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Streamlining Project Management and Process Improvement for an Investment Management Firm

Focus Areas

Project Management

Data Integration

Key challenges:

The lack of a standardized project tracking system was creating challenges for an investment management company. The firm had no visibility into the overall progress and allocation of resources which led to inefficiencies and duplicate efforts for their various ongoing client servicing initiatives. This resulted in delays and underutilization of resources and had a negative impact on client satisfaction.

Business Problem

Siloed Project Tracking: Internally, projects were being managed in silos which led to redundancy, inefficiencies, and inconsistent reporting across teams and made it difficult to track projects, resource usage, and deadlines.
Effort Duplication: The absence of a standardized project management system resulted in two problems – one, the duplication of tasks by different departments, and two, the lack of visibility to understand where efforts were being duplicated and how better allocation of resources could be done.
Progress Measurement: Leadership could not monitor progress across various projects which affected their ability to allocate resources efficiently and measure progress outcomes against goals. This led to missed deadlines and difficulties in delivering client services.
Client Service Delivery: The inability to coordinate across teams, manage client service-related initiatives, and track client projects led to delays and inconsistencies in the client experience

The Approach

Following a thorough assessment of the existing project management workflows to understand the key requirements for the project, curate designed a solution that involved developing a project management system that would provide real-time visibility into all ongoing initiatives, process improvements focused on optimizing resource utilization and streamlining project workflows, and tracking project progress and making data-driven decisions for resource management.

Key components of the solution:

Discovery and Requirements Gathering: Working closely with the internal project management, IT, and client service teams, and through workshops and stakeholder interviews, Curate carried out a comprehensive assessment of the existing workflows and identified the important improvements to be made:
- Track projects across departments by developing a centralized project management platform.
- Provide leadership visibility into ongoing initiatives by implementing real-time updates and progress tracking.
- Prevent supplication of efforts by establishing a system for resource allocation and standardizing project workflows.
- Ensure that the system effectively coordinates between the client service and other teams.
Implementing a Centralized Project Management System: Curate developed a project management system that would provide real-time visibility into all ongoing initiatives and ensure efficiency in resource allocation.
- Project tracking: A customized project management system based on Jira and Microsoft Project was implemented. This would enable teams to log, monitor, and update project status in real time as well as allow leadership to keep an eye on each project’s resources, progress, and deadlines.
- Status Updates: The system gave stakeholders real-time updates on the state of each project. Automated alerts were set up to notify changes to deadlines, resource allocations, and other risks that might affect project completion.
- Workflow Standardisation: To reduce the possibility of errors, variations, or missed steps, standardized project workflows were created for client service initiatives in coordination with the internal teams.
Process Improvement and Resource Optimization: Curate introduced process improvements to tackle inefficiencies and duplication of efforts.
Planning and Resource Allocation: A resource planning tool was incorporated into the project management platform to give insight into the allocation of resources among teams. Leadership was able to find underutilized resources, avoid overworking team members, and allocate resources more effectively.
Reducing Duplication of Efforts: A task assignment feature in the project management system allowed teams to efficiently collaborate on common projects. It minimized redundancies by automatically tracking task ownership across departments.
Enhanced Reporting and Measuring Progress: To make informed, data-driven decisions for resource management, the leadership team wanted visibility into the progress of projects.
- Dashboards: The system implemented dashboards to share Key Performance Indicators related to project progress, resource utilization, and timelines. Leaders could now gain insights into ongoing initiatives, spot issues, and make informed decisions.
- Progress Reporting: Leadership could use the integrated customized reporting features to create reports on project progress, budget status, and overall performance concerning goals. This provided better oversight and proactive management of projects.
Stakeholder Engagement and Change Management: Curate collaborated extensively with the company’s vendors, external stakeholders, and internal departments throughout the project.
- Internal Teams: Feedback sessions were scheduled regularly with the internal teams to ensure that the new platform was tailored to the firm’s needs. This also helped address concerns as well as stay aligned on business goals.
- Platforms and Vendors: Consistent coordination with external vendors and platform providers allowed the system to be easily integrated with the CRM and client service software.
- Training and Change Management: Extensive training and change management sessions were given on workflow standardization and resource allocation tools so that the internal teams could fully utilize the new project management system.

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Business Outcomes

Increased Transparency

The centralized project management system provided the leadership team with improved oversight due to real-time visibility into ongoing initiatives. It allowed them to track progress and identify potential problems leading to better decision-making and management of resources.

Decreased Duplication of Efforts

Teams were able to work together more successfully and prevent effort duplication thanks to the standardized system. This improved operational efficiency and decreased wasted effort.

Better Resource Allocation

The resource planning tool helped the firm scale operations and complete projects in time, by ensuring efficient allocation of staff, preventing resource bottlenecks, and ensuring appropriate staffing on projects.

Sample KPIs

Here’s a quick summary of the kinds of KPI’s and goals teams were working towards**:

Metric	Before	After	Improvement
Project completion rate	70%	95%	25% improvement
Resource utilization	60%	85%	25% improvement
Duplication of efforts (tasks)	10 duplications/month	1 duplication/month	90% reduction
Client service-related project delays	8/week	2/week	75% reduction
Client satisfaction scores	6/10	8.5/10	2.5-point improvement

**Disclaimer: The set of KPI’s are for illustration only and do not reference any specific client data or actual results – they have been modified and anonymized to protect confidentiality and avoid disclosing client data.

Customer Value

Improved Client Service

The firm was able to standardize workflows and improve cooperation between teams. This helped deliver more consistent and timely services to clients improving the overall client satisfaction and experience.

Sample Skills of Resources

The following set of skills, resources, tools, and technologies were used:

Project Managers: Skilled in implementing project management platforms, standardizing workflows, and coordinating cross-departmental projects.
Business Analysts: Expertise in analyzing existing processes and identifying areas for improvement in resource allocation and project tracking.
IT Specialists: Experienced in integrating project management platforms with other business systems and ensuring smooth technology adoption.
Process Improvement Experts: Skilled in designing and implementing process improvements, particularly in resource planning and workflow standardization.
Change Management Experts: Proficient in training teams, managing transitions, and driving the adoption of new systems across multiple departments.

Tools & Technologies

Project Management Platforms: Microsoft Project, Jira, monday.com for centralized project tracking and task management.
Resource Planning: Smartsheet, Mavenlink for resource allocation and optimization.
Reporting and Dashboards: Power BI, Tableau for real-time KPI tracking and progress measurement.
Collaboration Tools: Microsoft Teams, Slack for cross-department communication and task coordination.
Data Integration: SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), REST APIs for integrating the project management system with other business platforms.

Conclusion

Curate improved the investment management company’s overall operational performance and inefficiencies by implementing standardized workflows and a centralized project management system. The firm was able to decrease duplication of effort, optimize resource allocation, complete projects efficiently, and enhance customer service by obtaining greater insight into the status of projects.

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