Case One - The Telecommunications Company

A telecommunications company reduced project management time from 100+ hours to 32 hours per week. When a telecommunications client began using spreadsheets to track project data, the company was small, and one person could accurately enter, maintain, and retrieve all required information in eight hours per week or less. As the company grew, project management soon required 2+ full time people and more than 100 hours per week, and the number of errors grew in proportion to the size of the spreadsheets. Customer satisfaction dropped as project managers were forced to spend most of their time on data entry instead of deliverables.

Replacing the spreadsheets with a database application reduced the time required to enter and update project information to 32 hours per week or less; eliminated errors; and allowed project managers to focus on value added work instead of data entry. As a bonus, having all the information in a database instead of massive spreadsheets allowed the client to significantly reduce the time required to create reports while improving their accuracy.

Case Two - The Homebuilder

Builder software provided a 40% reduction of the time required to source and purchase an average of 33,000 items per home. If you counted the number of nails, screws, boards, pipes, and other parts in your home, you’d probably come up with a number somewhere around 33,000, covering more than 220 unique parts. Builders know exactly how many of each part and how many hours of labor go into every floor plan it offers, and purchasing agents for builders are responsible for ensuring every part and service are on the job site when needed. In addition, the purchasing department manages the cost per part for each supplier, comparing quality and cost across vendors to find the best value for the home buyer and highest profitability for the builder.

A large national homebuilder implemented an integrated software package, only to find it necessary to double the size of its purchasing team. Why? The inflexibility of the software meant the company had to change its processes to match the system’s. Business practices that had been streamlined and optimized during more than 10 years of award-winning success were replaced by system-dictated inefficiencies, and things that previously took two steps suddenly required ten. Purchasing agents, who had been hired because they understood the building industry and excelled at supplier management, were forced to divert time from business enhancing activities and focus on data entry and management.

To solve the problem, the builder decided to increase productivity by investing in a custom software application that supported its proven business practices. Master templates for parts and labor are one example of how the new system increases productivity. Each time the builder introduces a new floor plan, purchasing starts with a proven, validated master template of parts and labor for the type of construction and tailors it to the new plan.

Another way the system improved productivity was by making it easier to find and update existing information. To find information in the packaged system, you had to remember or look up meaningless codes, and often you had to navigate to three or more screens to get a complete picture. The new system was designed to make information easily accessible, so purchasing can search for information in almost unlimited ways. For example, purchasing can find the list of parts and labor for a specific home by entering buyer’s name or property address, or by selecting the floor plan name or community in which it is being built.

Results of creating a system that supports the business’s proven processes? Improved productivity:

• 70% reduction in hours purchasing agents spend identifying and sourcing all parts for a new home.
• 60% reduction in training time required for new employees to become proficient using the purchasing software.

By reducing the time required for redundant data entry and other non-value added tasks, purchasing is able to spend more hours negotiating pricing, finding new sources, and ensuring the accuracy of master data - significant contributions to lower cost and a higher bottom line.