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Project Portfolio Management Implementation Plan

Business begins with ideas. Ideas that are developed into products or services through a series of carefully planned and executed projects. Naturally, the success or failure of these projects impacts the bottom line. In this context, companies are beginning to manage projects like any other financial investment and are implementing measurable criteria for prioritizing projects and efficiently using project resources.

Successful Project Execution begins with understanding the project boundaries of the capabilities within the organization as well as project-specific success and limitation criteria.

This situation is further fueled by the increasing demand to deliver greater value to customers faster and with fewer resources. In this competitive environment, companies may choose the wrong project or attempt to do more projects than they have the capacity to manage or complete successfully.

Some of the biggest problems facing organizations result from contradictory and unreliable approaches to project management. Without consistent selection criteria, choosing which projects to fund may be determined by something as simple as who speaks up first or loudest for budget.

Portfolio Management must be performed at all stages during a project portfolio life cycle and under consideration of strategic, financial and operative aspects. Project Portfolio Management is a packaged composite application that readily allows for an out-of-the-box installation and base configuration. The exact implementation scope can be refined to meet client-specific needs. However, in general, the following product areas discussed here should be included in an initial implementation.

Project Portfolio Management implementation be structured such that it delivers a return as quickly as possible. An iterative approach is recommended as this allows for an organizations’ understanding, or lack thereof, of Project Portfolio Management along with the implementation team’s knowledge of client-specific processes to be better controlled.

Some of the processes listed below may be in a state that allows for immediate inclusion in Phase-1. However they are often in a state that requires analysis prior to being supported by Project Portfolio Management. Therefore, as the following items are not normally required to go into production, nor do they always provide an immediate return, it is recommended that they are scheduled beyond the first phase of the implementation.

Project Portfolio Management Implementation Plan Example

Suggested Phase-1 Functional Scope:

Portfolio Management
Portfolio Registration, Governance, Planning and supporting Workflow
Resource Capacity Management
Portfolio Prioritization, Scenario Modeling, and Critical Success Factors
Executive, Project, and Resource Management Dashboard Configuration
Portfolio, Resource, and Projects/ Services Analytics
Project systems integration
Human Resource systems integration

Post Phase-1 Scope:

Client -specific reporting
Skills Catalog
Skills Management
Human Resource (Employee, other) Skills Management
Aspiration Management
Task Management (Assignment and Member/Manager Status)
Modifications to base systems to support Project/Portfolio scheme
High-end customization or development.

Implementation Team

Some roles outlined below can be provided by the client, implementation team, or both. Additionally, multiple implementation roles described can often be satisfied by a single resource.

In addition to the specific implementation roles listed below, a formal project structure with stakeholders and a project manager on both the client and SAP side are mandatory and critical to success. Also, client-specific QA, documentation, and educational needs (end-user, technical team) must also be appropriately determined to support the implementation and production system.

The exact implementation team can be refined to leverage client resource shortfalls and surpluses. However, in general, the following implementation roles are necessary for an Project Portfolio Management implementation:

No	Implementation Role	Required?	Key Skill Needed to Support Implementation	Implementation Responsibilities	%-Required
1	Implementation Executive, Project Champion	Required	• Understanding of corporate/senior management priorities • Able to secure resources, funding as required • Access to senior management • Experience deploying enterprise-wide systems -- able to take escalated project issues and resolve	• Resolve escalated issues • Ensure necessary financial, human resources are obtained • Assume ultimate responsibility for project and ensure project meets expectations and stays within scope • Ensure project team is performing at optimum level and that outside obstacles and dependencies are resolved	10-25%
2	Project Manager	Required	• Experience deploying and managing enterprise applications to a equivalent size user base, project • Understanding of organization's structure and processes	• Ensure project plan, schedule, estimate, budget, issues list are developed, maintained, and executed	25-75%
3	Subject Matter Expert(s) / Functional Analysts	Required	• Knowledge of organization's Portfolio Management, Governance, Project and/or Product Life cycle Methodology, and Resource Management business processes.	• Provide input to ensure configuration meets organizational requirements	25-75%
4	Technical Analyst	*Required	• Knowledge of configuration • Basic understanding of business processes • Experience deploying enterprise applications to an equivalent size user base	• Configures based on organization requirements • Documents requirements and design in Blueprint	25-75%
5	Business Information Warehouse Analyst	Optional	• Experience deploying and configuring • Basic understanding of reporting and the organization's reporting requirements	• Configures BI, installs content, and setups and tests extraction routines • If necessary, develops custom queries, report templates, and cubes	50-75%
6	Security Analyst	Optional	• Knowledge of organization's security policies and how to enable compliance with them.	• Configures the necessary LDAP, firewalls, DMZ, and user account information as necessary and applicable.	5-15%
7	Workflow Analyst	Optional	• If the provided workflows will be modified, or augmented, an Workflow Analyst may be required. This resource does not have to be resident in the client organization.	• Analyze, design and construct necessary modifications to existing, or additional, Workflows based on client business processes	0-25%
8	QA Specialist	Required	• Experience setting up, writing, and executing test plans for enterprise applications • Knowledge of the client-specific configuration	• Develop, plan, and execute quality assurance and test plans	10-15%
9	End User Trainer	Required	• Experience training end-users on enterprise applications • Knowledge of the client-specific configuration	• Develop, plan, and execute end-user education and training	10-15%
9	Documentation Specialist	Required	• Experience documenting enterprise applications • Knowledge of the client-specific configuration	• In conjunction with Trainer, develop end-user and system documentation as necessary/applicable	10-15%

Implementation Estimate

The following implementation estimate can be refined for client-specific needs but, in general, represents a standard Project Portfolio Management implementation and is a fair estimate to align expectations.

Many activities can be performed in parallel, so the work estimate provided below is not meant to indicate duration.

#	Phase	Work, Low (days)	Work, High (days)	*Consulting Resource (FTE)				Rate ($) K 3-5	Total Lo ($)	Total Hi ($)
				PM	Functional Analyst	Total
				PM	Functional Analyst	Low	High
1	Project planning and charter	5	10	1	0.5	8.75	10.75
2a	Installation, base configuration	5	10	0.25	0.5	11.25	22.5
2b	Functional Blueprint	5	20	1	1	13.75	55
2c	Workflow Blueprint	5	20	1	0.5	13.75	55
3	System Realization	20	100	1	1	80	400
4	Final Prep (ready envirs, test, train)	5	20	1	1	25	100
5	Go-live & support	5	10	1	1	13.75	27.5
	TOTALS	50	190			166.25	670.75

Generic Schedule

The following phases of an Project Portfolio Management schedule are generic in nature and can be refined to accommodate client-specific dependencies and resource availability.

Project planning and charter
System installation and base configuration
Business blueprint
System realization
Testing
End-user education
Go-Live
Post Go-Live support

Software Licensing:

Project Portfolio Management is a packaged composite application which is delivered with the components bundled to support its installation and the licensing fees are based on the product you are implementing.

Landscape (Hardware) Requirements:

The vendors will provide a general recommendation and can be modified to meet client-specific requirements and internal IT standards.

Similar less robust environments must also be considered to support a Development (sandbox) environment (DEV) and Testing/QA (TEST). Depending on the organization’s policies, environments might also be configured/added to support end-user education/training.

What are the biggest problems in Project Portfolio Management?

What is an Example Project Portfolio Management Implementation Plan?

An example Project Portfolio Management Implementation Plan consists of scope, Implementation Team, Implementation Estimate, Generic Schedule, Software Licensing and Landscape (Hardware) Requirements.