Each section of the value chain is supported by three primary activities as displayed by the Barolsky Model below. The purpose of this business case is to focus on the profiling and pitching section of Grant Thornton’s value chain. Specifically, the business case addresses improving Grant Thornton’s ability to price and sell engagements by implementing an enterprise project management technology. For the purpose of this business case, the selling and pricing activity can be thought as Grant Thornton’s processes to develop an accurate cost projection for a particular project during the contract bidding process. The following describes the problem that this business case intends to address.
PROBLEM
Grant Thornton LLP’s (“Grant Thornton) …show more content…
There is no centralized database that captures successful project bids and the corresponding details (e.g. estimated hours, number of resources, project duration, travel costs, administrative costs, etc.). Proposal and project documentation is either housed on a particular server in a specific office location or on a Microsoft SharePoint site where access is limited to the engagement team members. Since Grant Thornton operates across states 30 in 60 offices with no centralized database, each opportunity to present a bid for a large engagement is a huge undertaking. Management uses intuition and prior experiences to determine the level of effort (i.e. labor hours) and costs to complete a particular project. Management spends several hours in meetings determining who the subject matter experts are for a particular opportunity and the number of hours and resources it will take to complete a particular project. Based on experience, the firm’s inability to methodically and accurately price engagements are the root cause of the firm losing the majority of its multi-million-dollar potential opportunities. For example, my team recently proposed on a project for a large retail bank that would have lasted for four years, required more than 50 resources (employees) each year, and generated revenue around $20 million ($5 …show more content…
The company would be able to track critical project data points which would enable authorized users (management and above) to analyze historical costs and characteristics of larger successful projects. Regardless of office location, management would have real time access to historical and current engagement details that could be applied to the bidding process for similar type of opportunities. The bidding process would become more efficient and effective, ultimately resulting in a higher success rate for project
PROBLEM
Grant Thornton LLP’s (“Grant Thornton) …show more content…
There is no centralized database that captures successful project bids and the corresponding details (e.g. estimated hours, number of resources, project duration, travel costs, administrative costs, etc.). Proposal and project documentation is either housed on a particular server in a specific office location or on a Microsoft SharePoint site where access is limited to the engagement team members. Since Grant Thornton operates across states 30 in 60 offices with no centralized database, each opportunity to present a bid for a large engagement is a huge undertaking. Management uses intuition and prior experiences to determine the level of effort (i.e. labor hours) and costs to complete a particular project. Management spends several hours in meetings determining who the subject matter experts are for a particular opportunity and the number of hours and resources it will take to complete a particular project. Based on experience, the firm’s inability to methodically and accurately price engagements are the root cause of the firm losing the majority of its multi-million-dollar potential opportunities. For example, my team recently proposed on a project for a large retail bank that would have lasted for four years, required more than 50 resources (employees) each year, and generated revenue around $20 million ($5 …show more content…
The company would be able to track critical project data points which would enable authorized users (management and above) to analyze historical costs and characteristics of larger successful projects. Regardless of office location, management would have real time access to historical and current engagement details that could be applied to the bidding process for similar type of opportunities. The bidding process would become more efficient and effective, ultimately resulting in a higher success rate for project