The Project and Portfolio Management Blog

New PPM Gartner Magic Quadrant Report

2009-06-09T05:03:00.000-07:00

CA Clarity PPM leads again.

http://Click here to view the report

This blog is moving to a new home

2009-05-11T03:11:00.000-07:00

I am consolidating my blogging to a new site at http://community.ca.com/blogs/ppm/

Fostering Successful PPM: Session 4 of 5

2009-05-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth of 5 webcasts presented by Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist.

You can participate live on the 26th of May at 4PM GMT.

This presentation is focused on process governance and includes an overview of:

- Ensuring process acceptance and adoption
- An effective process governance model

http://Click here to register for this event

Evolution of the EPMO at 7-Eleven

2009-04-28T05:21:00.000-07:00

On the 7th of May at 4 PM GMT, Steve Barton, Director of the EPMO at 7-Eleven, will share how his organization has evolved their use of CA Clarity PPM over the years to adjust to the growth and maturity of the IT organization and the changes in the business climate.

I am looking forward to learning from the IT Challenges facing 7-Elevens EPMO and the role of the EPMO in supportin IT Governance. This is a great chance to see how CA Clarity PPM is being used to provide visibility and control over a large project portfolio.

http://Click here to register for this event

Enhanced CA Clarity PPM On Demand Announced

2009-04-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

See my CA blog for details at http://community.ca.com/blogs/2271.aspx

May 12th Webcast: Critical Components of Effective PMOs. 3 of 6

2009-04-22T03:28:00.000-07:00

Steve Romero's third IT Governance Enablement Webinars entitled Critical Components of Effective PMOs has been confirmed to broadcast live at 4PM GMT on the 12th of May, 2009.

Many organizations have established Project Management Offices (PMO) with the hope of improving project results. Despite the wide scale proliferation of these PMOs, many have had limited success. A well sanctioned and chartered PMO can overcome these struggles and greatly improve portfolio management processes and most importantly, project performance.

This webcast describes how a PMO needs to be much more than the keeper of methodology and the enforcer of project management processes, including an overview of:

- Portfolio and project management business issues
- The relationship between the PMO and Portfolio Management
- The major objectives of a PMO

http://Click here to register for this event

Anyone using CA Clarity to Manage M & A Programs

2009-04-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

I know of one Insurance company doing this. I winder common it is to use PPM to manage M & A projects?

Service Portfolio Management Video

2009-04-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of the clearest descriptions of SPM I have seen from Peter Hinssen.

http://Click here to view the video

April 28th Live Webcast: Meeting Enterprise Goals through Project and Portfolio Management

2009-04-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

Steve Romero is back with the second installment of his IT Governance series on April 28th at 4PM GMT.

Every enterprise must ensure their business priorities and investments are tightly linked. Project and Portfolio Management is the governance mechanism used to make rational and reasonable spending and investment decisions to enable companies to meet their growth strategies. The goal of Project and Portfolio Management is to ensure an organization’s overall portfolio investments is aligned with and contributing optimal value to the organization’s strategic objectives.

This webcast provides an overview of the discipline of Project and Portfolio Management and how it is used to enable an enterprise to meet its strategic goals and objectives, including:

The business case for Project and Portfolio Management
The relationship between Project and Portfolio Management and Governance
How Project and Portfolio Management is defined and viewed today
The “P’s” in Project and Portfolio Management (Project, Program, Portfolio)
The role and purpose of Project and Portfolio Management Governance
The multiple portfolios in Portfolio Management

http://Click here to register for this event

Fostering Successful PPM - Web Event One of Six

2009-04-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

My favorite IT Governance Evangelist, Steve Romero of CA, Inc., just presented the first of a six part series of webinars. You will have to make do with a recording of the first one at:

http://Click here to watch the recording

I will do a separate blog on the remaining 5, which you should be able to view live.

New Book Published Converging COBIT with IT Governance

2009-04-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

The COBIT User Guide for Service Managers is available as a complimentary download for ISACA members and for non-members can purchase an e-book or hardcopy from the ISACA bookstore. The guidance is quite detailed and includes assistance on how to get started and includes a description of ITIL V3 processes with the corresponding COBIT 4.1 control objectives.

For more backgroud see Rob Storud's blog at the link below:
http://Rob Stoud on ITIL V3 and Beyond

Implementing SaaS with Clarity

2009-04-02T02:58:00.000-07:00

Robin Bloor, renownd Industry Analyst wrote a complimentry blog about CA Clarity PPM On Demand at the link below that is well worth a read.

http://Robin's blog

PMO Value Survey Results

2009-03-25T03:32:00.000-07:00

Establishing a Project Management Office (PMO) is an essential step in improving project efficiency and success rates. Organisations such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) have been advocating the PMO as a key enabler of consistency in project execution and use of best practices.

A recent independent survey commissioned by CA in 14 countries, with data from 249 respondents provides a useful insight into the adoption, role and attitudes towards the PMO.

For me, the most interesting conclusion that can be drawn from the results is that the higher performing organisations had a central PMO. These organisations operated at higher maturity, their PMO added more strategic value and was held in higher regard. The good news is that in many cases the Centralised Project Management Office is considered to be a strategic enabler of business change, with 72% of respondents with a centrally-managed PMO feeling more valued in their company than in a distributed case.

The PMO can be used for tactical functions such as ensuring projects meet cost, content and schedule constraints, but it can also be used to audit strategic fit for the project portfolio. A comprehensive PPM system provides the PMO with a single system view across the entire project portfolio. This enables the PMO to run projects in a more consistent manner and provides the information required to enable an organisation to make important portfolio selection decisions.

Elsewhere, the survey highlights the evolving nature of the PMO. Forty percent of survey respondents have used a PMO for three years or more and one third deployed a PMO more than five years ago. PPM has helped these firms to build portfolios of the most beneficial projects ― increasing value, reducing resource demand, and assuring alignment with strategies.

However, many organisations continue to use disconnected systems such as spreadsheets (17%), a home-grown project management system (12%), Microsoft Project (21%), or various other systems (26%) for PPM. As a result, they are struggling with multiple systems to track costs, which makes it almost impossible to align IT spend with business priorities. Only a comprehensive PPM system enables the PMO to efficiently track IT financials, from project cost accounting to fiscal budgeting and planning to ultimately improve internal customer satisfaction through improved fiscal transparency.

The full report is at http://PMO Value

BskyB Web Seminar Recording

2009-03-16T03:18:00.000-07:00

Being an avid viewer of Sky HD programming and the skyplayer on my home laptop I will definitely be tuning in to hear how BSkyB, with over 15,000 staff and 9.24 million subscribers, implemented a Project and Portfolio management solution to overhaul the management of their strategic projects.

http://Click here to watch

Top tips for project managers?

2009-03-09T10:16:00.001-07:00

You have to read a recent article in Computer Weekly on project management truisms, by Tony Collins:

http://ComputerWeekly

I enjoyed reading through the list and commented. I would love to relate to these?

CA Advisor: Governance and PPM Edition for March Published

2009-03-05T03:20:00.001-08:00

Check out our latest newsletter at

http://Newsletter Link

It includes articles on implementing a PMO, quick wins of PPM on Demand and an article on Service Portfolio Management.

European Projects Decline

2009-03-05T02:58:00.000-08:00

According to a recently published IDC report discussed in an article at http://The article, European projects are forecast to decline 1.4% this year.
I commented "It is encouraging to see that IDC has revised its forecast to be less pessimistic.

In the current economic climate it is understandable that project approvals are harder to win, gate reviews are tougher and relative project priorities are revisited.

A trend I have seen discussed is that project selection is now weighted to favour low cost initiatives that can show value in shorter timeframes. This trend is likely to impact some large projects.

I am hoping that the drop in the number of projects is cushioned by an increase in the maturity of project management practices that are driving efficiencies. This will allow more projects to be executed with higher resource utilization levels."

What do you think?

March 17: PPM On Demand Webcast (SaaS)

2009-03-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Don't miss an informative complementary seminar on best practices for demonstrating IT value. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn how your IT department can focus on the right initiatives in a tough economy – how you can assess, prioritise and align business and IT initiatives via portfolios, enabling you to clearly focus on delivering top priority results.

http://Register for the PPM On Demand Webcast, 17 March, 3:00 (GMT)

Mar 10: Analyst Insights into the ROI of PPM Webinar

2009-03-04T05:49:00.000-08:00

An upcoming live webcast featuring IDC as they discuss the results of the IDC White Paper sponsored by CA, How Project And Portfolio Management Are Delivering Value to Organizations. IDC will also explore why PPM provides such significant ROI and how other organisations can apply the tools and techniques to attain similar success.

http://Register for the Webcast: Analyst Insights into the ROI of PPM, 10 March, 1:00 (GMT)

New CA - ITG and PPM Newsletter for Europe

2009-02-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

You can now subscribe to our new newsletter. See the January edition at: http://EMEA ITG & PPM Newsletter

Service Portfolio Management (SPM) and PPM - Opinion

2009-02-10T02:32:00.000-08:00

As a result of the current financial crisis, many businesses are in survival mode. Cash flow is the new king and businesses are trying to maintain their short-term income while cutting external expenditure. The ability to demonstrate the short and long term business value of different IT services turns IT into a partner that can help business survive the storm instead of being the passive victim of a cost-cutting exercise.
ITIL v3 provides processes much of the practices that enable IT to define, design, plan and transition new services to production operation. However, without drawing upon a formal Project and Portfolio Management approach, many organisations, struggle to demonstrate the value of IT to the business.
Few IT organisations actually operate with a separate P&L, and most do not charge for the services they provide. Without the ability of the business to actually consider the costs of maintaining IT in terms of real money, the IT organisation becomes a sort of a ‘black box’ into which funding pours and out of which flows a service that never quite meets the hype with which it is presented to decision makers.
If IT is to be integrated into the strategic business planning process, it needs to demonstrate that it can operate as a true partner to the business delivering full financial transparency.
Visionary organisations are embracing Service Portfolio Management (SPM), which extends current project portfolio management by capturing attributes of a service that encompass the associated resources, projects, applications and assets.
Service Portfolio Management (SPM) provides a deeper view into the true cost of an IT service by pulling all costs together through one platform. Organisations are more aware and in control of all their IT costs, where they are generated, whom to bill and where to iron out inefficiencies to deliver greater value where it matters. By providing companies with a 360 degree view of a service, IT and the business can see the value IT services provide.
IT organisations can make the transition to SPM by introducing four building blocks grounded in ITIL. The first is to make organisational and cultural changes to support the new processes required for SPM. Among the organisational changes are new roles such as Business Relationship Managers to ensure IT creates and delivers the services business needs.
The next building block to SPM is developing the service portfolio ―or catalogue ― of services and mapping these to the IT assets they are depend on. Each of the services must be characterised by a number of attributes, including a service definition, a service dependency model, which help derive the service cost.
Thirdly, the portfolio of services being delivered should be used to link cost to outcomes and facilitate business understanding. A well-implemented service portfolio helps determine the right mix of service offerings, negotiating service-levels with the business, tracking IT budgets and consumption. The service catalogue also a key enabler of service-based pricing so IT can produce line-item invoices relating to resource consumption to provide IT customers with ongoing visibility into budgeted versus actual spend.
The final building block of SPM is a continuous process of portfolio balancing and service optimisation: service improvement based on effectiveness and efficiency, service retirement, and new service development driven by customer needs, for example. Once you can make the connection between the relevance, value and cost of a service, you are in a position to make informed decisions around where you should invest.
The role of PPM is to provide the business value, resource cost and portfolio views to the Business Relationship Manager and IT investment team. It also provides the starting point for the development of a by service, by capturing the requirement and managing the business case before IT Service Management (ITSM) turns approved services into entries in the service catalogue.
It is clear to me that without the complimentary relationship of ITSM and PPM, effective Service Portfolio Management will remain elusive.

Service Portfolio Management Presentation

2009-02-05T06:32:00.000-08:00

Helge Sceil (SVP and GM for Governance at CA) is posted at http://SPM Presentation

Let me know if you are using PPM to support IT Service Portfolio Management.

Debenhams - Clarity Use in the News

2009-02-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed reading in Computerworld today, an interesting article on Debenhams use of CA Clarity PPM, which they use to support 60 change programmes across the company. In November we were fortunate enough to have a visit from their PMO lead, who recorded a short webinar, recanting their upgrade success to CA Clarity 8.1 and talking about their use of Clarity in general. You can watch the recording by visiting http://Debenhams Recording

Effective Requirements Planning webinar on Feb. 4th

2009-01-30T06:54:00.000-08:00

Reduce Project Costs & Failures through Effective Requirements Planning
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 – 8:00 a.m. PST, 11:00 a.m. EST
Learn how to streamline the planning and tracking of requirements in a live demonstration of requirements planning, one of the marquee features in CA Clarity PPM v12.
Register at:

http://Reduce Project Costs and Failures with Requirements Planning

CA Announces Results of PPM Return on Investment Study

2009-01-28T02:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, CA announced the study that forms the basis of the web based assessment
at http://PPM-Maturity-Assessment

For me, the most compelling part of the findings are:

- The number of redundant projects decreased by 78 percent
- Project failure rates decreased by 59 percent
- Cost per project fell by 37 percent
- The time to market for revenue-generating initiatives dropped by 33%

I also liked the included customer quote:
“The visibility and information provided by CA Clarity PPM ensures that strategic, business transformation projects as well as new products and services, are delivered on time and within budget, leading to greater competitive advantage,”

Jean-Michel Huten, Director of IT Planning, Worktools and Methodologies, Generali France.

The CA Clarity PPM Fanclub Reaches New Heights

2009-01-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Today, the CA Clarity Fan Club was at Linkedin.com reached 66 members. To join view
http://Linkedin CA Clarity PPM Fan Club

Royal College of Surgeons slams NHS IT

2009-01-26T06:30:00.000-08:00

Having and read and commented on the above, I wondered if you may have come across it at http://ComputerWorldUK

I would love to see your comments on this. It is such a contrast from the Department
of Human Services for the State of Colorado, who's success storey is posted at http://CA Clarity PPM StateSuccess

Service Portfolio Management Webinar - Jan 29th 2009

2009-01-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

The itSMF have put together a great line up of speakers to discuss SPM for this event. To register, please visit
Service Portfolio Management, your quickest route to Business Relationship Management?.

Use PPM to Manage IT Investment Risk

2009-01-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

I was recently directed to a great article on http://using PPM to manage IT investment risk authored by Lisa Erickson-Harris of EMA. She also sees the value of linking PPM to service management to enable better service-centric IT and project management.

European PPM Software Market in 2007 and Olympics

2008-12-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

I just read an interesting article in CRN at
http://Channelweb.co.uk/crn in which Teresa Jones summarizes the EMEA PPM software market, crediting CA Clarity with the fastest growth in 2007. She also points to the Olympics as a potential for a great deal of project work.

CA Clarity Wins 3 out of 4 Awards at EMEA PPM Summit

2008-12-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

CA Voted “Best” for Tenth Straight PPM Summit; Wins Most Awards Again
CA Wins “Best PPM Technology Solution,” “Best Portfolio Analysis” and “Best PPM Strategy & Services Provider”
at 2008 Project & Portfolio Management Summit Europe
ISLANDIA, N.Y., December 9, 2008 – CA (NASDAQ: CA) today announced that its CA Clarity PPM solution has been voted “Best PPM Technology Solution,” “Best Portfolio Analysis” and “Best PPM Strategy & Services Provider” at the 2008 Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Summit Europe in Vienna, Austria. The company received the most nominations and was the only vendor named a finalist in all categories. This is the tenth straight PPM Summit that CIOs and technology decision makers have recognized CA with the most awards for its PPM solution.
The Project & Portfolio Management Innovation™ Awards are significant because they are voted on by over 100 attending senior IT executives and CIOs who attend boardroom presentations by leading PPM vendors over a two-day period. The awards distinguish technology and service providers for the quality of their solutions and programs, the level of service and support, and exceptional design and delivery of presentations.
Key to CA's success at PPM Summits is showcasing the incredible value customers are getting from the use of CA Clarity PPM. This year's event featured Debenhams, a leading department stores group in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, among other customers.
“As a company in the retail industry, it is essential that we have sound project and portfolio methods in place,” said Dominic Nash, Business Systems Controller at Debenhams. “Debenhams chose CA Clarity PPM for its reputation as a best-in-class solution to streamline our mission critical project, program and portfolio management processes. CA Clarity PPM provides value to our organization with improved enterprise visibility and robust automated processes, driving overall efficiency and resource optimization.”
This recognition comes shortly after CA World 2008, where the company announced the new release of CA Clarity PPM, and a SaaS delivery option:

• CA Clarity PPM v12 adds capabilities to streamline the planning and tracking of requirements, improve collaboration with project and portfolio stakeholders through the most popular collaboration tool, Microsoft SharePoint, and help drive adoption of PPM across the enterprise.
• CA Clarity PPM On Demand is a full-featured version of the leading PPM solution and gives companies of all sizes and maturity levels the option of best-in-class PPM via a flexible and easy-to-implement SaaS model.
“These prestigious awards demonstrate CA’s continued success as a leader in the PPM space,” said Carl Landers, vice president of marketing for CA Clarity PPM. “As companies are faced with the challenge of cutting costs without sacrificing priorities that drive business value, CA is delivering solutions that help drive efficiency with project and resource prioritization.”
CIOs and senior IT executives have continually recognized CA Clarity PPM as a top solution at the PPM Summits. This renowned event is held semi-annually in both North America and Europe. CA’s proven record of success includes:
• Best PPM Technology Solution, Best Portfolio Analysis and Best PPM Strategy & Services Provider, Europe 2008
• Best Solution and Best Presentation, North America 2008
• Best Solution, Best Technology and Service Provider and Best Presentation, Europe 2007
• Best Portfolio Analysis and Most Flexible/Configurable, North America 2007
• Best Solution, Best Technology and Service Provider and Best Presentation, Europe 2006
• Best Solution and Best Strategy, North America 2006
• Best Solution and Best Vendor, Europe 2005
• Best Vendor and Best Strategy, North America 2005
• Best Solution and Best Vendor, Europe 2004
• Best Vendor, North America 2004
About Project & Portfolio Management Summit
Project & Portfolio Management Summit brings Senior IT Executives from the PPM business community together with Gartner Analysts, and leading and emerging Technology Providers. The business-intensive format includes Gartner-led sessions, Case Study Presentations, a Showcase of Exhibits, and networking functions.
About Vision Events
Vision Events, a division of United Business Media, is a leading producer of highly focused business events that bring resellers and end users together with leading and emerging technology providers in private boardroom appointments and case study presentations to form strategic partnerships and secure new business in the technology sector. Additional information about Vision Events can be found at http://www.visionevents.com.
About CA Clarity PPM
CA Clarity PPM, the industry-leading project and portfolio management solution, enables public and private sector IT organizations to achieve world-class performance by improving the quality of their engagement with their stakeholders and enhancing their ability to run at peak efficiency. The CA Clarity PPM system features integrated IT portfolio planning, demand management, project management, resource planning and time, cost and earned value management. More than 800,000 users at more than 900 companies depend on CA Clarity PPM to govern IT and, increasingly, to manage new product development (NPD). For more information on CA Clarity PPM, please visit www.myclarity.com.
About CA
CA (NASDAQ: CA) is the world's leading independent IT management software company. With CA's Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and expertise, organizations can more effectively govern, manage and secure IT to optimize business performance and sustain competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.ca.com.
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Copyright © 2008 CA. All Rights Reserved. One CA Plaza, Islandia, N.Y. 11749. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

PPM Summit 2008 Pictures

2008-12-07T02:05:00.000-08:00

Please visit my photo journal for this years PPM summit in Vienna at
Pradeep's Picasa Web Album for PPM Summit.

CA Clarity v12 Announced at CA World 2008

2008-11-19T06:19:00.000-08:00

myclarity.com has the details at
V12 Announcement

Free PPM Maturity Assesment

2008-11-12T03:39:00.000-08:00

Try the web-based self-service PPM Value and Maturity assessment to get a custom report and improvement advise by visiting http://PPM-Maturity-Assessment

PPM Fun: Join the Clarity PPM Fan Club

2008-11-12T03:16:00.000-08:00

Today, the CA Clarity Fan Club was at Linkedin.com reached 66 members. To join view
http://Linkedin CA Clarity PPM Fan Club

Implementing IT Governance: The book

2008-11-11T02:12:00.000-08:00

I just read, and enjoyed this comprehensive and well organised book by Dr. Gad Selig PMP COP. I like the way it positions PPM within an IT governance context. You can read more about it at the publishers site at: Van Haren Publishing.

557% Return On PPM Investment

2008-11-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

Based on new 2008 research, IDC has developed resources to help you quantify the financial benefit of implementing PPM and build a compelling case to justify investment. Read more about the research or try the the web based self-service value assessment for yourself by registering at http://PPM-Value

PMO at MGM Mirage Article

2008-09-28T04:28:00.000-07:00

If you have considered transforming your IT Project Management Office into an Enterprise Project Management Office, you have to read the article at cio.com in which the CISO of MGM Mirage talks about her efforts over the past two years to do so.

Read the full article at click here.

Interesting Integrations

2008-09-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

I see many requests for examples of sites that have integrated CA Clarity PPM with other CA products, BMC Remedy, Oracle Financials or SAP? I am very interested what integrations are in production use and can be replicated by new users who want to do the same.

Project Overspend Does not Always Equate to Project Failure

2008-09-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

I was interested to read a recent blog in which Lewis Cardin of Forrester Research, stated that in spite of projects that are labeled a failure at one level can often be successful, depending on what your success criteria are. Projects that adapt to changing business requirements by adding enhancements that make a greater impact to the business, can often be commended despite being late or over budget. A prime example in Europe is the Channel Tunnel project, which at its 1994 completion had actual costs were, £4,650 million (in 1985 prices): an 80% cost overrun. The cost overrun was partly due to enhanced safety, security, and environmental demands, which is an undoubted improvement. The business and the IT project leads need to be united in their convictions and develop common weighted metrics that define success and failure on a graduated scale from success to failure.

You can hear Lewis provide insights from his research findings at a CA webcast at:
http://www.myclarity.com/forrester-ondemand-904.html