Project Planning Suite
Automate WBS and network planning with templates — set up projects in minutes.
What problem does it solve?
New project setup often builds WBS and network structures from scratch by hand; non-standard structures hamper cost tracking, reporting and comparison, and setup takes days.
How does the solution work?
Conforcus's planning suite generates WBS and network structures automatically from templates, establishing a standard, repeatable project structure and preparing planning and cost-object links in one step.
What changes in practice?
The suite starts from templates that reflect the organization's project types. A template defines in advance the WBS hierarchy, the network and its activities, and their cost-object assignments. When a new project is opened, the user selects the appropriate template and enters the project-specific details; the suite then creates the hierarchy, activities and assignments in PS in one step. Because the CO link is defined as the project is set up, project costs land on the right WBS element from the first posting, and the need to correct assignments afterwards is reduced. The result is a standard PS project, on which planning and cost tracking continue as usual.
With this approach, project setup stops being a design task carried out from scratch each time. For the PMO, the templates become the place where the organizational standard is defined and kept current, and the project manager concentrates on the content of the plan instead of building the structure by hand. On the project control and budget side, all projects are set up at the same levels and by the same logic, so cost tracking and reporting become comparable across projects. Project-specific differences are handled on the structure generated from the template, while the common skeleton is preserved.
Benefits
- Project setup drops from days to minutes
- All projects in a standard, comparable structure
- WBS-to-cost-object links established correctly from the start
Where it sits in SAP
Integrated with PS WBS and network structures; builds hierarchy, activities and cost-object assignments from project templates and defines the CO link from the outset. Proven in project-intensive organizations.
Who it is for: Project Director, PMO, Project Control & Budget Manager
Frequently asked questions
What needs to be in place before the suite can be set up?
The suite works on the WBS and network structures of PS and makes its assignments to CO cost objects, so PS has to be in use and the cost objects to be linked must be defined in CO. The main preparation is on the template side: the organization needs to agree which hierarchy, activities and assignments count as standard for which project types. The more clearly project structures recur, the easier the templates are to define.
Each of our projects is slightly different; will a template structure restrict us?
A template defines the common skeleton of projects: hierarchy, activities and cost-object assignments. Separate templates can be defined for different project types, and project-specific differences are handled in PS on the structure generated from the template. The suite pays off most where project structures largely recur; where every project is entirely different, the scope of the template is kept correspondingly narrow.
What does setting up projects in a standard structure change for cost tracking and reporting?
When all projects are set up with the same hierarchy logic and the same cost-object links, costs are collected at the same levels across projects and can be compared. With non-standard setups, each project needs its own interpretation and mapping. Because the suite establishes this consistency at setup, the project control and budget team does not have to adapt its reports project by project.