Project Work: When Excel and email are no longer enough
Most companies start project work in Excel. The project list in one spreadsheet, the hours in another, the documents in a folder structure that made sense when you had ten employees. It works. For a while.
So you hire more people. The projects increase. And suddenly the project manager spends half the day finding out where things are, who has the latest version, and whether anyone has actually done what they were supposed to.
«We spend many hours on simple tasks,» a project manager we spoke with told us. His company duplicated project data manually between systems because nothing was linked. Time tracking in one place,
economy another, customer documents in a folder no one else found their way into. «It's actually quite stupid, but we use Excel because it's easier. To a certain extent.»
He described something we hear in almost every sales meeting. Project work is growing, but the tools are standing still.
Is this relevant to your business?
This article is written for businesses with 10 to 100 employees that work on a project basis, whether you are in construction, oil and gas, technology or installation. The common denominator is that the number of projects has increased.
and larger, but the way you work is the same as when you were half the size.
Five signs that you've outgrown your project tools
The project manager must make calls to get the status.
One of the companies we spoke to described it like this: «We have a feeling now about where we are with the project. We're now operating a bit with the architect, a bit with accounting, often a phone call might come to someone in"
the office: can you retrieve those and the number for me.»
Project status shouldn't depend on who answers the phone. When a manager has to call three people to find out the status of a project, it's not a lack of information. It's a lack of a place to find it.
2. Collaboration happens in the inbox
«We don't really have a system for that exactly,» a company explained about how project managers collaborate with purchasing and design. It went via email, phone calls, and ad-hoc Teams meetings.
The problem isn't that people aren't collaborating. The problem is that the collaboration isn't visible to anyone else. Project work that lives in personal inboxes, disappears when people are ill, leave, or simply forget.
forward.
3. No one knows what belongs to the project
A growing company had contracts in one folder, subcontractors in a spreadsheet, and correspondence in the project manager's inbox. They wanted better structures, but didn't know what they were missing. That's the point. When project information is scattered, you don't discover the gaps until it's too late.
4. You duplicate data between systems
A project manager said they were working in the client's project tool but had to «go all the way down and duplicate it to our own level, so that we always have it in our systems.» The same numbers, typed in twice.,
Into two systems. Every week. And if someone forgets, the numbers no longer add up.
5. The map structure has grown out of control
It starts with a few folders. Then someone adds a subfolder. Then another. After a few years, you have Rapport_ENDELIG_v3_NY.docx next to Rapport_ny_ENDELIG_v3_NY.docx, and no one knows which one is current.
Filenames containing «FINALLY» are a symptom. When the folder structure requires explanation to make sense, the project work has outgrown the system.
When the customer requires documentation you cannot provide
Many companies only discover the structural problem when someone else makes a claim. A large client wants to see quality documentation on projects. A tender requires ISO 9001. A review reveals that the procedures exist, but that no one can prove they are actually being followed.
Then it's no use having a folder structure with good intentions. You need traceability. Who did what, when, and according to which procedure. That's the difference between having a quality system and being able to prove that you are using it.
Project work is more than construction projects and milestones
When we say project work, most people think of large deliveries with Gantt charts and weekly status meetings. But recruitment is also a project. The same goes for ISO certification, onboarding, a campaign, or a budget process. Anything that has a goal, some steps, and involves more than one person.
The difference is how much structure it needs. An onboarding might only need a checklist that the new employee and manager follow. A construction project needs a Gantt chart, a quality control plan, and
Document management with version control. A quote needs a link between customer, costing and follow-up.
At Business Online, you choose. The same platform, with different degrees of structure. Project work adapts to the task, not the other way around.
How project work functions in Business Online
Business Online brings project work together on one platform built on Microsoft 365. This means you'll continue to work in Teams, Outlook and SharePoint as before, but with a project structure around it.
Project Overview. The daily manager sees all projects with status, responsibility, and progress without asking anyone for a report. The project manager sees theirs. The department manager sees the department's. No one needs to create a
PowerPoint to show where things are.
Checklists (QCP). Some projects require a fixed process. You then define checkpoints that follow the project from start to finish. Each step is automatically documented with who did what and when. Useful.
for quality requirements, ISO audits and projects where «that's how we usually do it» is not enough.
Gantt chart. For projects with many dependencies, a Gantt chart provides a visual timeline of milestones, deadlines, and who is waiting for whom.
Documents in the project. Everything belonging to the project is in the project. Contracts, drawings, correspondence. Not in anyone's inbox, not in a personal folder on their desktop. When someone leaves, the documents are still there.
CRM connected to a project. The customer, the offer, and the project are all interconnected from initial contact to final delivery. The salesperson sees what was promised. The project manager knows who the customer is. No more «can you forward that email where you sent the offer?»
From feeling to fact
«We have a gut feeling about where we're at with the project» is something we hear in almost every sales meeting. It's not because people are careless. It's because the tools don't give them anything better than a gut feeling.
Project work in Business Online gives the project manager figures instead of assumptions. What are the remaining hours? Which checkpoints have not been completed? Are we ahead or behind schedule? The answers are there without anyone
need to dig them up.
It's not because reporting is fun. It's because it's cheaper to discover a deviation in week 3 than in week 12.
Lie Blikk went from three ways of working to one
Lie Blikk in Stavanger grew from 60 to over 100 employees in a short time. Turnover approached 175 million. But their working methods did not keep up.
«We worked in one way during the calculation phase, another way during the design phase, and a third way during the execution,» said Eirik Kvilstad Heskja, Head of Digitalisation and Finance. Information was stored in various
Fag systemer, SharePoint lists and Excel spreadsheets. The same information was entered in multiple places.
Today, Lie Blikk uses Business Online from quotation to finished project. Offers, projects, quality, and follow-up are gathered in one platform. They handle 10 to 15 offers per project with a full overview of which offer belongs to which project and which customer.
They simultaneously obtained three ISO certifications: 9001, 14001, and 45001. The QCPs in Business Online became the tool that put the quality requirements into practice.
«The QCP is the biggest advantage we've gained,» Heskja said. «The growth is maintaining pace, but it's no longer painful.»
Read about Lie Blikk
Lie Blikk grew from 60 to over 100 employees. Project work couldn't keep up. This is how they got control.
What changes in the first few months
The first few weeks are about moving the project work into one platform. Documents, checklists, and customer information are gathered. It requires some effort from the team.
After a month or two, most people notice that the searching stops. The project manager finds what she needs without asking anyone. The CEO sees the portfolio without requesting a report.
After three months, it's the old way that feels cumbersome. And when the next audit or customer review comes, the documentation is already there.
All project work. One place.
Project work isn't about methodology. It's about ensuring information is where it's needed, that processes are followed without the need for supervision, and that management can see the status of projects without having to ask. Business Online consolidates project management, quality control, CRM, and documents into one platform built on Microsoft 365.
The tools will grow with you
What worked when you had ten employees doesn't work when you have fifty. That's not a sign that something's wrong, it's a sign that the business has grown. The question is whether the project work is allowed to grow with it.
See how project management works in Business Online
Book a meeting. We'll show you what project work looks like for companies like yours. 30 minutes, no obligation.