MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- (Marketwire) -- 11/06/09 -- Project Consulting Group, a recognized
expert in project and portfolio management consulting services, understands
the age-old mantra, "do more with less" is reverberating throughout just
about every corner of business today. It's especially rampant in the IT
domain where CIOs and IT managers are challenged by their CEOs and
corporate boards to maintain -- or even expand -- competitive advantages
and organizational efficiencies in an atmosphere where budgets have either
been cut or in the best case, have stayed flat.
Project Consulting Group understands that Project Portfolio Management
(PPM) brings together all the disparate projects and provides a kind of
overall dashboard that a company can view to keep focused on projects in
real time to determine their ability to work together to achieve corporate
goals. Project Consulting Group has developed a service model called
Project Delivery OnDemand, which takes into account the need for PPM now,
even if budgets are tight.
"Project Delivery OnDemand is a three to five year commitment where we
share the risk with our customers," says Jamie Fragola, PCG's president and
co-founder. "This allows clients to pay us back over time, in some cases
using the return on investment they've gained from 'quick-win' projects
that they've identified as super priorities."
People, process and technology are key words generally used in terms of
business process change, which results from new PPM/PM solutions. Fragola
adds one more term -- culture. He cites the frustration of senior IT
executives who have invested in process changes, which are often not
necessarily or whole-heartedly embraced by the organization.
"We've seen that many of the software companies either over- or
under-engineer their solutions, so in spite of the tools having tremendous
features and functionality, generally only 20 percent of the functionality
is being utilized," states Fragola. A common reason for this, he
indicates, is the lack of the leadership training that helps people
"succeed on the other side of change."
Project Consulting Group has undertaken a number of what they call "rescue
projects" or PPM gone awry, which is not that uncommon when dealing with
large organizations grappling with multiple projects.
According to Fragola, a large Fortune 500 financial institution was
experiencing a crisis with their PPM tool and process implementation. The
company had selected a large consulting firm believing it was a safe
decision. The firm had a fixed budget but after three months, the vendor
had burned through 35 percent of the budget, but had yet to produce a
viable design or implementation roadmap. The client halted the project to
consider its options.
Project Consulting Group replaced the current vendor and stabilized the
project within three weeks by delivering a comprehensive project plan
outlining a phased deployment approach. Project Consulting Group then
evaluated the remaining PPM investment risk along with opportunities to
improve value across the client's entire project delivery landscape. The
result was a three-year Service Level Agreement (SLA) that provided a
sole-source agreement for select contract staff labor needs. In exchange
for the client's commitment, Project Consulting Group invested in finishing
the PPM deployment on a deferred fee schedule.
The key outcomes of that approach, included:
-- PPM deployment was completed in 9 months. Phased approach allowed the
client to utilize priority functions of the tool and begin capturing
savings and efficiencies progressively.
-- Deferred performance fee schedule gave the client the insurance they
needed to deliver the intended results.
-- Client avoided the need to request additional funding approval from
the investment review board.
-- Client was able to budget and pay remaining PPM deployment expenses
out of realized savings and benefits spread out over a 3-year timeframe.
-- Multi-year SLA meant that PCG would stay accountable for organization
adopting new processes.
The client was able to leverage its current budgeted demand for
contract labor and dramatically reduced investment risk while
overcoming the immediate budget crisis for PPM enablement. The client
was also able to utilize Project Consulting Group's Shared Risk
Investment Program on future high-risk projects to help safeguard
profits during tough economic conditions while still advancing delivery
maturity. For more information about PCG, visit
www.projectconsultinggroup.com.
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Contact:
Barrie Locke
Email Contact
617-536-8887