Setting up a project management and reporting tool for an R&D team
A project management tool shaped around an R&D team, with shared reporting for management and tailored reporting for each subsidised project.
- Role
- Business analyst
- Period
- A few months, 2025
- Tool
- Custom Dynamics 365, integrated with Odoo
- Reporting
- Shared + per subsidised project
The challenge
The research and development team at a semi-public organisation in the construction sector had no structured tool to track its projects or produce consolidated reporting. Tracking relied on scattered documents and informal exchanges between the people involved.
Without a shared tool, each research project was tracked in its own way, depending on the habits of whoever was leading it. Management had no consolidated view across all ongoing projects, making priority decisions difficult to justify objectively. An additional complication came from subsidised projects, each with its own reporting requirements from the relevant funder, different from projects financed from the organisation's own resources.
The friction points at the start
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Friction 01
Tracking by habit
Each project was tracked the way its lead happened to work.
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Friction 02
No consolidated view
Management struggled to justify priorities objectively.
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Friction 03
Funder requirements
Each subsidised project came with its own reporting rules.
The approach
A project management and CRM tool was selected and configured around the R&D team's actual needs, rather than a standard commercial use case. The tracking structure, fields, statuses and reports were defined together with the team itself, to reflect how research projects actually progress, from the initial idea through to the results.
The tool was designed to support two levels of reporting at the same time: a shared report providing an overview of all projects, and a tailored report for each subsidised project, meeting the specific requirements of the relevant funder.
The tool was also designed to make it easier to search for specific profiles and areas of expertise across projects, so it is quicker to identify who, internally or externally, already has the experience needed for a new project.
What was delivered
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A tool configured for R&D
Structure, fields, statuses and reports defined with the team.
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Two levels of reporting
A shared overview and tailored reporting per funder.
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Finding expertise
Quickly seeing who, internally or externally, already has the relevant experience.
The result
The R&D team now has structured, shared tracking of its projects, subsidised or not. Management receives consolidated, regular reporting across the full research portfolio, making prioritisation decisions easier. Finding internal and external expertise for a new project is also faster and relies less on people's memory.
What the project made possible
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Shared tracking
Structured, for subsidised and other projects alike.
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Consolidated reporting
Regular, across the whole portfolio, to support prioritisation.
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Expertise found faster
Rather than relying on people's memory.
Key takeaways
This project shows that a project management tool only adds value when it is built around how a team actually works, rather than around a generic model adopted as is.
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Start from how the team works
Not from a generic model adopted as is.
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Shared and tailored
Meet external requirements without losing the internal overview.
A project management tool only helps when it reflects how your team actually works
If projects are tracked across scattered files and management lacks a reliable overall view, let's first define what really needs to be tracked.