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Seeing the big picture

Enterprise project management cuts the risk of project failure.

By Benedict Kelly
Johannesburg, 23 Nov 2009

Project management has been around since the time of the caveman. However, with the growth of technology and the dependence on the success of IT projects, the need for proper project management has moved from being a sideline to a critical aspect of every IT deployment.

The problem facing organisations today is that they are not only having to ensure that individual projects are executed correctly, but also that each project does not just achieve its specific aims but also does not disrupt the activities of any other parts of the business.

Enterprise project management (EPM) is focused on ensuring that projects, whether part of the IT function or not, all add to the success of the organisation rather than detracting from it.

Greg Vercellotti, executive director at Dariel Solutions, explains that projects tend to get managed in their own individual silos, with little or no awareness of the greater implications of that project in terms of the people and systems that operate in the broader organisations. “This can lead to a situation where the project itself may be a technical success, but the business does not derive the anticipated benefit from the project.”

Carol Rogers, associate partner at IBM, adds that, typically, projects have very defined boundaries and even the most skilled project manager may not be able to understand all the interdependencies that exist within the company.

“With an EPM approach, it's possible to have a full view of the interdependencies across the organisations, not just between the various IT systems, but also across the various business processes that make up the central nervous system of any organisation.”

She explains that the key reason for the failure of projects is the inability of those in charge of the projects to comprehend the connections between people and processes.

Andre Engelbrecht, services executive for project services at Business Connexion, adds that the aim of an EPM strategy is to provide a methodology to enable all aspects of a project to be managed simultaneously and allows the impact of multiple projects to be assessed in terms of the impact they will have on each other and the organisation as a whole.

He adds that the value of approaching all these projects from a unified perspective means the possibility for any one project to fail for reasons beyond the control of the project team are minimised.

“Key to making this work is the implementation of an enterprise project office that oversees every project within the organisation,” he says.

Magic 8 ball

Charles Dalton, head of division for business tactics at Consequent, adds that part of the problem many organisations encounter today is they view IT as an almost magic entity that will solve all the problems they are encountering. “It is this attitude that leads to companies implementing technology in isolation and results in the difficulties that EPM is intended to solve.”

The move by companies towards a services-oriented architecture and the drive over the past few years to create a business process management ethos within companies has made the need for EPM even more urgent.

With an EPM approach, it's possible to have a full view of the interdependencies across the organisations.

Carol Rogers, associate partner, IBM

Whereas before it was possible for companies to implement tactical solutions in individual divisions, the focus on reorganising business processes has resulted in a much greater integration between different business divisions. Deploying an IT solution in one area will, therefore, have a much greater likelihood of affecting systems and processes in other areas of the business.

The unintended consequences of IT systems are typically the root cause of the failure of IT projects, some of which have led to the failure of entire companies.

The slowdown in the global economy has seen many companies scaling back on their IT investments. While in the past it would have been possible to simply cancel a single project without any significant impact on the rest of the company, nowadays, with heavily interconnected business processes, this is simply not a recommended course of action.

Leveraging an enterprise project office in this kind of organisation is vital in deciding which projects are strategically important to the organisation and which can be put on the back-burner for the time being.

Engelbrecht adds that while the necessity for EPM has been driven by the desire to harmonise the different projects that exist inside an organisation, there's a need for a stronger strategic view of enterprise projects.

“If we keep on viewing projects in individual silos, it is practically impossible to leverage them in a strategic manner to drive the organisation forward.”

While certain companies in South Africa have already embraced the notion of EPM, these are limited to more mature companies, with those in the financial services industry as well as companies that typically handle large, capital-intensive, projects leading the way.

He comments that more mature organisations are more likely to adopt a holistic EPM approach in order to ensure the projects they deliver are not just technical successes, but deliver real value to the entire organisation.

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