Business9.04.2014

Adam Smith International partners with AccTech to deploy Microsoft Project Online

Adam Smith International, an international advisory firm, has partnered with Microsoft Gold Certified partner, AccTech Systems, to deploy Microsoft PPM (Project and Portfolio Management) for the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF). Helping reform and improve economies and institutions worldwide, Adam Smith International is implementing Microsoft PPM as a central repository for all globally dispersed projects.

CRIDF is a Department for International Development (DFIDs) water infrastructure programme in Southern Africa. Over the next two years, the Facility will deliver sustainable small-scale infrastructure across 11 SADC countries including Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

CRIDF is staffed by a full-time Project Management Unit (PMU) comprising world leading experts in fields related to water security and climate change. The PMU is responsible for identifying, selecting and mobilising Projects, responding to the demand for intervention in the SADC community. The programme will aim for several ‘iconic’ Projects and widely disseminate their successes to catalyse broader investment in climate resilient infrastructure.

CRIDF Financial Director Riaan Bloem says “Project Workspaces provide management and repository for documentation related per geographically dispersed projects and project resources and built-in workflow provides and facilitates document approval processes.”

Nevan Pillay, product marketing manager at Microsoft South Africa, says Microsoft Project Online is a flexible online solution for PPM and everyday work. “Delivered through Office 365, Project Online enables organisations like CRIDF to get started, prioritise project portfolio investments and deliver the intended business value – from virtually anywhere on nearly any device. Organisations can add teams and projects within minutes with a web-based portal and immediately get insight about their portfolio with new point and click reporting capabilities.”

AccTech Systems CEO Tertius Zitzke says the Microsoft’s Project Online solution helps CRIDF deliver the right projects, reduce costs, drive efficiencies, and ultimately plant the seeds to upscale.

This web-based solution enables CRIDF to gain visibility and control across all Projects and Portfolios, enhance decision-making, improve alignment with its strategy, maximise resource utilisation and enhance project execution.

“Now more than ever, executives are being challenged to do more with less and as a result, have to be judicious about where they spend their money and how they allocate resources. A Project and Portfolio Management solution is the answer,” concludes Zitzke.

Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter