DIGARC, a Modern Campus Company, Increases Utilization by 20% with Kantata
INDUSTRY
CLIENT
WHAT KANTATA REPLACED
The Challenge - Legacy Systems Stand in the Way of Greater Success
When DIGARC, now a Modern Campus company, was acquired by a private equity firm in 2016, the business and its many departments needed to shift to a more formal approach to business processes. Prior to the acquisition, the company relied on Google Sheets and Replicon for resource management and time tracking. The constraints of those systems led to the company‘s search for a more effective solution.
“With Replicon, we had to run 10 to 20 reports to get all the information needed for consumable and detailed insights into employee productivity, which then had to be added to a Google Sheet,” said Lauren Weaver, Director of Implementation Productivity at DIGARC.
Some of the most important issues that needed to be solved with a new resource management solution included:
Easy and Accurate Time Tracking
The DIGARC team found it difficult to ensure that every employee was regularly and accurately tracking their work hours in Replicon, with employees often needing to remember and enter hours several days later. This often led to inaccurate and unreliable data.
Fast Project Insights
DIGARC’s legacy systems made it difficult to effectively manage and allocate resources and greatly limited project and resource forecasting. As a result, the organization lacked visibility into project progress and margins, which limited the ability to make informed improvements to business processes.
DIGARC, a Modern Campus company, is the leading provider of academic catalog and curriculum management, class and student scheduling, and student pathfinder software for higher education.
“We began looking for utilization tracking alternatives and it became clear that Kantata was aligned with our business processes and how we implement solutions. The implementation process was great.”
Director of Implementation Productivity, DIGARC
The Switch to Kantata - Maximizing Resource Time and Utilization
Finding an insightful and powerful resource management solution was critical in DIGARC’s plans. DIGARC considered Replicon’s professional services automation (PSA) add-on, as well as Netsuite, but ultimately chose Kantata because of how well the solution aligned with their specific needs.
A new way of working meant that DIGARC needed Kantata to provide:
Easy-to-Use Time Entry
DIGARC needed a new time tracking system that improved the accuracy of information provided by team members, which would also help the organization better understand utilization rates and areas in need of improvement.
On-Demand Utilization Reporting
The DIGARC team runs weekly utilization reports and a larger, monthly report, as well. Using Replicon took 4 to 6 hours for weekly reports and 8 hours for the monthly report, which led DIGARC to look for a more efficient solution.
Custom Report Creation
With Kantata, DIGARC’s services team was able to create a wide variety of custom reports for crucial insights targeting Key Performance Indicators previously tracked with Google Sheets.
Resource Allocation Insights
Comparing estimates and actuals on a project-by-project basis was critical for DIGARC to better inform estimates and improve the resource allocation process to ensure the right team members are assigned to the tasks right for them.
“We now know where we are over-allocating resources,” said Weaver. “Seeing how one role may be over-allocated versus another on each project lets us help team members work more effectively on projects and deliver the best possible experience for our clients.”
Benefits
- Increased utilization by 20%
- Improved on-budget project delivery by 15%
- Increased employee time tracking by 15%
- Saved 24 labor hours each month
Increase in utilization
On-budget project delivery improvement
“Kantata Insights are fantastic. We were able to quickly build many different custom reports to replace the legacy reports our teams were used to seeing. It helped us transition processes as smoothly as possible and better serve our clients.”
Director of Implementation Productivity, DIGARC
The Results - Building the Future on Quality Insights
Vastly Improved Utilization
Thanks to Kantata’s implementation, the team at DIGARC has seen a 20% increase in utilization and a 15% increase in projects delivered on budget, helping the company attain healthier margins. Weekly utilization reports with Kantata take 45 minutes to 1 hour while monthly reports now take less than 4 hours, saving DIGARC approximately 24 labor hours each month.
Estimates Versus Actuals Comparison
Using Kantata’s detailed estimates versus actuals comparison capabilities, the company has been able to create and improve through the use of quantifiable metrics. Staffing and capacity reports, time and expense administration, Gantt charts, and custom reports have enabled DIGARC to make improvements that bring estimates and actuals closer together.
Accurate Time Tracking
With Replicon, on average DIGARC employees were only accounting for roughly 80% of their time. As a result of Kantata’s intuitive time tracking capabilities, time tracking has increased to more than 95%, providing the business with deeper insights into resource utilization, prioritization, and efficiency improvements that positively impact the entire organization.
“The implementation process with Kantata was simple and straightforward. We were very eager to get things going with our new solution and the entire process from start to finish has been truly amazing.”
Director of Implementation Productivity, DIGARC