1. Leveraging Project and Portfolio Management to Navigate Tight Financial Times
EDUCAUSE SE 2011
Randall Alberts
Andrew Graf
- This presentation’s goal is two fold a. help you align challenges you might face with benefits that PPM might provide b. aid those who already believe in ppm with building a funding case for PPM

2. Agenda Georgia State University’s Path to PPM Background The GSU PMO
Processes and Benefits
PPM Trends in Higher Education
Industry Wide Challenges
Basic Foundations
Best Practice Application of PPM Processes
Realized Benefits
Getting Started
Questions and Answers

3. About Georgia State University
Research University
Located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia
31,500 Graduates and Undergraduates
145 Central IT Organization (IS&T)
Distributed IT in colleges

4. Information Systems & Technology PMO
Starting in 2005
Started by identifying the organization’s projects
Project inventory was larger than expected
Looked at ways to organize projects for reporting purposes
Required each project to have a Project Charter

5. IT Governance IT Directors started ranking projects
CIO Set up IT Steering Group (ITSG)
ITSG took up prioritizing projects with customer focus
Ranked all projects to determine where efforts should be focused

6. Time Accounting Started as a directive from the top down
Employees record time for Projects, Operations, and administrative time
Used to help determine IS&T effort
Reports used to help report on work for customer

7. The Customer Input
Customers should be involved with the decision making process
Looking to clear up the “Black hole of IT”
IT provides the data so customers can make informed decisions
Can answer the question, “What have you done for me lately?”

8. Higher Ed PPM Industry Trends
TeamDynamix Overview
TeamDynamix provide Higher Education specific Project and Portfolio Management solutions (PPM). TeamDynamix software and services adhere to a simple and proven higher education specific PPM deployment approach.
Highlights
Built specifically to support the evolution of the Higher Ed PMO
Embedded Higher Ed best practices (ECAR/Spellings)
Higher Education implementation approach (PEMM)
Intuitive solutions
Higher Ed PPM Industry Trends

9. TeamDynamixHE Mission
TeamDynamixHE is focused on the advancement of project and portfolio management maturity within colleges and universities.

10. TeamDynamixHE Overview
Key Attributes
Have helped more institutions succeed with PPM than any other vendor
Offer the only extensive Higher Education specific library of PPM implementation templates
TeamDynamixHE Advisory Council (TAC)
Embedded Higher Ed best practices (i.e.-ECAR)
Higher Ed Governance/PPM Community: TDHE Community
Higher Ed implementation approach (PEMM)

11. Client Sample

12. Higher Education IT Trends
Budgets are tight. IT leadership needs to balance cost cutting with providing service to customers.
IT is under fire. IT leadership needs to find objective ways to negotiate schedules and demonstrate workloads and deliver results.
Trying to help articulate the Why, things to think about and several first steps. We won’t be discussing detailed governance committee structures. Define IT Governance as including Demand Management, Resource Management, Project Management, Change Management and Communication. So why is ITG so timely? Two common themes from our interviews.

14. PPM: Key Drivers www.TeamDynamixHE.com Tell IT’s Story
Help set reasonable expectations and objectively negotiate schedules
Improve execution
Improved results

15. PPM: Basic Required Data
Skill set inventory required to operate
Key services inventory (services provided to stakeholder groups)
Work inventory by customer
Operational (keep the lights on)
Project work
Who is working on what employing which skill sets? (high level)
Align work with key services
Request inventory with required skill sets and duration (future/requested commitments)
This can be tracked in a PPM tool or in excel. Can be managed by an individual and small staff minimizing the need for change. Maturity and budget should dictate which.

16. PPM: Tells IT’s Story www.TeamDynamixHE.com
Increase stakeholders’ understanding of the status of work they requested
Increase stakeholders understanding of how IT work supports their objectives and measures (services)
Increase stakeholders’ understanding of how IT supports the organization (services)
Increase stakeholder’s understanding of IT’s constraints
First need to help stakeholders understand IT. Quantity and type of work, Constraints, future commitments, current priorities.
. Factual data increases credibility

17. Reporting Example: Workload and Constraints
Don’t need tools to report. Could use excel or powerpoint. Doesn’t need to be task level

18. Reporting Example: Stakeholder Projects
Show them their projects but with the context of IT’s body of work and constraints. IT is a scarce resource.

19. Reporting Example: Upcoming Commitments

20. PPM: Helps Set Reasonable Expectations
Help stakeholders understand the impacts of priority changes
Clearly and factually present the roadblocks to completing requested work
Give Stakeholders objective and tenable choices to make
Timing
Reprioritization
Resource adjustments
Budget adjustments
Scope adjustments

21. www.TeamDynamixHE.com Reporting Example: Impacts of Priority Changes
Helps explain choices

22. PPM: Improves Execution
Clear agreement on project definition and scope
Improved estimating practices
Improved basic project management processes
BBPM*-Bare Bones Project Management
*Author: Bob Lewis,

23. IT Governance: Delivers Results
Staff of 70 frees $400,000 of resource time per year
Forrester
15% reduction in project failure
10% reduction in cost overruns
10% reduction in project completion time
10% reduction in low value projects being executed
25% reduction in PMs’ administrative effort

24. IT Governance: Delivers Results
“TDHE has given IT leadership tools to understand capacity when making commitments and to clearly articulate constraints to stakeholders to set reasonable and achievable expectations.”
-Johnson County Community College

25. PPM: Approaching Implementation
#1: Secure executive support
Identify and prioritize key pains (tackle them first)
Identify the MINIMUM amount of process/tool necessary to address key pains (digestible bites)
Spend time planning for change (cultural change mgmt.)
Communicate regularly (Marketing-frequency and format)
Leverage all stars to create change
Promote successes (marketing creates leverage)
REPEAT!

26. TeamDynamix Overview Highlights
TeamDynamix provide Higher Education specific Project and Portfolio Management solutions (PPM). TeamDynamix software and services adhere to a simple and proven higher education specific PPM deployment approach.
Highlights
Built specifically to support the evolution of the Higher Ed PMO
Embedded Higher Ed best practices (ECAR/Spellings)
Higher Education implementation approach (PEMM)
Intuitive solutions
Randall Alberts
Direct:
Andrew Graf
Direct:
“Project Management Goes to College” (2010) Alberts, R.