Our customers and prospects tell us all the time that they really enjoy getting to meet Daptiv customers and team members. So, on December 9, 2009 we hosted an event in New York City for customers and prospects to gather, network, and learn. The event took place at W Hotel in Times Square and attended by a mix project managers and Daptiv team members. Additionally, the event showcased one of our customers, Michael Mell, Product Development Project Manager of S&P INDICES who presented his company’s use of Daptiv PPM to drive hard metrics while improving on portfolio visibility and control.

Here are some pictures from the event:

   

From November 2009 through January 7, 2010, Daptiv hosted a series of five webinars intended for Daptiv customers. The series gave tips and perspectives to help make Daptiv PPM even more valuable within your organization. Panelists included Daptiv Executives, and special guest David Blumhorst from Effective IT Group.

Topics included:

• Aligning Business Needs to Daptiv
• Selecting the Right Projects
• Defining and Optimizing Your Portfolio
• Getting the Most out of Scarce Resources
• Methodologies to Fit the Job at Hand

The Defining and Optimizing Your Portfolio webinar drove the highest interest. We had over 500 individuals register for the webinars, and the overall feedback has been very positive!

If you weren’t able to attend any of the webinars, or if you’d like to view the webinar recordings, you can visit the Daptiv webinar series webpage. You’ll find a listing of the past webinar topics, along with links to the recorded webinars.

Recap of Gaining Advantage: Trends in PPM with Margo Visitacion, Vice President of Forrester Research

On December 17, 2009, Daptiv held a webinar featuring Margo Visitation of Forrester Research and Daptiv customer Addie Monson, DIrector, PMP, of Chase Paymentech.

Margo and Addie discussed the following trends:

-In tough economic times, companies are looking to PPM to optimize, economize, and find opportunities
-New solutions are opening the door to more companies who need PPM
-PPM is only the tip of the iceberg -- it's time to think enterprise
-Pragmatic PPM can help organizations get LEAN

Close to 650 individuals registered, and both Addie and Margo shared some great industry insight and real-world examples. You can review the webinar slides here.

Want to stay up to date on upcoming webinars? Take advantage the RSS feed toward the top right of the webinar series webpage and receive updates whenever the webinar page is updated.

Daptiv is pleased to announce that the global user conference will be held November 9-12 in Phoenix, Arizona! Sign up and recieve future YouCon news!

Sign up here: http://www.youcon2010.com/

The 'Managing the Work' blog is run by the team at Daptiv and is written for those looking to improve the management of work in their organizations, whether execs, managers or team members. We will share resources, best practices and perspective on the evolution of work, management, on-demand tools, and sometimes even business in general. We invite visitors to contribute their triumphs and challenges so we can better learn from one another.

Organizations big and small deal with 'Managing the Work' in one way or another. Some of the most difficult to manage areas lie in the "mid-office" - that nebulous area between an organization's front end (sales) and back end (accounting) that includes marketing, human resources, product development, business development.....essentially, where 90% of an organization's work gets done. The Daptiv team builds solutions to help organizations work more efficiently and collaboratively across roles, departments and time zones - to get the work done.

http://managingthework.com/

Meet Kelly Simon, Executive Assistant & Office Manager at Daptiv

I was born in Pontiac Michigan and graduated in 1997 from Michigan State University. I finished my bachelor’s degree at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia where I completed a Political-Science / Criminal Justice program. Australia was the highlight of my university experience; visiting Parliament, the High Court (similar to the US Supreme Court) as well as the various bars and beaches that any college student going to Sydney absolutely must see.

I came to Seattle for a visit immediately following my trip to Australia and decided to stay. 13 years later I’m still here and married to the guy who prompted the visit, so I guess love at first sight is possible. I love living in Seattle; after growing up outside the Motor City there is so much to appreciate about the Northwest it’s difficult to enumerate the reasons. The geography is gorgeous, the climate is moderate and I love the culture of the west coast. When I look out the window at work and see the ferries on Elliott Bay, the sun shining off the Olympic Mountains in the distance, I can’t help but feel I’ve made at least a few good decisions in my life if they got me here.

When I graduated from MSU and moved to Seattle I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” In a way I still don’t, but have managed to build a career that has turned out to be exceptionally rewarding. I have worked at some incredible companies; Microsoft, ADP, Expedia, Nokia. I started at Daptiv in October 2009 and in the last few months I’ve helped to organize our facility, support our new CEO Chase Franklin and our COO Mark Klebanoff, plan fun events for our staff, participate in projects to improve the employee experience and generally aspire to be the oil in the Daptiv engine. I am usually quite busy, very rarely bored, and no two days are ever exactly the same. I thrive on taking care of people, making their lives easier, and making them laugh. I thoroughly enjoy coming to work at Daptiv every day and am so excited to be a part of this journey.

My hobbies include reading, cooking and keeping in touch with my family back in the Midwest. My motto: people will forget what you say, they will forget what you do, but they will remember how you made them feel.

H2O Plus Improves Product Launch Delivery by 25% with Daptiv PPM

Personal Care Products Company Manages ‘Launch-to-Counter’. On time delivery goes from 70% to 95+%.

H2O Plus, L.L.P. engages in developing, manufacturing, marketing and distributing water-based and sea-derived personal care products in North America. It offers cleansers, toners, moisturizers, scrubs, masks, eye care products, skincare accessories, lip care products, serums, sun protection products, night care products, skin brighteners, shaving products, anti-aging solutions, skin polishers, and applicators for the face. The company also provides products for body care, such as milk, bath exotics, bath aquatics, sea salt, purifying seaweeds, fragrance products, accessories, robes, candles, sun protection products, body lotions, soaps, and spa products, as well as offers hand care and feet care products. In addition, it offers shampoos, conditioners, and hair accessories for hair care; and shower gels, body scrubs, bath additives, and accessories for bath and shower. The company offers its products through international licensees and distributors, company-owned retail stores, specialty retail stores, and upscale department stores. It’s also involved in Website and catalog sales. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Business Need

In 2005, H20 Plus had been using Microsoft Excel for product launches, without a standardized methodology for project management. In place was a very basic process for launching products that was initiated from the Operations division. Approximately 30 tasks assigned to different teams during each product planning timeline. A project timeline would be initiated when a new product was developed, and one person updated the timeline via a single Excel spreadsheet. “Problems arose since we had no centralized source of information; it was difficult to easily review real-time updates,” says the Director of Project Management. “With a single person in charge of updating the Microsoft Excel launch timeline, no one really knew the status of the launch timelines unless issues arose.” The Director of Project Management continues, “It became stressful when things weren’t falling into place. We developed a bad track record among our customers and we realized that things needed to change, that we needed to be a more project management-oriented company. To start, we needed the right foundation and tools in place, so we looked into software solutions. We wanted a solution that could drive efficient processes and give us an accurate picture of what is going on with our launches while helping to fully manage product launch tasks and timelines.”

Collaborative Solution

“In evaluating different software vendors, we chose Daptiv because it’s ondemand, requires no maintenance, promotes collaboration, and allows for our teams to view real-time updates,” says the Director of Project Management. Daptiv PPM was rolled out to several groups within H20 Plus, and then use spread to nearly all groups within the organization. “We’re now using Daptiv PPM to manage our whole ‘concept-to-on counter’ process, as well as product programs such as promotions, samples, holiday and gifting,” explains the Director.

Departments involved with product launches that are actively using Daptiv PPM include:

• Product Development
• Research & Development
• Package Development
• Marketing
• Operations
  • Purchasing
  • Production Planning
  • Cost Accounting
  • Quality Assurance

In addition, a wider portion of the company uses Daptiv PPM to track key milestones. All groups use Daptiv PPM to track tasks, monitor issues and project progress. Details are shared at Executive meetings to review status identify potential backups or problem areas. Here is an example of a report showing all projects by health:

Here is an example of new products being tracked and if they’re on plan:

Here is an example of tasks associated with developing a new product, including testing, cost estimates and creative direction:

Value

“There is a big focus on using Daptiv PPM this year now that we’re able to deliver our products on time,” says the Director of Project Management. “Our delivery rate was 70% before we started using Daptiv PPM and now it’s at 95%.” The Director adds, “The more people use Daptiv PPM, the more they like it – and as a result, we’re seeing a huge improvements in company culture, teamwork and product delivery execution.”

Other areas where H2O Plus has seen business improvements include:

• Visibility & Accessibility of Information – everyone has immediate access to update and review timelines and task. Executives also have a clearer picture of what’s happening.
• Data Integrity – because it’s so easy to access and update data, information is more accurate than before.
• Accountability – People are keener to staying on top of their own tasks and can pinpoint where dependencies lie, and monitor where others need to stay on track to do their part.
• Standardization of Processes – Daptiv PPM functioned as the catalyst to propel collaborative efforts and standardize processes among groups.
• Improved Collaboration & Synergy – Before Daptiv PPM, each group worked in their own silos. Now there is a greater understanding of the challenges that different groups face with each launch, creating more of a team effort.

Another benefit of working with Daptiv is the level of support provided. “Over the years that we’ve been a customer, Daptiv Support has been great to work with. If something urgent comes up where we need their assistance, we are constantly updated via email which is very helpful so we know where things stand,” says the Director.