As the global economic crisis continues, it is important for companies to take stock of their financial investments in different initiatives and projects, and reduce commitments in order to stay afloat. However, taking stock might be a daunting task as most organisations don't have a 'single view' of all projects, including attributes such as benefits, cost and resources allocated for each project; as well as the ability to reprioritise allocations to projects (even stopping some) and immediately understanding the impact thereof.
This ability to have a single view of all projects and to easily reprioritise allocations and immediately understanding the impact is exactly where project portfolio management (PPM) and associated tools play a vital role, and organisations will have to seriously look at investing in it.
This is the opinion of Bateleur Software PPM Business Unit Manager, Grant Fourie, PMP, who says that although many companies are currently re-evaluating their project portfolio investments, rapid decisions on what investments to commit to are not always possible.
The main reason for this, he says, is due to ineffective or no solutions to enable an accurate and holistic view of project resource commitments.
“Suitable visibility into what projects are being executed, what the remaining spend forecast is, and what value is anticipated to be received from completing them, enables a selection of the top projects providing the most value.
“The inability to make such rapid decisions now or during any other economic downturn could be disastrous. Good decisions made early not only contribute to a greater likelihood of survival, but will ultimately leave an organisation stronger when the crisis passes,” he says.
According to Fourie, many CIOs are seeing the benefits of using PPM software to help with budget cuts as companies struggle with scarce resources. Last year, International Data Corporation (IDC) commissioned a study of 13 companies that had implemented PPM software, including Microsoft, Compuware Corp and SAP AG. The study cited payback in an average of 7.4 months after deployment, with a return of $5.57 for every dollar invested - a 557% ROI based on a three-year analysis.
Further, the Project Management Institute advises: “If you don't have PPM strategies in place yet, get started. In troubled economies, companies need tools that help them evaluate changing risk on project decisions.”
A remarkable solution coming to the forefront is the Cardinis Suite and it may just prove to be the indispensable tool to help steer your organisation through these murky waters. Recently launched in South Africa by exclusive distributor Bateleur Software, the Cardinis Suite brings the two vital disciplines of project governance and project management together, and is described as 'visionary' by Fourie.
Cardinis Suite allows users to define, build and manipulate multiple project portfolio scenarios, and then fully integrates this activity with the operations level by flowing the scenarios and initiatives down into project plans, complete with a unique and revolutionary work breakdown structure (WBS) tool, which drives all subsequent planning activities.
"At a time when measurable ROI is the highest determinant of whether a project stays or goes," says Fourie, "the Cardinis Suite provides the required information and toolset to facilitate rapid decisions, and provides other quantitative benefits that can reduce project costs between 10% to 30%. The software enables easy identification and elimination of redundant projects, quicker termination of non-strategically aligned projects and a faster response specifically where corrective action is required.
"Cardinis also reduces the time involved in project realisation from between 20% to 50%, thereby positively influencing ROI and time-to-market, with corresponding benefits tracking and realisation. The software will help your company optimise resource management, directly impacting on resource costs by efficiently allocating and utilising resources and greatly increasing the quality of your results.
"Most remarkably," continued Fourie, "Cardinis has a dramatic effect on project management resource costs and can reduce PM costs by up to 90%."
The aim of the end-to-end Cardinis Suite solution is to plan and control investments, ensuring that strategic and operative divisions are aligned. It provides top executives, functional managers and project managers with dedicated tools that help them manage operational complexities and take objective decisions based on coherent, complete and up-to-date data. Senior managers can assign projects, set budgets and timelines, and see what's happening on a 'roll-up' basis without waiting for an update or debrief from the project manager(s).
The Cardinis Suite is both horizontally integrated - product, methodology, competencies - and vertically integrated - it provides functions dedicated to each company level. Such integration enables an effective communication mechanism and information sharing to grow the maturity of the company and increase the ROI.
"With 10% to 16% fewer IT resources available now as opposed to three to six months ago, PPM solutions are even more critical," said Melinda-Carol Ballou, principal analyst, IT Executive Service at IDC. "There is a tremendous amount of money lost in poor project management planning. Companies must prioritise effectively in order to survive, especially at a time when they don't have the leeway to fail and are expected to do way more with fewer resources."
Survey respondents found one of the biggest benefits of project management software was project optimisation. The IDC survey found that before PPM implementation, 31% of projects failed and 28% were redundant. Those numbers dropped to 13% and 6%, respectively, after the PPM implementation.
"The Cardinis Suite enables a holistic view of project portfolio investments, the associated programmes and projects within the organisation," said Fourie, "and allows quick decisions on those that do not satisfy changing strategic needs within the context of an economic downturn. Cardinis also has the capability to create scenarios to test various options with regards to investments."
Cardinis Suite is represented on the Gartner Magic Quadrant and is mapped to the UK-based PRINCE2 methodology, as well as PMI's PMBOK, and all processes are executed against the PMBOK standards.
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