Ramboll, the multi-disciplinary construction consultancy company, is to implement the Insight PBF (Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting) solution in a bid to cost effectively scale and automate pre and post contract multi-project reporting and forecasting.

The size and scope of the global organisation means that there can be as many as 20,000 projects being undertaken at any one time. Ramboll realised that its effective in-house spreadsheet reporting system, created as part of its Project Excellence Programme, needed to be scaled and automated to reduce manual effort and encompass more projects. A more scalable solution was needed, a solution that did not sacrifice flexibility nor lose the intellectual capital invested in the existing spreadsheet system.

The decision was made to implement the Insight PBF platform developed by Green Light Change. Insight seamlessly unifies data currently held on spreadsheets with a secure Cloud database and will enable Ramboll to scale and build up-to-the-minute reports, inside Excel™, directly from the data inside spreadsheets being used across the organisation.  The company is set to increase the number of projects incorporated in its advanced reporting from around 40 to 200 and beyond.

Insight offers a practical solution to an endemic problem facing project people daily: ‘How do you effectively connect, control and share project and portfolio information and data held in ad-hoc spreadsheets and End-user Computing (EUC) applications?’ With a radically different approach, Insight combines Microsoft Excel™ with a flexible PPM (Project Portfolio Management) architecture so that everyone works inside Excel™, everyone enjoys direct benefit and everyone retains Excel’s legendary flexibility. Data in spreadsheets is seamlessly synchronised with a database and it can be deployed and in use across the portfolio in as little as two weeks, with near zero disruption.

Using award winning technology developed by Synapse, a technology company that has developed a unique solution to the spreadsheet problem and counts amongst its customers a leading UK high street bank and well known Swedish global retailer, report production is automated and operational costs are reduced as manual copying and pasting processes are eradicated. Data quality is improved by as much as 80% with comprehensive audit trails that provide the management team with a real-time holistic view of KPIs, dependencies, costs, revenues, risks and issues across the global project portfolio.

David Glazier, Senior Group Director, Ramboll commented: “We were looking for a solution to expand the Excel based reporting system we introduced as part of our Project Excellence Programme. Our goals were to reduce the manual effort needed to create the monthly Board Pack and enable us to scale up to many more projects without sacrificing flexibility or the effort we’d invested to date. We did not want to take the risky and costly path of investing in a tool that would force us away from the successful spreadsheets. When we saw Insight it ticked all the boxes for us, allowing us to retain the well embedded spreadsheets while cutting manual effort and enabling us to scale. The added benefit of real-time insight will doubtless open up new possibilities as we move forward.”

Sean Blencowe, CEO, Green Light Change commented: “We are delighted that Ramboll has chosen Insight to build on its reporting capabilities for its project portfolio. Insights implementation will provide the level of connected management information the organisation needs and will undoubtedly help accelerate project execution, reduce risk, reduce cost overruns and increase customer satisfaction.”