✍ Best practices for project service providers

For project service providers, it is important to keep track of both ongoing and potential projects. Additional master data helps to structure projects consistently, compare them with each other, and evaluate project opportunities in a targeted way.

In smenso, information such as the client, sales phase, services offered, and order probability can be stored directly in the project.

Structure projects with additional master data

Project-specific information can be captured using Flavors in the master data of a project. Which information is useful depends on the respective business model and sales process.

For a project service provider, the following Flavors can be used, for example:

• Auftraggeber – to assign the project to a customer or client.
• Salesphase – to classify the current stage in the sales process, for example Lead, Qualified, Offer, or Commissioned.
• Leistung – to assign the services offered, for example web development, consulting, or implementation. Multiple services can also be assigned to a project using a multi-select Flavor.
• Auftragswahrscheinlichkeit – to estimate how likely a potential project is to be commissioned.

Internal projects can be managed in the same project overview without having to maintain sales-related information such as the sales phase or order probability.

Compare and filter projects in the portfolio

In the Portfolio view, the additional master data can be displayed as columns. This makes it possible to directly compare ongoing projects and project opportunities based on consistent criteria.

Filters can also be used to narrow down the view to specific clients, sales phases, services, or order probabilities. For multi-select Flavors, for example, all projects containing a specific service can be displayed.

Evaluate project opportunities in the analysis

For a visual evaluation, project data can be combined in the Analysis. A Bubble Chart can be used, for example, to display the sales phase, order probability, and project volume together.

In the following example, Salesphase is displayed on the X-axis and Auftragswahrscheinlichkeit on the Y-axis. The size of the bubbles is based on the Budget of the respective project.

This makes it possible to see at a glance which sales phase a project opportunity is in, how high its order probability is, and what budget is associated with it.

Best Practice

Information relevant to the project and sales process should be maintained as consistently as possible. This creates a reliable basis for comparing and evaluating projects.

• Use a small number of meaningful master data fields that are actually relevant for evaluating and managing your projects.
• Capture the sales phase and order probability separately so that both pieces of information can be evaluated independently.
• Use multi-select Flavors when multiple services can be assigned to a project.
• Maintain sales-related information only where it is relevant. Internal projects, for example, do not necessarily require a sales phase or order probability.
• Use the Portfolio view to directly compare and filter projects, and the Analysis for visual evaluation of relevant metrics.