CoffeeCup integrates seamlessly with Salesforce and makes controlling and project staffing as simple as it gets with a nice and easy to use interface. It literally saves me hundreds of clicks a month.
Situation
Resource planning can quickly become a very time-consuming issue in the project business. In order to plan efficiently, it is necessary to be able to view not only the individual projects, but also the departments and analyze their workload. We wanted a solution that would allow us to track team utilization in real time. In our industry, complex orders often arise at very short notice. An important criterion was therefore also that the solution reliably and quickly shows us where resources are available or will soon become available. In the past, it sometimes happened that employees were assigned to jobs even though they were on vacation or business trip.
Challenge
Peter’s project managers relied on custom spreadsheets to plan their team’s workload. However, they only synced key figures once a month, leaving Peter with no clear view of time spent, time billed, or consultant workload distribution. Some team members were overloaded at 150% capacity and nearing burnout, while others were underutilized at below 80%.
Peter’s planning was based solely on past project volumes and revenue, without the ability to scope future projects effectively. His previous software did not allow visibility into whether projects over 3, 6, or 12 months were on time or within budget. Additionally, he could not integrate these insights with his sales team, preventing proper alignment between the sales pipeline and future revenue gaps.
The lack of synchronization between the sales pipeline, staffing, and recruiting resulted in an unclear hiring strategy. Peter had to manually track and select recruitment metrics to anticipate future skill gaps within his team. With rapid client growth, this approach was inefficient and limited the company’s ability to scale effectively.
Impact
After 30 days, the team identified and corrected staffing and planning gaps, which led to immediate time and cost savings. As a result, the return on investment (ROI) was achieved within the first month.
After 60 days, strategic decision-making became significantly easier. The effort required to identify skill and team capacity gaps was reduced to zero. With real-time visibility into the workforce, the team could proactively address skill and revenue gaps on a weekly basis.
After 90 days, the company experienced a double-digit percentage increase in profitability without acquiring new customers or hiring additional staff. By planning resources well in advance, the team was deployed more efficiently, leading to a significant boost in overall profitability.
An interactive visualization that highlights team utilization trends on a monthly basis, helping to pinpoint periods of underutilization or potential resource bottlenecks. This allows managers to optimize workforce allocation and ensure balanced project assignments.
