Haresh Desai Symcor Inc., Canada PMO15BR33

Haresh Desai
Symcor Inc., Canada
PMO15BR33
Agenda
• Symcor Enterprise Project Office (EPO)
• The beginning
• Key Considerations
• Project Rationalization
• Setting up the EPO
• EPO Mandate
• Organizational Structure
• Governance
• Other key elements
• Measuring success
• Where we are
• Closing remarks
• Q&A
SYMCOR’S ENTERPRISE
PROJECT OFFICE (EPO)
THE BEGINNING ….
Where we were
Why was Symcor’s EPO
created?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Poor client satisfaction scores re: Project Delivery
Poor project change management
Significantly high investment spend with low ROI
Misalignment on resources re: Demand vs. Supply
Projects continually going over-budget and delivered
late
6. No control over number of projects in-flight or their
status
7. Challenges handling large cross organizational
projects
8. Board of Directors (BoD) discontent over Symcor’s
project execution capability
Please share with the team as to what were the
factors which drove the decision to establish a PMO
within your respective organizations.
Key considerations @ the time
• Organizational culture which was very
silo’d
• A general apprehension that having a
PMO would increase project overheads
without adding any incremental value
• Multiple PMO structures within Symcor,
each with its own standards, processes
and templates
• Failed attempt at establishing a PMO
What was working in our favor?
• An organizational will to change
• Clients and BoD pushing the organization to
improve its execution capability
• Strong Executive sponsorship
• Strong alignment and support within
Executive leadership of the company for
establishment of a Enterprise Project Office
• Strong support from business in general for a
formal PMO
Improvement
Strengthening the capability
1. Interlock with clients
2. Project Audits
3. Resource Planning Interlock
4. Enhancing Program Mgmt capability
6 – 9 months
Continuous
Ongoing
Approach
0. Project Rationalization
1. Governance Framework
2. Interlock with Organizational Management
System
3. Strengthening the Initiation Process
9 – 12 months
Foundational elements
Inventorying all projects and
stopping projects with weak ROI’s
• This was our first step towards a PMO
• Inventory all projects across the enterprise
• Used a very scientific approach for prioritizing
projects thereby taking emotions out of this
exercise
• Stopped projects with weak ROI’s or with ROI
periods > 3 – 4 years
• Ensured no new projects were open without
appropriate due diligence and business case
analysis
Project Rationalization
• Why?
• Allows for investment spend to be aligned
with strategic objectives of the organization
• Allows an organization to choose initiatives
which have an higher ROI
• Provides for a very objective view on what
projects an organization needs to focus on
Project Rationalization &
Prioritization
Prioritize based
on corporate
priorities
Stop projects with
lower priority
Execute, monitor
and control
projects
•
Project rationalization process
•
Number of projects
Identify all
projects
•
Consolidate multiple project lists across the
organization
Channel all projects through a prioritization
criterion based on corporate priorities such
as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Client priority
Compliance/ Mandatory/ Audit
Cost savings
Revenues
Decision projects which need to be stopped1
Move organizational focus to remainder of
the projects with respect to capital and
project execution.
Note1: Though it surely applies to first iteration of process, it may or may not apply to subsequent prioritization cycles
Prioritization sample
Project Name
Description
Estimate
M C R S
Σ
(4) (3) (2) (1)
Project A
-----------
$0.5M
5
4
-
-
32
Project B
-----------
$0.8M
-
-
-
2
2
Project C
-----------
$4.5M
5
5
-
-
35
Mandatory (M)
Client Impact (C)
Revenues (R)
Yes
5
Critical
5
> $1.0M
5
> $5.0M
5
No
0
Very High
4
<$1.0M > $500K
4
<$5.0M > $2.5M
4
High
3
<$500K >$250K
3
<$2.5M >$1.0M
3
Medium
2
<$250K >$100K
2
<$1.0M >$500K
2
Low
1
<$100K
1
<$500K
1
Cost Reduction (S)
Based upon strategic objectives
Weighting
SETTING UP THE PMO …
Defined PMO Mandate
• Why?
•
•
•
•
Organizational alignment
Clearly defined roles and responsibilities
Empowers the PMO
Add value to the organization
• What it prevents?
• The PMO from over-extending itself
• Reducing organizational resistance
• Inter-departmental conflicts
Potential elements of a PMO
Mandate
Governance
Compliance
Project Management
Methodology (PMM)
Reporting
Risk Management
Training
Execution Assurance
Professional Services
Centre of Excellence
Benefits Realization
Project Management
Program Management
Resource Management
Software development life
cycle (SDLC)
How was the mandate drafted
and communicated?
• Senior Executives defined the mandate and
expectations from EPO
• The mandate was communicated to Sr. Leadership
team in the company and subsequently cascaded to
the organization
Symcor EPO Mandate
Governance and
Control
Resource
Planning
Interlock with
Project
PMM/
SDLC
Symcor
Program
Change
Management System Standards Management Management
Defined Organizational structure
to support the mandate
• To execute on the mandate laid out for
EPO, the following organizational structure
was deployed:
CEO*
EPO
Finance &
Resource Mgmt.
Execution
Assurance
Project Intake
Program Mgmt.
*Strong Executive sponsorship enabled the EPO to execute on its mandate
EPO Organizational Structure
Finance and Resource Management
Execution Assurance
1. Interlock w/ Finance
2. Resource management (Managing demand
vs. supply)
3. Review of business cases
1. PMM Standards, templates, PMM
Framework, and processes
2. Project Compliance and Audit
3. Project/ Program Gating
4. Interlock with Risk/ Audit/ Legal/ Compliance
EPO
Project Intake
1. Intake of all new project requests via
Enterprise Change Review Board (ECRB)
2. Initial due diligence and determination of
solution approach and estimates while
working with appropriate teams
Program Management
1. Execution of large cross-functional, complex,
and multi-project initiatives
2. Generally involves high levels of client
interaction and communication planning
Enterprise Change Review Board
(ECRB)
• A singular conduit for all projects coming in to
Symcor (internal or external)
• Comprises of a cross-functional team of
SME’s which reviews and accepts (or rejects)
a change request
• Changes can be rejected based on lack of
details in change request, lack of alignment
with product roadmap or strategic objectives
of the organization etc.
• Accepted changes flow through project intake
for due diligence and estimation
How many of us here have a similar conduit for
project intake? Any thoughts on how this can be
handled more efficiently?
Governance Model
Board of
Directors
Executive
Leadership
Steering
Committees
Project/
Program
level
Governance
Board Of Directors
• EPO reports to the Board Audit Committee on
projects every quarter
• Key reporting elements include:
•
•
•
•
Top initiatives within the organization
Key Project Metrics
Portfolio view for investment spend
Key EPO process improvement initiatives for the
year
• Transparency in reporting has given our BoD
a high level of comfort on our execution
capability
Executive Oversight
• Why is it necessary?
• Keeps PMO Sponsors continually engaged
• Gives them a pulse on major investments within
the organization
• Gives the PMO an opportunity to continually
demonstrate its value-add
• Provides an opportunity for executive help and
support when needed
• What does it prevent?
• Complacency at a PMO level
• Major surprises at Executive Levels
Project/Program Governance
• Provides PMs with a well defined Project
Management Framework
• Allows for clearly defined project reporting
standards and metrics
• Facilitates monitoring and discussion on
all initiatives at regular intervals
• Maintains a line of sight on all changes,
risks, issues, dependencies, decisions,
and associated metrics at all times
Project/Program Governance
• Uses vehicles such as “Steering
Committee” meetings to:
• Garner support for PMs to meet their project
goals
• Provide update to sponsors on project status
• Hold sponsors accountable for their
responsibilities within the project
• Be an “enabler” for issue resolution and
escalations as required
What processes do you use to keep updated on your
projects?
OTHER KEY ELEMENTS …
EPO Framework
Idea
1
Project
Identification
Requirements
Initiation
2
Planning
Project
Project
Definition
Planning
Design
Architecture
3
Development /
Build /
Configure
Execution
Project
Monitor
& Control
Testing
4
Close
Post Implementation
Review
Deploy
Governance
• EPO framework interlocks PM Methodology with
SDLC
• Appropriately identified artifacts from SDLC are used
for gating purposes to ensure that projects are
following the process
5
Interlock with organizational
Management Systems
• Why interlock?
• Makes PMO more effective and accepted in the
organization
• Prevents the PMO from becoming an island within the
organization
• Potential integration points:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Finance
Legal
Change Management
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
Audit/ Compliance/ Privacy
Clients
Interlock with Organizational
Management System
• What does it mean?
• As an example, a financial interlock could imply:
• An interlock of investment portfolio (cost/ benefit) with
organization financial statement
• Inclusion of projected investment spend for future
year(s) into the long term business plan
• Assess the EBT impact of benefits realized as a result
of investments
And result in improving the financial forecast
process in cases where projects are exceeding
their budget
Adapt to changing business
needs
• Grow with the needs of the organization
• Evolve with changes in project
management methodologies and practices
in the industry
• Example – Introduction of Agile Methodology
or Kanban approach to task management
• Adapt to meet Clients expectations
• Example – Changes to “decrease time to
market”
Lessons Learned
• A huge emphasis is given to lessons learned
coming out of our projects
• Focus is not only on what went well and what went
wrong but “why” something went well or did not go
well
• All best practices and lessons learned are
recorded in a central repository.
• Same are shared and accessed by our project
teams from intake through to execution
• Enables focus on key areas for continuous
improvement
Measuring Success
PMO Metrics
• Why have them?
•
•
•
•
To demonstrate continuous improvement
Track performance and course correct
Provide a measure of success or failures
Relevance of PMO
• Examples
• Success rate on projects
• Investment spend vs. plan
• Client satisfaction
Happy Client = SUCCESS
=
Client Satisfaction
• Built into our Framework are key client touchpoints
for each gate
• These touchpoints allow us to gauge client
feedback as we execute the project
• The feedback allows us to course correct and
adjust our client engagement protocols if needed
• This prevents any surprises at the end of the
project
• Aggregation of results from clients acts as a
leading indicator into our annual CSAT survey
Benefits Tracking
• Key tenet of EPO
• Allows for tracking of projected benefits vs.
actual spend over the life of the business
case
• Benefits realization could go beyond
project/program end date
• Continually validates the viability of the
business case and the project’s impact to
EBT
• Enables decision making for future projects
Project Success Criterion
How do we measure Success?
Criterion
Scope
On Time
On Budget
®
®
Project completes as per agreed upon schedule and budget (within 10%
variability to final estimate).
Sponsor initiated change requests which impact timelines and/or budget and
project meets the revised commitments.
Project completes in budget but timelines get extended in excess of 4 weeks (or
>10%) without associated increase in scope. Drivers could include resourcing,
lack of clear solution approach, environmental issues, and unaccounted
external dependencies etc. (Organization driven).
Project timelines are met but project budget had to be increased to
accommodate for Symcor missed requirements, resourcing issues, poor
estimation, etc. by > $100K or 10%.
Project timelines and budgets are not met due to poor change / scope
management (non-adherence to PMM/ Gating Process).
Project is re-prioritized and re-baselined to meet timelines for another project
with full consent and authorization of project sponsors in question.
Client conditions of satisfaction are met as agreed upon at the onset of the
project.
Client conditions of satisfaction as agreed upon at the onset of the project are
not met.
Project timelines are extended, but no impact to 1) client commitments,
2) budget, 3) FY plans, 4) resourcing for other projects (internal/external)
Actual benefits realized from a project are below 80% of projected targets
®
Overall
Caveats to Project Success
Project Successful as per
defined criterion?
Client Perspective
Final Evaluation
Yes
No
Final evaluation based upon joint
decisioning between EPO, Technology
and Business sponsors
No
Yes
Project is deemed to be a failure
• How do you measure success of your respective
PMO’s?
• What KPI’s are used by you to keep track of the
value add of PMO’s to your respective
organizations?
Where we are
Tangible Results
•
•
Project success rates improved from 55% in 2010 to 97% in 2014 (a 76% improvement)
Customer satisfaction results for projects improved from 64% in 2010 to 88% in 2014 (a 38%
improvement)
Key underpinnings for success
• Strong executive sponsorship
• Full support from business
• Leveraging existing processes and artifacts within the
organization instead of developing and forcing new ones on
the organization
• Interlock with key management systems within the
organization such as Finance, HR (Performance
Management), Risk Management, Audit etc.
• Interlock with clients on our “go-forward” project engagement
model
• Strong “Initiation” process
• Institutionalized Governance process
• Communication – Communication – Communication
Closing Remarks
• PMOs are an investment for an organization and
they need to continually add value
• PMOs require strong executive sponsorship and
support
• Governance function within PMOs exists to
support PMs and help them be successful .. “in
absence of their success, we can never be
successful”
• Adapting to changing business needs, continually
improving our processes, and investing in
educating our people are keys to future success of
PMOs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Name: Haresh Desai
Web: www.Symcor.com
Email: hdesai@symcor.com
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