Case Study: Business Analysis
Services Rendered
Program Management
Process Implementation
IT Consulting
The Overview
Fortuna BMC presented an outside the box solution, which solved cost and control challenges for the client. A lack of visibility into project tasks resulted in operational and financial overruns causing stakeholders to consider ending the project. Fortunately, Fortuna BMC’s business analysts found a solution by using an already owned, but underutilized tool to solve the problem.
The Challenge
A defense contractor (the client) in the process of an Oracle upgrade was suffering out of control project costs, delivery shortfalls and contractor-labor management issues. The client had accountability problems as well as shortage of oversight and control. Management failed to capture time and effort by contractors at a per-project task level, and were unable to manage progress and costs, leading to the removal of a subcontractor involved in the project. This inability to track and control tasks and costsrequired better reporting.
Our Solution
There were four options considered as solutions – add to Oracle, write a custom application, utilize a third-party administrator’s tool, or employ Microsoft SharePoint. The first three options were costly and time-intensive solutions requiring implementation, field maintenance, integration programming and testing, in addition to licensing fees.
Fortuna BMC, comprised of professional business analysts experienced in corporate settings, developed an innovative and efficient solution by using Microsoft SharePoint, a solution that would be easy to develop and deploy. The client had existing Microsoft Office product licenses, the application was familiar to virtually all potential users, and required limited configuration. Microsoft Office, was already native, licensed and supported SharePoint, Access and Excel. Microsoft SharePoint could capture times for external contractors, lock records, and send Access reports from an Excel database.
The Outcome
Fortuna BMC was able to highlight its capabilities to provide rapid deployment and creative solutions in times of unanticipated needs, an advantage of the company backed by practicing professionals and technology experts. The simple yet efficient tool provided project managers the reporting they needed, and the data-capture necessary to monitor projects, objectives and tasks properly. This improved project managers and executive leadership’s contact with contractors and avoided oversight of the work performed by outside contractors involved in the project.