Where to deploy PPM
Having understood the relevant issues that need to be addressed in order to start organising the business for PPM, we now need to translate this into reality.
Determining the location of the business’s ‘domain’, or in other words, where to deploy the initial PPM process, is critical. Depending on your level of project management maturity, the higher up the organisation the process is to be deployed, the more challenging its implementation will be. The proof-of-benefit (PoB) process discussed later within the chapter articulates the need to prove the initial ROI at a more tactical level within the business, typically at the unit or departmental level. The rationale is to enable the business to construct, test and model the PPM process within a low risk environment as well as understand the change management issues confronting the organisation. Beyond this, the business case built around the PoB is deisgned to enable the business to roll out the PPM process to other parts of the business.
To de-risk the process of organising and deploying a PPM solution, it is essential to deal with ‘chunks’ of activity that prove the value of the solution and process from one stage to the next. Very rarely will a business have all the necessary internal skills to deploy a PPM process. Therefore, to deliver successful PPM and also to strengthen any exisiting in-house expertise, it is recommended that the organisation be in position to recruit outside help in the form of professional consultancy services and software application vendors. We will outline the necessary steps involved in recruiting outside expertise, then we will go into how the business can kick-start the process.
The main areas for consideration include:
a) readiness assessment
b) requirements capture
c) vendor selection process
d) business case considerations
e) the health check
f) measuring the return on investment (ROI) and return on opportunity (ROO)
g) establishing proof-of-benefit (PoB)
h) building a risk management framework.
Understanding the business case through to rollout within the enterprise requires that a number of stages to be followed. Developing an ROI model, understanding the requirements, processes and demands involved, then putting in place a PoB all count as part of the due diligence needed for a successful implementation.
A the process progresses more detail is added to the business case, as when vendors are selected and a roadmap put in place the ROI model becomes clearer, scope changes, opportunities arise or new initiatives are derived from the initial idea.
Next week, we will provide more detail on each area for consideration in the above list.