{"id":716,"date":"2020-10-16T15:57:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T19:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/poiseddevelopers.com\/vertex-old\/?post_type=case_study&p=716"},"modified":"2023-02-28T10:57:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T15:57:34","slug":"initiative-management-tool","status":"publish","type":"case_study","link":"https:\/\/poiseddevelopers.com\/vertex-old\/resources\/case-studies\/initiative-management-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Need to Manage Complex Projects Across an Organization?
We Got IT."},"content":{"rendered":"

Streamline Getting Your Products to Market with a Powerful Initiative Management Tool<\/h2>\n

\"illustration<\/p>\n

Problem & Background<\/h3>\n

Next time you toss your laundry into the washing machine and measure a capful of your favorite springtime-scented detergent, take a moment to consider what made your fresh, wrinkle-free shirts possible. At one time, your laundry soap was a mere idea that a manufacturer<\/a> envisioned as a product. Making it and getting it on a retailer’s shelf was going to require the alignment of thousands of decisions and processes – a choreography involving hundreds of people around the world. How can anyone keep track of it all?<\/p>\n

Any manufacturer knows that getting a product to market is a colossal task involving multiple departments, contractors, research, and deadlines that affect all deliverables. Managing hundreds of people making thousands of decisions requires extreme organization and communication.<\/p>\n

Our client, a major manufacturer of household goods<\/a> including fabric detergents, had a problem overseeing the milestones during launch initiatives. Any change to a manufacturing line is a multi-million-dollar investment. Once research demonstrates that a change is warranted (like a new fragrance for example), a series of tasks is initiated, each with its own set of milestones, or gates, that must be fulfilled in order for the next set of activities to begin. Any change or setback affects multiple processes and stakeholders. As projects progress and risks are mitigated, all project team members need to understand what the variables are and what is at stake when problems arise. In many cases, when one phase is halted for any reason, all progress stops.<\/p>\n

Our client had been creating research artifacts and sharing them with teams around the world \u2013 each with its own content platform. Aggregating thousands of documents, surveys, charts, and spreadsheets was a cumbersome process \u2013 often prone to errors. This manufacturer was looking for a way to minimize reliance on spreadsheets and emailed documents to find a way to digitize the process. The goal was for all stakeholders to easily understand the status of actions that needed to be fulfilled, the necessary sequence, and who was responsible to meet various deadlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how this Fortune 100 consumer goods company streamlined getting products to market with a powerful Initiative Management System by Vertex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":902,"parent":0,"template":"","categories":[114,115,116,118,125,127,138],"acf":{"is_a_flyer":false,"additional_information":"

Our client needed a method of sharing highly detailed information among departments as gate posts were being reached. Vertex Computer Systems delivered an Initiative Management System that met these objectives and made the task of managing product launches a smooth process.<\/p>\n

An effective Initiative Management System is not just a project management tool, but one that a business can coalesce around to collaborate in and make critical decisions. The system should have the ability to catalog and assess risks and determine whether the gating criteria can be achieved to keep the project on track.\u00a0 It must alert appropriate people at the right times when a certain checkpoint has been reached, and the next activity can begin. The trick is to capture all the possible components that will be needed as milestones are reached, make them easily accessible, and alert personnel when subsequent activities could commence.<\/p>\n

That springtime scent you like? It needed to pass through milestones in departments including:<\/p>\n