We had costs in cost spreadsheet templates and in BI Reports. We had forecasts going into a different system. We had integrations with all those systems...But if I wanted to go to one place to see everything I needed to see about that project, I couldn't...So, that's one of the real benefits of pmo365 so far: when I'm doing my month end...analysis and variance reporting, I'm going to one place to look at everything."
Geoff Crook, PMO, Port Waratah
Solution 1: Centralise Data and Bring all Project Managers onboard.
This introduced the ‘single source of truth’ for all Project Managers, the PMO, and other stakeholders. When the service was rolled out as the central location for all project status updates, checklists, costs, forecasting, risk, actions, and reports, its uptake was strong. Benefits became apparent to users “pretty much straight away”.
However, to meet the unique needs of all the different projects in Port Waratah’s portfolio, the pmo365 DevOps team continued to work with the PMO to refine the solution. Port Waratah’s PMO profited from using an iterative deployment process, moulded to its stakeholders needs over time.
As a result, all information located on drives across the organisation was now able to be kept in one location, which made reporting and project tracking incredibly easy.
Solution 2:Centralise Governance Processes for Greater Consistency of Delivery.
Port Waratah was able to gain more consistency in project delivery by using pmo365to ensure project tasks are completed in accordance with company expectations. Gates and stages define the scope and key requirements of each aspect of project delivery, and an approvals process ensures that all requirements are met before the project moves on to the next stage.
Having a single, easily accessible location and ‘one source of truth’ for every project provided greater visibility and control across the entire project portfolio. Not only did this articulate and provide greater governance over each project’s lifecycle, it provided the means to generate enterprise-wide reports and business insights.
Implementation of pmo365 operates on the principle of: Introduce. Integrate. Replace.
- Introduce powerful new Project Portfolio Management (PPM) applications from the pmo365 Solution Library.
- Integrate data from existing applications and tools that users like to use (eg Spreadsheets, forecasting tools, Customer Management Systems).
- Replace old applications that are no longer necessary with PPM tools from the new platform.
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Solution 3: Simplify Reporting.
For Port Waratah, creating oversight and bringing all systems and reports together on to one system were key requirements. Instead of data spread across different applications, all project data is routed directly to Microsoft Power BI to generate best-practice reports and dashboards.
For the PMO, it’s been “transformational” because there’s much less of an administrative burden in the collection of project data. According to Geoff, “the project managers update their projects and my reporting is done.”
Several of those Power BI reports to the Senior Leadership Team are set up directly in presentation mode using PowerPoint. Now, all that’s required for the parts of the PMO’s monthly report is a click of the ‘refresh’ button!
Solution 4: Build Institutional Knowledge.
The other key advantage of centralised project data is the retention of institutional knowledge for use in future project planning. The ability to retain historical data on project performance – as well as artefacts like risk, costs, and resource management – is a tremendous advantage when creating the business case and estimates for new initiatives.
On top of that, institutional knowledge protects the organisation from ‘single point sensitivity’ so that valuable information is retained from project to project, and is accessible by all authorised managers in the PMO. Geoff cites the example of a particular financial report (among the many he has built) which was programmed in collaboration with one of pmo365‘s developers. Not only is the report itself available to other users of pmo365, but Port Waratah’s continuing subscription means that it can be adapted, repaired, or entirely redeveloped whenever the need arises
Solution 5: Provide Shared Tools and Resources.
Bringing project delivery processes together on to a single platform increases work efficiency, speeds up many tasks, and allows for a faster response when problems arise. For example, project tracking, monitoring of performance, and approvals are vastly improved with real-time data and notifications when actions are required. There are far fewer long email chains to contend with, and important documents are not getting lost in someone’s in-tray.
With its ability to fully integrate most Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications, pmo365 is designed to make available the best and most favoured tools for each project’s unique methodology.
Often, the configuration of tools is driven by user experience, but business best practice will also guide the result in consultation with pmo365 developers. This kind of partnership is a key difference between pmo365‘s flexible approach to PPM and the ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions.
For Port Waratah, much of the implementation was driven by the PMO, but the process is ongoing as pmo365‘s DevOps team remains on hand to assist with any new customisations or integrations of their solution.
Derek Halawa, Delivery Lead
Dan Stopher, Head of Customer Success
Laith Adel, Principal Consultant