Let FP Project Management Software Do the Heavy Lifting

So you’ve wisely selected Function Point as your project management software tool. You’re super clued in as to how the system will let you manage your particular workflow, and handle everything surrounding potential work as well as landed jobs.

But — are you fully in the loop on ways in which the system will connect data for you internally? And how about the way it enables you to both manage and keep an eye on what your crew is up to in the system? Well, brace yourselves for the most thrilling blog you’ve ever read, and read on.

Say Goodbye to Re-Entering Data

The office is busy and work has you all operating at top capacity. Do you waste your time re-typing data or making sure that it’s carried from one spreadsheet or post-it note to another? Of course not — you use Function Point.

In the system, you’re creating briefs and/ or estimates, and seeing values and descriptions carry forth to live work, invoices and a bundle of built-in reports. As creative time is tracked, it’s captured immediately on the timesheet itself, and directly reflected in job financials and all reports you might pull. Payments applied to invoices also get reflected immediately on that invoice and carried through to other financial records — including the flashy business intelligence visuals you’re able to view on your dashboard and job summary pages.

The bottom line is that you won’t have to re-enter information in multiple places, in order to see it in multiple places, and in multiple ways.

Being Big Brother (In a Good Way)

You hired your team and you trust that they are good at their jobs, but you often wish you could have more insight — especially if you’re away in meetings all day, or working remotely. Lucky for you, FP has some good options in this area. Get your team into the habit of using the IN/ OUT board. You’ll find it in the top right corner of your FP system, by hovering over your own name. Mark yourself as in or out of the office, and view the in or out status of other team members.

With FP’s ‘train the trainer’ model, you and other key players will have learned all the cool bells and whistles the project management system offers, and how to best use them at your agency. Are you now just going to cross your fingers and hope, or assume, that the rest of the team has fully adopted the product? Heck no. Use a “behind the scenes” feature to see who has logged in, and the date and time of their last login. This information provides a great opportunity to seek more team training from FP, or to channel team members into any of FP’s self-guided options. Playing Big Brother can have its benefits!

Get Profitable

Are you operating at profit at the moment? Too scared to even look? Good thing you have FP then! Load the system with your current billable rates and cost rates — and consider other FP blog resources to learn best practices to establish those numbers for your own agency. When all those digits are entered and staff are tracking their time in a, um, timely manner, your built-in profitability reports will give the powers that be an accurate view into the company health — not to mention these reports can be accessed 24/7 from any browser, and any operating platform.

Let your FP project management system do the heavy lifting — enter data once, and see it re-used across multiple modules and into reports. Keep on a positive ROI trajectory with your FP system, knowing that your team is committed to using the product, and logging to maximize the benefits. Our integrated software streamlines your workflow by combining project management, time tracking, CRM, financial and business reporting tools in one convenient cloud based system.

This article was contributed by former Function Point team member, Isabel Angel.