About LBCC

LBCC is a community college founded in 1927, with two campuses in Long Beach, California. LBCC currently has almost 25,000 students enrolled across 820 courses and 3,148 class sections. The two campuses cover 142.1 acres and employ more than 1,600 full-time and part-time staff and faculty.

The Challenge

During our assessment, we reviewed LBCC’s existing project management information system (PMIS), and met with the LBCC construction and program management team of approximately 20 people. LBCC’S PMIS was made up of several disconnected systems, including Oracle Primavera Contract Management (PCM) for project controls, PeopleSoft (ERP), Primavera P6 for scheduling. Other peripheral systems included email, Word, Excel, and hard copies of documents.

Our analysis revealed the lack of an integrated, end-to-end solution. The results? Low visibility, data-entry errors, data silos, redundant information, inconsistent coding, inconsistent storage, and duplication of work. In addition, a serious bottleneck was created by multiple users submitting data to a single system administrator for entry.

During discovery, the construction management (CM) team stated that the current system is operating at approximately 20% efficiency when compared to a fully-integrated, coded, and connected system with effective data entry and workflow processes. If a perfect system score is 100%, the goal of the LBCC CM team was to improve their PMIS to at least 65% through available means. The general consensus of comments related to challenge areas was the need to improve standardization of business processes (BPs) and system access. Improvement of these key fundamentals was required for timely data gathering, to support key performance indicators (KPIs) across management levels, and to increase and add business efficiency.

The Solution

Our recommendations covered several areas. One, a revision of current LBCC systems and processes in order to maximize productivity and reduce errors. Two, a potential new project management system and related processes that would enhance the ability of LBCC to manage projects and overcome current system limitations. And three, integrations and processes designed to provide end-to-end system support for program and project management.

LBCC could upgrade from PCM 13.0 to 14.xx under their Oracle maintenance plan, or to select another system. Our post-assessment report included additional recommendations for LBCC. By migrating from PCM to Unifier, LBCC would have a future-proof project management solution (PCM support ended in April 2016). LBCC would also have additional functionality that would prove to be very valuable in many areas as they moved forward.

Further performance increases were also recommended, including several integrations:

• integration with PeopleSoft (cost control)
• integration between PeopleSoft and the cost management system (document control), and
• integrating contract and financial management (cost control).

The fully-integrated system recommended by Gaea gives LBCC total visibility, maximum efficiency, and reduces manual processes and errors by a significant margin.

U.S. Communities for the Best Project Management Information System Pricing

In order to secure the best pricing for LBCC and to streamline the contract process, we leveraged our partnership with DLT Solutions and U.S. Communities. Another win/win solution for another higher learning institution!

The post Project Management Information System Review: LBCC appeared first on Gaea.

What is U.S. Communities?

Founded in 1996, U.S. Communities is the leading nonprofit national government purchasing cooperative. There are no costs or fees to participate. U.S. Communities provides government procurement resources and solutions at the best possible pricing by using aggregated purchasing power. U.S. Communities is sponsored by more than 90 state and regional organizations. Each contract supplier pays a 1%-2.5% administrative fee to participate in the program and those fees fund operating expenses and help offset costs incurred by national and state sponsors. An advisory board consisting of public purchasing professionals provides leadership and overall direction for U.S. Communities, the list of members is available on the U.S. Communities website.

Who Can Benefit from U.S. Communities?

• Local and state government
• School districts (K-12)
• Higher-education institutions (universities, community colleges, etc.)
• Nonprofits

Villages, towns, cities, counties, special districts, states and federal agencies, all nonprofit organizations, public and private schools, universities, and colleges can participate in the U.S. Communities program.

What are the Benefits of Participating in U.S. Communities?

By combining the potential cooperative purchasing power of up to 90,000 public agencies, organizations can access the best supplier government pricing. Eligible organizations have access to thousands of the best brands in a wide variety of categories, services, and solutions, including enterprise project portfolio management (EPPM) software and services. Fixed pricing provides simplicity and transparency.

Third-party audits on contracts ensure that program pricing commitments are met, with benchmark analyses against other suppliers and retailers to guarantee participants the best value.

And finally, the RFP process is avoided, saving your organization administrative resources, costs, and time. All U.S. Communities contracts were competitively solicited by a lead public agency in accordance with their government purchasing rules and regulations. Each solicitation contains language advising all suppliers that the contract may be used by other government agencies across the United States. Each government purchasing organization may have different purchasing procedures to follow, but applying these principles regarding competition satisfies the competitive solicitation requirements of most state and local government agencies. U. S. Communities contracts are non-exclusive, there are no restrictions on other purchases.

Gaea and U.S. Communities

Gaea has partnered with DLT Solutions to provide consulting and implementation services through the U.S. Communities program. Our partnership allows for software, hosting, and professional services to be procured in one easy step. For information on purchasing Oracle solutions and services through U.S. Communities, visit this DLT Solutions page on the U.S. Communities website.

Additional U.S. Communities Information

U.S. Communities also has a website that can help buyers find green solutions. The site includes step-by-step guides and tips to implement green government purchasing programs.

For full details on U.S. Communities, or to register to participate (registration is free), visit the official U.S. Communities website.

The post U.S. Communities: Get the Best Pricing and Skip the RFP Process on Your Next Enterprise Project appeared first on Gaea.