Packaged solutions for every level of PPM maturity

Project Online and Power BI- A Dynamic Duo for Making Reports That Matter

Is making reports taking up all your time? Or Are you still wondering the answers to questions such as ‘what is the project’s progress? Or ‘how much will this project cost the company after two years?’ then your business needs a digital makeover. Companies need applications that can quickly analyze huge data sets and come up with trends that can help in decision-making. This is where Project Online and Power BI come into play. In this blog, we will tell you about Microsoft Project Online and Power BI, and how they can become a game-changer for your business? These applications are powered by Microsoft, and i2e can help you with the implementation as well as migration of your existing projects. Are You Already Using Project Online? Along with being a magnificent project management application, Project Online is also a precious data source. Leverage it correctly and it can give a powerful start towards making meaningful reports. This is where Power BI can change the way you look at the data. But doesn’t Project Online come with a reporting module, then why should you integrate Power BI? This is a reasonable doubt, which many of our clients expressed. Read the next section to find out. Why Integrate Power BI to Project Online? Power BI is a reporting tool that can analyze data and convert it into meaningful metrics for the business. Yes, Project Online does generate reports, but if you need customized reports, along with actionable insights, and smart visuals, then Power BI is what you need. Using Power BI, companies can do more than just creating reports, they can dig deep into the data and use the Machine Learning algorithm to predict trends. The best part is you can easily integrate Power BI to Project Online and eliminate the hassle of exporting data and manually generating reports. Integrating Power BI to Project Online will boost your reporting capabilities and help in smart decision-making. Power BI’s Components Using Power Q&A, you can create visuals by just typing in questions. For example, ‘who owns more projects,’ or ‘how many projects are owned per owner.’Power BI has a Power query option which can structure your data. Once the data is structured, the Data Management Gateway refreshes the data periodically and the new data will follow the same format, saving you time and effort.Power BI also comes with a Quick Insights feature which can churn your data and create subsets to give you valuable insights. For example, it can give you visuals of which project might cost more, or which project can fall out company’s goals in the future.There are other components such as the Power View and the Power Map, the former comes with an easy drag-and-drop interface, and the latter is a 3D geospatial data visualization tool. Both these tools help in creating superior reports. Along with creating impeccable reports, Power BI can accumulate data from various data sources, create visuals and share across global data centers. This helps companies to meet their compliance and regulatory needs. Power BI- The Game Changer Fetch data from various cloud services – helps you in making consolidated reports.Build smart dashboards- gives a holistic view of the business empowering teams to make informed decisions.Ask questions and get real-time answers- gives answers in the form of a graph or chart for quicker understanding.Scan hidden insights in seconds- never miss out any data or trend which can be helpful for the business.Secured live access from any device- easy to access through Power BI mobile apps. If you are looking for a way to make smarter reports, then it is time to adopt artificial intelligence tools that can pull data and allow you to visualize in your own way. If you need assistance in implementing Project Online and Power BI, connect with us. Our team of experts will understand your requirements and provide you with the right solution.

Why you should use PPM (project portfolio management) software for project collaboration

Emails are simple and convenient, but they do more harm than good to your project management. Though emails are enticing to use, you should ditch this practice as soon as possible. You may wonder why it is imperative to have a proper collaboration system in place for project management. Read on as we tell you how emails are sabotaging your project management and how you can stop it. Five ways project management tools can promote better collaboration You may be doing everything to keep tabs on all the projects, but still, if there are certain loose ends, then it could be due to inefficiencies in your collaboration process. Though email is a great tool for communication, it is not designed for collaborations. Say no to tracking lengthy email chains In the biotechnology industry, projects are lengthy and can stretch for years, such projects have endless threads of conversations. If you are using emails to track and contain such conversations, things will get messy. With several members of your team sending emails all at once, keeping track of their daily work status is impossible. On the other hand, a project management tool is designed to manage such complex and lengthy conversations. With project management software tasks like resource allocation, setting up deadlines, creating project deliverables, etc., can be completed with accuracy and on time. Streamlined task management A project is a collection of various small tasks, which need to be assigned to everyone. Doing this over emails will cause confusion and misunderstanding. Also, there will not be any provision to have a bird’s eye view at the resource allocation and daily progress of the assigned tasks. With the best project management software, you can not only assign tasks systematically but also track them daily. Additionally, these solutions provide intelligent options to perform resource forecasting, managing the vast resource pool, building teams, etc. for more details refer to our blog on resource management. Avoid manual work and increase productivity Project management involves many tasks, some of which are repetitive. If you are using emails to collaborate with your team members, then you must manually collate all their information using excel sheets. This process is not only time-consuming but also error-prone. So, whenever you need summary reports of the project, you must execute the task from scratch every time. Specialized project management collaboration tools have options to automate most of the manual tasks. You can generate reports, and convert them into visuals with just a click. Be it a hundred sheets of clinical trials data or 6 GB of drug discovery data, you can organize it with just a click. Never miss critical insights It is a widespread practice for small and medium biotech companies for a project manager to wear multiple hats. For example, in an SME project management, a manager can co-lead the project with a technical lead. In such a scenario, hands-on data becomes vital. If you are using emails for project management, then you need to go through a dozen emails just to find out the status of a task. Using project management tools, you can track tasks as per the department and keep everyone on the same page. These solutions work on AI and ML which enables you to identify and extract crucial insights from your project data without the need to perform any manual work. Real-time collaboration Another crucial area of project management is having real-time control over the project. The project manager should be aware of every minute detail of what is happening within the project. If you are using emails for collaboration, then most of your time will be invested in searching for emails in your inbox, and that information is also not real-time. Project management software will help you have a bird’s eye view of the project with just a click. You will be able to view the progress in a project in real-time, this data can also help forecast the future trends of the project based on the current progress. Project management is more than just communicating with each other, it has special needs, and a software solution can help fulfill them. Unlike popular myths investing in a PPM tool is neither expensive nor time-consuming. All these tools are said to give a greater ROI and can be implemented in 1-2 quarters. i2e Consulting has 13 years in life science project management consulting. Our team is well versed with the implementation of Project Online, Planisware, etc., for global biotechnology companies.

Microsoft Project for the Web | Project Web

Project for the web, formerly known as Project service, is Microsoft's most recent offering for cloud-based work and project management. Project for the web provides simple, powerful work management capabilities and can be used by project managers and team members to plan and manage work of any size. “The new Project is designed to be both simple and powerful, so anyone can get started quickly and take control of any project right away.” View makes a difference Project offers a fresh new user experience in views. When you start at project home, you have a grid view, the idea is to come in build out these project schedules, include dependencies, update status and assign users tasks, etc. Apart from this, we have two different views, the Board and the Timeline views. The Board view gives you a card-based view of the tasks just like in Planner. If you follow an agile approach to project management, you should use a Board view. Next, we have is the Timeline view which displays as the name suggests tasks in a timeline; however, it does not just display the tasks it allows you to work with it. You can include dependencies with drag and drop connectors, extend timeline etc. The timeline view works best with the waterfall model. Choose what’s best suits you. Roadmaps Roadmap is a visually exciting way to combine information from multiple Waterfall and Agile projects and share it with co-workers. Best suited for portfolio directors who would love to visually and interactive way to view project status across a program or portfolio. Building roadmaps in Project is very simple with the intuitive UI, add rows, connect projects, choose tasks milestones, features or initiative and you are done. Collaboration within Teams Project is part of the Microsoft 365 family; it works cohesively with Microsoft Teams. You can add Project for the web in a Teams tab with its full fidelity, no need to switch between apps. To help teams stay on track, Project also offers an automated scheduling engine based on effort, duration, and resources. Save time, collaborate more no matter where you are. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/project-blog/announcing-project-roadmaps/ba-p/268466Insights are all we need The new Project provides greater insights across all the projects. You can create stunning interactive dashboards in Power BI to visualize every aspect of each project at a glance."The Microsoft Project is changing, and the future of Project is here."Connectivity makes things easy Everything on Microsoft Cloud is based on what we call as the Common Data Service (CDS) for Apps. This gives one secure common repository and one common source of all Microsoft data. Now Microsoft project for the web is included into the project component of CDS for apps. This means we can easily build custom apps that include information of Project, Power BI, Dynamics etc. The platform, or the group or the way we can include people will help work in a more connected basis. Project bridges the gap between Planner and Project Professional Up until the introduction of project for the web to the Microsoft project product family, we had basic work management addressed through Office 365 Planner. People could do simple task management but not a lot of things project management folks would do. To get into full project management, dependencies, schedule algorithms and other things they required a Project Professional subscription plan. With this new offering that is, Project for web, the occasional or accidental project manager or anybody who is not trained to be a project manager, can go in and do simple tasks, plan schedules and be able to use an intuitive interface that feeds into overall project and work management process. Project for the web gives the right tools in the right hands to get things done.In conclusion, Project for the web, formerly known as Project service, is Microsoft's most recent offering for cloud-based work and project management. Project provides straightforward, powerful work management capabilities that are simple yet powerful. It can be used by both team members and project managers alike for the management of work. Project may be limited for resource management, program or portfolio management; however, it offers the perfect “grow-up” tool for individuals and teams using Planner who find they need things like a grid view, dependencies, scheduling, and a timeline view.