Dubai Customs using Microsoft EPM to drive efficiency

The solution was deployed by Microsoft partner Vertscape, for the Dubai Customs Project Management Office (PMO).

The PMO is responsible for the Customs Reform and Modernization Program (RMP), a series of projects that aims to develop Dubai Customs into a world class administration capable of meeting the emerging demands of Government, business, and the community, supported by the best-practice business processes, systems, and competent, qualified staff. The new solution is based on Microsoft Project Professional 2003, and is totally integrated with the Dubai Customs other productivity solutions, to provide centralized control and management for the PMO.

"The role of the Dubai Customs has increased considerably in recent years, from managing Customs to performing economic, financial, and statistical duties, so there is an ongoing program, the RMP, to streamline our processes and maximize efficiency. The PMO is responsible for driving this program, so we needed a solution to provide strong coordination between projects, centralize resource management, and provide more detailed reporting on project status and resources. Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution provides the infrastructure that gives us the visibility, insight, and control of our portfolio of projects," said Mr. Sultan Al Shamsi, Director of the Program Management Office.

The PMO had previously been using a standalone deployment of Microsoft Project 2002, which meant that a lot of communication between teams was verbal only. The new solution however is fully integrated with existing productivity and messaging platforms, to create an automated solution to co-ordinate between project teams. The solution was also quick to deploy, with the implementation taking less than 45 days, including training.

"Microsoft Enterprise Project Management is a unique solution, that adds tremendous value to the operations of the PMO," said Yosef Barkawie, Senior Consultant, Vertscape. "By streamlining the project management process, the various project teams are better able to plan and manage the whole of the RMP. The Microsoft platform is robust and scalable, and EPM has an excellent total cost of ownership."

Microsoft EPM solutions integrate a number of Microsoft's leading technologies to create a single customizable package to meet an organization's unique requirements. Applications such as the Windows Server family, SQL Server 2000, Project server 2003, Project Professional 2003 and Office systems are all combined to give an end-to-end solution that manages every stage of project work.

Abdullah Lootah, Public Sector Manager, Microsoft South Gulf said: "In an organization such as Dubai Customs, which is responsible for so many different activities, the ability to efficiently align resources and business activities with strategic objectives can make a critical difference to operations. To achieve strategic alignment, organizations are increasingly managing their activities and processes as projects—in essence, 'projectizing' their business—to monitor performance more closely and make better business decisions about their overall work portfolio. The Reform and Modernization Program is an excellent initiative, and Microsoft is very glad that the PMO chose to use our solutions to enable the project."