Adkim uses Microsoft Project in a number of different ways to boost customer satisfaction for both new and existing customers. During initial sales calls, Norm makes a presentation using a Microsoft Project schedule which never fails to impress customers. The ability to instantly display tangible deliverables conveys a sense of professionalism.
Microsoft Project can also maximize the potential of all customer inquiries. Norm created a routine that maps more than 200 steps that help market the company’s services, from the point of initial customer contact, to final completion of construction.
The process starts with the initial customer contact which automatically generates a follow-up letter enclosed with marketing literature and customer references.
Microsoft Project has proved to be extremely versatile for a small company like Adkim that must maximize its resources. Adkim uses it as an important presentation tool, a cost-estimator, and a marketing tool in addition to its primary function as a project management tool.
The ability to track baseline data is another feature that provides a number of useful applications.
Adkim conducts a "post-mortem" review of every completed project and uses baseline data to identify changes that may have caused problems that can be eliminated. This analysis of past performance removes obstacles to increased customer satisfaction.
Norm uses Microsoft Project to give customers a visual picture of any changes made against a baseline time schedule. Customers often decide to have changes made to a remodeling project after it has started and want to know how the changes will impact the schedule. Contractors can protect themselves with added accountability by using Microsoft Project to track all changes requested by customers and show variances from the original schedules.
Norm reports that Microsoft Project is easy to learn thanks to tutorials, help files, and wizards that assist users in creating schedules. The familiar features it shares with other Microsoft products, like Word and Microsoft Excel, help to speed the learning process. Norm notes that Microsoft Project is not a program he will outgrow and he has yet to tap the full potential of its powerful features.
Norm has used Microsoft Project with other Microsoft products to take important data with him while in the field making site inspections. He exports milestones from Microsoft Project to Microsoft Schedule+ and transfers data into his Timex Data Link Watch. This allows him to show progress payments or other critical parts of a construction project while he is away from his office. In the future,
Norm plans to integrate CAD/estimating programs that link data elements to Microsoft Project, which will provide Adkim with even greater control over project management.