Project management is a necessary part of business in many industries, but it can be complex and therefore somewhat daunting. Government contractors, for example, need to accurately track projects without getting bogged down in manual processes that can negatively impact productivity and might even jeopardize projects themselves.

 

With this need in mind, NetSuite’s OpenAir subsidiary recently added a new set of enhancements to its Earned Value Management (EVM) solutions. By integration new features with improved Microsoft (News - Alert) Project synchronization, OpenAir is helping organizations gain more visibility into the health of projects while at the same time boosting efficiency and accuracy.

 

Morris Panner, OpenAir’s CEO, said that monitoring project health and improving prioritization are key to project success for the services and technology industry.

 

“We expect that our customers, especially government contractors, will enjoy tremendous benefits by gaining a more granular understanding of project investment versus benefit, as well as by being able to better prioritize scarce resources,” Panner said in a statement.

 

Rules and regulations make project management particularly challenging for government contractors, and as such solutions are needed that make it possible to not only track progress but also proactively address cost and performance issues before they jeopardize project success. OpenAir’s new EVM features address these challenges with a variety of features.

 

For example, OpenAir’s solution makes it possible to get early warning indicators of performance problems, with enough time to take whatever corrective action is required. The solution also automates a wide range of metrics so that project managers can spend time analyzing progress rather than crunching numbers needed for that analysis.

 

Further, OpenAir’s solution is delivered using the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) model, so there is no need for client-server installation and upkeep; the technology backend is handled by OpenAir. The solution is also compliant with Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) regulations.

 

Jodi Cicci, CEO of Top Step Consulting, a Virginia-based services and support company for OpenAir product line clients, said OpenAir gives her excellent visibility into project health, and that the new features add to this advantage.

 

“These new enhancements are real winners and will help me and other like-minded services firms optimize their business,” Cicci said.

 

OpenAir, an SaaS service automation provider, which specializes in professional service automation and project portfolio management solutions, is headquartered in Boston, and boasts more than 420,000 active users at upwards of 300 firms. The company was acquired by NetSuite (News - Alert) in June.