A large pharmaceutical company, focused on research and development (R&D), faced a big challenge with how projects and resources were managed across clinical and analytical research teams. The enterprise PPM system provided forecasted Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) at a task level but lacked the tools to compare this data against actual allocations and recorded FTEs. Resources used a separate system to fill timesheets, tracking their actual time and allocation across tasks. However, this data was siloed and unavailable for holistic comparisons, making it difficult to reconcile forecasted, allocated, and actual resource utilization.    

To address these gaps, functional managers exported program-level project data—such as milestones, tasks, and required skills—into Excel to isolate their functional line’s responsibilities. They manually updated and allocated resources, which created inefficiencies, increased the risk of errors, and disrupted collaboration across functional lines. This fragmented process led to discrepancies in project scheduling, cost tracking, and overall plan alignment, as updates made at the functional line level did not seamlessly integrate into the broader program.  

There was an urgent need for an integrated solution that consolidated resource data—including forecasted, allocated, and actual FTEs—into a single platform