Edge Impact Uses Projectworks to Strengthen Resource Planning and Project Insight

Creating Positive Global Impact

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With expertise spanning climate, nature, ESG strategy, decarbonization, reporting, communications, supply chains and human rights, Edge combines science, strategy and storytelling to help clients navigate complexity and create lasting value.

A certified B Corp and part of the global RSK Group, Edge helps organizations build capability and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Edge Impact has been a Projectworks customer for one year. Over that period, its Project Management Office grew into a central function the team now calls the Engine of Edge.

COO Pip Davies led the search for a system that could replace scattered tools and give every team clear visibility into workload, utilization, and capacity, working with Kaitlin Roney, Director of the Program Management Office, who led the implementation.

“We reviewed a lot of project management solutions and chose Projectworks for its simplicity, integrations, and fast implementation.”

The Turning Point in Edge's Maturity

Edge Impact needed a complete resource planning tool that could show who was allocated where, which projects needed support, and how margins were trending across the portfolio. They also needed project and resource management software that consultants would actually adopt.

Pip notes a clear turning point in the firm’s maturity where a purpose-built software solution stopped being a nice-to-have, ”[it] was really getting to the point where we couldn't be confident we were making good decisions because we didn't have 100% faith in the quality of our data.”

”We used to waste a lot of time going over and over data, going backwards in time, trying to test if things were correct or weren't correct. And people were not able to be efficient making decisions, because there was always the query of, can we rely on the information we're making the decision on? That became really inefficient, and it became a distraction.”

The Three Things That Had to Work

When Edge set out its requirements for a platform, the same frustrations that had held them back, also defined what the system would have to fix.

Simple but Well-Supported Onboarding
Edge Impact’s team needed something simple enough to get nearly 70 people up and running without significant downtime for the business. The complexity of the rival tool was a dealbreaker on exactly this point. Kaitlin recalls the vendor offered next to nothing on implementation. In contrast, within a week or two of using Projectworks, they were able to confidently train the rest of the team. The Projectworks team did the data loading, it was thoroughly tested and quick, and the biggest win in Edge’s books?  “We didn't end up with any downtime in the business, which is pretty impressive for a software implementation.”

Data They Could Trust
As Edge grew out of the startup phase, workarounds had accumulated to the point where leadership had lost confidence in the numbers, and decisions stalled on the question of whether the data on hand could be trusted. They needed a single, reliable source so people could act on the information instead of re-checking it.

Not only does Edge now trust the data, “having such transparency…has also enabled us to have many more conversations about other things in the business and how we do that, and actually be a catalyst for changing other ways that we do things, which has been really great!”

Clarity for Year-End Audits
Audit became far more rigorous once Edge joined a global parent group, with both internal and external audit to satisfy. Their hardest problem was WIP, which previously rested on project managers' subjective estimates of percentage complete and was difficult to defend. They needed data objective enough to stand up to auditors without further back-and-forth.

Pip is clear about how this has changed,

"Now we just rely on our Projectworks data and pull the project financials report. Internal audit and the auditors are much more satisfied with that, because it's not subjective."

The Journey of Building Out Project Management

The push for a dedicated project management function within Edge started almost by accident, in evaluating a tool they didn't end up choosing. That tool was so complex it would have forced the function on them; Projectworks, simpler to run, let Edge build the PMO as a deliberate step in its own right. Once they looked harder at their own data and how the business was running, a dedicated function was clearly what its size and maturity called for.

Edge ran a pilot PMO with two people and the benefits showed up in the data so quickly that the function was made permanent before the pilot was even halfway through. Today their CEO, Alison, calls the PMO the engine of the business!

Edge's experience makes for great advice for firms at a similar stage:

• Run it as a pilot first. Edge didn't commit to a permanent function up front. They started with a six-month pilot, which gave them room to test whether a dedicated PMO actually earned its place before making it official.
• Staff it from within to start. The pilot ran with two people seconded from other parts of the business rather than new hires, which kept the experiment low-risk and meant those involved already understood how Edge worked.
• Let the data make the case. The pilot was made permanent early on because the benefits were already visible in Projectworks, right down to project profitability. Build the function so its impact shows up in numbers you can point to.
• Know the maturity signal. Spreadsheets and Power BI carry a firm a long way, but at 200+ live projects at any one time, ad hoc project management stops scaling. A dedicated function is what that level of complexity calls for.

A Scalable Platform for an Ambitious, Purpose-Driven Firm

With Projectworks as their primary resource management software, Edge Impact now operates with:

• Clear utilization insight
• Reduced manual reporting
• Accurate and unified data
• One resource planning tool for all teams

This creates a strong operational foundation that supports their mission of delivering extraordinary environmental and social outcomes.

Pip and Kaitlin are clear about what comes next,

“We recently launched our 2030 strategic plan and we have to hold ourselves accountable to it. Having this team and this ability [in Projectworks] is a key part of being able to achieve that and also track our progress against those big goals.”

To learn more about Edge Impact’s work, visit edgeimpact.global/en-nz.

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