Overview
Bill Beuth, Head of Operations at OneSky, needed a solution to manage a full portfolio of software development projects in the aviation industry. He required a collaborative tool that could also aggregate resource loads across projects. After considering 10 software options, ProjectManager was the best-in-class choice that met his industry’s strict security and compliance requirements.
Key challenges
- Untracked resources obscured how projects would impact the company’s bottom line
- Milestones weren’t closely monitored, resulting in poor communication and relationship management
ProjectManager’s solutions
- Workload management and milestone tracking are pivotal for executing complex projects
- Fewer costly errors thanks to customized workflows that reflect industry best practices
Standout features
- Gantt chart
- Project templates
- Resource management
- Portfolio management
- Risk view
Location
Exton, Pennsylvania, USA
Website
onesky.xyz
Industry
Technology
Size
30 employees
Why ProjectManager?
Bill Beuth, Head of Operations, needed a way to manage a full portfolio of software development projects in the aviation industry. He wanted a tool for resource tracking with Gantt charts, visibility into earned value management, project templates and more. After considering 10 software options, ProjectManager was the best fit for his industry, which has strict requirements for security and compliance.
OneSky: a software development company for the aviation industry
OneSky is a global uncrewed traffic management (UTM) software company developing airspace assessment, operations and traffic management solutions for the aviation industry. “Our goal is to harmonize the sky,” says Bill Beuth, Head of Customer Operations, OneSky, “ensuring safe, efficient, and scalable access to all airspace users.”
In other words, as drones and air taxis become more commonplace, OneSky will ensure that they can do their job effectively and without interfering with helicopters, airplanes and nearby airports.
“Our team of approximately 30 members has over 370 years of aerospace industry experience. Sixty-five percent of the team has aviation degrees or licenses, and 60 percent of the team has software degrees.”
The need for consistency and efficiency
Prior to establishing a formal project management process, OneSky recognized the need to improve consistency and efficiency. Projects were sometimes planned without the adequate assessment of impact on overall company resources. Plus, milestones weren’t always effectively monitored and communicated with stakeholders.
“ProjectManager is a key element of the project management process we have established to mitigate these issues,” he said.
“ProjectManager is a key element of the project management process we have established to mitigate these issues.”
Bill Beuth
Head of Customer Operations at OneSky
The search for the best project management software
Before choosing ProjectManager as the best fit for the company, OneSky performed an extensive comparison of 10 different project portfolio management options. They had a long list of criteria to evaluate. For example, they looked for software that could:
- View aggregated resource loads across multiple projects
- Establish checklists and project templates
- Track the evolution of risks and associated mitigations
- Provide visibility into earned value management (EVM)
- Provide “what if” resourcing scenarios
- Assign specific resources to tasks
- Track employee time and material invoicing
- Support projects on capable Gantt charts
- Provide security via data backup features, 2FA, ISO27001 compliance
Needless to add, they wanted a lot. ProjectManager delivered.
“We also placed value on how effective the tool was for managing both small projects, without unnecessary tool overhead, and large projects, with enough detail to manage complex relationships and workflows,” Beuth added.
ProjectManager gave OneSky everything it wanted
As Head of Customer Operations, Beuth led the analysis of tool alternatives. After whittling the list down to the top two or three tools, other internal stakeholders were consulted for input, including sales, engineering and the executive staff.
Beuth goes on to praise ProjectManager’s project template features. “They are a huge time saver,” he said, “but even more importantly they help us ensure we perform planning and compliance activities across all our projects with consistency.”
Beuth concluded: “ProjectManager is also cost-effective and secure.”
Customer service form ProjectManager made a difference
OneSky’s ProjectManager implementation process was very smooth. “We received prompt customer support from the ProjectManager team on a few minor topics related to security setup and understanding certain user interface features,” Beuth said.
OneSky employees have much higher confidence in the company’s ability to execute, according to Beuth.
“ProjectManager offers a single source of truth for project status,” he said. “The fundamental steps we use to perform for our customers are defined before a contract is ever signed.”
ProjectManager will expand its footprint at OneSky
“In the future we will consider broader adoption of risk and opportunity tracking features as well as formal EVM management as ProjectManager capabilities and our requirements evolve,” Beuth added.
“Project portfolio management isn’t magic,” he said. “It just takes good organization. The ProjectManager tool coupled with workflows customized from industry best practices has effectively provided OneSky with that organization.”