The project goal: within the framework enable extensive project monitoring, by viewing the status and progress of the project on all levels (countries, regions, phases, functional entities) at any given time. Thus, it should be possible to forecast problems and have the ability to act and initiate countermeasures at all times. 

General conditions apply to the development of our solutions. The client has explicitly requested real-time data management and capability to generate centralized and decentralized reports based on user groups. Additionally, the rollout of BI software (Tableau) is planned for the company, and ideally the solution should incorporate this software. 

For the current case, the technology framework and the preference to incorporate Tableau in the end-product was noted. Alternative approaches would entail the development of a customized web application, as well as the purchase and, if necessary, adaption of an off-the-shelf project tracking software. 

And here the story behind the project: the essence of our handling in ever project – as we did here – lies in our aptitude to listen to the client. We aspire to understanding the goals and objectives defined by our clients and look to adapt our solution approach individually to meet the objectives in accordance with the preexisting framework of the organization. At the beginning communication is key and focus lies on the intense interaction with the client, including the project assessment and analysis process (tasks) and roles involved and definition of the (partial) project life cycle together with the client’s project management team. This way, it becomes clear which user groups would most likely be used for the BI application.

Additionally and in close collaboration with the client management team, the development of the customized set of reports needed to incorporate the traits of the project and organizational structure of the client. The initiation and test of the configuration of the Tableau software infrastructure for the client was the key prerequisite for the implementation of the project and therefore enforced and monitored by us.

Our analysts built the architecture parallel to configuring the structure of the database to store and control the project processes. Next, the development of the dashboard for the reports for the specific user groups in Tableau. The server-side implementation of the Tableau dashboard for the client proved to be particularly challenging, as the Tableau dashboard had to be built using the desktop version. We learned that the Tableau Server License did not depict all elements one-to one for the desktop version. A learning curve which we easily mastered and where the client benefited enormously.

Part of the project delivery involved intensive training sessions and the handover of a detailed user-guide, which enabled our clients to perform their own changes to the application, thereby drastically reducing the maintenance costs. Typically after deployment we are available to assist and support with any modifications, questions, or upgrades based on our flexible SLA agreement.