Customer Success Story
PennDOT
Deltek's project management software selected by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to coordinate massive slate of road construction projects
Deltek enhanced its ability to provide critical earned value management (EVM) offerings to its broad project-focused customer base with the acquisition of Welcom in March 2006.
Overview
PennDOT needed more than just a stand-alone software package to help with a massive construction program. They needed a product with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously. Approximately 600 copies of Deltek Open Plan™ Professional and Open Plan Desktop were purchased to help oversee this program. PennDOT's implementation of Open Plan allowed easy integration with other software applications and enables them to manage thousands of projects simultaneously.
The Need
PennDOT's purchase included approximately 600 copies of Open Plan Professional and Open Plan Desktop, which integrate with an engineering and construction management system designed and implemented by KPMG.
The overall system allows the department to manage thousands of design and construction projects that are underway at any given time. PennDOT is encouraging its hundreds of contractors and subcontractors to use Deltek software as well.
“The PennDOT installation is of particular importance to us because it further demonstrates our capabilities within the construction industry,” says Steve Cook, co-founder of Welcom. “PennDOT's selection of Open Plan validates our products' flexibility, ease of use, and functionality as ideally suited for construction programs of this magnitude.”
The Benefit
Indeed, PennDOT chose Open Plan for several reasons, but a key reason was its open architecture and resulting ability to easily integrate with other software applications. PennDOT also found Deltek's software easier to use than other packages and needed Open Plan's ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
The flexibility of Open Plan also allows users to quickly and easily transport data into and out of the system. Furthermore, PennDOT can use Open Plan in various settings. For example, an engineer can use Open Plan Desktop in the field to enter data on materials, tasks, and resources. That data can subsequently be uploaded into Open Plan Professional at the district offices.
PennDOT's overall goal is to make optimum use of its resources as it launches a massive program to maintain and enhance the Department's infrastructure.
To handle the increased workload, PennDOT is reorganizing along project lines, so that designers, engineers, bridge specialists, and others can be assembled to take on a particular project. Historically, each functional unit would work on a project as another unit fi nished, but the various groups did not always operate as an integrated team. In addition, PennDOT aims to balance its workload between its staff and outside consultants and contractors. The comprehensive data generated by Deltek's software working with PennDOT's new Engineering and Construction Management System helps in that effort.
Open Plan is the most technically advanced client/server project management system on the market, using the latest in Microsoft Windows® development technology. These attributes were instrumental in PennDOT's selection of Deltek software.
“Because the department can have 1,000 or more design jobs underway at any one time, PennDOT needed more than a stand-alone project package,” says Jim Sideris, senior project manager for KPMG, which assisted PennDOT in the selection process. “Open Plan's ease of use, consistent interface, and ODBC compliance combined to set Welcom apart from the competition.”
The Future
“We want to put together integrated teams to finish design projects faster,” says Douglas Tobin, manager of project development in the Engineering and Computing Management Division, Bureau of Design, PennDOT. “Welcom plays a big part of making this organizational concept a reality. Open Plan enables us to build a database so that we can provide more accurate cost and time estimates for future projects.”