About WD-40
In 1953, a fledgling company of three, working in a small lab in San Diego, CA., set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry. It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out, and they must have been good because the original secret recipe for WD-40® - which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try - is still in use today.
How CPS helped
WD-40 were looking for a no-nonsense, efficient approach to manage and report across their portfolio of projects. Very much a Microsoft house, WD-40 looked across their Microsoft 365 environment to see what was available. CPS worked with WD-40 to guide the possibilities of:
- Planner (already in use)
- Project for the web
- Project Online
- Azure DevOps (already in use)
Project for the web was chosen as the solution that could quickly be made available and configured. CPS was selected to implement and provide an ongoing managed support service. One of the key success factors is adoption and the user experience delivered.
CPS delivered an end-to-end service, kicking-off a successful deployment that WD-40 are beginning to roll out across the organisation, beginning in the UK focusing on:
- Business analysis
- Technical delivery
- Adoption / training
These capabilities were deployed via configuration of the following toolsets:
- Project Plan 1 – Project for the web
- Project Plan 3/5 – Project Online
- Power BI Pro
- Power Apps
Project for the web was extended using a Power App to enable the capture of additional data, including:
- Business case details
- Project status to drive highlight reporting
- Project stage gate process
Power BI reporting report currently reports from Project for the web. This is soon to be augmented with data from Microsoft 365 Planner via a Power Automate integration, with data being stored in the Common Data Service (CDS).
CPS works with customers to think strategically about their outcomes. WD-40 has an open culture, and that allowed the two organisations to work in a way that enabled the deployment of cutting-edge technologies to support WD-40’s outcomes. CPS was able to provide services that supported one version of the truth; with WD-40 using a standard set of data to make strategically aligned, informed decisions
Christopher Pond, Commercial Director, CPS
Results
Consistent project management and improved project outcomes. Better informed and faster business decisions with improved productivity.
A word from the team...
CPS worked jointly with us to provide a solution that answered the question – what’s our projects' current / now status – and can that be easily accessed 24/7 by stakeholders? The tools allow us to view project data - schedules, status updates and business cases - in real-time and provide a user-friendly view of the latest status.
Omar Warrak, WD-40
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