CARBOGEN AMCIS boosts project control by connecting Smartsheet and Velocity

CARBOGEN AMCIS provides drug development and commercialisation services at all stages of medication development. To help pharmaceutical companies create life-saving therapies readily and cost-effectively, it continuously explores ways to boost efficiency. 

“Throughout 40 years of our existence, we have set up sites in several countries across Europe and Asia. We also provide services for customers based in the APJ and North America regions,” says Aurore Wicht-Riedel, Business Specialist at CARBOGEN AMCIS. “The global presence empowers our teams to contribute to the well-being of people internationally. However, it also creates data integrity and transparency challenges.”

Bridging apps for successful project roadmaps

Across their Swiss sites, CARBOGEN AMCIS’s teams use the Velocity app – a cloud-based resource and project-planning tool – to manage the project pipeline and prioritise tasks that have a global impact. On the other hand, the Quality Control and Analytics department chose to work with Smartsheet to deal with daily workload and break down complex processes into manageable tasks. 

When the two systems were disconnected, ensuring project visibility and traceability was not easy.

“Incomplete, fragmented, and inconsistent data led to flawed decision-making and project delays. This was causing employee frustration, as they were facing difficulties to get their work done on time and up to the desired standard,” says Wicht-Riedel.

To synchronise data across all sites and drive daily processes efficiently, the company engaged NANGA SYSTEMS, a Smartsheet Platinum Partner. “CARBOGEN AMCIS asked us to build a custom interface connecting both applications,” says Tobias Lauer, Consultant Lead at NANGA SYSTEMS.

“The idea was to take what’s best of both worlds while keeping all data aligned, transparent, and easily accessible for all users in the company.” 

The custom connector developed by NANGA SYSTEMS could display all the information in one place, from high-level project snapshots to details of day-to-day internal operations. The idea was to model the projects in Velocity and to send this structure to Smartsheet where it is broken down into typical work issues. Smartsheet would then report back on progress and receive gating and prioritization information back. “Our goal was to enable everyone to prioritise work that affects global project delivery in Velocity while allowing them to execute tasks faster in Smartsheet,” reveals Lauer.

Saving time to save lives

As a result of the integration, all project data is automatically transferred from Velocity to Smartsheet once a day and fed into task sheets by the connector. Project leads can manually split each task into smaller units in Smartsheet. Subtasks are then transferred to the lab organisational sheet, assigned to responsible persons, and become ready to be handled. 

When specific subtasks are completed in Smartsheet, the responsible person of the main tasks reports the progress to Velocity. In return, the platform informs Smartsheet users what priorities to assign next. “Using the connector allows us to set priorities quickly and act with greater urgency on tasks that require immediate attention,” says Wicht-Riedel. “This capability is crucial in highly complex, multi-faceted pharmaceutical projects, the outcomes of which can have a life-saving potential.”

Uniting data to empower teams

The combined powers of Smartsheet and Velocity allow CARBOGEN AMCIS’ Quality Control and Analytics employees to prioritise work that is the most important from the global company perspective. However, the smooth cooperation of the two systems also benefits them as individuals with greater efficiency and efficacy. 

Breaking down every project scope into tasks, milestones, and critical paths makes the team’s work feel more manageable and allows them to progress more quickly. “68% of our team members reported a positive impact of the integration on their daily work,” says Wicht-Riedel.

Having one central data repository that displays all information, from global projects to internal tasks, also helps project managers manage resources more effectively. Through the integration, they have gained a flexible toolkit that provides a big-picture view of the entire project portfolio. At the same time, they can zoom in on every aspect of any project freely to excel at their work. 

“Now, our project managers can accurately assign resources and gain a clearer picture of progress, milestones, and potential delays,” says Wicht-Riedel. “They control all priorities and dependencies, which is essential for strategic planning and resource management,” she closes.