Project Management is an accepted management process for delivering major change within an organisation. This is evident from the investment by many organisations in areas such as training, project management methodology (e.g. PRINCE2) and the creation of a Project Office.
Portfolio Management is another development being adopted by many organisations. This refers to the way organisations take a corporate view in selecting and managing projects. This follow a project selection process based on the project's contribution towards the strategic aims of the organisation compared with other potential projects vying for approval. The process is by its nature enterprise wide since it cuts across the organisation horizontally rather than departmentally (vertical).
Enterprise Project Management therefore refers to the application of enterprise wide project management processes and is an indicator of maturity within the organisation as defined in the Capability and Maturity Models (CMM). As the organisation's project management culture matures, processes become more and more enterprise related and less departmental. This eliminates duplication and promotes the development of repeatable process and continuous improvement, which leads to consistent quality of output; all of which are further indicators of a mature organisation.
The following diagram shows how a generic EPM model may look.
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Our Enterprise Project Management services are designed to assist organisations transition towards the enterprise project management culture. We appreciate that there can be no such thing as a "one fits all" approach to project management and with this in mind have developed a flexible model that recognises the advances other sectors have made in enterprise project management modelling including:
- Office of Government and Commerce’s (OGC) Managing Successful Programmes
- Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM),
- British Standards Institute's BSI7069 for project management,
- Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) 10 Key Performance Indicators used for construction
- The EFQM Excellence Model
This service is designed to measure the extent to which an organisation is achieving best practice in terms of overall project management. It focuses not on specific projects but on the maturity of the project environment within an organisation. We apply a number of techniques including interviews, self assessment questionnaires, analysis of processes and procedures etc. in order to build a complete and comprehensive picture.
Assessing Project Management Capability & Maturity
We have developed a Project Management Excellence Model (PMEM©) that provides the framework for our analysis and enables us to easily identify quick wins as well as other areas that require longer term improvements. Our model has been in development since 1998 and recognises the advances that other sectors have made in project management modelling including:
- Managing Successful Programmes
- Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM),
- British Standards Institute's BSI7069 for project management,
- Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) 10 Key Performance Indicators used for construction
- The EFQM Excellence Model
Following our analysis using the PMEM© model, we will work with the clients to initiate work packages designed to bring specific and calculated improvements. We can also facilitate these improvement on behalf of our clients. The output from this service is a confidential report and/or presentation detailing how the organisation is performing in the key areas of project management. It makes useful comparisons with best practice and with industry norms and recommends a set of actions to bring about controlled improvements.
The key objectives of the exercise would be agreed with the client but would typically be to:
- agree an appropriate target level for the organisation which reflects the organisation's size, complexity, objectives etc.,
- perform an assessment, using the Project Management Excellence Model (PMEM) together with an assessment of the capability and maturity of project management within the organisation,
- compare the organisation with the target level for the organisation and also with best practice and industry norms,
- demonstrate areas of strength and weakness,
- propose actions aimed at bringing about measurable improvements,
- carry out a follow-up exercise at a later date to measure the improvement
