Shoppa’s collaborated with Optimum to develop a Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) solution using Smartsheet and Office 365, streamlining project management activities, enhancing team collaboration, and improving project visibility.
About the Client
Shoppa’s Material Handling, founded in 1981, is a leading material handling solutions and equipment provider with nine locations across Texas and Missouri. As an authorized dealer of Toyota Material Handling, Shoppa’s offers a wide range of products, services, and integrated systems to help customers optimize their storage and movement of goods, from powered industrial trucks to advanced automated warehouse systems.
Business Challenges
Shoppa’s faced challenges in creating a unified, standardized system for tracking opportunities from pre-sale to project execution. Reliance on emails, spreadsheets, and other manual tools hindered project management and visibility for business leaders.
“We used static spreadsheets to submit orders, with people updating fields manually. This made project visibility and communication difficult, leading to inaccurate information and data loss,” says Scott Hubbell, Senior Project Manager for Shoppa’s Material Handling. “If anyone needed further information on a project, they would have to call someone or go to another office to get the information.”
Optimum’s Involvement
Shoppa’s engaged Optimum, a Platinum Smartsheet Partner, to implement a robust and modern automation solution. Optimum conducted user story definitions and requirements analysis workshops with Shoppa’s stakeholders to thoroughly understand their needs and challenges. Following this, an agile development process was initiated to create a customized solution using Smartsheet and Office 365.
Optimum’s solution enabled different Shoppa’s teams to collaborate through a centralized system. Team members entered new project requests in Smartsheet, and each project was managed and tracked through interconnected sheets. The solution provided quick links to project details at specific intervals, with key performance indicators (KPIs) visible on several project dashboards.
Optimum also implemented Smartsheet Dynamic View to enable individualized views for users updating their specific projects. This ensured that the right resources were allocated for every project, enhancing efficiency and accuracy. “We want to make sure the right resources are allocated for every project, and Dynamic View helps us get information to the right people,” Hubbell says.
Furthermore, Smartsheet automated workflows were set up to notify employees of their specific project responsibilities, streamlining communication and task management. “Previously, you’d have to proactively reach out to someone or download some reports to keep moving a project along, but now we have trigger points at each stage to notify someone when tasks have been completed,” says Hubbell.
Project Outcomes and Benefits
The implementation of Smartsheet PPM by Optimum resulted in several significant improvements for Shoppa’s:
- Improved Visibility: Real-time portfolio visibility allowed for proactive project management. KPIs such as project completion rates and task completion times were tracked and displayed on dashboards.
- Enhanced Communication: Internal collaboration among team members improved significantly, and customer communication was enhanced through real-time updates.
- Significant Time Savings: Employees experienced significant time savings by having immediate access to accurate, up-to-date information, eliminating the need for extensive manual follow-ups and reducing administrative overhead.
- Automated Task Management: Automated workflows facilitated easier task assignment and management, ensuring that employees were promptly notified of their responsibilities.
- Operational Efficiency: The reduction in manual processes and increased efficiency led to cost savings and a more streamlined order submission process.
Optimum’s implementation of Smartsheet for Shoppa’s successfully addressed the client’s challenges, resulting in improved project management, enhanced communication, and significant operational efficiencies. This collaboration provided Shoppa’s with a competitive advantage and laid the foundation for sustained business growth.
About Optimum
Optimum is a national Software Consulting firm, and a Smartsheet Platinum Partner, helping organizations accelerate efficiency and solve business challenges. We deliver robust software solutions and amazing client experiences!
As a Platinum, Certified Smartsheet Partner and Premier Microsoft Partner, our consultants define, automate, and optimize processes and implement advanced automation solutions to help clients achieve work efficiency and productivity. From development of customized templates and advanced dashboards and workflows to the full implementation and support of Smartsheet Control Center and other accelerators, our team helps clients maximize their ROI in Smartsheet and increase user adoption and productivity of their teams.
Contact us for a free discovery session to identify and discuss the best solution option for your work automation and project management needs. More information: Smartsheet Consulting Services
Contact us: info@optimumcs.com | (713) 505 0300
