PPM Research

Hewlett Packard expresses it clearly by stating the following:

“HPE believes that effective PPM requires a focus on business outcomes at the aggregate level, not just success at the project level. Solving the challenges of PPM does not require more and better project management tools; it requires an integrated, top-down view of all investments so management has better visibility, more control, and greater flexibility. With this information comes transparency and reliable reports, enabling the organization to have more productive, fact-based conversations between various stakeholders…You need the ability to aggregate both strategic and operational projects and see the critical inter-dependencies among projects. This enables you to identify projects that have the highest return on investment (ROI) quickly and optimize the project portfolio accordingly.”[1]

Project Management is the historical method of managing a project. The Project Management Institute defines a project as temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources. And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies. The development of software for an improved business process, the construction of a building or bridge, the relief effort after a natural disaster, the expansion of sales into a new geographic market — all are projects. And all must be expertly managed to deliver the on-time, on-budget results, learning and integration that organizations need. Project management, then, is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. It has always been practiced informally, but began to emerge as a distinct profession in the mid-20th century. PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) identifies its recurring elements: Project management processes fall into five groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. Project management knowledge draws on ten areas:  Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Procurement, Human resources,  Communications, Risk management, and Stakeholder management. All management is concerned with these, of course. But project management brings a unique focus shaped by the goals, resources and schedule of each project”[2]

The new issue is that historical project management has a large percentage of failures. Per the Project Management Institute, it states that “Traditional project management techniques are not working as expected. According to the Project Management Institute, only 64 percent of projects meet their goals and that number has been flat for multiple years. And even when projects are executed successfully, there can be wide variation in the level business benefits delivered.” [1]

A typical firm using Project Portfolio Management must look at every faucet of the business to start. PPM is the better way of managing projects.  As it essentially looks at the firms objectives and evaluates each project methodically by answering a set of questions customized for the firm.  Based on the answers and budget, the result is an improved approach to starting and finishing projects that immediately lead to better operations, and potentially improvements in areas of sales, IT, and overall business management.

See the PPM Lifecycle on the left.  Also, referenced at https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/apr05/ciliberti/.
 

 [1] Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. (2016). Four Starting Points for Effective PPM. Retrieved from https://www.hpe.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA1-1967ENN.pdf

[2] About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved January 08, 2017, from https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/what-is-project-management

[3] Using project portfolio management to improve business value. (n.d.). Retrieved January 09, 2017, from https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/apr05/ciliberti/