months in Northern China. The internet and my laptop have been a godsend here, with the ability to remotely connect to my email and Microsoft Dynamics CRM in our offices in Australia, and also by using Skype to connect with family, friends and colleagues. But last week I had a very unfortunate mishap that involved a bowl of soup and my laptop keyboard. Fortunately, I was able to get the keyboard fixed relatively cheaply here, but it did mean I was without a laptop, and hence very little communication with Australia, for just over a week.

In the scheme of things, a week doesn’t sound like a long time. But in today’s world of laptops, smartphones, social media and the internet, we have come to expect that we should be able to connect with each other any time of the day or night, and from anywhere in the world. And when we lose our ability to connect, sometimes it can have disastrous consequences.

So my mishap with my laptop got me thinking about connectivity, as we all know that for project management in particular connectivity is extremely important. That is why more and more companies are moving towards using online project management software, where employees with an internet connection have the ability to connect with each other and vital project data from almost anywhere in the world, and by any means, be it from the next office on a personal computer, or out on site on a smartphone. With online project management software and a central database for all project data, daily activities such as visits to work sites do not mean you have to disconnect from the office, your other colleagues and the project data.

With IPM in particular, users also have the ability to use the software offline when an internet connection is unavailable, then synchronise any data created in offline mode with the rest of the database when a connection is restored. This means that you can still use the software even when you lose connectivity, and the loss of connectivity doesn’t have quite such a huge impact as it would if you were unable to access your project management software at all.

And even though things like social media and video conferencing are becoming more and more influential in our lives, much connectivity in project management still relies on good old fashioned email. Email integration in project management software, such as IPM’s integration with Microsoft Outlook, means you can stay connected via email without leaving the project management application. There is also a strong connection between your project data and your email communication, as emails sent and received are automatically filed under each transaction in the project management software.

If you would like to find out more about how both our cloud based and on premise versions of IPM can help you streamline your team’s connectivity, feel free to contact us for a free demo or post a comment below.