We’ve Got Exciting News: WorkOtter is now Prism PPM!
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Improved Efficiency. Optimized Processes.

Written byPublished on
Lauren Remes
December 13, 2024
3

Hours it takes to do reporting vs. several days

100%

Visibility into resources and capacity

+1

Additional portfolios managed by Prism PPM

York University is Canada’s third-largest university, with approximately 53,500 students and 7,000 faculty and staff in attendance. Managing a portfolio of IT projects for a school that Ramon Kagan calls “closer to a small city,” means roughly 90 to 150 projects are in progress at any time. Before adopting WorkOtter, York’s reliance on a mix of PM tools and spreadsheets meant time was regularly wasted on aggregating data and manual reporting. And, as a public university answering to a governing board, the risk of non-compliance grew significantly as the project portfolio grew. York University needed a change

The Challenge

  • Regular reporting involved manually aggregating data in Excel, wasting 6 days a month that could have been spent on more valuable tasks
  • Staffing requests were often inaccurate or inflated, making it difficult to manage resources or project capacity
  • Without a view across all projects in the portfolio, there was no easy way to identify and assess risks or understand opportunities to work more efficiently

The Solution

York University started its search by consulting Gartner analysts for guidance on what type of solution could:
  • Quickly and easily aggregate project data
  • Manage resource planning
  • Provide appropriate structure to support project governance 
Having identified Project Portfolio Management software as the right toolset, York assessed WorkOtter and three other vendors, working with the University’s IT Governance team to model use cases in all 4 solutions. While price and features were absolute considerations, WorkOtter’s knowledgeable sales team also stood out. 

“Being able to have a practical conversation rather than ‘How much money can we get out of you’ was nice.”
WorkOtter is a force multiplier, it aids my ability to execute without consuming all my time.
Ramon Kagan
Director of Operational Excellence and Institutional Applications, York University

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The Results

WorkOtter tailors every implementation to align with immediate needs and long-term goals.
  • Report generation which used to take 6 working days each month is now done in a few hours
  • Staffing is more effective and requests more accurate with visibility into resourcing and capacity
With IT projects and processes well in hand, the University IT group can undertake the optimization of other departmental portfolios, increasing institutional efficiency and improving project governance

  • Industry

    Higher Education

  • Employees

    7,000

  • Location

    Toronto, Canada

  • Use Cases

    Resource management, process optimization