Microsoft Project Server 2010
Customer Solution Case Study
Automotive Company’s IT Function
Completes 98 Percent Projects on Time,
Streamlines Project Management
Overview
Country or Region: India
Industry: Auto Ancillary
Customer Profile
Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR)
is a global corporation with world class
engineering capabilities. It is one of the
largest manufacturers of rearview mirrors
for passenger cars in the world.
Business Situation
SMR wanted a single enterprise project
management solution that could manage
different types of projects across its
global organization.
Solution
SMR implemented the Microsoft
Enterprise Project Management (EPM)
solution for its global IT function,
featuring full life-cycle project portfolio
management.
Benefits
 Cuts project management time,
completes projects faster
 Cuts reporting compliance time
 Delivers stronger project governance
 Improves resource management
“… Since implementing the solution, we are doing 20
percent more projects and completing 80 percent on
time. Another 18 percent are completed with less than
10 percent deviation and only two percent have more
than 10 percent deviation…”
Gaurav Gulati, Global Chief Information Officer, SMR
Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR), one of the largest
manufacturers of rearview mirrors for passenger cars in the
world, manages around 150 IT projects worldwide. The company
wanted integrated project management tools that could scale
globally and were flexible enough to handle these diverse
projects. It also needed a way to gain greater visibility, efficiency,
and accuracy in project management. SMR chose to implement
Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution, which
gives project managers a centralized repository for all projectrelated information. The EPM solution has streamlined total
work management while providing better project visibility and
control. It enables staff to address project-related issues quickly
and effectively. Project accuracy has increased and SMR is now
completing 98 percent projects on time.
“Previously, we needed a
full time data entry person
to compile information to
generate reports… if there
were any issues the whole
process had to be redone.
Now we have it all in front
of us. Everything is
centralized in the EPM
solution. Executives
receive a weekly
dashboard status report,
which helps them plan
ahead.”
Christophe Sib, Director Enterprise
Resource Planning, SMR
Situation
Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR), a
member of Samvardhana Motherson
Group, is focused on developing,
producing, and distributing rear vision
systems for the international automotive
industry. SMR is one of the largest
manufacturers of external rearview mirrors
for passenger cars in the world. The group
supplies exterior mirrors, interior mirrors,
and blind spot detection systems for all
passenger vehicle segments to nearly every
carmaker in North America, Europe, Asia,
and Australia. With a world-wide network
of manufacturing plants, design centers,
and representative offices in 5 continents,
SMR is ‘local’ to more than 80 percent of
the global automotive industry.
SMR’s global IT team of around 100
employees manages about 150 projects
annually across 14 countries. However, it
was becoming more difficult for its
managers to oversee multiple projects
happening halfway around the world. The
company had no central project
management system to keep track of
project details and identify where projects
were in need of more focused attention.
The use of Microsoft Office Excel
spreadsheets was just not sufficient to keep
track of a growing number of increasingly
complex projects. Chrisophe Sib, Director
ERP, SMR explains, “Each project had an
excel sheet that was used for all
coordination and tracking purposes. If it
was a global rollout which involved for
instance 20 plants across countries,
multiple sheets and sub sheets were used
for tracking projects. These were uploaded
on a SharePoint collaboration server from
where users could download their version,
update it, and upload it back.”
There were lots of issues involved with
versions getting mixed up or someone
accidently changing some sheet. And as
these excel sheets had read and write
permissions to many users, it was very
difficult to do rights management while
working on it. In addition, it was a
sequential task. If someone had checked
out a file then others had to wait for the
person to upload it back before using it.
Multiple users could not access the file at
the same point of time.
Non availability of live data, decentralized
resource management, and slow
communication in respect of project
documents and data synchronization were
challenges that were on the rise. Overall,
data issues were increasing and it was hard
to keep track of what was going on and
who was doing what.
Gaurav Gulati, Global Chief Information
Officer, SMR says, “As the head of global IT
functions, it was very difficult for me to
ascertain the current status of a project in a
particular country. If a project is stuck,
figuring out at what task is it stuck and
what is the bottleneck that needs to be
addressed was a challenge. The idea was to
complete the project on time and within
cost.”
To consistently deliver on its commitments,
SMR needed comprehensive project
management skills, tools, and processes.
The company needed a simple solution that
would help it manage the total workflow.
Solution
SMR wanted to overcome its challenges by
virtue of technology not people. The
company evaluated available technology
providers and ultimately decided that
Microsoft Office Enterprise Project
Management (EPM) Solution was the best
fit for the company. It believed that a
collaborative, centralized, and scalable
project management solution would fit in
with its overall strategy very well. SMR took
the decision with the help of
MothersonSumi INfotech & Designs
Limited, a Microsoft technology partner.
The Microsoft EPM solution includes
Microsoft Project Server 2010 and
Microsoft Project Professional 2010. It also
integrates tightly with Microsoft SharePoint
Server 2010. It provides project managers a
set of tools to effectively manage projects
of any size, including the correct allocation
of people, money, and materials. “The key
features and functions of Microsoft Project
mapped to our requirements and were well
suited to our geographically dispersed
project teams,” says Alexander Fritz,
Manager, SMR. “The solution also offered
seamless integration with the Microsoft
SharePoint and Microsoft Exchange
infrastructure.”
EPM implementation gave a new look to
the projects. The solution helps manage
project workflows, improve project
reporting, and resource forecasting within
the various business functions. This result in
close collaboration that saves time and
effort spent in gathering information from
various departments.
SMR started the EPM deployment in
September 2011 and the implementation
was completed in November 2011.
Currently, the solution is available to
employees of the IT department.
On a more detailed level, the out-of-thebox features of the EPM solution
standardize project schedules and provide
a common project workspace to both
managers and users. The solution gives
SMR a more detailed level of reporting for
improved business tracking and analysis.
The automated reports help teams to stay
up-to-date on tasks and timelines.
After the implementation, the IT team has
taken up various projects and successfully
managed them to completion. Some of the
projects undertaken include revamping the
security framework worldwide and
upgrading the ERP system across.
Another project undertaken was the vendor
management portal, which was also
complex because of business user
involvement and tasks related to them.
“The whole project was coordinated by
local IT people, even business interactions
were done by them,” explains Christophe
Sib. “There were hundreds of sub tasks in a
hierarchical fashion as each IT coordinator
was assigned a task, which could be further
delegated to a business user or a junior
member working on the project. This user
will primarily login every couple of days
and update the status of the task in terms
of the percentage completion. And if there
are any concerns he will raise them in the
remarks section, and he will keep on
updating it.”
The IT team also built rules which send
alerts if a task is not updated. For example,
if 80 percent project timeline is complete
and the project status is not showing that
kind of completion, an alert is sent. Gaurav
Gulati explains, “At a central level we know
which project is running at which level.
Additionally, with respect to planned
timelines, we know whether a project is
going earlier or is running late or is on
time.”
Eventually, SMR also plans to expand use of
Project Server 2010 to other departments.
The company’s approach was that the IT
team should adopt it as an internal tool
and then show it to other departments
where it would be relevant. The
Engineering team has partially started using
the solution. Like IT, the Engineering team
is also spread across locations with
Germany being the anchor engineering
center. “The idea was to showcase running
solutions with IT being the end user, rather
than telling them that there is tool which
can work for them,” says Gaurav.
“We’re very happy with the EPM solution as
it gives us a platform to improve our
project management processes,” says
Eusebio Lluesma, Manager EDI, SMR. “We
have a much better view of our projects
including major milestones, risks, and
issues associated with each project.”
Benefits
Since deploying its new solution, SMR has
gained a common project management
language across the company. The EPM
solution has streamlined companywide
project management, increased employee
efficiency, and improved team
collaboration. Christophe says, “With
improved project insight we can better
manage our diverse portfolio of projects. It
ultimately leads to better business
decisions and increased productivity.”
Cuts Project Management Time,
Completes Projects Faster
The company was putting a lot of effort
while using Excel sheets as a methodology
for project management. Only 60 percent
of the projects were completed on time. 25
percent projects were completed with 10
percent variation and another 15 percent
went over 10 percent variations. Gaurav
Gulati says, “We are now able to manage
more projects and in better ways with the
EPM solution. Since implementing the
solution, we are doing 20 percent more
projects and completing 80 percent on
time. Another 18 percent are completed
with less than 10 percent deviation and
only two percent have more than 10
percent deviation. Overall, 98 percent of
our projects are on time and with less than
10 percent deviation.”
Cuts Reporting Compliance Time
The EPM solution has increased reporting
accuracy and reduced the time needed to
compile the reports. “Previously, we needed
a full time data entry person to compile
information to generate reports,” explains
Christophe. “The manual effort and the
time spent in the whole process were
mammoth. Additionally, if there were any
issues, the whole process had to be redone.
Now we have it all in front of us. Everything
is centralized in the EPM solution.
Executives receive a weekly dashboard
status report, which helps them plan
ahead.”
Delivers Stronger Project Governance
SMR uses the EPM solution to gain better
visibility into projects. Poor access to
information and lack of consistency are
now a thing of the past. With the unified
project and portfolio management system,
the company has a better understanding of
projects and thus more control over them.
Szabolcs Takacs, Manager, SMR says, “It
was important for us to have full control of
all of our activities so that we could track
our progress in a timely manner. With the
EPM solution we can now see project status
accurately and in real time. With much
clearer visibility into tasks, resources, issues,
and deliverables, we can shape future
contracting and distribution strategies.
Also, timely identification of concern areas
helps in timely corrective action and on
time project delivery.”
Improves Resource Management
With Project Server 2010, SMR has vastly
improved its resource management. Project
data is updated automatically and stored in
one place. Managers have real-time
visibility on the utilization and allocation of
project resources. Gaurav explains, “It was
very important for us to have full control of
our activities so that we could track our
projects. With this solution we can better
plan and forecast project work, providing
more meaningful insight across the project
portfolio.”
For More Information
Microsoft Project Server 2010
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
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Outside the 50 United States and
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information using the World Wide Web,
go to:
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Microsoft Project Server 2010 brings
together the business collaboration
platform services of Microsoft SharePoint
Server 2010 with structured execution
capabilities to provide flexible work
management solutions. Project Server 2010
unifies project and portfolio management
to help organizations align resources and
investments with business priorities, gain
control across all types of work, and
visualize performance through powerful
dashboards.
About MothersonSumi INfotech &
Designs Limited
MothersonSumi INfotech & Designs
Limited (MIND) is a top-tier CMM level 5
company, specialized in providing end-toend IT solutions including application
development, integration, testing, and
maintenance services. It caters to a diverse
set of industry verticals which includes the
market leaders from Government,
Automotive, Manufacturing, Health Care,
Travel, and Education sectors.
For more information about Microsoft
Project Server 2010, go to:
www.microsoft.com/project/2010
For more information about
Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec
(SMR), visit the website at: www.smrautomotive.com
For more information about
MothersonSumi INfotech & Designs
Limited, visit the website at: www.mindinfotech.com
Software and Services
Partner
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
− Microsoft Project Server 2010
− Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
 Microsoft Project Professional 2010
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This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published January 2013
MothersonSumi INfotech & Designs
Limited