Why enterprise project management solution implementations fail

There are several different enterprise project management (EPM) solutions on the market, and there are several suppliers and companies that will assist clients in implementing such a solution.

There is often a debate as to which is the best EPM solution, and there is a range of options available from the international and local market.

Realistically, all of the products have benefits and the real debate is not necessarily about which is the best EPM solution, but rather which is the best solution fit for a specific organisation.

Regardless of which EPM solution you choose for your organisation, the following crucial dependencies have a significant impact on the ultimate success of the implementation of any EPM solution: * Ownership

* Procedures and processes
* Training and
* Change management

In any organisation, or departments of organisations, the ownership of an EPM solution is crucial to have any value or benefits. Very often in an organisation there is an identified need for a solution to support projects, and executives or upper management task business and IT with the selection and implementation of the EPM solution.

The problem arises after business and IT has fulfilled its mandate and the solution has been implemented. The IT department in organisations will possibly support the solution but they won't necessarily own it, unless the solution is purely implemented for their needs.

The main challenge currently is to convince management and executives to take ownership of the solutions and lead by example to ensure active participation by all stakeholders. Lack of ownership will cause a slack in momentum and continuity which will have a major impact on the value realisation of the solution.

If the organisation already has a project management office (PMO), the PMO will have to take ownership of the solution, or at least some form of line management involved in projects should own the solution and ensure that the EPM solution gets used. Any EPM solution must be integrated with project-related delivery processes and procedures to ensure proper governances are adhered to.

Project delivery processes and procedures need to be defined, agreed and documented. These processes and procedures need to be owned by an appropriate governance body in order to extract the value from governance. The results must be an integrated toolkit that ensures the EPM solution works for the processes.

The number one myth in many organisations is that the new EPM solution will fix their governance and project problems with the click of a button.

The staff members who will be using the EPM solution need to know the fundamentals of project management, who owns the toolkit and how the solution will be used to have maximum value.

In any medium to large organisation, a project management office has become a necessity to ensure the EPM solution, including systems, are governed and supported through the appropriate project delivery procedures and processes.

Before any staff member gets exposed to any EPM system, they must be familiarised with the key fundamentals, processes and procedures of project management. The best practice roadmap for staff in the organisation will be:

* To participate during the process and procedure development
* To be trained on the processes and procedures linked to best fitted templates for the organisation or department (toolkit)
* To be trained in fundamentals and perhaps advance project management discipline
* To be trained on the implemented EPM system by practitioners and to be coached and mentored by practitioners

Training, mentorship and hand holding (skills transfer) is as vital to any implementation as ownership and processes are. To cut back on training is to cut back on the success of the EPM solution. Skills transfer obviously comes at a cost and is often the first cost to be trimmed when trying to ensure that the new EPM solution comes in within the given budget.

"What never makes sense is that organisations are willing to spend two or three hundred thousand rand on an EPM solution and then only spending a very small amount to train their staff to use the solution," says Dennin Smith, UMT SA's Training Manager

UMT's views as a practitioner in the EPM space is to have this specific skills transfer as part of the organisation's overall equity plan. UMT SA's bottom line suggestion on preventing an EPM solution failure is to train, re-train, workshop, mentor and coach staff to secure the investment you have made on your EPM solution.

Finally, anytime a new system or solution is put in place, there will be some unease and even some resistance, which is why an EPM solution implementation must cater for an effective change management activity, to introduce the solution and to ensure its adoption into the organisation.

UMT SA is one of the companies offering EPM implementation services and is on your doorstep to assist with the above challenge you are facing.