South African organisations are starting to see the value of implementing more integrated solutions in project management to maximise value - but the ownership of a project management solution remains key within any organisation.
These are among the findings of a recent survey run by The Project Group Africa (TPG Africa) and ITWeb, which aimed to identify how organisations in South Africa are managing projects within their defined portfolios, focusing on spend and governance supported by best-fit infrastructures.
The survey set out to determine if organisations in South Africa realise and understand the importance, benefits and necessity of proper project portfolio management; to determine if key components of project portfolio management have been implemented within their organisations; and to see to what extent organisations have established an effective project infrastructure, said Pieter Meyer, CEO at TPG Africa.
In all, 15% of respondents said their organisations had no formal funding review processes, with only 9% indicating that their organisations viewed projects as part of investment portfolios.
"While organisations seem to understand that they would benefit from a well-selected project portfolio management infrastructure that incorporates the best project management technology tools to manage and control their multi-project environments, the short survey indicated that the majority of respondents review projects and approve funding decisions based on business need and financial criteria, judging each unique project on a case-by-case basis," said Meyer.
"Further, while policies exist to estimate costs, evaluate and manage projects within individual business units (38%), only 20% of respondents boasted enterprise-wide consistency in these efforts."
Meyer says approval of the formal business case process to implement a project while attaining top management buy-in is absolutely essential for project management success. It is also vital to appoint a project owner, project manager and project team - all of whom would be held accountable and responsible throughout the business case approval phase. Yet 15% of respondents said their IT companies had no formal accountability or governance structures in place.
"It is vital for organisations to establish internal project governance policies and procedures to support effective project management efforts," he says. "This includes the selection of the most suited department within the organisation to become stakeholders in the process and to implement the projects effectively, managing the scope and expectations carefully, implementing a formal communications plan and presenting results on an ongoing basis."
Another highlight of the survey showed that not all organisations are managing project spend effectively, although the level of project accounting and controls was not part of the survey questions. By implementing project management controls and features, organisations will address this effectively, and because research shows that local businesses aren't quite ready to outsource their project, programme and portfolio management functions, the integration of processes, templates and technology tools are essential to ensure project, programme and portfolio management is successfully executed and visible enough on all levels in organisations, says Meyer.
Key findings
* Fifteen percent of survey respondents say their organisations have no formal funding reviews, with 26% specific to each business unit. Nine percent indicated that their organisations view projects as an investment portfolio.
* When asked if their organisations have clear lines of responsibility and accountability for the technical and financial performance of projects, 41.6% stated that each case is unique, 25.74% chose split responsibility, and only a small percentage of 13.9% said there is no formal performance accountability.
* Some 41.1 % of respondents use a somewhat standard benefits quantification method as a framework to quantify projects' costs and benefits, including non-financial elements. Twenty percent stated that these elements are identified but not quantified.
* Over half of respondents (52.8%) cited that development risk and dependency are identified in their organisations' project proposals. A very small percentage (6.59%) said risks are not identified.
* It also emerged from the survey that 38.8% of respondents' organisations do have a documented standard procedure in place for capturing and formalising project ideas from stakeholders; 31.3% do so on an ad hoc basis; and 16.3% do not have a procedure in place to capture project ideas.
* Some 46.8% selected quality assurance as the responsibility of the development groups when asked if their procedures are designed to ensure consistent quality of all project deliverables; only 15.19% stated that their organisations do not have any standards in place.
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