MSPs must prioritize efficiency and standardization to sustain growth and achieve client satisfaction. Project templates are crucial in reaching these goals by providing a structured, repeatable framework for execution.
To keep templates effective and up to date, a review process is necessary. This process can be broken down into five essential steps.
Step 1: Understand the Importance of Project Templates
Standardizing project templates can be a game changer for MSPs, making workflows efficient and effective. It reduces variability, allowing for more predictable and streamlined project execution.
As the foundation for every project, templates are essential for MSPs. However, some may mistakenly believe that templates cannot be standardized due to the unique nature of each project. Despite these differences, all projects share common elements.
For example, the initial phase of most projects includes reviewing the project scope, building the work plan, and holding kickoff meetings. The final phases of projects would include documentation, project reviews, and any necessary handoffs. By creating repeatable processes through templates, MSPs enhance efficiency and profitability and create more efficient and effective project workflows.
Step 2: Recognize When a Template Review is Needed
The need for a project template review becomes apparent when MSPs engage in project-based work. Several indicators suggest that a review is necessary, including customer dissatisfaction, missed deadlines, unmet objectives, and declining profit margins.
If clients are frustrated or projects frequently exceed budget, it’s time to review and optimize the templates. Regular reviews ensure that templates remain aligned with project goals and client expectations, maintaining high levels of service quality.
Step 3: Involve Key Stakeholders
Louis Bagdonas
An effective template review process relies on the involvement of key stakeholders, each bringing a crucial perspective to the table.
Internally, this typically includes the project manager, the primary engineer, and other team members involved in the project. The project manager is essential for configuring the template, overseeing the project’s progress, and ensuring alignment with overall objectives. The primary engineer, being deeply involved in the technical aspects, provides insights into the feasibility and implementation details.
Other team members contribute their on-the-ground experience, highlighting challenges and practical improvements. Externally, feedback from clients and other third-party consultants can also provide valuable insights.
Engaging these stakeholders ensures a comprehensive view. This will lead to a more robust and efficient template, particularly when identifying inefficiencies or opportunities for automation.
Step 4: Gather and Analyze Feedback
The review process can seem daunting, but a step-by-step approach makes it manageable.
Start by ensuring accurate data collection during the project. Then, progressively analyze this data to identify areas for improvement. This two-phased approach — data collection followed by detailed review — allows for incremental improvements that enhance overall efficiency.
Collecting detailed feedback from all stakeholders is essential for an effective template review. Accurate time tracking and detailed notes on project tasks are critical data points. These records help identify where time was spent and why certain tasks went over budget. Breaking down time entries into specific tasks rather than lumping them into broad categories provides clarity.
Take the time to explain to your team why it’s important to enter notes on each task or project phase. Let them know that this process is to identify where processes can be improved, optimized, or automated to ultimately make their workload lighter, particularly when it comes to repetitive tasks.
As the team works on a project, spot-check the time entries to be sure everyone is entering them correctly. Don’t wait until the end of a project to ensure you have the data you need in the right place to complete the review process.
Step 5: Conduct Regular Evaluations and Optimizations
For MSPs struggling to find the time for template reviews, it’s important to realize that this process can save time in the long run. A systematic review at the end of each project ensures that templates are continuously improved.
This doesn’t need to be a time-consuming process. Even a quick 5-minute review can reveal valuable insights. There are tools that streamline the collection, management, and analysis of the data by automating the manual effort required.
Regular reviews help keep templates relevant and up to date, ensuring they reflect current best practices and operational realities. Over time, these incremental improvements will lead to significant gains in efficiency. Additionally, a thorough project review can highlight the need for additional resources, helping MSPs address capacity issues and improve overall performance.
Ensuring Project Template Success
Watch out for common pitfalls that undermine the effectiveness of project templates, such as too many or too few tasks, duplicate information, or failing to understand the required resources for a project.
By following these steps, MSPs ensure their project templates remain effective and aligned with their business goals, leading to more successful project outcomes and higher client satisfaction.
Louis Bagdonas is senior program manager, MSPs of Moovila.
Featured image: iStock
