Optimizing Project Workflows: The Transformative Power of OpenAir’s Project Center

In the ever-evolving landscape of professional services, having the right tools to manage projects efficiently is crucial. OpenAir’s Project Center has emerged as a game-changing feature, offering a unified approach to project and resource management. While it’s been around for several years, many organizations are yet to unlock its full potential. Let’s explore how Project Center can transform your project management processes and why it’s worth considering for your team.

What is Project Center?

At its core, Project Center is a hub that brings together project planning, task management, and resource allocation in one centralized view. Think of it as the bridge between your project timeline and your resource bookings – a single pane of glass where project managers can oversee and adjust both aspects of their projects without switching between modules.

Key Benefits of Project Center

1. Unified View: No more toggling between project and resource modules. Project Center allows you to see and manage your project structure, tasks, and resource bookings all in one place. This unified approach streamlines decision-making and enhances overall project visibility.

2. Increased Efficiency: With inline editing capabilities, project managers can quickly update task details, adjust timelines, and modify resource allocations without opening multiple forms. The Project Center also mimics the booking worksheet functionality but adds the ability to book large amounts of hours over extended periods quickly, saving time when planning long-term resource allocation.

3. Enhanced Visibility: Get a clear overview of your project structure, including phases, tasks, and milestones, alongside resource bookings. The Project Center uses color coding to indicate when resources are overbooked or booked outside of the project plan, helping you quickly identify potential resource conflicts.

4. Flexible Resource Management: Project Center accommodates both project-level and task-level bookings, allowing organizations to use their preferred booking method or even a combination. Additionally, you can toggle between weekly and monthly views, catering to different resource management preferences.

5. Actual Hours Visibility: Project Center provides the ability to view actual hours entered from timesheets alongside future bookings, giving a complete picture of resource utilization. This helps in making informed decisions about future resource allocation based on historical data.

6. Comprehensive Financial Overview: Project Center allows you to pivot between viewing hours, costs, and charges (for time-based billing). This feature provides a comprehensive overview of the project’s financial aspects without leaving the Project Center, making it easier to track project economics in real-time.

7. Real-Time Updates: As you make changes to bookings or project timelines, Project Center automatically updates schedules, ensuring your project plan always reflects the most current information. A powerful feature allows the project plan to automatically update based on bookings, keeping the project timeline in sync with actual resource allocation. This is crucial for project managers communicating with clients about project progress and completion dates.

Who Benefits from Project Center?

Project Center is particularly valuable for:

• Project Managers who want a holistic view of their projects and resources
• Organizations that use both project planning and resource booking features in OpenAir
• Teams looking to streamline their project management processes and reduce context switching
• Companies that need to closely monitor project financials alongside resource allocation

Getting Started with Project Center

If you’re not yet using Project Center, here’s how to get started:

1. Check Availability: Project Center requires specific features to be enabled. Reach out to OpenAir support to ensure it’s available for your account.

2. Enable Required Features: Several switches need to be turned on to fully utilize Project Center. It’s recommended to work with an OpenAir expert, like the team at Top Step, to ensure proper configuration.

3. Train Your Team: While Project Center is intuitive, providing training to your project managers will help them make the most of this powerful tool.

4. Customize to Your Needs: Project Center can be tailored to fit your organization’s workflow. Consider which features will be most beneficial for your team.

5. Stay Updated: OpenAir regularly releases updates to Project Center. Keep an eye out for new features that could further enhance your project management capabilities.

Making the Most of Project Center

To truly leverage Project Center:

1. Use it as your primary project management interface. The more you integrate it into your daily workflow, the more benefits you’ll see.

2. Take advantage of the inline editing features for quick updates to tasks and bookings.

3. Utilize the flexible viewing options, such as switching between weekly and monthly views, to get the perspective you need.

4. Use the visual indicators for overbooking and off-schedule bookings to proactively manage resource conflicts.

5. Explore the different pivot views (hours, costs, charges) to gain a comprehensive understanding of your project’s financial health.

6. Consider enabling the feature that allows bookings to drive project dates for more accurate project timelines.

While Project Center might not be for everyone – particularly organizations that don’t use resource bookings – for many, it represents a significant leap forward in project management efficiency. By bringing together project and resource management in one interface, it addresses a long-standing pain point for many OpenAir users.

Whether you’re new to Project Center or looking to maximize its use in your organization, consider reaching out to OpenAir experts like Top Step. We can help ensure you’re taking full advantage of this powerful feature and guide you through any necessary setup or optimization.

Tools that can save time, improve visibility, and enhance decision-making are invaluable. OpenAir’s Project Center offers just that – a more efficient, integrated approach to managing your projects and resources. Isn’t it time you gave it a closer look?