Practical Project Management

Web site: http://www.tenrox.com/

Is your current ERP system letting you down with increased time to get the job done and greater costs to run?

Is the word chaos part of your every day vocabulary when it comes to managing your many project or service-oriented business processes?

Tenrox Projeca is a Professional Services Automation (PSA) solution, a member of a rapidly emerging class of enterprise management software products designed to address the problems of project and service-oriented companies that service clients based on billable and non-billable work.
It bridges the gap between ERP, project management, accounting, payroll, and workforce management software.
This latest release complements third party software like Microsoft Project and the popular ADP Payroll, and also provides seamless integration with Outlook, SAP, Visio, and Peoplesoft.

Designed by Tenrox, a Montreal, Quebec-based company that specialises in the development and production of enterprise optimisation tools and software, Projeca has recently been launched in its seventh release.
It is a highly scalable modular suite of tools that automates and streamlines business processes such as operations, project management, resource, time and expense, workflows, reporting, request and change management, and business intelligence and purchasing.

The suite includes Office Timesheet, Office Expense, Office Purchasing, InChange, and Office Time and Attendance. This latest release has many new advanced features that include the addition of resource management and Web-based business intelligence and analysis modules, as well as a workflow and knowledge management system and newly added Digital Dashboard Technology.

The Projeca Resource Management module helps you obtain maximum utilisation and performance of project-related human resources. It has been designed to schedule your personnel based on their most relevant skill profiles, interests, priority, and availability.

The Web-based Business Intelligence and Analysis module is multi-dimensional and fully integrated for dynamic drilling up and down and summarization.
Tenrox has created a slicing and dicing capability to enable you multi-dimensional graphical analyses of your enterprise.

The Workflow and Knowledge Management portion of Projeca addresses the needs of core business processes and best practice automation. With its 30 pre-defined workflows, you can handle your time tracking, purchasing, expense reporting, requisitions, and change management.

The unique Digital Dashboard Technology provides real time, instant views of data in a pure HTML, Web-enabled environment. No matter where your team members are located, they can receive up-to-the-minute information any time.

A completely integrated, Web-based product, Projeca provides desktop, Web, wireless, and email access and consists of several types of clients.
Its Small Business Edition and Enterprise Edition Windows applications are quickly and easily deployed on systems running Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000 operating systems. The pure HTML version can be used from a Web browser running on any Windows, Sun, Mac, and Linux platform. The software currently has over three million lines of code and supports all major databases: SQL, Oracle, and IBM DB2.

Tenrox has also developed bi-directional live and dynamic integration with Microsoft Project.
A total project management solution has been realised through the use of Project’s Gantt charts and plan analysis functions coupled with the Tenrox applications’ abilities to track, approve, and report on project related time, expenses, and purchases.

We had a go with the online version of Projeca. Once you gain access, you will first be met with the application homepage (Figure 1).

Figure 1

We were able to create, display, and publish timesheets, project issues, to-do lists, and display an email Inbox.
The window at the lower right hand side of the screen can be used to display your pre-determined company Internet, intranet, or other desired page.
We especially liked the live document analysis view in the upper right corner of the screen that could be refreshed, saved, and sent in a variety of formats as our needs dictated. (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Data entry throughout the application was simple and straightforward. Timesheet information is updated automatically as pre-specified by your organisation’s individual policies and leave time accrual.
Work times can be entered in several different ways, among them as detailed views (Figure 3), summarised views, or as Work Breakdown Structures or WBSs (Figure 4).

Figure 3

Figure 4

The range of features and functions in Projeca were nothing short of impressive. Your entire organisation can use and benefit from Projeca in every business function from performance analysis, knowledge management, and invoicing to revenue and cost accounting, request and issue tracking, and proposal management.
Executives can obtain hierarchical view of their entire organisation and receive instant reports of enterprise profitability, production capacity, and revenue projections. Accounting departments can eliminate endless paper trails and estimation and calculation errors, issue invoices on time, and perform quick and easy reconciliations.
Directors and project managers receive prompt email notifications of timesheets statuses, employee evaluation dates, and those crucial budget overruns. Business clients will receive their invoices and reports quickly, rather than waiting weeks to have them processed.

Projeca includes a software development kit called VisualPM. Its API is an ActiveX COM library. VisualPM allows for the updating of Projeca fields and the integration of the suite with third party applications like SAP Accounting, ACCPAC, Microsoft GreatPlains and BAAN utilising Visual Basic or C++.

Since security for enterprise systems is so crucial, Projeca also supplies a range of sophisticated security features. The security architecture is scalable and flexible, so you can set the security policies and measures needed by your organisation. Security levels provided include Application Security, Data Security, Database Security, Web Server Security, Business Intelligence and Reporting, and Network Security (Figure 5 and 6).

Figure 5

Figure 6

Projeca is an ideal PSA solution as its modular design allows you to choose the modules for your specific needs.
You can take on the entire suite or pick and choose the components that best address your business’ requirements.
The modules can also be used as standalone applications, so you can build on your Tenrox software experience.
As a result, total costs will vary depending on what you choose to deploy.

From a pricing standpoint, Projeca is a highly affordable PSA solution. If you are considering the entire suite, there are several options available: rent, lease, hosting facility, or purchase.
The monthly rental charge for Projeca SB is US$32 per user, while the enterprise version rents for US$62 per user per month.
Use of the Tenrox hosting facility incurs charges of $65 for Projeca SB and $99 for Projeca EE per user per month.
The purchase of Projeca will range from $490 to $730 per user. Product leasing is available through an establishing leasing company with whom Tenrox has an established relationship.

Projeca can be taken on a 30-day free test drive. Downloads can be obtained from the Tenrox web site. You can also arrange for an online demo by contacting Tenrox directly.

Projeca and the other Tenrox family of products are currently in use by over 700 organisations in more than 40 countries.
Among those using this PSA solution are those in the automotive, aerospace, banking, chemical, e-business, government, mining, telecommunications, energy, oil and gas, and pharmaceutical industries.
Companies such as EDS, HMV, Fujitsu, SONY, IBM, AT&T, and Xerox have received valuable payoffs in the form of greatly improved productivity, increased profitability, enhanced project information, and business process management.

Projeca is an extremely well-organised and designed PSA product.
It offers a lot of bang for the buck in its quick deployment, high reliability and scalability, and overall collection of features.
If you’ve been struggling with your current ERP solutions and want to streamline your business processes and improve productivity, this is one for your serious chaos-losing shortlist.

Tenrox Projeca R7
receives a PROJECTmagazine rating of

5 bananas

2002 © Lee and James Appleyard

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