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Situation: You Need a High-End, Soup to Nuts PPM Solution
Mercury was always an impressive PPM solution. Since the HP acquisition, they've combined this robust software solution with an equally robust set of services. It's now called, the HP Demand and Portfolio Management solution. The goal is to provide everything you need, top to bottom, to get your (typically large) organization's PM and PPM operations on track. What the HP folks describe in the interview below goes far beyond a tool, or even a tool + process implementation. My guess is that it's not cheap, but if you're a part of a company where money is not a problem, but positive results are - take a close look at this...The answers below were a joint effort between:
- Jan Sondergaard, VP of Products, HP Software, Hewlett-Packard Company
- Dan C. Rueckert, Director of Service Management and Security, Hewlett-Packard Company
Q. Your Demand and Portfolio Management Solution adds a service component to your offering – effectively creating a one-stop shop. That makes procurement easier and consolidates responsibility for potential clients. How does it impact their cost? Are there still other services options (partners/VARs) that prospective clients can turn to achieve the same results?
A. HP’s Demand and Portfolio Management solution does include the necessary software and services that customer could purchase to quickly get started. However, we have a wide array of partners who offer additional value to meet evolving customer requirements. From a cost perspective, companies can save money through improved project identification and prioritization of IT projects that are forecasted to actually deliver value that meets to overall business goals. For a large enterprise to address the key challenges of demand management, portfolio management, and project management across the IT organization, it typically needs a value-based solution that includes effective processes, IT governance and program management structures, software integration, and skills development. Companies can choose to implement the solution in a phased or modular approach that also maps to their organizational maturity.
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Q. Your stated goals around project success and alignment are the “holy grail” of project management – promised by all and delivered by few. What are you offering that’s truly different from a product perspective? And from a consulting services perspective?
A. What is different is we are combining our industry-leading HP PPM Center software products that have already delivered business value to over 800 customers though automation with new consulting services and education services that can better address the people and process challenges around demand and portfolio management. The product is designed to help drive and sustain adoption by executive management as well as end-users – two critical constituents to ensure ongoing adoption and success. We believe such focus – what we call a top-down – bottom-up approach results in the greatest adoption levels. Additionally, role-based dashboards keep all stakeholders apprised of project and portfolio status in real-time. A zero-based client interface (100% web for all modules) enables end users to update their projects anywhere. Strong support for Microsoft project also gives our customers the flexibility to use HP PPM Center software for project management as well as Microsoft project.
HP consulting services can design and implement the right processes and IT governance programs for sustainable demand, project, portfolio, and resource management so IT can continue to optimize resources and projects to meet the needs of the business. HP Education services can target building the skill sets of project managers and business analysts who have to make decisions using the information from the software.
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Q. Tell me more about the “Awareness Workshops” that are part of your solution. What are the real goals of each workshop? Who participates? What is involved?
A. HP has 2 workshops to generate awareness on areas specific to the HP Demand and Portfolio Management solution offering, including addressing larger service management challenges:
1. Project Management race to results simulation - http://h10076.www1.hp.com/education/race-to-results.htm. The Goal is to generate awareness within the IT and business organizations about the value of project management, portfolio management.
2. Service Management Transformation Experience - Unique, slide-free workshop with IT and business teams to realize the scope, scale and all critical success factors for IT transformation. The goal is to help organizations with stakeholder buy-in and make informed strategy decisions. The workshop can be used to demonstrate how demand and portfolio management can help an organization. Specific components such as IT governance or portfolio management are highlighted as critical elements of any IT transformation effort, including the relationship between IT strategy and other IT domains such as operations.
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Q. Recent conventional wisdom now focuses on project definition and environmental changes during the course of a project as the major causes of project failure. Is there something special that your solution does to address these issues?
A. Specifically, the Business Analysis and Project Management services from HP are targeted at skill development in the areas of requirement definition and ongoing project management excellence. http://h10076.www1.hp.com/education/pm.htm
Additionally, HP’s Project and Portfolio Management software is designed to give executives the visibility and control to optimize and mange the entire IT portfolio. Core to this is helping executives and project managers gain real-time visibility into the total demand being asked of IT, and then visibility into total resource pools so they can see how they can best meet this demand. Workflows that enforce standard project methodologies and process controls are essential for compliance so that the data that gets entered in my managers can be seen as accurate. This data then is rolled up to the portfolio and used by IT managers and executives to make informed choices as unplanned changes inevitably arise and force trade-offs. We believe that by capturing and aggregating all demand and then giving executives the tools to optimize the portfolio, decision-making will better reflect reality – and thus keep projects on track.
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Q. What is the most important part of the Cultural Change Management part of your solution and Why? Is the approach to train insiders as change agents or to have your people serve in that capacity?
A. With every IT transformation project there is the need to manage change – at many levels. With the Demand and Portfolio Management solution, we support how change will impact management of resources such as IT staff, project managers, PMO teams, etc. It is important to help people understand the changes in their day-to-day work and the value they bring to the overall organization. This is important whether the change introduced is a new process or the introduction of new software. Since every organization's dynamics are different, HP's approach is flexible, providing change agents with the tools and expertise they need to lead the change program through to successful end user adoption.
Posted on: October 05, 2007 10:46 PM |
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