This is the third post in our IT Modernization blog series
Phase: Execution and Delivery
IT projects don’t fail in design. They fail during execution — when assumptions meet reality. Whether it’s a surprise resignation, shifting priorities, or unexpected complexity, the result is the same: missed timelines, budget overruns, and trust erosion.
Oberon was built to keep delivery on track by treating execution as a live system — not a fixed plan. With real-time visibility into skills, assignments, capacity, and external support, delivery leaders can adapt instantly and continue forward without drama.
This is powered by Chessboard orchestration, enhanced through Contractor Workbench, and extended by the upcoming Virtual Practice feature — all designed to keep your internal and external teams operating as one cohesive unit.
The Chessboard: Real-Time Control, Not Just Oversight
The Chessboard view in Oberon is where delivery meets agility. It shows you every resource assigned to every workstream, cross-referenced with their verified skills and current load. But more than a status board, it’s a control surface.
When a project shifts — say, a workstream is reprioritized or a team member is suddenly unavailable — changes made on the Chessboard are reflected downstream across systems:
-
Project management tools like Jira update assignees and timelines
-
Time tracking and PSA platforms adjust billing and capacity forecasts
-
HRIS and workload models stay accurate for both internal teams and contractors
No emails. No spreadsheets. No fire drills. You’re managing the reality of delivery, not the memory of the last staffing meeting.
Contractor Workbench: Partners, Embedded and Accountable
For consulting and service partners, Oberon’s Contractor Workbench creates a delivery model that embeds your team directly into the customer’s workforce fabric.
Each contractor you provide is represented as a named, permissioned resource in the customer’s Oberon instance — mapped to their real, verified competencies and contribution history. You maintain control over who’s active, but the customer gets full visibility into impact and alignment.
Work assigned to your team is tracked the same way as internal staff:
-
Completed deliverables update individual competency maps
-
Mentoring sessions and shadowed tasks build skill progression for internal staff
-
Availability and capacity planning reflect your team in blended views
You’re not a black-box vendor anymore. You’re operating inside the customer’s delivery engine — coordinated, visible, and adaptable.
Embedded Learning and Mentoring
Delivery is also the best time to build capability. Every task completed is a chance to deepen skills, reinforce learning, and transfer expertise.
Oberon lets you flag tasks as developmental or mentored, creating a dual-purpose assignment that contributes to both the work and the workforce. Internal staff can be paired with senior contractors to co-own complex deliverables. As these activities occur, they’re logged and contribute to verified skill growth in real time.
This ensures that every sprint, milestone, or bugfix is more than a tactical win — it’s a step toward a more capable, independent team.
Coming Soon: Virtual Practice as a Growth Engine
When execution goes well, the next question is: what else can this partner help us with?
The upcoming Virtual Practice feature answers that directly. It gives customers a view into your firm’s available capabilities — not as a resume dump, but as a live inventory of skill coverage and project-proven experience, structured by discipline.
If the customer needs a temporary automation engineer, they can see that your practice has one coming off another engagement next week. If they’re exploring data modernization, they can view your firm’s proven capacity across platform architects, data modelers, and security specialists — all sourced from live delivery performance, not marketing decks.
This drives new business without friction, letting partners stay top of mind inside the systems the customer already uses to plan and staff.
The Outcome: Delivery That Scales and Strengthens
With Oberon powering execution, you gain:
-
The ability to reallocate work and shift staff without breaking operational systems
-
Embedded tracking of delivery contributions and skill development across all team types
-
A shared, real-time environment for managing project outcomes collaboratively
-
A path to grow customer value and partner influence without adding overhead
This is what it looks like when delivery is orchestrated, not reactive.
