Angela DetermanProgram Manager| NavitaireEden Prairie, Mn, United States
Hello!
I'm evaluating tools for portfolio management. We need to manage dependencies between separate entities within my organization, budget, track executive deliverables/work items, raise program-level risks, etc. Each organization uses their own tooling, but we've both had recent access to the ServiceNow PPM tool. Has anyone had success? Challenges? I'm looking for a recomendation and some thoughts on this tooling option. Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
You have to put focus in your defined process then you have to select the tool that best fit for your defined process. I have used ServiceNow in the past for this type of things but remember that, in the basement, is a "ticket oriented" tool then it is usually best suited for kaban based process.
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1 reply by Angela Determan
Feb 19, 2025 5:07 PM
Angela Determan
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Thank you for this. I did extensive research on the tools available at my company and the SN PPM module seems like a good fit. The functionality is new to our organization, so I would be learning on my own.
I am experienced and certified in PPM module of ServiceNow and can recommend it as it integrates with different tools well. I have worked on MS Project, Primavera P6, Jira, SAP PM and ServiceNow during my career and have found that integration and cross tool collaboration is not a challenge.
The origin of ServiceNow was as an IT ticket tool as correctly pointed out in the previous post. My credentials are available on my profile.
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1 reply by Angela Determan
Feb 19, 2025 5:10 PM
Angela Determan
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Being an expert in the PPM module, would you say it's fairly intuitive? I'll be one of the first users of this module, so I am trying to assess how much I'll nee dto learn. I have used ServiceNow for ticket management with our customers before and I'm familiar with other tools that are great for SDLC, but not for Program-Level needs
Saving Changes...
Angela DetermanProgram Manager| NavitaireEden Prairie, Mn, United States
Feb 19, 2025 5:43 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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You have to put focus in your defined process then you have to select the tool that best fit for your defined process. I have used ServiceNow in the past for this type of things but remember that, in the basement, is a "ticket oriented" tool then it is usually best suited for kaban based process.
Thank you for this. I did extensive research on the tools available at my company and the SN PPM module seems like a good fit. The functionality is new to our organization, so I would be learning on my own. Saving Changes...
Angela DetermanProgram Manager| NavitaireEden Prairie, Mn, United States
Feb 19, 2025 10:17 AM
Replying to Naval Singh
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I am experienced and certified in PPM module of ServiceNow and can recommend it as it integrates with different tools well. I have worked on MS Project, Primavera P6, Jira, SAP PM and ServiceNow during my career and have found that integration and cross tool collaboration is not a challenge.
The origin of ServiceNow was as an IT ticket tool as correctly pointed out in the previous post. My credentials are available on my profile.
Being an expert in the PPM module, would you say it's fairly intuitive? I'll be one of the first users of this module, so I am trying to assess how much I'll nee dto learn. I have used ServiceNow for ticket management with our customers before and I'm familiar with other tools that are great for SDLC, but not for Program-Level needs
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1 reply by Naval Singh
Feb 19, 2025 8:16 PM
Naval Singh
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Hi! Yes, PPM is fairly intuitive to use. If you are starting your journey with this module, I recommend you check out the free learning course on NOW Learning and Documentation on docs.servicenow.com Prior knowledge of ITSM would help you to get started here as the interfaces are standard and continuity is maintained from a user experience perspective. Edit: Link is here: https://www.servicenow.com/community/spm-b...p/2722572
Being an expert in the PPM module, would you say it's fairly intuitive? I'll be one of the first users of this module, so I am trying to assess how much I'll nee dto learn. I have used ServiceNow for ticket management with our customers before and I'm familiar with other tools that are great for SDLC, but not for Program-Level needs
Hi! Yes, PPM is fairly intuitive to use. If you are starting your journey with this module, I recommend you check out the free learning course on NOW Learning and Documentation on docs.servicenow.com Prior knowledge of ITSM would help you to get started here as the interfaces are standard and continuity is maintained from a user experience perspective. Edit: Link is here: https://www.servicenow.com/community/spm-b...p/2722572 Saving Changes...
Angela DetermanProgram Manager| NavitaireEden Prairie, Mn, United States
Thank you so much for these responses. I appreciate the help! Saving Changes...
Angela Determan ServiceNow PPM can be a solid choice for portfolio management, especially in managing dependencies, tracking budgets, and raising risks. It's highly customizable, which can help tailor it to different organizational needs. However, challenges can arise in integrating it smoothly with existing tools used by various departments. Some users report a steep learning curve and complex configurations, but with the right training and setup, it can be a powerful solution.
Have you considered how it will integrate with your current tools?
Saving Changes...
Brendan MoriartyIT Program Manager| Return to Work SAAdelaide, South Australia, Australia
You may already have made a decision about ServiceNow PPM. If not, here are some of my experiences.
For context, I have been using ServiceNow PPM for three years in a project, program and PMO capacity. I have used Project Desktop, Project for the Web / Planner, Project Online, Power BI, Microsoft Power Apps, Project Accelerator, Fabric, Monday.com, Basecamp, Jira, Trello and many more tools for PM work in the past (even Excel and Word!). On average, in ServiceNow, we have 8-10 'active' projects of between 3-18 months in duration at any one time.
We are currently operating in the Xanadu release, moving to Zurich very soon. It should be noted that there are 'Classic' and 'New' project workspaces, modules and functionality. As you may be aware, the newer version of ServiceNow's PPM is Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) [Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) - ServiceNow]. It contains all of the PPM features with some updated features and some additional functionality. I would best describe PPM as Times New Roman and SPM as Calibri!
From a portfolio perspective, I find the PPM module average and not very intuitive. In contrast, the SPM version for portfolio management is much more useful, modern and fit-for-purpose. It also works better with the ServiceNow program management functions, which are not great in the classic version of PPM.
In terms of most PPM items in ServiceNow, they roll up from projects (e.g. the combined budget of multiple projects populate the program budget, risks from individual projects roll up to dashboards). This requires ongoing dedicated admin from Project Managers (not necessarily a lot of admin but continuous maintenance of schedules, RIDAC, finances, resource management - all of which roll up into status reports) but it makes life much easier for the program and portfolio managers, in particular for real-time monitoring and reporting.
As a Program Manager, I find the program level functionality somewhat limited. Overall, my opinion is that ServiceNow was built for ITSM, then they brought in ITBM as an additional function, and PPM / SPM was an afterthought easy dollar opportunity. It also doesn't feel like it was built with enough input from project, program and portfolio practitioners. In addition, it does not get huge amounts of attention in new releases and there are a lot of small functional issues in new capabilities.
One of the key rationale for our usage of ServiceNow as our PPM tool is that all of our IT projects come via the Demand Management process in ServiceNow and all of our IT work activity in the SDLC is based in ServiceNow. This allows us to track every single aspect of every piece of IT work, project or BAU in one location.
As a PPM software tool for management of non-IT projects, programs and portfolios (which don't require end-to-end auditing of IT systems changes), I believe ServiceNow is over-tooled. And the pricing suggests as much. There are other solutions out there but as another poster mentioned above, it will depend on your organisational needs.
I hope something in the above helps. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
A client had a PPM tool selection project setup which ran for a year, looking at 30+ tools and a shortlist of five who we asked to send and present proposals. In the end, the project was abandoned and they kept doing PPM with Excel.
We looked at ServiceNow (which they already used for ticketing), Planview, Talaia (OpenPPM), HP Enterprise, and Upland. We tended towards Planview.
The overall cost of implementing a solution was estimated at 2-4 million euros plus annual running costs. The benefits were not really in the same range to get to an ROI.
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