Transparent and Efficient Resource Allocation for Bosch Global Software Technologies with Planisware

Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW) is the professional services division of the well-known technology giant, Bosch.

At the heart of this division is its pool of 30,000 professionals, spread across 3 continents. At any given time, these professionals are responsible for executing anywhere between 3,500 and 4,000 software innovation projects.

As you can imagine, managing this colossal scale of resources is no small feat. In fact, it was an area that caused the BGSW team a wealth of frustration. With so many resources to juggle — and no structured way to manage them — it was difficult to keep projects running efficiently.

This is where Planisware offered much-needed resilience.

The Challenge: Invisible Resources

Before Planisware’s involvement, Bosch lacked visibility into their global resources.

They had no database to search through, which meant that the only way to source far-reaching talent was through networking. They had to juggle the complexities of talent supply and demand, while orchestrating the entire talent supply chain to ensure seamless operations.

As a result, talent was often missed or wasn’t put to the best use on projects. With thousands of projects in motion, managing allocation at this scale was no small feat. This created a lot of friction between project and resource managers. There were frequent resource allocation disagreements, which in turn impacted the delivery of projects. These projects would overrun, eating into profit margins and causing production delays downstream. Without a shared view on projects, it was impossible to visualize resource utilization to ensure project demands were met quickly and efficiently.

In order to resolve these issues, they needed a way to bring their data together.

The Solution: One Source of Truth

Guided by the desire to resolve these resourcing challenges, BGSW searched for resource management tools that would make searching for and allocating talent easier. Planisware gave them just that—and more.

Using Planisware, the team at BGSW consolidated their talent pool into one, accessible database. Now, when a project or resource manager needs to search for talent, they can find the right candidate with the right set of skills quickly. There are no blind spots between teams, just one simple solution.

A Fast Implementation

The implementation journey began in April 2019, with a group of Planisware experts traveling to India to deliver initial on-site workshops and set up the technical infrastructure. Existing systems being hosted on-premises, this began the process of a major shift to a cloud-based system.

From there, the implementation process was very efficient. From this kick-off, the Planisware team rolled up its sleeves and got to work. Planisware brought multiple BGSW stakeholders into the process, including IT leaders, project managers and even end users, to scope out the strategy. It was important to meet the needs of everyone involved at each level, and to identify bottlenecks or issues that could be resolved from day one.

Over the summer, Planisware then onboarded the team, launching a pilot phase in September and going live in October 2019. All in, the Planisware Professional Services team was able to go through the entire process from development to testing and go-live in just six months!

Training the Team

Planisware provided user training from August. More than 5,000 employees worldwide and at different locations had to be trained on the software. They control a resource pool with about 25,000 resources, which are stored in the system with their talents and skills. Of course, managing such a large number of resources cannot be done manually: with the help of the interface implemented by Planisware, new resources and their availabilities are created and updated. This, plus trained administrators, ensures a model where users at BGSW can manage the system on their own, with confidence.

“Imagine I am a team leader and I need a Java developer. I might not have one readily visible within my team or internal network, even though, with over 30,000 professionals in our company, someone with the required skills had to be there. In the old world, finding them would have been nearly impossible. It was a huge source of frustration for everyone.

”Planisware software has completely changed that. Today, when a project or resource manager needs to find someone for their project team, they turn to our Planisware software and can find the right talent quickly.” - Ganesh Vaidyanathan, Director and General Manager at BGSW

Going Beyond Resource Allocation

More than this, Planisware offers BGSW additional features to help improve its internal and external project management efforts. For example, with demand forecasting, supply fulfilment, ageing of demand tracking, and billing, managers can keep better track of resources, their assignments, and their contracts.

This has far-reaching benefits outside of resource allocation; the PMO can better guarantee smoother, standardized project management processes for all current and future projects. From today's perspective, BGSW’s roadmap for the next one to three years is clear: cloud strategy, expand business processes and integrate new Planisware functions.

The Results: Faster Resource Allocation, Globally

“Simply put, Planisware is our “Amazon” for talent supply chain management. Just as Amazon excels in e-commerce supply chain, we leverage Planisware for talent supply chain operations. It's the vital piece that ensures our people experience a seamless value chain. It's our foremost resource management tool, guaranteeing that our talented workforce is allocated efficiently.” - Ganesh Vaidyanathan, Director and General Manager at BGSW

Now, years on, the teams at Bosch Global Software Technologies are confident and happy with their new PPM solution. BGSW reports that it benefits from:

• Increased transparency. There is a clearer view of resource availability, project demands, and potential gaps in resourcing. This allows teams to make quick, informed decisions to mitigate project delays or risks.
• Better supply chain optimization. Using Planisware, project and resource managers can easily match skills and expertise to the relevant projects.
• Project efficiency. Resourcing frustrations are now a distant memory. Planisware simplifies the process, reduces bottlenecks and streamlines resource allocation. This, in turn, ensures slicker project delivery.

What’s more, this new resource hub allows BGSW to better manage new influxes of talent. With all the resourcing, skills, and project data at their fingertips, they can reduce the likelihood of gaps between project assignments. This helps them to retain their talent pools and ensure new hires are consistently challenged.

Keen to find out how Planisware could help you manage your global talent pool? Get in touch with us today.