October 24, 2023 •Hayley Vong
Avvale differentiates itself as a place that tailors solutions to customers’ needs. This mission was present in the minds of the Data and Analytics team that participated in the 2023 SAP Hackathon, an annual developing competition.
The team used feedback from real-life customers as motivation to create a simple solution that yields massive business results.
Read on to learn about Project Manager Dashboard and the team that built it.
Hayley Vong: Tell me about the solution you built for Hackathon this year.
Lalitha Vallabhaneni: Project Manager Dashboard (PM Dashboard) is inspired by conversations with our clients’ project managers (PMs); and not just project managers, but also business analysts, accounting, and finance. We noticed a pattern in challenges across industries and organizations– Not having full visibility into project data from multiple sources, let alone capturing it in one place.
Using SAP’s Digital Boardroom feature within SAC, we developed PM Dashboard as a single source of truth for the entire PM process, from when time is entered to actually getting paid on an invoice. SAP Datasphere is the engine that pulls all of the relevant data from all sources and makes the data consumable.
HV: How much time would this solution save a PM?
LV: A ton. It saves the PM from going to multiple sources trying to piece together a larger puzzle of data, data that could be out of date without the real-time connections from S/4HANA to the Dashboard using Datasphere.
Armando Salazar: And, the value that PMs are getting is not just time. For some of these PMs, this is the first time having a tool like this, ever. It equips PMs with the ability to efficiently oversee their projects, a departure from the conventional practice of waiting until the end of the month to assess billings. Instead, they now have access to real-time data, enabling them to monitor progress and financial metrics instantly.
Filip Kransfeld: For many customers, there is a lack of standardized data access, resulting in a situation where employees either have no access to pertinent information or they resort to creating their own reports, often based on dissimilar datasets and yielding varying results. However, this solution improves the status quo in two fundamental ways. First, everyone within the organization can access the same data, eliminating disparities in information sources and outcomes. Second, the return on investment (ROI) of implementing this solution has proven substantial, though it naturally varies among different organizations. For instance, the first customer who embraced this solution saved hundreds of hours that would have been otherwise spent on gathering and formatting data. This efficiency gain is primarily attributed to the consolidation of data into a single repository and the establishment of a universally accessible report layout.
HV: What specific challenges inspired this solution?
Shashank Paritala: I think the biggest inspiration was our customers in the professional services space. We listened to their desire to evolve beyond waiting until the end of the month. They wanted to see everything in real time. And why not? It would be unacceptable to only see the output or health of a manufacturing production line at the end of the month– why can’t the same logic be applied to project management?
AS: And, even though it's called PM Dashboard, it’s also a resource for shareholders to get a real-time, consumable view of project progress.
SP: I think it’s a virtuous cycle because it becomes a litmus test for the health of a business due to how you run analytics, and vice versa. One of the habits that this solution empowers service companies to break is only logging time at the end of the month. When you have real-time data, why wait? How can we use that ability in our favor? It’s an opportunity for early adopters to get ahead of the competition and contribute to the overall health of their business.
HV: Working together daily, you’re already a strong team. How do you approach an event like Hackathon where there may be an added layer of pressure?
Enrique Ortiz: We are already competitive as a team; we work really hard, and this new experience motivated us to push ourselves. Being around other teams shed light on new perspectives and also reinforced our own. We were really proud to see the value of our solution shine.
Linh Tran: We were the last to present in the competition and there were a lot of complex solutions ahead of us using SAP and non-SAP technology to solve intricate business problems. I think we had a lot of confidence in our solution because it's a tried-and-true solution. It's been tested at not just one but multiple clients and I think that really inspired us.
SP: After we got first runner-up, we joked that we were by far the simplest solution. But I think we were so successful because of the story we told– because this story exists and is so prevalent. We wanted to provide utility for a real-world business case.
HHV: What are you most proud of coming out of this experience?
LT: I’m proud that we proved our solution is really valuable, not just to our customers, but also to SAP. And I'm also very proud to be a part of this team.
AS: I’m proud of how I told the story of our solution on stage. No matter how simple, the way you present things matters a lot. The data is worthless if you cannot express how this will make an impact.
EO: I'm most proud of my team. We felt many emotions during the development phase and even at the low points, we always kept a smile and just laughed at our mistakes. We channeled those emotions into our presentation and something great came out of it.
LV: I think Avvale’s culture enabled us to find the solution together - no matter how junior or senior team members are. When I first joined Avvale, someone told me, we’re not like the big guys– we’re like a boutique that does custom work and alterations. We try to tailor and fit our solutions to the customer. At the time it sounded nice, but through this, I saw it in motion. This solution is informed by people, for people. It became so universally successful because it was individually informed by so many.
SP: Everyone really came together in an agile and collaborative way to channel the stress into success.
FK: I echo everything the team has said. This is a great example of how Avvale generates opportunities for younger people to be involved and how our junior team members displayed a lot of maturity in creating and presenting this solution. I’m very proud of this team!
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