I know that this blog has often talked about the benefits of IPM and how they can help you manage your projects better, so we thought it might be a good idea to show you real world example of IPM in action.
Last year, an Australian based civil construction company approached us looking for a better way to connect field-based project managers with the home office. Recently merged with UK based Murphy Pipelines, the now Murphy Pipe and Civil Pty Ltd builds and installs water and gas pipelines across Australia. After initially implementing a solution from MYOB and Workbench, the company discovered there were still problems the solution did not address, and that it was not being adopted by field employees. They knew they needed user friendly project management software that could connect their front and back offices and streamline their project management processes.
So we showed them IPM, which is built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM framework and encompasses all of CRM’s features, such as Outlook and ERP integration. They were particularly impressed with the integration between IPM and Microsoft Dynamics NAV, which allows critical data to be exchanged seamlessly and easily between the two systems. Data such as Customer and Supplier information, including names addresses and contacts, Subcontract information, Variation information and Progress Billing invoices can all be exchanged between both systems.
Having now implemented IPM, one of the main benefits that Murphy Pipe and Civil has found is broad adoption across the organisation, with 37 IPM users and 5 NAV users. IPM’s integration with Outlook is one of the driving factors behind this, as Murphy Pipe and Civil’s project managers were already familiar with Outlook, so needed little time to adapt to the IPM environment. With Outlook integration, Project Managers can also get automated alerts when exceptions are encountered, and IPM’s automatic email emailing and secure document control facilities means there is always a complete paper trail.
Murphy Pipe and Civil have achieved great success with their IPM implementation, and have discussed a number of further investments to add to their IPM infrastructure. You can read more about Murphy Pipe and Civil Pty Ltd’s success with IPM in our case study, or if you’d like to find out how IPM can help with your project management needs, please contact us for a free demo.