ACM’s Center of Excellence is Raising the Bar for Employees and Clients Alike

What is ACM Global Laboratories’ Center of Excellence?

ACM Global Laboratories’ Center of Excellence is an initiative focused on identifying knowledge and performance gaps at the company and deploying strategies for improvement, such as establishing best practices and a consistent onboarding experience for new employees, specifically new members of the project management department. 

The Center of Excellence focuses on these key categories:

• Quality - Enhance the quality of the customer experience, communications, documentation, and study execution
• Training - Design, develop, and maintain training programs and professional development paths to support and grow new and existing project managers
• Processes - Ensure the team has the best strategies, tools, and templates to perform their jobs consistently and efficiently
• Culture - Advocate for and implement initiatives that support the retention, recognition, and continued development opportunities of and for project managers
• Synergies - Facilitate and support alignment across teams, departments, and regions to aid collaboration and reduce obstacles

Onboarding and Beyond

After launching in early 2021, the Center of Excellence focused on making improvements for the project management department. Early solutions included an onboarding program for project managers, which resulted in a uniform and enjoyable experience for new hires. 

Currently, the objectives of the Center of Excellence include:

• Create predictability, consistency, and reliability across internal functions
• Drive the direction and strategy of project management competency
• Act as a central hub for project management best practices, systems, standards, guidance, and tools
• Ensure continuous improvement of internal project management practices
• Advise, coach, and provide support to project management staff
• Act as champion and advocate for project management best practices

Immediate Impact

The Center of Excellence created ACM Academy, a structured training program that every new project manager completes during their first three weeks. The implementation of ACM Academy proved to have an impact on the project management department in terms of retention, which dramatically increased. The academy provides an excellent foundation and a welcoming feel when project managers first join the company. The foundational topics covered in the course help set project managers up for success in their work cross-functionally and with clients. 

In addition to ACM Academy, the Center of Excellence created a Wiki to provide resources and standard documentation for project managers to follow. With a large number of processes to remember, the Wiki allows project managers access to a library of information to help do their jobs accurately and efficiently.

“The Center of Excellence is at the heart of improving customer service,” said Kama Post, Manager of the Center of Excellence. “This focus helps us provide structured training to project managers to better serve our clients and their patients.”

The Future of the Program

Eventually, the Center of Excellence will influence teams beyond project management and expand to helping every department at ACM. The Center of Excellence will focus on identifying existing gaps and strategies for improvement, facilitating synergies across departments, and deploying congruent best practices and onboarding experiences for all new hires at ACM.

Execution Matters

At ACM, we believe that execution matters so much to the success of clinical trials that we have made it one of our core values. Our project managers at ACM are committed to supporting you as you navigate the clinical study management process and assisting you in achieving your clinical trial goals. 

You can ensure improved communication and alignment throughout the clinical research management by working with a project manager early in the clinical trial process. To collaborate with a project manager on your upcoming clinical study, contact ACM Global Laboratories to initiate the process.