Notes From the Field

Notes From the Field

President of ARS Group, Inc., a Project and Portfolio Management Consulting Firm Certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) Masters Certificate in Project Management Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology MBA’s in both Global Technology Management and Healthcare Management More than 25 years of project and portfolio management experience across multiple industries

Even if we could get the money, we don’t have enough resources to do the work. Our priorities change with every meeting the on the VPs calendar. It is easier to work around the process than to follow it. Project approval depends on who is backing it rather than the merits of the project. We end up building duplicate systems for different business units and resulting in an ever-growing set of redundant applications. We can’t kill a project. We never have any objective measurements to overcome the politics in decision-making. And if we try to kill a project, it always seems to show up again.

Wrong projects – not linked to strategy/goals. Projects are not prioritized. Projects invest in non-strategic systems and applications. Too many projects – not in line with resource capacity. Projects use strategic resources inefficiently. Projects are not monitored collectively to determine if projects should be slowed, stopped, helped or modified. Projects are not managed collectively – tradeoffs are not identified and exploited. 40% of IT projects fail to deliver intended results (cost, schedule, performance).

No Single System of Record for Decision Making ITM Systems Siloed Relevant Metrics Hard to Obtain Disparate Systems Costly to Maintain and Upgrade

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Coined by Matt Light, Gartner Analyst, in 2003 A coordinated method of prioritizing and tracking all of the projects in an organization, linking them to organizational goals. PPM Assessments Proprietary Models from several vendors Research Models from several universities Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) - PMI

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1 2 3 4 Not at all Somewhat Mostly Always It investments deliver their intended results on-time, on-budget and on-quality. Frequent reviews are held with the business to realign investments with strategy and weed out underperformers. Metrics such as NPV, ROI, and Risk are used for IT investment decision making and are available in real-time to review status. The results of investment performance are measured in a disciplined fashion and fed into future decision-making. A supporting system provides management with insight and control of current projects, applications, assets and people, as well as all demand on IT.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1 2 3 4 Not at all Somewhat Mostly Always The strategic impact and business value of each investment is understood and communicated, both within IT and with the business. Budget freed up through operational efficiencies and better asset utilization, and is used to fund new strategic initiatives. Compliance objectives and controls are understood and each investment is assessed as to its impact. Resources are managed in a global resource pool to maximize utilization and understand constraints on new investments. Best practice processes are in place and employed for consistent decision making and delivery.

What is Your Maturity Level? 15 Level 1: Ad hoc 15 – 24 Level 2: Defined 25 – 34 Level 3: Managed 35 Level 4: Synchronized Maturity levels defined in portfolio management research by Mark Jeffery, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

What is Engagement? What is Efficiency? IT’s ability to partner with the business to maintain alignment and maximize return from IT investments. IT’s ability to make the best use of its people, budgets and assets. Doing the Right Things Doing Things Right

What problems are we really trying to solve? How will PPM help resolve those? Who is driving this initiative? How is it staffed? Where will it fit organizationally? Will we centralize our project managers? What do we expect to get back from the investment?

Drive project cycle times down. Facilitate choosing the right project mix and priority. Develop and maintain an executive cockpit. Track and report high-level status. Identify and help projects in trouble and assist in corrective action. Facilitate the Governance Board. Provide marketing and communications. Provide archives. Become Center of Excellence (Mentoring, Tools, Help Desk, Methodology, Training).

Over-emphasis on rules and forms Unrealistic expectations It is NOT a “Field of Dreams” Underestimate the organizational change Big Bang Theory “The tool will solve all that”

Empower the PMO Automate, enforce, and report on process compliance Comprehensive Resource Management Drive maximum utilization of in-house and outsourced resources Capture time and allocate staff for any type of investment Advance Resource Mgt capabilities Scalable, Transparent Status Capture Capture time and cost of all activities in a single repository for charge-backs and reporting Capture asset costs World-Class Project Execution Leverage best practices across entire project portfolio Rapid time to value

Ensure valid wellthought-out plans exist Ensure everyone is committed to the plan Communicate expectations, progress and problems Conduct Quality Reviews of requirements Ensure issue and risk management Ensure rigorous change control

Provide high-level progress and financial status Facilitate scope change decisions Track and report critical risks and issues Provide resource utilization information Timely data!

Identify critical issues and assist in analysis Facilitate risk analysis Drive collective portfolio vs. perproject corrective action

Provide regular and timely communication Use a webbased tool for ease of use Continually sell PPM/PMO value Drive use of processes and tools

Maintain reusable templates Provide information for lessons learned Influence future decision-making Meet requirements for regulatory and legal data retention

Process and methodology – without bureaucracy or policing PM tools repository PM Mentoring - Staffed by experienced PM experts Help Desk providing fast, knowledgeable response to requests PM development approach and career track Training strategy and plan

Improves resource utilization Helping, modifying, slowing, and stopping projects when necessary Drives project cycle-time down and project performance up Enables people to succeed Enables organizational learning

Gartner PPM Magic Quadrant This Magic Quadrant graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research note and should be evaluated in the context of the entire report. The Gartner report is available upon request from CA. The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2007 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Forrester Wave 2007 The Forrester Wave is copyrighted by Forrester Research, Inc. Forrester and Forrester Wave are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. The Forrester Wave is a graphical representation of Forrester's call on a market and is plotted using a detailed spreadsheet with exposed scores, weightings, and comments. Forrester does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in the Forrester Wave. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change.

“30-Days-to-Clarity” Implementation Package Includes a defined set of functional deliverables in a 30day, fixed price package designed to deliver quick ROI Designed for PMO’s looking to get started with the basics of a project portfolio management system PMO Accelerator A non-industry specific content package designed for project and portfolio management Designed to help PMO’s quickly adopt best practices in project and resource management methodology

PMO Chartering PMO Structure/Staffing Understanding Business Process Effective integration of Best Practices Pave the way for an effective PPM Tool implementation Post-implementation support www.ARSGroup.com

Find an Executive-level champion Identify your “pain” Enlist and engage advocates Do a more detailed maturity assessment and get ROI metrics at: myclarity.com/go/IT-ROI

CA Jim Lewis www.ca.com/clarity (615) 870-7366 ARS Group Richard Singletary www.ARSGroup.com (615) 465-8069