In a nutshell…
- Project Management
- System Integration
Squirrel Business Solutions routinely manages in excess of 100 different client projects. Their project management system was sufficient for task management, but lacked the desired, detailed analysis into time and resource allocation across all projects. Given the volume of projects to oversee, it was critical to make project tracking intuitive and focused. The solution was enhancing the data flow between CRM Deals and Zoho Projects and then integrating both systems with Zoho Analytics to build specific reports and project dashboards.
Squirrel Business Solutions
Squirrel Business Solutions is an IT Consulting business servicing a broad range of businesses across Australia. Squirrel’s services include CRM and cloud-based system implementation, customisation, integration, automation, training and support.
The brief
Squirrel were happy with features and functionality of Zoho Projects for task management and communication however needed more useful insights and analytics to guide efficient resource allocation and profitable project delivery. Squirrel consultants needed access to real time information to manage budgets on active jobs, and the management team needed organisation wide tracking to monitor KPIs and business performance.
The team wanted a dashboard with a set of key reports which would provide them with insights including:
- Visual, traffic light indication of project health
- Individual job profitability tracking
- Comparison of allocated vs utilised job hours for ongoing projects, overall and for each involved department i.e. developer, consultant
In addition, the management team wanted to see:
- Daily, weekly and monthly billable hours – target vs actual by team member
- Monitoring of their billable hours in relation to organisation KPI’s
- Monitoring of organisation KPI’s regarding project and business profitability
“Our project management system is great but I wanted to remove the noise and make it really easy for the team to stay on track. That meant clearly defined and measurable targets that the team could understand….key metrics that we could trust and rely on.” Kylie Harker, Founder.
The solution
- Zoho Analytics
- Zoho CRM
- Zoho One
- Zoho Projects
Squirrel customised and integrated Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects and Zoho Analytics in order to provide the team with accurate, real time reporting across projects and users. Features of the tailored solution include:
- An overarching dashboard showing all projects across the organisation tracking various measurable targets, such as resource cost rates, travel expenses, and percentage of administration and overhead costs.
- Measurable targets automatically imported from quoted Job Amounts in Zoho Projects, such as budgeted hours, into reporting software Zoho Analytics, and utilised in resource forecasting, and job profit and loss calculations.
- Comparison of real-time billable hours by team members – daily, weekly, monthly actual vs target
- Tracking of time spent by consultants on particular set tasks, automatically compiled in real time.
- Project KPI reports emailed to project owners daily, with an intuitive traffic light system indicating project health.
The benefits
- More efficient allocation of team resources due to automatic identification and analysis of required re-work, under or over-budgeted projects, and fluctuating workloads.
- Improved accuracy of project quoting and budget estimation.
- Optimal management of projects as a result of time tracking against billable time targets.
- Readily available insights indicating project health without the need for timely investigation into individual projects, allowing the team to solve any potential issues as soon as possible.
It’s made overseeing 100+ projects achievable. It has removed the complexity for our consultants to see their project health via an easy snapshot and empowered the team to quickly adjust where needed.
Suze Macrae
Operations Manager
Squirrel Business Solutions
Ask Squirrel
Could your business benefit from a similar solution? We’d be happy to help you find one. Book a free consult today.
Squirrel Business Solutions implements and integrates CRM and other cloud-based systems, and provides training and support, for small and medium-sized businesses all over Australia, including Melbourne, Bendigo, regional Victoria, Tasmania, Sydney and Brisbane. This empowers them to automate their processes and improve their efficiency.
Squirrel Business Solution’s founder, Kylie Harker, is a Melbourne based consultant who assists business owners find and implement the best fit CRM and other systems for their business. Squirrel focus on four core principles: integrating your systems, streamlining your processes, enhancing your customer experience, and unlocking the value of your data.