Quraz Quraz To Reduce Operating Costs Through Improved Project Portfolio Management

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, privately-owned Quraz is Japan’s largest and most successful provider of rental storage. With 36 facilities in all of Japan's major cities, each facility has 250 to 1,500 individually locked units ranging in size from less than 1 square meter to more than 15 square meters. All facilities are bright and clean, accessible 24 hours per day, and staffed with Storage Concierges during work hours to help with inquiries.

To retain its competitive advantage, the company continually strives to be the most efficient firm in the industry. Quraz needed a solution to support the objective of more effectively selecting and managing projects that reduce facility operating costs. With the help of Arbutus Solutions, a Microsoft Certified Partner, Quraz identified a solution to meet this goal based on Microsoft Project Server 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010. The solution helps Quraz to more effectively select and manage projects aligned with business objectives.

Quraz is a privately-owned company focused on real estate investment and development, providing customer-oriented storage services. The company has experienced rapid, significant growth in its operations, and now owns and operates 36 facilities across Japan.

The project portfolio management functionality of Project Server 2010 supports our efforts to select the optimal mix of projects aligned with our strategic objectives, including energy savings.  Aaron Farney Director of IT Quraz

“We have 36 facilities, and for each, energy consumption is one of the largest operating costs. There are numerous potential projects to reduce energy consumption, and we need to take a portfolio management approach to select projects that provide the greatest return.” said Aaron Farney, IT Director at Quraz. “Due to differences in the facilities, such as size, age, and existing energy efficiency, we need to evaluate the costs and benefits for each potential project as part of an overall portfolio”. The payback period for ROI on these projects can vary greatly, from between 15 to 50 months. Resource and scheduling constraints are also factors which need to be taken into account for project prioritization.

The rapid growth in the number of facilities operated by Quraz has led to resource constraints limiting the number of projects that can be completed in a given timeframe, and further reinforce the need to take a portfolio management approach to selecting projects that provide the greatest value to the company.

Scheduling constraints often result from physical limitations as to the resources that can work on a project at a particular facility and time. For example, due to space constraints at a facility, it may not be possible to have resources work on upgrading heating/venting/air conditioning equipment at the same time as lighting.

To identify a solution that was cost effective, easy to implement and appropriate to Quraz’s business needs, the company enlisted the help of Arbutus Solutions, a Microsoft® Certified Partner.1

The flexible reporting and dashboard capabilities provided in Project Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010 will provide significant benefit to Quraz.  Michael Treasure Senior Partner Arbutus Solutions

Quraz was very interested in the integration of portfolio management functionality within Project Server 2010. “The integration of portfolio management functionality within Project Server 2010 is certainly a huge leap forward from our perspective, and supports our desire to more effectively manage project selection and comparison”, says Farney.

Quraz was also looking for improvements to reporting and business intelligence over their existing Project Server 2007 implementation. “The flexible reporting and dashboard capabilities provided in Project Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010 will provide significant benefit to Quraz”, says Treasure.

With a solution based on Project Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010, Quraz can more effectively select and manage projects that provide the greatest business value, more readily identify and remedy resource and scheduling constraints, and leverage existing templates and project management practices throughout the company.

Microsoft Project Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010 is benefiting Quraz through improved demand management, portfolio selection and analytics, team collaboration and business intelligence and reporting.

The integration of portfolio management functionality within Project Server 2010 is certainly a huge leap forward from our perspective, and supports our desire to more effectively manage project selection and comparison.  Aaron Farney Director of IT Quraz

Demand Management

As part of their Project Server 2007 implementation, Quraz had been using an InfoPath 2007 form together with some custom code and a Windows SharePoint Service 3.0 list for demand management and project initiation workflow. Three workflows with corresponding templates provided the governance framework for IT projects.

Project Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010 provide a more flexible platform for workflow and project governance. Governance workflows within Project Server 2010 and SharePoint 2010 provide a single repository for business case information and readily allow reporting and comparison of project metrics. Quraz will benefit through the increased flexibility in creating and maintaining governance workflows, as well as the ability to repurpose templates and workflows to other departments in the company.

Project Server 2010 allows companies to capture all potential project opportunities in a single repository as well as supporting business case data. Strategic drivers are identified and projects assessed according to their contribution to each of these strategic drivers. Projects are then selected based on their contribution to the companies’ strategic drivers, taking into account costs, resource requirements and other constraints.

For Quraz, this new functionality provides the opportunity to select projects that will provide the greatest ROI, in the shortest possible timeframe. Projects that drive efficiency improvements can more readily be identified and prioritized. In addition, projects that are required for regulatory compliance can also be identified and given appropriate prioritization.

SharePoint 2010 provides an enhanced platform for team collaboration. Web 2.0 functionality, such as wikis and blogs provide even more flexibility in communication methods for project members.

For Quraz this provides the opportunity to improve communication on cross functional project teams, and leverage experience and familiarity in using SharePoint from other departments and business areas.

Both Project Server 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 provide a range of options for reporting and presenting data. Excel Services and Visio Services provide a flexible, easy to use window into project and portfolio related data, opening a world of reporting possibilities.

It is now even easier for management to gain a consistent view across all projects, and to be able to focus attention/effort on ones that require it.

Microsoft Project Server 2010 brings together the business collaboration platform services of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 with structured execution capabilities to provide flexible work management solutions. Project Server 2010 unifies project and portfolio management to help organizations align resources and investments with business priorities, gain control across all types of work, and visualize performance through powerful dashboards.

For more information about Microsoft Project Server 2010, go to:
www.microsoft.com/project/2010

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For more information about Quraz products and services, call 0120-15-9773 or visit the Web site at:
www.Quraz.com  

For more information about Arbutus Solutions in Asia call +81 (03) 6215-8608. In North America, call (250) 882-5982 or visit the Web site at:
www.ArbutusSolutions.com