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Tenneco Automotive Europe a division of one of the world’s largest producers of ride control and exhaust systems, will implement Web-based project management software from Business Engine.

Tenneco Automotive’s IT management will use the Business Engine Network’s (BEN) to evaluate and prioritize projects, gain early visibility into schedule or budget overruns, and measure and compare budget actuals against forecasts. Both internal employees and external contractors, located in 11 European countries, will use the system to collaborate as a virtual team on various projects.

According to a recent press release, Tenneco chose the BEN because it is a single Web-based solution that offers project, resource and budget management features. Those include work force allocation, project scheduling, scenario planning, virtual team connectivity, document sharing, and time and expense tracking.

“Previously we had no single place to consolidate our resources’ activities, and prioritizing projects was nearly impossible,” says Francesco Spadaveccia, IT director of Tenneco Automotive Europe. “With one centralized place to view all of our ongoing projects, we can measure them against one another. Now managers can make the right project choices and ensure that our work and resources are aligned with our strategic business objectives.”

The system will be used to manage approximately 400 European IT projects that range from a high-profile SAP implementation to developing and maintaining the company’s e-commerce supply chain management capabilities in the European e-marketplace. As a decision simulation tool for “what if” scenario planning, the software will help the company improve its resource planning decisions against its portfolio of IT projects.

Says George Van Ness, president and COO of Business Engine, “The automotive industry is constantly setting new operational efficiency trends. Tenneco Automotive will be able to maximize productivity by connecting its virtual teams and providing executives with a real-time view of each virtual team’s project profitability, potential risks and status on tasks, deliverables and milestones.