Case Study
Victor, a leading mental health services provider with 1,100 employees across thirty California offices, struggled with fragmented project management tools. Their IT Director sought to unify project tracking while improving resource planning capabilities to better support their mission of mental health service delivery to children and families.
Business Situation
Victor was grappling with major project management challenges that affected operations across their organization. Departments were using a variety of project management tools, leading to information silos, inefficiencies, and a lack of cohesive communication. IT leadership faced ongoing difficulties with resource planning, struggling to accurately forecast demand and assess capacity across 30 different locations. Previous efforts to implement Microsoft Project Online had fallen short, largely due to the platform’s complexity and poor user adoption. Compounding these issues was a lack of standardization—there were no consistent project templates, data collection methods, or reporting practices in place. Additionally, leadership lacked clear visibility into project prioritization and resource allocation, making strategic planning a challenge. As an organization committed to supporting mental health services throughout California, Victor recognized the need to modernize its project management systems to better equip its administrative teams and ensure IT resources could be aligned effectively to support critical clinical operations.
Solutions Delivered
To address Victor’s project management challenges, Advisicon led a comprehensive Discovery, Analysis, and Recommendations (DAR) process tailored to the organization’s specific needs. This began with a detailed requirements mapping exercise, gathering input from departments including IT, HR, Finance, Compliance, and Administrative teams to ensure the solution would meet the demands of all stakeholders. Advisicon then configured Microsoft Planner Premium with Project Accelerator in a pilot environment, prioritizing ease of use and accessibility for end users. To enhance reporting and visibility, a native Power BI Report Pack was implemented and connected directly to the Planner and Project Accelerator tools.
Standardized project templates were created to promote consistent data collection and reporting practices across all teams. Advisicon also delivered targeted pilot training sessions covering Planner Premium, Roadmap, and Project Accelerator functionality, with a focus on integrating Power BI insights into day-to-day operations. To foster broader adoption, the team demonstrated how Victor could leverage the Microsoft 365 ecosystem—including SharePoint, Teams, and Viva Goals—to support a unified and collaborative project management environment. A role-based training approach was developed, providing tailored guidance for Project Managers, Resource Managers, Administrators, Team Members, and Executives. Finally, Advisicon delivered a comprehensive implementation roadmap, laying out the steps for moving from the pilot phase to full production deployment across the organization.
Benefits Realized
- A unified project platform consolidated multiple tools into a single Microsoft 365-based project management system.
- Leadership gained clear visibility into project status, resource allocation, and capacity planning.
- The intuitive Planner interface significantly improved user adoption compared to previous solutions.
- Implemented consistent project templates and data collection practices across departments for a standardized approach.
- Provided IT leadership with demand and capacity forecasting capabilities to better allocate resources.
- Reduced complexity with a simplified the project management approach while maintaining robust reporting capabilities.
- Leveraged existing Microsoft investments to create a cohesive productivity ecosystem.
Victor Today
Victor now operates with a streamlined project management approach that supports their mission of providing mental health services throughout California. The IT department has improved visibility into resource demands across its 30 locations, while administrative teams have a standardized approach to managing projects. The successful implementation has positioned Victor to better serve its communities by ensuring internal resources are efficiently managed and allocated to support their vital mental health services for children, youth, and families.
