Calif. Because it has 900 employees and more than 500 consultants, efficient management of its estimated 5,000 ongoing projects is imperative. Netscape Communications Corp. Navigator browsers. Extensive user focus groups helped decide what the Web forms would show. Some 30 to 40 different report formats are available, which are used to dynamically create specific reports requested by project leaders, administrators, and department managers. Because everyone at RAND is familiar with the Internet, IS doesn't have to do much user training.
Users can then access details of the time expended and budget applied against the project.
They can also browse through the various organizations to see projects underway in other units and subunits, searching other projects by keyword and linking individuals to projects. Every two weeks, an incremental archive is created for trend reporting or maintaining a project history. Finally, maintenance is also simplified. Users are notified through E-mail when changes or additions are made to the system, which can be viewed immediately on the Web. They are able to devote to productive work much time that was formerly spent in data entry, billing, and accounting for and tracking projects.