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TOP Step Consulting Announces A New Service To Gain Insight Into Business Operations Quickly And More Efficiently

11.02.2010– TOP Step Consulting LLC announced the release of the Reporting Foundation Package for OpenAir that will provide a quicker more effective approach to creating critical and commonly used OpenAir reports for Professional Services business operations.

TOP Step Consulting provides services to global and industry leading businesses who run their project based business using OpenAir. Their extensive experience has led to the accumulation of a knowledge library for critical and commonly used OpenAir reports which provide information to manage and improve business operations.

The Reporting Foundation Package for OpenAir provides the accumulated knowledge and experience to customers by providing customized setup and user guides for each report within the report library. TOP Step Consulting delivers the report library together with a day of consulting to review the reports, answer questions, and customize the guidebooks to align with the unique operational needs of the business. The library of reports includes Financial Reports, Project Delivery Reports and Resource Management Reports.

By implementing the Report Foundation Package for OpenAir clients can more quickly create and begin using reports and dashboards to get insight into their critical business operations to better manage their businesses. “We are very excited to be providing this new service to our customers. With our new service offering we are now able to offer clients the benefit of our accumulated knowledge to more quickly gain the return on investment of automating their business operations with tools like OpenAir.” says Jodi Cicci, President and CEO of TOP Step. “It’s all about providing greater value to our customers. We are continually reviewing the services we provide to our customers and ways we can pass our experience onto our clients to help them be more successful.”

See online news release here

Reporting Workshop

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Do you have the information you need to make proactive decisions?

TOP Step understands you need to see the right information in order to take action. Our Reporting Workshop is a collection of critical and most commonly used OpenAir Reports. By using our Reporting Workshop you can more quickly begin getting visibility into your operational data. We provide a step by step user guide for each report customized to your unique business model. The Reporting Workshop is delivered along with a day of consulting to assist in the setup and answer any questions you may have.

Currently the reports we provide as a part of this workshop are:

  • Financial Reports
    • Forecasting
    • Average Bill Rate
    • Fiscal Year Financial Performance vs. Budget Plan
    • Work-in-Progress & Deferred Revenue
    • Strategic Revenue Analysis
  • Project Delivery Reports
    • Project Margin
    • Project Performance (budget management)
  • Resource Management Reports
    • Utilization
    • Capacity Planning
    • Timesheet Compliance

OpenAir On-line Training

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Get the most out of your OpenAir System … know your system options

Education and training is a key area to ensure smooth system adoption and use of the OpenAir system within your organization.  Adoption and best practice usage of automation tools has a direct impact to efficient business operations. Our online subscription based training is a self paced program to provide the greatest flexibility and value for busy schedules.

  • OpenAir System Administrator Training
    The System Administration course is intended for those individuals who will be System Administrators for your OpenAir environment. It covers the configuration options for the various modules as well as business/operational processes and best practices.
  • Project Management (under development)
  • Resource Management (under development)
  • Invoicing (under development)

Begin your training now!  Register as a new user or if you are a returning student logon here.

Want a preview of the application? View our webcast to learn more.

Operational Training For OpenAir

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Training tailored specifically to your business model and operational needs

We provide comprehensive training on all aspects of the OpenAir product.  Depending on need, this training can be done remotely or on-site. We provide all materials and tailor the instruction to your specific needs and configuration of OpenAir.

Operations Efficiency Checkup

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Are you maximizing the value out of your professional services automation tools in line with your business processes?  Have you recently deployed productivity tools yet they still aren’t achieving the expected benefits?

The TOP Step Operations Efficiency Check-up is a brief 3 day review of your business operations automation strategy.     It will consider:

  • Your Operational Business Model
  • Adoption and usage of existing system
  • Review potential integrations with other applications such as sales automation or financial applications
  • New features and capabilities you may not have considered or be aware of

Results of this review is a recommendations report providing guidance for maximize the value of the investments you have made and recommendations to increase adoption and productivity

OpenAir Release Management

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Do you want a better way to keep up with OpenAir releases? 
How do you know if a new feature is right for your business? 
What is the best way to roll out changes to users?

We can answer these questions for you and make sure that you don’t miss anything as OpenAir continues to improve its products. OpenAir releases new code approximately every 8 to 12 weeks. Staying abreast of these changes can be time consuming and drain on valuable resources in your organization.

Our OpenAir Release Management is a cost effective solution for staying up to date and getting the most from your OpenAir Investment.  TOP Step will partner with your OpenAir Administrators reducing your time and costs associated with understanding each release to determine what features should be implemented for your system.

We are OpenAir users ourselves. As a best practice,  we take an in-depth look at each release and test each new feature.   We then apply the features that will benefit our business operations in our system. At this point we have already done half the work for you… and can do the same for you faster and for less than what it would take with your own staff.

Through this offering we will:

  • Review each release with an eye on your business model
  • Recommend changes to your system that will benefit your business
  • Review the changes with your administrators to decide what will be implemented
  • Provide a custom OpenAir Configuration Communication email you can use to communicate to your OpenAir users.

OpenAir Outsourced Administration

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Is your Administrator spending more time researching and learning OpenAir than providing the support you need?

The typical OpenAir Administrator has a dual role, making learning the OpenAir system in-depth and keeping up with the changes difficult. This is where TOP Step Consulting steps in as your “right” source for OpenAir System Administration. We work in coordination with your central administrator to ensure that your organization has the support it needs and is utilizing the OpenAir system in the best way possible to achieve your goals.

What is Outsourced Administration?

  • A tailored set of services to fill the gaps in your administrators’ knowledge and availability
  • Access to knowledgeable OpenAir experts who understand your business
  • Hands-on updates to your system as needed
  • Recommendations for fixes and improvements based on your unique business process and system configuration

How is it different from NetSuite OpenAir Support?

NetSuite still provides product support. Outsourced Administration from TOP Step Consulting is a close partnership that starts with a detailed review of your system usage and key business processes. We then put a plan together with you that combines proactive services, administrative support, and periodic check-ins to discuss plans and progress.

Our Outsourced Administration program is designed with flexible options to fit your needs. We begin with a detailed review of your system usage and business processes to create a plan that will meet your needs.

  • User Support
    • Call, email, or submit a request online
    • Identify authorized requesters
    • View the status of your requests online any time
  • Report Configuration
    • Help users modify their existing reports
    • Create new reports
    • Provide pointers to help you gain confidence in your team’s reporting knowledge
  • System Configuration Changes
    • Identify the best way to support changing needs as your business grows
    • Implement configuration changes as needed
  • Proactive System Audits To Ensure Data Accuracy and User Adoption
    • We keep an eye on your OpenAir system and provide regular updates and recommendations
    • We alert you to potential problems to resolve and how to make the change
    • Review for key missing data that can affect accurate reporting
    • Recommend solutions for reducing the amount of recurring issues

OpenAir Implementation

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Start off on the right foot with your OpenAir Implementation

To be successful your first step is to assess the operational business goals and business process. This will ensure your configuration will meet the demands of your operational business model and achieve the productivity results that a PSA tool should provide.

Automation Tool Migration

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Are you planning to change automation tools?

Migrating from one automation tool to another can be a daunting task. We understand a PSA tool migration is much more than a software migration.

•A full lifecycle process focused on your business process to assure you get the most benefit possible with your new automation tool.

•We guide you through your migration to minimize the impact and ensure your critical business operations are not interrupted.

Business Operations Model

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Not sure where to start? Start with what you already know…your business.

The best way to start streamlining your business is to view what is in place. We will walk through your current operations with your team to identify key processes, key resources, and dependencies in place.   This service is recommended for executives and managers looking for that high-level snap shot of their business operations into a concise documented format.   This will provide an easy way to prioritize and focus on the areas that will provide the greatest benefit to your operations.

  • Ideal for constrained budgets who need insight into their operations
  • A quick first step toward improving your business operations
  • Provides you with information by which to make decisions on areas of improvement that will provide the greatest benefit to your business operations