An innovative web-based software tool for efficient project management
How to have projects under control Have you ever found yourself in front of a huge number of tasks to be performed by several people from different locations? If you are familiar with project management software tools, you may be able to organise and follow your work-flow internally in order to achieve the expected results, but are the results achieved with the minimum time spend by the whole working group and allow to everyone to be up-to-date with the project performance. “We were trying to face the problem of having dislocated staff, working on various projects that involve many external partners” said Giulio Ravizza Garibaldi, the manager of Innost. The problem of communicating, task scheduling, document and opinion sharing in such realities becomes very complex. The company thus needed some solution that would enable to access and share the project information among the project partners in real-time. Only when each project team member involved in a project has the same information as all the other members at the same time, a project in under control. A solution 100 km away In search for an appropriate solution, the Italian company decided to contact the closest IRC, which helped the company to identify its technology needs and published a Technology Request. “We were very surprised, as we received about 15 technology offers from all over the Europe and even from India in a very short time,” explained Marcello Guaiana from IRC IRENE, located in AREA Science Park. Once the company analysed the offers, they realised that the solution that best suited their needs was the one developed by a small company Atol from the capital of Slovenia. Even if so close to each other – the Italian company Innost is located close to the Italian-Slovenian border and thus just 100 km away from Atol - this technology transfer would not have been implemented without the support of the IRC Network. “This collaboration is a new opportunity for our company to enter the Italian market, as we believe it can bring further benefits to both of the companies.” said Blaž Mertelj, the manager of Atol. This case of technology transfer shows that IRC is a very successful scheme that, besides its European impact, helps to strengthen bilateral cooperation. “AREA Science Park intends to increase its effort in stimulating and supporting technology transfer between the organisations from north-eastern Italy and Slovenia. Our objective is to exploit the innovation potential of the two areas for the creation of an innovative Euroregion.” said Gabriele Gatti, director marketing and international relations of AREA Science Park. Make it simple The main reason why Innost decided to choose the application “e-places”, developed by Atol, was because it is a very user friendly tool that provides all the main functionalities needed for managing a project on-line. The members of the project group access the tool via the Internet, which enables them to check all the project information at any time. Furthermore, they receive a system notification each time a change is made on the site. There is no need that the users download the project documentation, as the service offered includes secured server facilities. The application also supports integration of MS Office, which means it provides automatic conversion of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and HTML documents to web pages. It has a very well studied system of editing documents that avoids misunderstanding and confusion among the project group members. The members can create private rooms within the site, which gives the possibility to a limited number of persons to work on a subject in confidence. In case there is a need to modify the platform or develop further solutions, Atol has wide experience and know-how to satisfy the customers’ needs. “The aim is to build long-term partnership and offer our customers state-of-the-art technology,” explained Mertelj. Once the customers discover all the benefits of the “e-places”, they continue using the service. The service is charged per user that has access to the tool on a monthly basis, which avoids investments in buying a licence in advance. Innost has immediately put the tool into practise, and first results are already evident. Less time spent for project coordination and more time for new projects!
Keywords
Project Management
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom