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