Project Portfolio Management

Quick Take You need Project Portfolio Management (PPM) software if you run projects because: Organizations using PPM tools are up to twice as likely to meet project objectives PPM Project Prioritization  enables you to focus on projects that deliver the most value PPM enables you to better manage resources by effectively and efficiently performing tasks such as assigning resource availability, aligning skills to projects, and resource leveling PPM can provide an aggregate portfolio view and big picture analysis of all project plans as well as visibility into data at the project level PPM reporting gathers and analyzes project data over time and across the portfolio to support hindsight analysis that improves future project success So, basically, if you run lots of projects, you need Project Portfolio Management software to help ensure success. If you’re not using PPM software, you are flying blind. We’ll expand on the concepts of PPM and give you tips to use to streamline success. Increased Project Success The Project Management Institute compared organizations not using PPM tools with organizations using PPM and found that tool users were: 44% more likely to complete projects on time or early 38% more likely to complete projects on budget 52% more likely to hit the expected ROI We’re sure your organization would welcome improvements such as these. Project Portfolio Management also enables you to use centralized management of portfolios to leverage successful project selection and execution to achieve strategic objectives. Thus, PPM bridges the gap between strategy and implementation commonly found in organizations. What is Project Portfolio Management? Let’s dig into what exactly Project Portfolio Management is. PPM is the centralized management of the processes, methods, and technologies used by project managers and project management offices (PMOs) to analyze and collectively manage current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics. Project Portfolio Management enables organizations to more effectively accomplish: Project Prioritization Resource Management Project Management Project Portfolio Reporting We’ll take a look at these four facets in the following sections. Project Prioritization The first component of a Project Portfolio Management process is Project Prioritization. This process enables you to focus your organization on those projects that deliver the most value. The process begins by identifying the projects that can best improve business goals by analyzing projects based on time, money, and resources. Your Project Prioritization framework should be data-driven,  objective and scalable. It should also support the concepts of Governance and Transparency. A first step in prioritizing projects is to identify the value of each project and how the project contributes to the organization’s mission. It is important to create a robust methodology to support different definitions of “value.” For some projects, value may be determined by increasing revenue. For others, value means reducing cost. A third measure of value could be a project that meets a qualitative goal such as “going green.” A robust Project Prioritization process will also consider other facets when assessing the potential value a project might deliver. Your process should enable you to answer questions such as: Who submitted this project and what is its purpose? How do I compare these projects? Which strategic goal does this project support? Why was my project not approved? If I have limited resources, do I cancel any of my projects? Which projects? Do I hire additional resources for my project backlog? Your Project Prioritization process should consist of the following steps: Project Intake Project Scoring Project Selection Your PPM solution should contain a Project Prioritization template to capture or create data for each of step of the process. Read our blog post on how to implement an effective Project Prioritization process here.   Resource Management Resource Management is the process of efficiently and effectively using your organization’s budget, inventory, personnel and information technology (IT) assets. Once initiatives have been selected and prioritized, the next step in your Project Portfolio Management process is to assign resources to projects. PPM enables you to determine resource allocation using a top-down approach—either at the portfolio or organizational level. Using your PPM system, you can effectively perform tasks such as assigning resource availability, aligning skills to projects, and resource leveling. Increased visibility into resource availability enables proactive management of resource schedules, which allows you to identify potential issues weeks or months in advance. One of your most critical resources is likely to be workers. There are three important ways that Project Portfolio Management optimizes deployment of personnel: Resource Scheduling Skills Management Resource Leveling Read our blog post on how to improve your Resource Management process here.   Project Management It is essential that your PPM process provides an aggregate portfolio view of all project plans for big picture analysis. Project Portfolio Management software should also enable you to dive into data at the project level to analyze efficiency and resource allocation. Project management must also be able to edit  individual project plans and to visualize work breakdown structures for each initiative. With these resources, your PPM software should enable project-level management to effectively handle problems, identify patterns, and do issue tracking to ensure timeliness of portfolio goals. Effective Project Management workflow can classify and track projects, allowing you to answer questions like: How many initiatives have been requested for funding? How many projects are waiting for scoring? How many projects are active? Which projects have been archived? A Project Management/Portfolio Management process must have the ability to review and alter the following processes: Project Workflows Project Plans Work Breakdown Structure Issue Tracking Timesheets Read our blog post on how Project Portfolio Management (PPM) improves Project Management here.   Project Portfolio Reporting An effective Project Portfolio Management process generates large volumes of data about every aspect of projects within the portfolio. Your PPM software must make this information available to stakeholders via reports, on-demand dashboards, and push notifications. Gathering and analyzing project data over time and across the portfolio supports hindsight analysis—the measure of how well a project did in meeting its goals. A clear understanding of past performance can positively effect future project success. Project Portfolio Reporting answers questions such as: Are we going to

Duro Bag Manufacturing Company is the largest manufacturer of printed and plain paper bags in North America. Duro Bag operates twelve plants in the United States and one in Mexico, employs more than three thousand people and sells point -of-purchase bags to department stores, grocery chains, and mass merchant retailers. Here is how Duro Bag has used Projectric for their project portfolio management solution, from CEO to factory floor. Need for a Process Methodology When Duro Bag decided to streamline its portfolio management process, they sought to: Increase project returns through better visibility, selection and control of projects Optimize the use of limited company resources Avoid project delays through timely communication of project status The critical attributes they wanted in their portfolio management solution were: On-demand, hosted solution Robust features, functions, and capabilities Easy implementation Affordable for a mid-sized organization Duro Bag found that Projectric best met all its criteria for portfolio management software. They were able to implement Projectric quickly and have since rolled it out across the company. Adapts to Industry-Specific Standards Duro Bag easily adapted Projectric to its manufacturing processes. Duro Bag uses Projectric to categorize its projects according to the Supply-Chain Operations Reference model (SCOR), a manufacturing process reference model for supply-chain management that describes the business activities associated with all phases of satisfying a customer’s demand. As a result, they were able to confirm quantitatively and objectively the benefits of their strong emphasis on customer related projects. Additionally, each department is able to show the strategic focus of their work efforts to senior management. Benefits The Whole Organization Duro Bag was so enthusiastic about the software’s quick implementation and demonstrated business value that Projectric quickly spread across the organization. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is using the software to monitor progress on several corporate projects. The head of Human Resources is using the software to manage and monitor several key transformation projects. Duro Bag is effectively using Projectric’s dynamic tools such as resource utilization “what if” capabilities and project milestone late reporting to more effectively manage resources, communicate project status and facilitate the achievement of its business goals. Duro Bag is effectively using Projectric’s dynamic tools such as resource utilization “what if” capabilities and project milestone late reporting to more effectively manage resources, communicate project status and facilitate the achievement of its business goals. Read about how other Projectric customers leverage our Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solution including: DeVry University Messer Construction

DeVry University provides rigorous, career-oriented undergraduate and graduate degree programs in technology, business and management. About 53,000 DeVry students access programs through a North American system of 78 locations and online. DeVry needed a Project Portfolio Management solution that offered a complete view of all projects and a methodology for selecting and managing the right projects. Read on to see why DeVry selected Projectric in their new Project Management Office to better prioritize, balance and manage their portfolio of projects. Results From The Projectric Solution Devry required stronger alignment of projects to business value and improved utilization of resources through better organization, control and communication within the organization. “Projectric provides DeVry with extremely professional and helpful customer support. Projectric employees have attended staff meetings with our teams, helped with training, and go out of their way to assist us. Projectric recognizes that each customer’s implementation is unique and is committed to helping DeVry use the software to its fullest capabilities,” says Bob Kropidoski IT Director, Business Technology DeVry Inc. Linking IT Projects to Business Value The DeVry University Project Management Office (PMO) had three business goals when selecting software to better manage the growing wave of project requests: Work on the right, important projects for the business by better tying technology projects to business value Better measurement and achievement of Return on Investment (ROI) for projects 3. More effective use of the PMO and project team resource The company is now successfully using Projectric to manage application development projects and will next add IT infrastructure projects. Easy to Organize, Control, & Communicate Projectric provides DeVry the ability to organize all of their project information and consolidate it in one place. When questions arise, the dashboard gives management a good, concise view of what is going on in the department. Information is now easily accessible through Projectric lists and graphs. DeVry has better control over their project process through Projectric’s built-in methodology and decision support tools. DeVry’s use of Projectric scoring is allowing them to choose the right projects based on business value and simultaneously gain buy-in for projects from the rest of the organization. Projectric is providing DeVry with a platform for better communication. Project progress is more visible and project health is easily monitored through automated indicators. Projectric’s flexible reporting capabilities allow portfolio managers to quickly create custom reports that can be shared with sponsors and executives. Integrated Methodology, Quick Implementation and Affordability For DeVry, several major factors set Projectric apart from its competition and the software has delivered as promised. The easy to use methodology provides decision makers a high level view of all projects so that the right projects are selected, resources are appropriately used, and progress is effectively monitored. The implementation was quick, easy, and cost-effective. There was a very short learning curve as users rapidly applied the methodology. The on-demand delivery model made Projectric affordable and a lower risk alternative. It allowed DeVry to pay only for what they needed, when they needed it. “Projectric is easy to use and very intuitive. Users were able to come up to speed quickly and resistance to change was very low. It is allowing us to use our leadership skills and bring more business value to the company,” offers Jim Ritchey Interim CIO DeVry Inc. Read more about how other customers use Projectric in these related blog posts: Duro Bag Manufacturing Messer Construction

Messer Construction Company, headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, has continuously operated since 1932. With ten regional offices, Messer’s impressive buildings include hospitals, educational facilities, aviation, arts & entertainment, religious, historic renovations, non-profit, industrial and commercial organizations. While renowned for their construction, Messer was struggling with their backlog of IT projects and a fixed number of resources to meet demand. In this blog post, you will read about how Messer Construction implemented Projectric’s PPM solution to achieve a better means of qualifying business value, prioritizing projects, utilizing resources and communicating project status within the organization. Quick And Easy Solution Messer had been fighting the challenge of meeting business needs with fixed resources. As such, they did not have the capacity or energy for a long or costly implementation. After an enthusiastic endorsement from another company based in Cincinnati, OH, Messer discovered that Projectric could provide the benefits they needed in a solution that was: Hosted Low cost and low risk Easy to implement and easy to use Quick to return an investment Gary Thomas, Director of Business Technology Services for Messer, was able to implement Projectric in just a few weeks while still handling his other responsibilities. He relates that Projectric provides the “right tool set” for middle market companies. “Projectric is a solution that provides low entry costs, virtually no maintenance, and instant visibility to the project portfolio. Implementation was straightforward and quick. Projectric pays for itself immediately.” Mr. Thomas continued, “Projectric fills a significant gap in the software market. Most packaged portfolio management solutions are geared to large Fortune 500 companies and do not scale well to mid-sized operations. Until [we found] Projectric our best alternative was costly custom developed solutions.” Projectric Helps Align IT Efforts with Business Goals Messer’s use of Projectric has helped IT to ensure that efforts accurately match up with business goals. Instead of making assumptions, each project is clearly aligned at the highest level. Says Thomas, “The dashboard views provide a quick and easy way to take a pulse of what is happening. With Projectric we are able to map precisely which business plan goals each project supports.” He continues, “In addition, we can track many other Messer-defined attributes of our portfolio, providing the ability to accurately balance our investment in technology projects against those values that are most important to Messer.” Improved Communications Another advantage Messer has realized is better communications and relations throughout the company. According to Thomas, “When demand exceeds capacity, there tends to be a perception of failure . . . not to mention the uncomfortable task of discerning one project over another. Projectric combined with good management practice provides a clear way to articulate the trade-offs in value, while promoting healthy discussions around IT resource capacity and deploying those resources to the most important projects in the company.” Messer’s team of Projectric users readily accepted their role in the process and is enthusiastic about how the solution has helped them toward their goal of increasing business value for the company. Read about how other customers use Projectric in these related blog posts: DeVry University Duro Bag Manufacturing