Asta Teamplan, the project portfolio and resource management software solution from Asta Development, has been selected by 3T Productions, a leading interactive design company specialising in education, in a three way pitch against Hydra® and Microsoft Project Server®.

3T Productions had been using a combination of standalone Microsoft Project plans, numerous Excel spreadsheets and some ‘home grown’ components to manage their projects. All of which required considerable effort to maintain and were unable to provide the accuracy required in a timely manner. The challenge for 3T Productions was to identify an integrated project management system that stored data in one place, providing consistent management information to help deliver better business decisions.

Identifying the Right Software Product

“After investigating the many systems available, we chose Asta Teamplan as it best suited our current needs for the size and type of company that 3T Productions has become,” said David Beswick, Production Manager at 3T Productions. “It also provided the flexibility to expand in the future.”

One of the key turning points for 3T Productions was a discovery day held at their own offices where the Asta Development team demonstrated the system. The hands-on experience was an ideal opportunity not only to see the capabilities of the software but also to appreciate the depth of knowledge and experience within Asta.

“We were very impressed with the client engagement process and the level of support provided to us from Asta throughout the entire process. From the start of our engagement process Asta has been very honest in identifying the pros and cons of their solution, and its potential alignment with our business.”

Asta Teamplan Benefits

A significant benefit identified by 3T Productions was the straight forward functionality and the ease with which users can access data from across the entire system. Asta Teamplan has a familiar Microsoft Windows® style interface that is designed to make the product easy to use.

“We like the intuitive functionality, especially in relation to scheduling, and the fact that you can easily view and access data in the form of a ‘tree structure’. This makes it easy to examine information at various levels and drill down/roll-up to see more or less detail as necessary.”

Asta Teamplan is recognised as being one of the best project portfolio and resource management solutions on the market for small and medium-size enterprises.  It is a robust and effective solution that enables the management of the project portfolio, resources and costs; increasing a project’s chance of success both in terms of meeting budget and coming in on time. The wealth of real time information available can ease decision making and help forecast realistic timescales at project, programme or portfolio level.

 “The flexibility of Asta Teamplan means you can use it in a very straightforward way if you want to; it doesn’t complicate simple processes and if you want to add additional features and extend the system, they are there if you need them.”

Going Live

3T Productions is currently preparing the system to go live in March 2008 having completed the initial system implementation. This is a tried and tested method to ensure that the system is configured to meet all of the users’ business objectives. The process includes a planning workshop, the system set-up and installation together with training and post implementation review.

“Although we won’t be in production with the system until early March 2008, we foresee the system providing many benefits in managing our projects and to the business as a whole. In particular, we anticipate the system contributing to improved resource capacity planning; more effective resource management and staff utilisation; better cost and income forecasting; better project tracking and status reporting; and more consistency in managing our projects overall.”

UK project management specialist Asta Development has a global customer base of over 40,000 users and offers a complete solution, not just software. Asta safeguards every customer’s investment by providing a comprehensive range of services including consultancy, training and ongoing technical support which are provided by an in-house team of experts.

To find out how other companies have benefited from using Asta Teamplan click through to customer case studies at www.teamplan.co.uk/casestudies

®Hydra is a registered trademark of PMG Plc.

®Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation