Trends in PPM Tool Selection and Implementation

Situation: You are thinking about how PPM fits at your org...

I recently spoke with Demian Entrekin, CTO of Innotas about the trends his organization is seeing in the marketplace.  Although every tool vendor obviously has an angle to sell, Demian isn’t your typical product pusher.  Together we worked through what's going on now (at a high level) as more companies take on serious PPM efforts.  Hopefully this will be helpful if you're in one of those companies where PPM is a promising new approach or you're giving it a second try after a lackluster first effort. 

SaaS vs In-house Implementations
A key choice up front in the selection process is whether your organization is biased toward SaaS or in-house solution.  Take a look at each of the drivers listed and see which way our company inherently leans.  Some say that people don't change.  The same sometimes holds true for companies.  So this table could give you a real view into the future.  Based on our conversation, here are some key drivers.

Driver	SaaS	In-House
Budget	Primary Issue	Not a huge constraint
Existing PM and PPM Software	Not an investment worth preserving	An investment in in-house tools that must be preserved
Existing Skills	More in processes, less in existing tools used	Large numbers of staff well trained in existing traditional tools
Security Issues	Merely desire assurance of security	All data must be held in-house
Outsourcing Bent	Committed to outsourcing non-core activities or open to it.	A we “build what we need” mentality
Need for Speed	Need something in place now	We can wait
Approach to selection	Want to try on a small scale that is easy to roll back from before we do a full roll out	We want to be very sure before we commit
Customization	We want the standard setup	We want extreme customization

This is, of course, just a high-level review of selection criteria.  Hopefully enough to “get smart” quickly as you begin your search.  If you want a more detailed look at selection criteria, take a look at the selection tool published on Projects@Work.


Who Feels Your Pain?
Demian tells me they see three basic problems (pain points) when they approach a new customer.  They try to focus on ONE at a time.  If you think about the pain points in the chart below, it’s very much a question of maturity.  It's likely that the success of your first efforts will depend not on having project prioritized right away, but on achieving that next level of maturity.

So as you look at tools, think about the maturity of your organization and how well each candidate tool will support your efforts in that next critical area.  This applies not just to the tool itself, but to the services and best practices that come with it.  Many of these efforts are half tool and half process.  As you narrow your search, map out how you will tackle each pain point and think about which has the greatest chances for success.

Pain Point	The Situation	The Goal
Supply/Demand Management	IT is in a defensive position and “can’t say no”.  Management satisfaction is low because the decision is taken out of their hands.	Regulate Demand and make good short-term judgment calls.
Execution	Everyone reinvents the wheel with every project and reporting is inconsistent.	Repeatable processes and reporting make management easier.
Prioritization	Decisions are made for political reasons or based on very little information.	A solid decision-making process.