BI Solution for Project Management Analysis with Customizable Reports

Customer

An international IT services provider, an expert in design, development and delivery of custom software solutions, IT consulting and IT outsourcing services. The Customer has attained a number of Microsoft competences as well as has been an IBM PartnerWorld member since 2010.

Challenge

As an IT services provider, the Customer needed to monitor carefully all the efforts and resources spent on projects, including logged and paid time tracking. In order to record project information accurately as well as to ensure timely preparation of monthly reports, project managers and coordinators were forced to spend a considerable amount of time. Therefore, to facilitate tracking and reporting processes, the Customer needed to create analytical system for project management purposes.

Solution

ScienceSoft team developed Data Warehouse (DWH) database structure as well as integration packages to load data from a variety of projects information sources. The data sources are: CRM database, excel workbooks, Active Directory (access control system), task tracking system (Jira 3 and Jira 4), SharePoint portal and accounting system.

In order to facilitate project management process, the system was designed to let project coordinators load data outside their work place.

To ensure data-driven decision making, a variety of reports, metrics, KPI and attributes were implemented to the system. A number of tools and techniques are used for the reports building and analysis of pooled data:

• Reports realized with Microsoft Reporting Services that extract data from the Analytical Cube and OLTP system.
• PowerPivot models in Excel that do not require external data connection.
• On-line reports integrated into SharePoint portal.
• PowerView interactive mechanism integrated with the SharePoint portal.

All reports are highly-customizable: there are plenty of different rules that ensure reports adjustment in accordance with the exact user needs. As information concerned project monitoring tends to change and expand, ScienceSoft team created a variety of customizable tables that allow recording each detail and person around a particular project or customer.

For all the reports data security rules were implemented. The information about a particular project can be observed by a project manager or a coordinator, who has specific privileges.

Results

ScienceSoft created a fully integrated system for project management analysis and reporting, that ensures time saving for project coordinators on their regular responsibilities. The system enables its users to record all the information with respect to the Customer’s projects, thereby accelerating decision making as well as facilitating the whole project management process.

The system allows merging all data from different internal sources in a single storage as well as building reports in accordance with specified parameters. While using the system, project managers and coordinators are able to provide reports customization for each customer and increase, thereby, customers’ satisfaction.

As the solution was successfully implemented, the Customer is able to make use of its reports and analysis. The Customer was satisfied with the quality of the delivered solution, and now it is actively used.

Technologies and Tools

Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2, Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Microsoft Integration Service 2012, Microsoft Analysis Service 2012 Tabular Model, Microsoft Reporting Service, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPivot, Power View, Silverlight, T-SQL, DAX.