case study 1,2,3,4

584 Part Four Building and Managing Systems well as for INTERACTIVE SESSION MANAGEMENT Hilti AG: Putting Things Together with New Project Management Tools Let's say you want to dig a really big train tun- projects, the result was an opaque process with little nel, one that's 57 kilometers long, and which con communication among project managers and em- nects the German and Italian-speaking regions of ployees in addition to the inability to track employee Switzerland, from Erstfeld in the north to Bodio in assignments, resources, capabilities, and costs. Hilti the south. It will have almost no gradient, mean needed a project portfolio management too! (PPM) ing that trains can travel through the tunnel at that would look at all on-going projects speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour. The tracks day-to-day tasks for specific projects. It also needed need to be anchored to a concrete bed, and the an integrated communications environment for proj- cable ducts attached directly to the walls of a huge ect participants to share project-specific information. mountain called the Saint Gotthard Massif. Just At the same time, management did not want to make ten kilometers of cabling will require 30,000 holes a huge investment in IT infrastructure or implement in the mountain and five million fasteners to se a costly training program typical of customized soft- cure the rails for the floor. Oh, and another 900,000 ware solutions. mechanical fasteners will be needed to connect To deliver these capabilities, Hilti turned to the rail sections. Over 150 hammer drills and 700 Microsoft Project Online, a cloud-based solution, to batteries will be needed to drill the holes for the manage portfolios of projects for senior managers, required high-strength fasteners. The rails need to and to provide employees with access to specific be laid and secured within a millimeter over the project data on a daily basis. Working with a consult- entire length. Two thousand and six hundred em ing firm, Hilti detined the information requirements ployees will be involved daily, most of whom will for each department and created standardized project need access to timely and accurate information and templates that reflect standard activities, tasks, and project plans. This is the challenge of the Gotthard milestones as well as security procedures governing Base Tunnel, the world's longest railway tunnel and user permissions and version controls. Tasks are as- Switzerland's most expensive public works project signed to individuals, and every assignment has a ever. One solution was to hire Hilti AG. list of resources, a completion date, and resource re- Hilti AG company was founded 1941, in Schaan, quirements. With a company-wide project portfolio the Principality of Liechtenstein, by brothers Marint perspective, senior managers can see what projects and Eugen Hilti, to provide components to German the company is engaged in and what resources are manufacturers. After 1946 the company transitioned required. When the implementation is completed, into fasteners and tools for the construction industry. Hiliti estimates that over 10,000 of its employees will Today, Hilti is one of the world's largest producers of use the system daily to track projects for itself and construction industry fasteners and hammer drills, for its customers. In the future, employees will use and it has expanded into new products like laser tablets and smartphones to access the system. measuring devices, systems that integrate construc- Project Online is delivered as a part of Microsoft tion data for contractors, software to estimate project Office 365, which provides all the familiar Microsoft requirements, and customized project management apps like email, calendaring, collaboration, the col- services for the professional construction and en- laboration software SharePoint, as well as Word, ergy industries. Hilti now has 29,000 employees in Excel, and Power Point. The cloud solution meant 90 countries on six continents and the company is the company did not have to expand its own IT in- frastructure, and employees were already trained privately held by the Hilti Family Trust. In 2018 Hilti in Office 365. There was no need for monthly up- had net revenue of $549 million. grades to software and hardware, maintenance, or Helping its customers manage comp projects, compatibility issues among different software tools. Hilti generates over 200,000 customer contacts The benefits to Hilti include the ability to manage each day. In the past it relied on Microsoft Project complex projects for its customers, company-wide Professional for each customer project, built largely project portfolio management, reduced communica- tion and travel costs, much faster decision making, on Excel spreadsheets. With thousands of Excel spreadsheets for each project and thousands of and productivity improvements. Whereas in the past project team members would spend 30 minutes searching for project information, that time has been reduced to 10 minutes on average, a saving of more than 75 hours a year for every project participant. Sources: "Trimble and the Hilti Group Delivers Integrar for Construction Professionals," Bloomberg.com, Nov 2016; "2018 Hilti Company Report," http://www.hiltica port.com: "Construction Manufacturer Employs Cloud Streamline Project Management," Microsoft Case Studies 13, 2015 CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What were the management, organization, and technology issues that Hilti needed to address when considering a new approach to project management? 2. Why did Hilti choose the Microsoft Project Online technology 3. Why did Hilti want to standardize the project agement process throughout its entire compa 4. What do you think were the four most impor benefits of the solution Hilti adopted