Process Configuration or Project Plan Automation

Apprentice Systems sells both services and products, and each project we do is different.  Yes, each project has similar activities, since it builds on our core competencies, but each situation is a little different - each customer has different requirements.  Building an accurate and complete sales quotation used to take hours. 

So we decided to put our automation skills to work on our own business process - we realized that what we needed was Process Configuration, and we have a lot of experience solving configuration problems.  The result:  a sales quote automation tool that creates detailed estimates of how long a project will take and how much it will cost, based on an individual customer's requirements - and does it in minutes, not hours!  It also helps us manage our resources and execute the project as well.

From Process to Project

To really tailor your service offering to meet each customer's needs requires task by task review and modification.  Doing this right can be time-consuming and monotonous - which encourages taking shortcuts.  The results can be incomplete estimates, absorbed costs and lost business.

Our Apprentice Process Modeler software helps you capture your process expertise as well as your knowledge of how the process varies based on individual customer requirements.  Once that knowledge is captured in our easy-to-use and highly visual modeling environment, the tool automatically generates a Project Apprentice that automates quotations for this entire class of projects. 

Project Simulations

With your custom Project Apprentice you can:

• Collect detailed customer requirements

• Automatically generate task lists and Gantt charts tailored to meet the customer's needs

• Generate a customer quotation based on number of hours of worked and billable rates - even see your own costs and profit Manage resources and see the impact on both timing and costs

•  Quickly generate multiple scenarios and conduct "what-if" analyses

• Send the final result to Microsoft Project for execution

Process Models are Quick and Easy to Build

We use an intuitive approach to process modeling that allows a higher level process to be broken down into greater detail over time.  A highly useful model of a relatively complex process can be built in two to three days.  This model then generates a sales tool that can be deployed to people throughout the organization, saving hours of effort with every quotation made.  This means:

• Reduced cycle time in quote preparation

• Reduced cost per quote

Other benefits of sales quote automation are:

• Higher consistency and completeness in planning and quotation

• More successful projects

• More profitable projects

Direct export to Microsoft Project saves time and effort in set-up once a quote is accepted.

Standard Views and Reports

Gantt charts, resource reports and charts, and quotation formats are provided as standard views.  Customized versions can also be easily created to your specifications.

The Tools in the ASI Process Solution:

Apprentice Process Modeler

The Apprentice Process Modeler allows you to build a knowledge model depicting a process you do repeatedly but modify based on new requirements. Examples of this sort of process include launching new products, installing new systems, conducting an audit, prosecuting a legal case, opening a new retail outlet, filing a patent application, selling a new account, and developing a new computer application. 

Our knowledge capture methodology helps you articulate your process steps and the rules that guide their existence and modification. Once identified, the knowledge can be captured visually and used for ongoing project configuration and what-if analysis. Separate knowledge models can be created and updated by different teams and combined easily. The Apprentice Process Modeler then generates a custom Process Knowledge Model available within the Project Apprentice. The Project Apprentice can then use that Knowledge Model to provide simulation and analysis of the captured process, as well as the automatic generation of custom projects and sales quotations.

Extensive information about process steps can be captured in the Apprentice Process Modeler, including information flow such as inputs and outputs for a task, and conversion methods and controls used in a task.  Classic project-oriented information is captured at the task level, such as resources required, amount of work, and average duration or elapsed time.  Resource information such as availability, costs and billable rates are managed in a separate table.  All of this information is available for visualization and analysis.

One Apprentice Process Modeler license can be used to generate models used by many Project Apprentices.  An add-on module is available for generating Enterprise Codes used in Microsoft's Enterprise Project Management solution.

Project Apprentice

To initiate a project configuration, all you do is update the project requirements by setting the context descriptors.  Then you select a starting date.  Project Apprentice does the rest:

• Generates a complete task list, with start and end dates/times.
• Calculates key financial information: total cost to you as the provider, total price to charge your client, and projected profit.
• Generates a Gantt chart displaying the timeline and milestones.
• Provides an overview of resource utilization.
• Creates two standard reports - a sales quote by project phase, and a profit report.
• Exports a selected project to Microsoft Project for actual execution and project management.