Case Study: Shannon Chamber
Streamlining Processes
Established in 1995, Shannon Chamber is the largest business representative body in the Shannon area. It currently has over 330 member companies (with an expanded reach to over 19,000 employees). Members are a mix of large multinational companies, SMEs and sole traders in industry, business services and tourism. Membership is local, regional, and national.
Shannon Chamber is a member of Chambers Ireland www.chambers.ie (its CEO sits on the board of Chambers Ireland), and has a dynamic and proactive relationship with members, attained through continuous open dialogue at many levels – at events, via email notifications, sponsorship, member representations, Chamber Forums and proactive interpersonal communication by chamber executive. Shannon Chamber is held in high regard by key stakeholders in the region and nationally and is a proactive contributor to key initiatives in the wider Shannon region. An overview of the types of activities undertaken by the Chamber can be found on the current website – www.shannonchamber.ie
Shannon Chamber also runs a Skillnet Business Network Skillnet Shannon Chamber | Enhancing the Skills of Enterprise (shannonchamberskillnet.com), supported by Skillnet Ireland and this has a separate dashboard and branding look and feel embedded in Shannon Chamber’s website.
Crystal Lean Solutions (CLS) was requested by Shannon Chamber to develop control sheets and scorecards for key processes that would streamline the data collection process, reduce time spent entering and analysing data, standardise data entry, incorporate automatic calculations and visual aids, and be easy to use and maintain. To meet these requirements, CLS developed tailored control and master planning spreadsheets for the Conference and Event Management process. The spreadsheets were developed using pivot tables, pivot charts, VBA macros, Vlookups, and dynamic pull-down menus based on master data. The spreadsheets also incorporated real-time data metrics and reporting, and had a standardised look, feel, and functionality for ease of use.
The project started in Q3 2021 and ended in Q2 2022, lasting for a period of 6 months. The people involved in the project were Brigid McNamara from CLS and the Shannon Chamber team.
The implementation process included a user requirements meeting, development of the spreadsheet, presentation of the first draft, testing of the first draft with live data, minor tweaks, and launch of the live sheet. The automated control sheets were developed through engaging workshops to understand the current processes and user requirements.
The project faced some challenges such as the COVID restrictions and fine-tuning the sheets with real data and scenarios before launching them live. However, the benefits to Shannon Chamber included standardised data recording and reporting, automated calculations and reporting, easy extraction of summarised data, and reduced time spent managing data.
In conclusion, CLS was successful in providing tailored control sheets and scorecards to meet the needs of Shannon Chamber for their Conference and Event Management process. The spreadsheets streamlined the data collection process, reduced time spent entering and analysing data, standardised data entry, and incorporated real-time data metrics and reporting. The project ultimately delivered benefits to Shannon Chamber in terms of improved efficiency and data management.