Achieving Business Outcomes by Managing Project Benefits

Today, most organizations lack a measurable way to strategically align projects to their corporate objectives.  Business cases are scarcely used. When they are, they often include only an idea or a proposal but no justification that can be described, measured and tracked.  Initiatives are typically justified by executive demand. I.e. an executive or business leader demands a business process be enhanced to reduce waste, increase effectiveness or comply with regulatory or market pressures.  Before starting the project, rarely is there a defined framework in place where the intended business outcome and benefits are evaluated for alignment to the overall corporate objectives. Neither is there a process that monitors the attainment of benefits during the course of the project to substantiate the project’s continuation and completion. 

Traditionally, organizations have used key indicators such as scope containment, budget management, and scheduling to measure the progress or lack of progress performed on a project.  However, these indicators do not inform or involve the monitoring of benefits attained or business outcome to be achieved. Today’s leaders can transform their organizations by recognizing the need for tracking benefits in order to achieve business outcomes.

According to a 2015 Corporate Executive Board (CEB) study on project value and benefit realization, the need for tracking benefits is illustrated as a vitally important factor in realizing the true value that projects bring. The study stated that an analysis of the PMO Executive Council project database revealed a disturbing reality: even among those projects that are delivered at least 90% on time and on budget, the majority fail to deliver business outcomes.  In addition, the top-performing projects in terms of budget and schedule compliance attain on average only 53% of their expected business outcome. This illuminates two shortcomings that most organizations have: 1. Lack of a best practice framework to determine the strategic alignment of corporate objectives to project benefits and 2. Lack of best practice processes to measure and track the expected benefits for the project.

Business Outcome Management (BOM) is a measurement-driven framework for tracking project benefits as a critical component for the success of every organization. In the BOM framework, there are four core principles: 1. Defining clear strategic alignment, 2. Prioritizing projects, 3. Quantifying benefits, and 4. Tracking benefits. Utilizing these 4 core principles can address shortcomings by enabling the organization to establish clear linkage between corporate objectives and projected project benefits, selecting clearly aligned projects to be executed at the right time based on risk, complexity & benefit, measuring benefit value to justify the start and continuation of projects, and managing performance visibility for executive oversight and corrective actions. 

The application of all four core principles in addition to tools developed by iSeek Solutions such as the Decision Matrix (iDMX©), can be effectively used to establish a framework focused on tracking the expected benefits for an organizations portfolio and achieving its strategic business goals and objectives. 

To learn more about how iSeek Solutions can help you track your organizations’ benefits to help achieve business outcomes, contact us today; subscribe to our blog and stay tuned for future insights.

September 10, 2019 Business Results, Project Management Methodology Comments Off on Achieving Business Outcomes by Managing Project Benefits

Project Management Methodology – An Out-of-the-Box Solution!

The primary goal of a Project Management Methodology (PMM) is to ensure that the objectives of each project are aligned to the people, processes and technology that support the strategic purpose of the business.  In our previous blog post PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY: WHAT IS IT? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?, we defined and explained the benefits of a PMM. A project management methodology provides an overall structure, a set of procedures, and a process flow for managing projects. A PMM guides you throughout the project, giving you steps to follow and targets to meet from the start of the project to its completion.

Now that you know the benefits of a PMM, let’s talk about iSeek Solutions’ approach to project methodology. The iSeek Project Management Methodology provides overall guidance and processes for successfully managing projects.  

As a highly skilled consulting firm consisting of certified project management professionals, iSeek has created a detailed methodology, iPMM©, to serve as an out-of-the-box resource for organizations of all sizes lacking the commensurate expertise to deliver a holistic framework for executing projects. iPMM© is easily customized to meet the needs or project management maturity level of your organization. 

iPMM© is a culmination of industry standards and best practices that provide an overall guidance and process for managing strategic projects through the project management lifecycle (PMLC). It includes the necessary processes, steps and procedures for establishing a standardized PMLC to enable a Project Manager (PM) to take a project from ideation to implementation.  The iPMM© can be applied to various types of projects of any size across multiple departments within an organization.  It is not subject to the adherence of one department, domain or industry. The iPMM© provides customers with a customizable framework that is cross-functional for developing robust project plans and strong solutions required for the execution of consistent and reliable project management across any enterprise.

Leaders at the City of Birmingham identified 6 strategic goals and 92 related initiatives to be accomplished during the Woodfin administration.  These goals and initiatives are captured in The Woodfin Way.​ City leaders realized a need to implement a formal project management methodology in order to ensure optimum success. 

Beginning with iPMM©, iSeek was able to customize a set of standard processes for managing projects at the City of Birmingham. The main goal was to provide a repeatable process with project-specific methods, best practices, rules, guidelines, templates, checklists, and other features for building quality systems that are manageable and deliver value to the organization. 

To learn more about iPMM©, Project Management Methodology, and how iSeek Solutions can help your business manage its next project, contact us today. Subscribe to our blog and stay tuned for future insights. 

August 1, 2019 Project Management Methodology Comments Off on Project Management Methodology – An Out-of-the-Box Solution!

PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY: WHAT IS IT? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

A project management methodology (PMM) provides an overall structure, a set of procedures and a process flow for managing projects. A high performing PMM will include a culmination of best practices and industry standards relied upon by projects to direct successful outcomes. A holistic PMM should take into account siloed areas of the business by bringing them into alignment with the rest of the organization so that deliverables and outcomes are standardized, predictable and measurable regardless of the type, size, or classification of the project.   An inclusive PMM is not subject to the adherence of one department; it is broad, providing a framework of processes that are cross-functional for developing robust plans and strong solutions required for the execution of consistent and reliable project management between and across multiple areas of the business.   

A standardized PMM is an organizational process for how projects in every department should be aligned to the strategic goals and objectives of the business. The flexible PMM considers the integration of interrelated methodologies that are aligned to specific departments, which require their own industry-defined steps for managing projects (i.e. technology, accounting, marketing). Accordingly, a PMM is a guardrail for business initiatives where a custom approach may be required to adopt the entire methodology or specific parts of the process in order to be successful. The measurable PMM should be updated periodically by practitioners who are knowledgeable about the needs of the business and experienced in the field of project management.  

A best-practices PMM includes all 4 major phases of a typical project (i.e. Initiation, Planning, Execution, Closing). To support the overall execution of the process, executive oversight should be established to monitor and control expectations. Executive oversight committees, such as change control boards, risk committees and prioritization groups provide visibility and insight from business leaders who are vital to achieving the goals of each project.   The primary goal for a PMM is to ensure that the objectives of each project are aligned to the people, processes and technology that support the strategic purpose of the business.  

A well-defined PMM establishes standardized processes, tools, and templates that provide consistency and reliability in the execution of projects. Consistent project execution reduces risk and increases the probability of successful delivery of high-quality products and services along with improving overall customer satisfaction.  Additionally, the PMM is designed to properly engage all stakeholders to accommodate individual business needs ensuring broad collaboration and consideration of organizational assets and environmental constraints. 

To learn more about Project Management Methodology and how iSeek Solutions can help your business manage its next project, contact us today; subscribe to our blog and stay tuned for future insights. 

July 10, 2019 Project Management Methodology Comments Off on PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY: WHAT IS IT? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?