Many multinationals use modern EPM software for this purpose. However, most research institutes still administer their research projects in decentralized tools, such as Excel. And that's crazy, if you ask me.

In this article, I explain why. You'll read why research institutes still use decentralized tools. And why a centralized tool like Oracle EPM Cloud Planning is often a better choice.

Why research institutes still use decentralized tools

The main reason research institutes still record their research projects in decentralized tools is the complexity of grant conditions. Each grantor has its own conditions and settlement methods. Moreover, these change almost constantly, so it seems almost impossible to capture this in one generic system.

And let's face it. Decentralized project tracking does have advantages. The main one? Flexibility. You can process everything exactly the way you want with all the necessary bells and whistles for that one project. Need to apply an extra exception? You'll have it done in no time.

Another advantage is ease of use. Almost everyone is familiar with a tool like Excel. The threshold for working with it is therefore low. As a rule, project leaders are not financially or IT literate, but they can actually work with it. In addition, a decentralized tool runs on the user's PC and is therefore lightning fast.

Another reason for keeping everything as it is: people don't feel the need enough. With a lot of trial and error, things eventually work out. Moreover, people often resent the time and resources they expect to have to spend to switch to a central system.

In reality, the move to such a system is excellent. Implementation does require the necessary knowledge and experience. But this itself can be relatively short, depending on the functionalities required. This is because of the built-in templates for project management and workforce management. The standard data integration tool allows you to easily link with external systems. This tool is also built quickly.

Therefore, switching is definitely worth it. Let's see what you're missing out on if you don't take that step.

Managing research projects in Oracle EPM Planning Cloud Planning

The central tool I discuss below is Oracle EPM Cloud Planning. This is by no means the only suitable tool for research project administration and planning. For me as an Oracle EPM consultant, however, it is the system I have used to advance many clients for 25 years. Hence, I discuss the capabilities of this system.

Five benefits of Oracle EPM Cloud Planning I'd like to highlight for you.

1. Understanding overspending/underspending

The main question asked at research institutes is, "How much are we overspending on our projects and in which projects are we still missing out on grant money?"

Department heads and project controllers often have many projects under their management. In practice, settlements are made only after long periods of time, so that an over- or underperformance comes to light late. At that point it is too late to make adjustments.

A central system that keeps track of all projects in real time provides the solution. With the help of a dashboard, the degree of grip on each project or group of projects can be made immediately clear. By grip, I mean here: to what extent a project is tracked and whether the expected project result is positive or negative.

Thus, the controller and management can make immediate adjustments (or have adjustments made) and thus avoid overspending on a project or losing funds.

2. Insight from all sides

It is important to have direct insight into the summed costs and revenues, both realized and forecast, per grantor, cash flow, department or as a total. In addition, you want insight into employee utilization and (sub)totals per cost type.

Project registration in a multidimensional system like Oracle EPM Cloud Planning makes this possible. All project data can be summed in real time across multiple axes, so all cross-sections and views are always up-to-date. And all projects come together in one format, something you don't have in Excel. Stakeholders can therefore do more with this than with a report compiled from a stack of Excel files.

3. Centralized, consistent and transparent calculations.

The calculation capabilities in Oracle EPM Cloud Planning are at least equal to those in Excel and even exceed them in some areas. The biggest advantage, however, lies in consistency. Because the calculations are managed centrally, everyone calculates according to the same, predetermined rules. These rules can vary tremendously from one grantor to another. But by managing them centrally, they are clear and understandable to everyone, which is especially important for auditing purposes.

By the way, you can continue to work excellently in Excel from Oracle EPM Cloud. In it, you are bound by fixed formats and cell security, which ensures consistency.

4. Overview of who sits where in their project

Oracle EPM Cloud Planning offers with Task Manager a powerful tool to monitor the progress of projects. Using check marks, you simply indicate which tasks have been completed. Projects can thus be transferred from project controller to project and department manager and vice versa.

5. Scenarios and projections.

Projects are sometimes like people: they can go either way. That's why it's helpful if you can work with different scenarios that incorporate the realistic, positive or negative effects. Oracle EPM Cloud Planning has this built in. If desired, you can also make forecasts based on statistical models.

Conclusion

You can track research projects in decentralized systems like Excel, but you'll lack the necessary insights and consistency. An integrated system like Oracle EPM Cloud Planning does offer those benefits. Of course, you want to carefully examine whether the benefits outweigh the investment, which is the case with any system implementation. However, my experience over the past 25 years shows that no company has regretted moving to a centralized system. So draw your own conclusion....

Want to learn more about managing research projects in central systems? Or do you have questions following this article? Feel free to contact us.

About the author

With more than 25 years of experience in Oracle Hyperion, Fred Admiraal has extensive knowledge of Oracle EPM. He is a virtuoso in Hyperion Planning and EPBCS in particular and is certified in FCCS.