Berries Benefit From Project Management Solution

Driscoll’s is a fourth-generation family-owned company that is the world’s leading supplier of fresh berries. The company works with a network of independent farmers throughout the world and needed a project management solution that would enable it to efficiently oversee and execute global projects throughout the organization.

“When we began our search for a project and portfolio management (PPM) solution, we narrowed the field to five possibilities,” said Ralph Maltese, Director of Driscoll’s Project Management Office (PMO). “We conducted a formal evaluation that consisted of usability for core project management tasks, portfolio management capability, the learning curve to get up and running, and the ability to manage projects across the enterprise. After the evaluation, @task came out on top.”

Business Challenge

Driscoll’s needed a PPM solution to coordinate projects in IT, R&D, and other departments within the organization. The PMO was looking for comprehensive project management functionality in addition to incorporating portfolio management best practices that would enable Driscoll’s project managers to:

1. Centralize project management and enable Driscoll’s to more effectively manage all project information, increasing efficiency on every initiative
2. Identify and manage Driscoll’s 70 active projects within a portfolio to validate the alignment of every initiative to a strategic business goal from project consideration through execution
3. Better manage capacity to efficiently allocate manpower and make project teams more productive

@task Provides a Centralized PPM Solution with Enterprise-Wide Visibility

@task supports Driscoll’s objectives to coordinate enterprise-wide projects and implement portfolio management best practices with:

• A Centralized Project Management Solution—@task provides Driscoll’s with a comprehensive project management process that includes:

• A Global Solution that facilitates collaboration with Driscoll’s project teams. @task works on any platform or browser, automatically accounts for different time zones anywhere in the world, and is available in English and Spanish for Driscoll’s international project teams.

• Comprehensive Task Management that includes an intuitive task worksheet to facilitate quick creation and editing of tasks. Driscoll’s project team members can easily update task status, attach documents, collaborate via notifications, and add notes to any task.

• Validation of Every Initiative’s Alignment to Specific Business Goals—@task allows Driscoll’s to corroborate that every project aligns with identified business and financial goals. From business case assessment and project selection to project execution, @task helps Driscoll’s project teams mitigate risks and reduce costs by ensuring the optimal alignment of every current and potential project.

• Executive Insight into Resource Needs and Capacity Planning—@task makes it possible to drag initiatives around a timeline to get real-time feedback on how a proposed project will impact the human resource needs of current projects. @task makes it possible for Driscoll’s to dedicate resources to those projects that align with their strategic plans.

Results

@task was the solution Driscoll’s determined would enable them to integrate their project management methodology within different departments across the enterprise. “After qualifying each software package for the functionality we required, usability was the deciding factor for us,” said Maltese. “After a thorough evaluation, @task emerged as the clear winner of the five project management solutions we tested. It was by far the easiest to use, provided the core project and portfolio management functionality we were looking for, and offered a much shorter learning curve—enabling us to get up and running very quickly.”

According to Maltese, the recent success has been very encouraging. “One department manager is able to effectively manage and accurately report on 16 active projects,” he said. “He came up to speed with a minimum of training. Thus far, we are very pleased with @task.”