With the large number of project management tools available on the web, it can be difficult to make a choice and find the one that suits your needs. Nothing like clients experiences to get an opinion.
Here is the client review of Catherine VERHAEGHE, Chief Operations Officer at TransCure bioServices, a contractual research company created in 2012. Located in Archamps in France, the company now has a workforce of around 40 people. She specializes in pharmacology services and has mainly built a reputation for preclinical testing of molecules in mice. Based on its mouse model having developed an immune system identical to that of humans, Transcure bioServices is active in the field of oncology, inflammatory and infectious diseases.
During this interview, Catherine VERHAEGHE was able to enlighten us on her experience and the experience of her collaborators at TransCure concerning the use of the Gouti project software.
"I started looking for new project management software last year (2019). I found a few, including Gouti, who seemed to be the most manageable and adaptable to our entire team.
At that time we used Asana but it did not manage the time spent. We used it to plan tasks, but we didn't know how long it took or how much work each person had. This tool was not complete for us and this is how I started to work with Gouti to facilitate project management at TransCure."
"At the start we only had a few projects with very few staff and therefore a good overall vision. We worked very well by chatting with each other directly.
It has been a year now since the number of projects has increased significantly. Last year we had over 60 projects to manage. These projects last 2 to 3 months. They have common characteristics and differentiating points. Some take much longer than others. Currently we have a technical team of around twenty people working directly on the projects.
From all these points, it seemed necessary to have on hand a project management software which allows us to manage both resources and projects."
"I can no longer say the names. I had searched on Google for "project management tool", I had signed up on some of them to have trials for 1 month and to be able to use them. Overall I had to give up along the way because they weren't user friendly at all, I didn't understand how they worked.
What also bothered me a lot about them was receiving emails, I’m not going to say by the dozen every day, but sort of "harassment". I said to myself "no thank you" if it's to receive an email every day."
“Already the fact that Gouti is French software has brought simplicity to communication and we were able to easily discuss our needs. Not that English is a problem, but when you exchange on a vocabulary that is "new", it's much easier to exchange in French.
I also had very quick feedback from my contact at Gouti, Christian GUTEKUNST. He told me that if I had any questions we could call and he would explain everything to me. I launched myself saying "why not" and thread and needle Gouti became more and more in our needs.
The fact that the software is adaptable, that it is possible to request specific developments to meet what we need and that the team behind it is available and responsive also made the difference.
Gouti tries to meet the needs of each client. If development meets a general need, it is done free of charge. And if it is a personal, specific need, even if there is a cost, it is reasonable and the request is fulfilled quickly. Honestly, we had to ask about fifteen "adaptations" and there was only one paid. It's great because the formula remains affordable, it is done quickly and the additional cost is really less when it meets a need of the Gouti community.
There was the price too, very attractive and close to the price of Asana. As a result of all of this I no longer wondered about the other project management software I had tried. We continued with Gouti and personally I am very satisfied!"
“We have the Project Leader who is in direct contact with the client. He is the one who will initiate the project in Gouti, he will create it and he will inform his tasks there which are in particular the contact with the client and the implementation of the study protocol. Once everything is in place, the Project Manager takes over the operations to develop and inform in Gouti all the tasks that he will be called upon to perform and also those of the animal technicians. It is the Project Managers who will manage the project on Gouti, it is mainly they who will define the timeline for each project. Finally we have animal technicians who take care of entering data on animals, working on their tasks and informing them of the time they spent there."
"The real added value is that Gouti has saved us some software.
An important aspect for us is the timesheet. Thanks to Gouti we were able to combine Asana and our Excel timesheet. Now when the task is done, we validate its status directly in Gouti and we can at the same time fill in the time spent. For the technician who fills in his time sheet, this represents a saving of time. With Gouti we also worked on the export of timesheets for the calculation of overtime. Thanks to this, all administrative work is done much faster.
Another important aspect must arrive by the end of April 2020 following my discussions with the Gouti team. This is project resource management, or "capacity planning" in Gouti's terminology. It’s important for me to be able to have an overview of the projects and to know what percentage each person is used. When a new project arrives I need to be able to determine if I have the resources I need, when I have the resources and how many percent are available.
Thanks to Gouti we have 3 software in 1, this saves us both time and money."
"When we announced the transition from Asana to Gouti we heard some reluctance. Understandably, the teams moved from software they knew to new software they didn't know at all.
We asked for several small changes / additions which were made very quickly, in particular to be able to fill in the timesheet in tenths of an hour because without decimal it was not precise enough for some of our tasks. Also making the project calendar more interactive so that you can work directly on it. All these elements greatly facilitated our use.
Today the transition to Gouti is complete. Project managers are satisfied. I still have a few small requests that I will submit to Christian to incorporate them little by little."
"I’m really happy, the Gouti team is super reactive! I understand that for certain functionalities there is a development delay and that we are not the only ones to request adaptations of the tool, but overall it happens very quickly. I am completely satisfied with the project management software, I do not regret having gone through Gouti at all."
"I would say the ease of use of the tool, the reactivity of the team and the fact that Gouti meets several needs at the same time, his multifunctional side."
Sean KHEDNAH - Thursday March 26, 2020
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