The Microsoft story Summary Seeking to replace their homegrown personnel planning solution, Microsoft used Corporate Performance Management software from Prophix to align their global personnel teams with project requirements for their 8,000-employee Global Business Group (GBG), which operates call centers around the world. Prophix helps the GBG’s business leaders track and utilize individual variables such as the spoken languages of each employee, their locations, shift availability, and historical support requirements for new product rollouts—all so that each global support center has the capacity to meet their demands for customer service without being over- or under-staffed at any time in any region.

The Microsoft story Situation CAB members Global Business Group (GBG), with 8,000 employees Business-to-business subdivision of 15,000-employee Client Services Group Global services and support to customers and partners for hardware and software

The Microsoft story Business problem Personnel planning: 5 financial controllers 50-tab formula-heavy Excel spreadsheet Then used PerformancePoint Server …which Microsoft discontinued Left them to choose: buy or build? Prophix vs. Tagetik, Host Analytics, SAP, deFacto

The Microsoft story Benefits Management capacity planning -- Millions of interactions Business modeling: Prophix to determine… What people do we need? Where geographically do we need them? What are their credentials / prof. designations? What languages do they speak? How do we need them to use their time? Managers/support personnel tied to their roles?

The Microsoft story Benefits Collaboration model: which personnel can work together based on shared attributes? Project planning: asking/answering impt. questions… Keep projects in house or outsource to vendors? Can we drive more production from our workforce? How can we work with our customers and partners in different ways? Role-based security: sensitive personnel + drivers Data integration: info from 200 source systems!

The Microsoft story Benefits Time savings: 2+ months of budget preparation  1 month with Prophix (for user base of 60+) Automation: Future plans for their forecasts, and for outputs to their financial systems for monetization “We really feel like Prophix is on a journey with us, and we’re very confident and comfortable with that.” Moral of the story Larger broader stories hold possibilities for everyone Stories exist, but can’t just live in someone’s head Stake them out. Get them in front of us