Transforming Key Areas of the CRO Business with SuiteSuccess for CROs

With SuiteSuccess for CROs, you can transform routine, yet important processes that most CROs perform manually, using spreadsheets or other disparate tools. We designed SuiteSuccess for CROs to impact especially two critical areas of CRO business management:

• In resource management, you track what scientists and other contributors work on and how they deliver projects compared to forecasts and client commitments. In a centralized resource, you have full visibility and management capabilities of people’s schedules, skills, and availabilities. You automate resource bookings and manage resources globally. That includes billing in the right currency and attributing work performed on research studies to the right internal team.Using the solution’s intelligence tools, you forecast staffing needs and avoid getting caught short. You review and improve individual contributors’ utilization rates, and work with contractors to set proper expectations and boost their utilization.As mentioned, SuiteSuccess for CROs adjusts to your WBS and other project parameters.
• Finance and accounting managers gain the ability to automatically reconcile project projections and actual progress to bill clients based on actual hours or an
  accurate percentage of completion on a research study. Finance teams can access data and reporting capabilities in a single software tool that reflects the practices of the entire company in recognizing revenue or understanding financial conditions. No longer do they need to follow the differing standards and habits of project managers and business groups.

The following two engagement scenarios from our CRO experience highlight what Sikich SuiteSuccess for CROs and our industry expertise can help you accomplish.

Scenario 1: Unified CRO Software Simplifies Business Management

A CRO contacted us for help with its technology systems. The business ran on several software tools that had been created years ago by the company’s developers. The applications were not integrated and, over time, had become more and more cumbersome to maintain. Reporting and decision-making could be challenging, because managers had to draw on several systems or ask for assistance. Such everyday activities as invoicing were inefficient and were at a high risk of errors.

The company’s leadership and technology stakeholders were not in agreement regarding the capabilities of a new software system. Sikich CRO experts facilitated meetings and conversations to establish consensus around the client’s priorities.

Sikich implemented SuiteSuccess for CROs as the client’s single system of record and engagement. For planners and decision-makers, SuiteSuccess is the source of all financial, customer-related, and operational data. We created a portfolio of standard reports which users can easily adjust to their needs. Transparency and decision-making improved immediately with historical and real-time data in one application.

Because the CRO wanted to strengthen its project management, we provided project-based controls with consistent approval routings and enhanced visibility through SuiteSuccess for CROs. By connecting project parameters to finance, we made it possible for the client to continue using project-based pricing and custom milestone billing while taking the complexity out of these tasks. SuiteSuccess for CROs also provided efficient functionality for discounting and pass-through costs.

The CRO also looked for a better way to track testing samples and lab supplies. Sikich worked with the inventory management capabilities in SuiteSuccess for CROs to meet the client’s needs in this area. Today, the company uses SuiteSuccess for CROs to track stored and in-movement samples per bin and bin location.  Lab receipts and billing are clearly associated with the samples to which they pertain. The solution also detects and draws attention to duplicate records.

The last collaboration between this CRO and Sikich involved the integration of scientific databases with SuiteSuccess for CROs. The goal for this undertaking was to minimize data-entry workloads and streamline business processes even more.

Scenario 2: Ensuring Client-Responsiveness in a Complex CRO

For another client, we deployed SuiteSuccess for CROs to make it easier to support multiple business entities and service lines. Our goal was to reduce complexity and help the client provide the best possible and most competitive client services.

In the critical area of client relationship management, we delivered quoting capabilities to enable blanket quotes, simplify the conversion of quotes to contracts, and efficiently generate several quotes for one project. We also enabled the client to use complex pricing models and offer discounts based on units and volume. Sikich configured SuiteSuccess for CROs so that sales associates and other incentivized employees could receive commissions, which can be recorded in the system.

This client wanted to see a number of improvements in the management of the inventory of samples and the freezers used to store them. In SuiteSuccess for CROs, the company can track and maintain samples and compounds. A new, sophisticated naming logic is easier to understand and helps avoid errors in referring to samples.

In turn, they become easier to manage. Reporting accurately reflects the use of samples in studies and projects. To bring consistency and completeness to freezer management, Sikich enabled SuiteSuccess with complete tracking of freezer locations and transfers.

Working with the client, we reviewed financial processes and set up SuiteSuccess for CROs to streamline the work of finance managers. Today, they use the same pricing data in a workflow from quoting to invoicing. Invoice approval requests are routed automatically and recorded in the system. When life sciences clients contract for multiple studies, the company can keep invoicing simple by consolidating it. We also provided credit management functionality and enhanced the
transparency of billing to make billing histories, outstanding receivables, and projected invoicing clearly visible.

Ready to see how SuiteSuccess for CROs can transform your CRO business management? Please contact us at any time!