Appendix B: Project Portfolio Management Selection

Introduction

A host of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tools are available in the marketplace. This tool set suggests steps to select the tool and solution that are a best fit for the purpose and deliver or exceed anticipated business benefits.

1. Define your objectives. PPM tools can be seen by senior management as a silver bullet for a number of business problems (e.g., selecting the optimum project portfolio for an organization to invest in, improving governance of projects, or improving the way resources are managed). Step 1, therefore, is to define the business objectives of the PPM solution you are aiming to meet, and get agreement from the sponsor and senior stakeholders. It may seem basic, but this critical step is often overlooked.

2. Define your scope. Once objectives are clear, define your scope in more detail. An effective way to do this is to use the MoSCoW rules of features prioritization that are often used in Agile developments:

M—MUST: Describes a feature that must be included in the final solution in order for the solution to be considered a success. S—SHOULD: Represents a high-priority feature that should be included in the solution if it is possible within the available time/resources/budget but that can be deferred/omitted without compromising the success of the solution.

C—COULD: Represents a feature that would be useful and could be included in the solution if it is possible within the available time/resources/budget but that can be deferred/omitted without compromising the success of the solution.

W—WON’T: Represents a feature that stakeholders have agreed will not be implemented initially but may be considered for the future.

It is tempting to go for the most expansive scope, but using MoSCoW rules helps focus on the important and critical ones. Remember, the bigger the scope, the bigger (usually) the cost of the subsequent implementation project.

3. Review the marketplace for potential solutions, not potential tools. It is tempting to develop a tools short list rather than a solutions short list. A critical success factor of implementing a PPM tool is to work with a solution provider that understands not just PPM but also your business and the most effective way to support you in your PPM implementation. You can select the best functionally rich tool in the marketplace, but if the implementation partner does not have capability, resource, or cultural fit, your PPM project will likely not succeed.

You could also use Google or LinkedIn forums to review the marketplace. One word of caution here is that some PPM vendors are one-man bands; thus, it is advisable to do a simple credit and capability check on vendors. Also, can a one-man band really give you the support that you need for a PPM implementation project?

4. Run a vendor selection process. Whether it is a formal request for proposal (RFP) process or a less informal set of requests and presentations, it is essential that each vendor demonstrate its system to you, ideally focusing on your areas of mandatory (the MoSCoW Must Have) requirements. Be careful of the slick salesperson who knows the product inside out but is nowhere to be seen during the implementation.

When conducting demonstrations, include key staff who would be involved in the process. During the selection period:

a. Understand the technical requirements of the product and whether it will work in your infrastructure.

b. Review the implementation process suggested by the vendor. Is it a switch-on, some training, then goodbye?

c. Contact and visit reference sites with project organizations and challenges similar to yours.

d. Review the contract. Often the contract is for monthly rental and can have a long termination notice.

e. Objectively score the product, solution, and vendor capability.

f. Agree to a pilot (typically three months). Expect to pay for a pilot, as it is unreasonable to expect a vendor to run a pilot for three months or longer for no fees.

g. Understand if your project processes need to be changed or enhanced to maximize the benefits from the new PPM tool.

h. Check whether the vendor can do “train the trainer,” as this may be a more cost-effective option than expensive consultants training each new starter.

5. Run a pilot as a project and measure the results. The pilot should pick a reasonably receptive area of the business that will look at a new PPM tool with a positive frame of mind. It defeats the objective of the pilot to select a business area that wants the pilot to fail, as it will fail with this mentality.

6. Negotiate and agree on contracts. Self-explanatory.

7. Plan and launch the new PPM change project. A PPM implementation project is a major change project and needs to be managed as one. Plan for sustainability. It is a mistake to think that tool implementation followed by training is sufficient to achieve the benefits that you set out in Step 1. Plan for resources to be expended so that the importance and the benefits of the PPM solution are regularly reinforced by sponsors and senior stakeholders.

Summary

We have seen many examples of PPM solutions delivering real business benefits to organizations. However, there are also many examples of expensive PPM solutions being heroic failures costing millions and used as a glorified timesheet or planning system. If you follow these seven steps, you will be on the right path to deliver real business value for your PPM project.