NASA Selects EPM WorkEngine as Their Enterprise Solution to Improve Visibility and Reduce Costs

CARLSBAD, Calif., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- EPM Live (http://www.workengine.com), a global leader in SharePoint-based Project and Work Management Applications, announced today that its flagship product EPM WorkEngine was selected by NASA as their Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management solution to improve visibility and reduce costs.

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As a part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is responsible for numerous missions including explorations of Mars and Jupiter. The laboratory employs over 5,000 people and is running a large number of projects at any given time.

The organization was using Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 within the laboratory to give project management teams access to project schedules. However to share the schedules, JPL's Project Schedule Analysts (PSAs) needed to create portable document files (PDFs) and then place them in a file share directory for access by project team members. This meant that the schedules viewed by team members were a static image of project status at any given point in time, and did not provide any ability to drill down into items or make changes. When engineers needed to make a change they had to coordinate with the PSAs, creating additional work for both roles.

JPL decided to deploy EPM WorkEngine from EPM Live, an Enterprise Project and Work Management solution that integrates Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 to achieve improved schedule visibility, greater collaboration, and reduce costs.

Various projects are being migrated to the EPM WorkEngine solution, including plans and schedules for Juno and the Mars Science Laboratory. JPL anticipates multiple benefits from the deployment of the EPM WorkEngine enterprise project management solution and is already considering future plans to achieve even greater gains.

With EPM Live's EPM WorkEngine solution, project schedule visibility has been transformed from a static view of the project at any given time into real-time access for all project teams to review and status.

By deploying a project management solution that is integrated with Office SharePoint Server 2007, JPL is able to create project workspaces where teams can access schedules and other key project information in a single location. This has improved collaboration within the teams, as employees can work together on documents, calendars, tasks and other items, removing version control issues. Project teams have real-time access to data, which boosts productivity among employees.

As well as benefiting from improved collaboration and visibility, JPL anticipates significant cost reductions from moving to an enterprise project management solution. A PSA can create approximately 30 PDFs of schedules during an update cycle, including the top level schedule and a version for each Cost Account Manager. Using the web view will save PSAs up to half a day's work each week. JPL will also create cost efficiencies through improved collaboration by integrating its projects.

"We will see huge cost savings from deploying EPM WorkEngine by eliminating the need to create hard and soft copies of schedules. Merging Office SharePoint Server 2007 with our enterprise project management solution will also create savings and greater efficiencies for all employees,"  Christopher Arifin, Enterprise Project Management Lead, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

To learn more about EPM WorkEngine:

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About EPM Live and EPM WorkEngine

EPM Live is a global leader in Microsoft SharePoint Project and Work Solutions. EPM Live's products and services are cutting-edge, revolutionizing the way organizations manage their work. EPM Live's EPM WorkEngine can be consumed online or on premise.

EPM WorkEngine has evolved the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server stack to a more comprehensive and integrated Enterprise Project and Work Management system. Building on familiar Microsoft tools, the EPM WorkEngine solution includes web parts, Microsoft Project Add-ins, SharePoint Features, and Industry Best Practices & Process templates designed to work together to help you address your Business Productivity needs.

For additional information: Please contact Heather Champoux at 760-603-9990 or [email protected].

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SOURCE EPM Live