Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics manage 100+ projects of differing types (operations, new product development) at any given time. Prior to implementing BrightWork, they tracked their work and progress with lists in standard SharePoint sites. They wanted to leverage the platform further to create a more robust system for managing each project successfully.

The solution would enable them to track the key objectives within each project as well as to implement a milestone tracking system, which is a fundamental part of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics project management process. They realized that such a system would require considerable SharePoint development, so they decided to source a SharePoint add-on that would enable these capabilities. BrightWork was selected as their tool of choice.

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics deployed the BrightWork Project Lite, Project Standard and Project Structured templates to manage projects of varying size and type. They rolled out the more complex templates first, trimming them down to remove the information (columns, fields, lists, libraries) that were not necessary for a particular project.

Now when new projects are initiated, there is a SharePoint template that is pre-configured to the needs of that project type.

Using the BrightWork templates, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics now have a much better understanding of all projects underway, as well as a system to review and manage new project requests. They have greater visibility into what is on track and what is falling behind.

The automated email reporting functionality in SharePoint has also of much benefit as stakeholders are automatically sent project status reports and notified of delays so they can take corrective action. Further, team members are automatically sent reminders about the tasks for which they are responsible and when they are due.

One of the major aspects of Siemens Healthcare project management process is Milestone Trend Analysis. It is used to graphically illustrate time-related discrepancies with project milestones and how their finish date could change throughout the life cycle of a Project.

Using a set of filters and workflows in SharePoint, a log is built in the background of the project site using SQL. Once the log is built, BrightWork uses SharePoint’s charting features to display a graphical chart which is fed from the log. The milestone log is updated automatically on a regular basis, so the charts are always up-to-date.

Using this Milestone Trend Analysis reporting in BrightWork, Project Managers can clearly see the history and evolution of Project Milestones. If they find their milestones are slipping, they can then take the necessary steps to get them back on track. (To learn more about Milestone Trend Analysis, check out our blog post: Easily Track Project Milestones in SharePoint.)