Achieving Business Outcomes and Organizational

Efficiency through the Evolved PMO on Project Online

Puget Sound Microsoft Project User Group – January 2013

Brook Buchanan

Principal Consultant, Pcubed

/brookbuchanan

Key Takeaways

1. Great portfolios create processes that align to the

delivery of strategic objectives

2. Build teams and roles that can maximize velocity to focus

on program benefits

3. Save time and money executing projects with Project

Online and Office 365

Business Context

70 percent of projects

fail to meet schedule,

cost, and quality goals

Gartner

50 percent of projects

are delivered over

budget

Gartner

Fewer than 40 percent

of projects met business

objectives one year

after initiation

KPMG

80 percent of IT

organizations are

putting processes in

place to improve

alignment

Forrester

Business

Select project proposals that have the

highest value

Execute projects effectively

Collaborate and manage project work

Have the right people for the right job at

the right time

Optimize investment return vs. cost

Choose investments objectively instead

of subjectively

Challenges

Challenges

Track time spent on managed work

Provide meaningful reports on business

initiatives

Alleviate management concern over

complexity and high cost of IT

Prove the business value of IT projects

IT Challenges

A solution should help… …by providing the ability to

ALIGN INVESTMENTS WITH

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Define, prioritize, and communicate the actual business strategy

Consistently evaluate, rank, and rate competing investment requests

Ensure investments are properly aligned with business strategy

MEASURE CORPORATE

PERFORMANCE

Use key performance indicators (KPIs) for corrective actions

Use early indicators of project performance to support decision making

Provide better visibility into and control of risk factors and issues

MANAGE THE COSTS OF

PROJECTS AND

PROGRAMS

Predict financial performance

Gain visibility into work efforts across business units

Optimize initiatives to increase productivity with fewer resources

OPTIMIZE RESOURCE

ALLOCATION ACROSS THE

ORGANIZATION

Build a skills inventory

Effectively allocate resources

Track resource performance

MAXIMIZE PRODUCTIVITY

OF INDIVIDUALS WORKING

ON PROJECTS

Share and find project artifacts

Ensure project leaders communicate clear objectives about work

performance

Solution Support

Those Key Takeaways Again…

1. Great portfolios create processes that align to the

delivery of strategic objectives

2. Build teams and roles that can maximize velocity to focus

on program benefits

3. Project Online will reduce technical barriers of combining

project portfolio knowledge into information management

processes

Business Drivers – Where to Start

Align investments with business strategy

Measure corporate performance

Manage the costs of projects and programs

Optimize resource allocation across the

organization

Maximize productivity of individuals working

on projects

Case Study Example of Business Drivers

Driver Definition Example Initiatives Metrics Strategic

Growth

• Increase the

number of active

patients in line

with strategic

services.

• B2B Enhancement

Efforts

• Improved patient

booking systems

• % change in active

patients

• # Surgeries

Performed

Quality • Improve doctor

statistics against

industry

benchmarks

• Medical process

standards

improvement

• Equipment capital

investments

• Service benchmark

comparison

• Fees benchmark

comparison

Service • Overall end user

satisfaction with

services provided

by the medical

practices.

• Patient survey

• Service design

process improvement

efforts

• National service

rankings

• Patient wait times

People • Improving

employee

satisfaction

• Training programs

• Employee Surveys

• Employee

Satisfaction Index

Business Driver Alignment Phased Approach Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Communicate business

strategy effectively by

using diagrams, charts,

and written descriptions,

and then collect, update,

and manage initiative

requests and related

information

Collect project investment

requests and establish a

system to rank and assess

them

Prove investment worth by

defending investment

positioning

Collect and objectively

prioritize business drivers,

and then drive consensus

among executives

Identify and select project

investment requests by

scoring that is aligned with

business drivers

Select investments based

on rational decisions rather

than emotions

Provide organizational

control and action

according to business

strategy

Enable a rationalized

approach to choose which

investments have the

highest return and

alignment to business

strategy

Enhance the business

value of the portfolio, to

ensure that the mix of

investments aligns to

established business

strategy

Demo Translating Requirements into Project Online

Start to See Benefits within Teams

1. Great portfolios create processes that align to the

delivery of strategic objectives

2. Build teams and roles that can maximize velocity to focus

on program benefits

3. Save time and money executing projects with Project

Online and Office 365

Optimization Benefits to Mature PMO

Determine which projects

are forced out by resource

constraints

Identify resource hotspots

Assess scenario with

different FTE headcounts

and identify external hires

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Assess capacity vs.

demand on a skill level

Assign resources as

they're needed without

formal processes

Track resource

performance per project

manually

• Find the right people

based on matching their

skills, identify optimal

project start dates, and

assess when to delay

projects

• Select the right resource

based on skill set and

availability, make resource

assignments centrally

visible, and communicate

effectively with resources

• Automate resource

tracking

Understand organizational

capabilities across work

management scenarios,

make headcount and

outsourcing decisions, and

normalize capabilities

decisions from multiple

sources

Make smart scheduling

decisions about the

planning horizon based on

forecasted projects and

programs

Plan demand-

management scenarios

and make informed

decisions about

outsourcing

Resource Optimization Phased Approach

Set Baseline & Realistic Improvement Goals

Track worker velocity and the consistency of deliverables

Understand current capabilities by role and paths to

improvement

Collectively create, find, and store project artifacts

Ensure that project schedules and deadlines are enforced

Place the utmost value on business outcomes

Demo Optimizing Your Portfolio in Project Online

An Effective Solution

1. Great portfolios create processes that align to the

delivery of strategic objectives

2. Build teams and roles that can maximize velocity to focus

on program benefits

3. Save time and money executing projects with Project

Online and Office 365

Project Online Positioning: Enterprise SaaS

SaaS

• Basic team collaboration with minimal integration

• Benefits immediate

• Low Cost

Project Online

• Integrated enterprise with full Office 365 adoption

• Benefits timeframe pooled across platform

• Mid Range Cost

Enterprise Solutions

• Full integration with financials

• Benefits timeframe longer

• High Cost

Main Benefits of Office 365 Project Online

Engage teams and stakeholders everywhere

Pilot solution benefits quickly

Build in your own processes

Integrate business functions across Office 365

My Tasks: Integrated Work Management

Follow your projects and

other colleagues project

updates via consolidated

news feeds

Combine Outlook, Project

and other SharePoint

tasks in a single view

Workflows: Simplified Process Management

Business accessible

designer with no custom

code

Visualize workflow

processes to communicate

logic to organization

Demo Orchestrating the Process in Project Online

Taking the Next Step

Take Away Next Steps

Great portfolios create processes

that align to the delivery of

strategic objectives

• Decide if your organization see improved

benefits realization through portfolio

management?

• Determine level of stakeholder

engagement and company direction on

measuring performance against strategic

objectives

Build teams and roles that can

maximize velocity to focus on

program benefits

• Baseline team velocity and determine

achievable goals over next 6-12 months

Save time and money executing

projects with Project Online and

Office 365

• Trials are available for Office 365 and

Project Online

• Training and Partners are available to help

Contribution Thank You to Global Team

David Wells, Sydney

Renee Lucas, San Francisco

Jean Lieverman, Los Angeles

Bert Velasco, Seattle

Nicole Ferrer, Seattle

Q & A

Contact, Questions, Advice…

Brook Buchanan

/brookbuchanan