The ability to manage projects and resources globally is a core challenge for large companies. At 70 locations in 25 countries worldwide, the Brose corporate group develops and produces mechatronic components and systems for vehicle doors, seats and bodywork that are used by everyone who drives a car.
Complex and globally active projects are also part of everyday life at Brose. In order to be able to provide even more consistent digital support for existing project and resource management processes in the future, Brose was looking for starting points and concepts for a solution.
We were able to support the creation of the technical concepts and the selection of potential architecture and technology approaches.
Procedure model in the project
In project and resource management, too, objectives, specialist processes and boundary conditions must first be identified, coordinated and clarified before selecting digital support in order to be able to derive the specialist roadmap and technical blueprint with conceptual clarity and transparent risks.
It is not surprising that the range of work variants and boundary conditions is enormous, especially in global project and resource management. This made it all the more important in this project to prepare country-specific aspects in global projects in the requirements backlog and provide them with suggested solutions.
In practice, it is still evident today that complex process chains, complex project structures, massive data volumes, global language support, security and support for modern digital collaboration are still not solved off the shelf, even if tools such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations in conjunction with Power Platform come close to meeting these requirements.
At the time of the project, however, the KPDM Toolbox project was designed on the basis of SharePoint with Enterprise Application Integration approaches and supported directly by Microsoft.
Challenges in project and resource management
Here are some of the most important steps and processes for project and resource management in large companies:
- Project planning: Planning the project is a critical first step. It involves defining the goals, milestones, tasks and resources needed for the project. It is important to ensure that everyone involved in the project has a common understanding of the project goals and requirements.
- Resource management: An important aspect of project management is the effective management of resources. This includes the allocation of people, materials, budgets and schedules for the project. It is important to ensure that all resources are used effectively to achieve the project objectives.
- Team coordination: Team coordination is a critical aspect of project management. It is important to ensure that all team members have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Communication within the team is also vital to ensure that everyone involved is up to date and any delays or issues can be identified and resolved early.
- Project monitoring: Ongoing monitoring of the project is important to ensure that it stays on track and that all objectives and milestones are met. This can be done through regular reviews and assessments of project progress as well as monitoring budgets, schedules and other resources.
- Risk management: Risk management is another important aspect of project management. It involves identifying and assessing potential risks and developing plans to minimize and manage risks. This can help to avoid delays, budget overruns and other problems.
Overall, project and resource management in large organizations requires careful planning, coordination and monitoring to ensure that projects are carried out efficiently and that all resources are used optimally. Effective project management software can also help to facilitate and automate the process.
