Process Improvement & Asana Implementation

Team

The team at dQ&A consists of researchers, analysts, strategists, consultants, and thought leaders. This team of less than 50 individuals co-authors diabetes studies and presents insights to executives, functional leaders, and market research groups around the world. Before implementing The Completing reforms, about 25 dQ&A members used Asana, but only a handful were “power users”, leading to challenges due to repetitive manual tasks such as accounting, invoicing, project tracking, and bandwidth management for associates.

Challenges

• Team leaders realized the organization’s ability to scale was hampered by the fact that key tasks like accounting, invoicing, and project time tracking were done manually, consuming significant time and resources.
• Although Asana was in use for three years, it was utilized effectively by only a handful of power users, limiting its potential benefits org-wide.
• The result was three years of messy data including unclosed projects and open tasks, complicating efficient tracking and reporting.
• There was no official time tracking, making it difficult to assess project profitability accurately. Related to that lack of tracking: inability to anticipate resource needs regularly led to project bottlenecks.
• Different teams operated in silos with limited visibility across the company, hindering visibility and oversight for leadership.
• Key documents were not consistently attached to projects, leading to inefficiencies in finding and managing paperwork.

Priorities

• Implement automation for accounting, invoicing, project tracking, and bandwidth management to improve efficiency.
• Fully leverage Asana’s capabilities for project management, reporting, and process automation.
• Enhance visibility across all teams (qualitative, quantitative, syndicated) to ensure cohesive project management and reduce information silos.
• Ensure all documents (proposals, SOWs, POs) are attached to projects and accessible in one place.
• Implement comprehensive time tracking to assess project profitability and internal costs.
• Train team members to become proficient Asana users and ensure consistent usage across the organization.
• Utilize project timelines and portfolio views to anticipate and mitigate bottlenecks, ensuring efficient resource allocation.

Solutions

• Transitioned from manual reporting to automated systems using Asana.
• Streamlined accounting and invoicing processes.
• Improved project tracking from inception to completion.
• Enhanced management of associates’ workloads.
• Provided one-on-one training for internal team members to become Asana experts.
• Helped set up processes and dashboards for better project visibility.
• Organized projects into portfolios and fixed accessibility levels for better oversight.
• Centralized document storage, ensuring all paperwork is attached to relevant projects.
• Instituted full-scale time tracking for better project profitability insights.
• Added dashboard tools like BoldBI for simplified financial tracking and accounting.
• Assisted in shifting team habits to fully utilize Asana, reducing reliance on emails and other communication tools.

Results

• 30% reduction in time spent chasing documents and information
• Creation of a single source of visibility through improved portfolio management, making team activities and timelines transparent to leadership and finance
• Elimination of bottlenecks and improved project planning and staffing efficiency
• Significant increase in Asana usage across the team
• Significant Increase in efficiency through streamlined accounting, invoicing, and project tracking processes, reducing repetitive tasks
• Improved organization through centralized documentation, attaching all necessary documents (e.g., proposals, SOWs, POs) to projects in one place
• Easily accessible training videos and integrated onboarding processes