Challenge    Solution    Success Story

Challenge

Most companies struggle to ensure that their Program & Project Management efforts are effective and efficient.  If you're not sure how well your company is doing, ask yourself a few questions:

      How successfully do your projects meet stakeholder expectations?

      When was last time one of your projects was completed on time and on budget?

      How do track whether your projects are on time and on budget?

      How effectively are you applying program and project management best practices?

      How accurate are your project man-hour estimates?

      Who sponsors technology projects, technology leaders or business leaders?

      Do your consultants and contractors complete their projects on time and on budget?

      How would you compare with mature program and project management organizations?

      How effective is your Project Management Office?

For a broader perspective, consider these research statistics from The Standish Group regarding application development projects:

      Average Project Cost for a large company - $1.2 million

      Average Project Cost for a medium company - $1.1 million

      Average Project Cost for a small company - $0.4 million

      Average Project Success Rate for a large company - 24%

      Average Project Success Rate for a medium company - 28%

      Average Project Success Rate for a small company - 32%

      52.7% of projects will cost 189% of their original estimates

Just for good measure, do you remember the City of Denver's fiasco when it built a new airport?

      Failure to produce reliable software to handle baggage cost the city $1.1 million per day

Bottom Line: Your company's Program & Project Management capabilities are probably not as effective and efficient as they should be, but you are not alone.  Improving these capabilities can:

      Reduce project costs

      Shrink project timelines

      Mitigate project risks

      Create competitive advantage

Solution

Using our Program & Project Management service, our clients focus on their four key goals:

      Maximize the quality of the results

      Minimize the cost of the results 

      Minimize the time required to attain the results 

      Manage risk

According to the Project Management Institute's A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, "Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of the particular project."

Program Management is a broader, more complex service that is utilized for:

      A coordinated portfolio of projects with a common strategic goal

      A single, large or very complex project

      A set of otherwise unrelated projects bounded by a business cycle

      A broad effort encompassing a number of projects

In our Program & Project Management service, we concentrate on five key process:

      Initiating

      Planning

      Executing

      Controlling

      Closing

Within each process in the Program & Project Management lifecycle we continually evaluate the following critical success factors:

      Integration

      Scope

      Time

      Cost

      Quality

      Human Resources

      Communications

      Risk

      Procurement

Additionally, for Program Management we provide:

      Overall direction and guidance

      Assurance that related projects are communicating effectively

      A central point of contact and focus for the client and the project teams

      Definition and prioritization of individual projects to ensure their successful completion

      Mitigation of stakeholders with differing needs and expectations

      Coordination of problem and change management

The success of our Program & Project Management service enables our clients' senior executives to:

      Establish measures of success

      Enable customer focus and alignment

      Quantify value commensurate with cost

      Optimize the use of organizational resources

      Incorporate quality principles

      Put strategic plans into practice

      Ensure fast time-to-market

Success Story

Challenge

A Fortune Global 50 financial services company needed to upgrade its North American technology infrastructure from token-ring, Banyan Vines, and Windows 95 to Ethernet and the latest version of Windows for both servers and PCs.  Initially their efforts were separated into three projects: network migration, server migration, and PC migration.  While this paralleled the internal organizational structure, it did not account for the communications, integration, and coordination requirements of the interrelated projects. 

Solution

To manage risk and ensure appropriate communications, integration, and coordination, a Program Management office was established to oversee the three Project Management efforts.  Initially the organization was reluctant to embrace the new governance model; however, through abundant communications and consistent enforcement, the Program Management office was accepted and successful.

Key results of the Program & Project Management teams:

      End-user satisfaction exceeded expectations

      All Projects were completed on time

      All Projects were completed below budget

      Testing efforts revealed technology issues in a timely fashion, avoiding delays and risks