Japanese Automotive OEM — Asia-Pacific Regional HQStarted with a Craft Sprint →

From department budgets to one shared pool: managed services that fund innovation instead of wasting year-end budget

Each department held its own support budget per project, so leftovers were lost at year-end and shortfalls meant extra approvals. We moved four platforms onto one yearly effort pool, managed across departments and reported on a monthly dashboard. Any surplus is reinvested, by agreement with the client, in new AI-driven prototypes.

shared effort pool across departments and four platforms

Platforms covered by one yearly effort pool

Automotive & Mobility Managed Services Analytics & DashboardsRegional2026 – present4 min read

Client: Regional HQ of a Japanese automotive OEM
Users: Regional HQ platform owners and managers
Scope: Scope sizing · Pooled managed-services agreement · Monthly reporting dashboard · Platform monitoring
Timeline: Mar 2026 proposal → Apr 2026 agreement and first dashboard → monthly updates since
Platforms: Commerce platform with parts catalogue data hub · Distributor communication portal · Parts-brand website · Dealer certification automation

Service categories every hour is logged against, from incidents to reporting and governance

1day

From first commit to a working dashboard

5months

Of actuals published, April to August 2026, refreshed each month

Infrastructure monitoring reports brought into the dashboard, May to August 2026

The challenge

Budgets were locked in departments, and reported in decks

We already built and ran several platforms for the regional HQ: a commerce platform for its distributors with a VIN search data hub, a portal that routes distributor enquiries, a parts-brand website and a dealer certification engine. Each had its own support arrangement, and each reported in its own way.

Budgets were secured department by department and project by project. Money left over at the end of the financial year was simply lost, while a project that ran short needed an extra approval mid-year. For the new financial year the regional HQ wanted one agreement, budget it could move to where it was needed, and reporting its managers could read without a technical briefing.

Budgets locked in departments

Each department held its own project budget. Unused effort expired at year-end, and overruns triggered additional purchase requests.

Opaque hours

Hours sat in timesheets. The regional HQ saw totals, but not what drove them or whether a busy month was a problem.

Reports nobody reads

Monitoring results arrived as monthly slide decks, separate from effort and project status, so nobody had the whole picture.

Our approach

Size the work honestly, pool it, and report it every month in plain language

We sized the baseline scope platform by platform, activity by activity, with a stated calculation basis for each. We then combined the four platforms into one pooled yearly budget. A first working dashboard was running on the day work on it began. It has been refined every month since, partly in response to regional HQ feedback.

Effort from all four platforms goes into one pool. Monitoring results and the month's narrative are published alongside it, so the regional HQ reviews one report rather than four.

Scope and agreement

Mar – Apr 2026

Baseline scope sized per platform and activity
Seven common service categories, from incidents to reporting
One pooled agreement for the financial year

First dashboard

Apr 2026

Effort pool overview with burn-down against plan
Platform cards and a category heatmap
Static site behind access control

Detail and context

May – Jun 2026

Timesheet importer and per-platform detail pages
SLA reference page with priority targets
Monthly highlights that explain overruns
Monitoring reports imported with trend sparklines

Projects and feedback

Aug – Sep 2026

Progress for in-flight builds alongside run work
Phases, milestones, next actions and a risk register
Incident and request counts at the regional HQ's request

The impact

The regional HQ sees one budget, one story and one place to look

BeforeBudget held per department and project; leftovers lost at year-end, shortfalls needing extra approval

SolutionOne yearly effort pool managed across departments and four platforms

ResultEffort moves to where it is needed during the year, without new purchase requests

BeforeUnused budget wasted at year-end

SolutionAgreement with the client to reinvest any surplus

ResultSurplus effort funds new prototypes, such as AI-driven tools built in Craft Sprints

BeforeHours in timesheets, totals only

SolutionEvery activity logged against seven service categories and shown as a monthly heatmap

ResultThe regional HQ can see what kind of work drove each month

BeforeOverruns explained after the fact, if at all

SolutionMonthly highlights: a headline and the main drivers for each platform

ResultThe June 2026 overrun on the commerce platform was published with its explanation in the same report

BeforeMonitoring in separate slide decks

SolutionImporter pulls KPI tables, charts and summaries into the dashboard

ResultInfrastructure health sits next to effort; data hub reports moved to every two weeks from July 2026

BeforeMonthly slide reports and long status meetings

SolutionOne dashboard for effort, monitoring and in-flight projects

ResultLess time spent preparing reports and in regular meetings, with discussion focused on decisions

Managed services should not be a black box, or a use-it-or-lose-it budget. When the regional HQ can see where every hour went, it can move effort where it matters, and put what's left into the next idea.

Engagement Lead, Taira Promote

What's next

From run budget to innovation budget

With effort managed as one pool, any surplus is put to work on new AI-enabled prototypes, agreed with the regional HQ and built as Craft Sprints, rather than lost at year-end.

Platforms & partners

Next.js (static export)ReactTypeScriptTailwind CSSRechartsPython importers (Excel and PowerPoint)Cloudflare PagesCloudflare Access

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