Annette DubasAssistant Vice President of Enterprise Program Management Office| MedStar HealthBaltimore, Md, United States
One of our PMO goals is to develop a true consolidated project list for all IS projects/initiatives. This includes pre-initiation, Business Transformation, Capital, Operational, Acquisitions, and Real Estate. The challenge is that for many projects, we are asked to track the project(s) during the initiation/ planning phase (before it is a formal project). Currently, this type of tracking is all manual. Furthermore, whatever solution is leveraged to track and present a consolidated list needs to be adaptable, efficient and support the process/workflows of our IS projects. Saving Changes...
Most PPM & EPM solutions will be capable of capturing the different full lifecycles by project class or type and their dashboarding capabilities can then be used to communicate relevant info to stakeholders.
It really comes down to what your must have requirements are and your ceiling budget (one time and ongoing).
If your company subscribes to it, you could check one of the latest Gartner magic quadrant reports on PPM & EPM solutions to see what they recommend.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I have used lot of different tools to do that including it I worked on companies which sells those type of tools. The key thing is to have defined the end to end process. In my last years, in the organizations I am working, we use MS Azure DevOps for that matters. Mainly because flows and process are fully customizable adding to that you have extensions for free that helps a lot. Saving Changes...
You don't necessarily need to use the same processes and tools throughout the entire project lifecycle. The level of detail and complexity often builds as the project progresses, more people are added to perform the work, and schedules become contractual obligations. More capable tools help manage all of the project data as the complexity and formality increase. That comes with its own costs however. In some cases where organizations insist on one tool to track all projects, it turns out to be a bad fit for some and more time is spent tracking then executing.
A PM doesn't necessarily need the most powerful tools when plans are still rough and fluid. In many large organizations, the requirements for tracking vary with the maturity level. Simple tools are used early on and transition to more capable tools at major milestones like Firm Contract, if they're are big enough to need it.
To avoid adding too much unnecessary burden to the performing teams, the organization might need to group projects by phase for tracking purposes, where the KPIs and the rigor behind those metrics vary by phase. Saving Changes...
