By: Chandramohan Moorthyraj, Program Director, ServiceNow Practice

Project and Portfolio Management (PPM)/Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) enablement is a high-focus area across all organizations. Customers want to move from traditional portfolio management to Lean Portfolio Management. Hence, the CIO office and PMO leaders who establish Strategic Portfolio Management and continuous delivery capabilities are increasingly investing in PPM/SPM tools. The consequences of not implementing PPM make it harder for the PMO team to collaborate across business units or to even to maintain the consistency of processes across the enterprise. As a result, we see a lot of transformation opportunities in the PPM/SPM space.

The true value of PPM

PPM is not just about the automation of PPM processes. It’s about accelerated quality delivery. Effective PPM implementation will enable overall visibility across the enterprise, alignment of business objectives for all the investments made, and control over these investments.

Effective Project and Portfolio Management focuses on the following key areas that I call the five Ss of PPM.

• Speed
• Scalability
• Standardization
• Stability
• Software selection

Speed

“If you’re not fast, your competitors will be.” We all recognize that innovation speed is important for any organization to create and sustain a competitive advantage amid rapidly changing business environments. A quick release process will allow you to release new features, fix bugs, respond to your customer’s needs, and ultimately, provide your organization with a competitive advantage. The right PPM solution can provide the ability to execute projects on time and on budget to accelerate business outcomes.

Scalability

With the right PPM software, enablement at scale is possible. Scalability is the key capability to consider for companies adopting enterprise-wide PPM tools. For a larger organization, there will be challenges in terms of scalability if they use open-source tools. Hence, it is essential to be well-prepared for scalability while finalizing the “off-the-shelf” PPM tool.

Standardization

The primary function of a PPM solution is to automate processes. Process standardization across the enterprise enables easier access and effective management with flexibility that speeds up all processes immensely. Standardization of process includes definition and use of templates, deliverables, timelines, resource planning, data retrieval from third-party systems, reports, notifications, etc.

Stability

PPM solutions provide more bandwidth to project managers so they can focus on the value and strategy that drives project success. This success translates into reliability and security – two benefits that provide stability.

Software selection

PPM software can deliver value to the organization using an agile/hybrid delivery model. Efficient usage of PPM tools along with Application Portfolio Management and agile development is a key ask from customers. However, it is imperative to select the right PPM tool that ensures overall visibility and control enterprise-wide. Ideally, you should seek PPM software that harnesses the power of automation. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) initiatives have become buzzwords across organizations – these technologies will play an important role in automation of the PPM life cycle. Gartner says 80 percent of today’s project management tasks will be eliminated by 2030 as AI takes over. A successful project portfolio management implementation results in increased accountability by allowing the PMO to have visibility into real-time information across the enterprise.

Conclusion

While PPM continues to evolve, the core tenets stay the same. PPM solutions enable organizations to evaluate and select the right portfolio of projects, providing a single source of truth for all planning and actuals data for projects, programs, and portfolios. Speed, scalability, standardization, stability, and software selection – the five Ss – are still the pillars that will be of significant value in helping your organization achieve scalable, streamlined, and effective PPM processes.