Launch Asana for Drexel University’s Creative Agency
How 3 university marketing departments merged and left Microsoft Planner in the dust. Their emails dropped by 95%.
Outcomes
95% reduction in emails by managing work in dedicated system (Asana)
60+ staff members onboarded in a controlled, phased approach
25% reduction in operational expenses by closing redundant software contracts
3 different work management systems simplified to 1 (Asana)
Zero deliverables lost to “who’s working on this”
Dashboards to display up-to-the-minute figures to executives
Challenges
Inefficient email communication about deliverables significantly slowed progress, left key decision-makers out of the loop, and created a near-impossible challenge of onboarding new employees to work in progress.
The absence of a dedicated training source created a bottleneck every time there was a new employee or roles changed and left significant gaps in processes standardization.
Redundant expenses across departments cost the marketing agency tens of thousands of dollars each year. During a national and institutional enrollment crisis, this had serious potential to put a target on the agency’s back.
Dependency on underpowered systems left the agency without a macro-level look at their campaigns, the deliverables that support them, and the contributors that make up their team.
Progress wasn’t visible to executives, and the opportunity for rare data visualizations were created manually with a huge risk for human error.
Solutions
Invest in a project management office (PMO) to provide leadership and oversight for the agency’s processes, resource management, and strategic planning.
Commit to a dedicated work management system (Asana) to customize workflows that work for the industry, the team, and the goals.
Consolidate expenses to reduce overhead and invest in a single, department-wide tool.
Offer foundational training to all stakeholders and contributors during the department onboarding, and include it in the formal onboarding plan of all new employees.
Make everything connect to enable dashboards, data visualization, and other resources for executives to access up-to-the-minute figures and support their team at the next board meeting.
Only a few years since printing emails to mark up with red pens, this newly-merged agency selected a work management tool that supports their high volume and resource-strained team in the ever-changing environment of higher education. Their timing couldn’t have been better.
Solutions
Commit to a Project Management Office (PMO)
Drexel’s marketing agency committed to growing their project management practice by investing and scaling their project management office (PMO).
The PMO managed department-wide processes, workflows, and other operational decisions that impacted everyone from executives to the temp freelancers.
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Make Everything Connect to Dashboards
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Train and Onboard the Team
The PMO worked with department leadership to select a marketing campaign as the inaugural project managed in their new work management system, Asana.
Key stakeholders and contributors were identified as change leaders and participated in immediate training by the PMO.
As the creative agency launched more projects that impacted more clients, each of those teams received dedicated training and onboarding. All led by the PMO.
Commit to Continuous Improvement
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How we did it
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Browse our upcoming events to find the one that feels right for you. We host events year-round in all different locations and climates.
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Sign up and pay all required fees to reserve your spot. If plans change, you can cancel up to 14 days before the retreat start to receive a 50% refund.
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After booking, we'll send you a Welcome Packet with everything you need to know—detailed schedules, packing list recommendations, add-ons to consider, and more.
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We'd recommend booking your transportation to and from the event as soon as possible, to ensure you can arrive without any complications or delays.
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Launching Asana was only the beginning. The commitment to reflecting on engagement, efficiency, and results help Drexel’s creative agency continue to adapt its PMO and work management systems to its need. Not the other way around.