White paper presenting the results of a survey into the use of PPM solutions.

1. the way we see it
PPM solutions for
IT Governance
The user perspective

3. the way we see it
PPM solutions for IT Governance
The user perspective
Tjie-Jau Man
Erwin Dunnink

4. Table of Contents
Foreword 3
1 PPM – Achieving Governance 5
2 Are users satisfied? 11
3 Getting the max out of PPM 17
4 About the Survey – Intention and Method 19
Appendix A 23

5. the way we see it
Foreword
Achieving goals through Besides adopting various methodo­ the time to share their experiences
logies, such as PRINCE2 and MSP, and opinions with us. Our report
projects and business organisations also consider the imple­ offers value to the vendors of PPM
(improvement) program- mentation of software tools to be an solutions (some of the functions and
important enabler for the improve­ features of their solutions are barely
mes is popular. ment of their project portfolio man­ used) as well as ideas on strategies
agement (PPM) performance. which user organisations might con­
Organisations operating sider when they seek to enable their
in various industry sectors We define PPM as the discipline PPM processes with a supporting
focusing on the strategic alignment, solution.
strive to professionalise prioritisation and governance of
the way in which they initiatives, projects and programmes. The survey was conducted by Erwin
Dunnink (erwin.dunnink@capgemini.
manage these temporary The purpose of this survey is to explore com) and Tjie­Jau Man (tjie­jau.man
the views of leading organisations on @capgemini.com), both from
endeavours. the use of PPM solutions as a means Capgemini in the Netherlands.
to improve their (IT) Governance.
How are PPM solutions used? What We hope this publication stimulates
business processes are being enabled thoughtful discussions on the usage
by these tools? Are the users satisfied? of PPM solutions.
What are the objectives of leading
organisations in implementing such Utrecht, spring 2008
tools? What lessons can be learned
from these organisations? Rudolf Laane
Vice President
The survey is based on responses from
32 organisations, from 5 countries, re­
presenting all major industry sectors. It
is the latest publication in Capgemini’s
Project Performance Improvement series,
which sets out our point of view on
project­based management. This user
survey is an excellent complement to
our 2005 solution study, in which we
created transparency in the market for
PPM solutions.
In order to assist organisations with
the professionalisation of their PPM
processes and the implementation of
supportive tools, Capgemini offers
skilled support through its global
network of Project Performance
Improvement (PPI) practices.
We would like to express our sincerest
thanks to all participants for taking

7. the way we see it
1 PPM - Achieving Governance
PPM asks the critical After focusing on project efficiency, it menting software solutions to improve
question: “Are we doing is now time for organisations to step their PPM processes. The figure below
beyond it and glance at the effective­ shows that between 2004 and 2007
the right things?” ness of the projects they are undertak­ the number of PPM implementations
ing and adapt a governance approach at our respondents has grown rapidly
to the complete portfolio of projects. (Figure 1). Although they are called
The impact of projects has become PPM solutions, they also provide func­
enormous over time and organisations tionalities in support of other IT
cannot afford to waste any of their Governance processes.
limited resources. This is the main
reason why organisations must no Based on our experience, we have
longer consider ‘if’ they should apply chosen to focus on the following pro­
PPM but rather ‘when’ and, most im­ cess areas in this survey, as they are
portantly, ‘how’ they should do so. the most relevant to project­based
management:
PPM is about prioritising and facilitat­
ing all running projects/programmes n Portfolio management
to maintain their effectiveness. In order n Programme management
to take these decisions, organisations n Project management
require information. Besides the col­ n Resource management
lection of decision­critical informa­
tion, organisations also have to find
the means to manage it.
PPM is here to stay In recent years, organisations have
begun to see the benefits of imple­
Figure 1: PPM software implementations
100%
80%
% of respondents
60%
40%
20%
0%
before 2000 ’00 - ’03 ’04 - ’07

8. Only 19% of organisations Portfolio management The majority of the organisations do
use a PPM solution to Portfolio management concerns the not use software tools to support their
identification, selection, prioritisation, portfolio management processes
support portfolio financing, monitoring and maintenance (Figure 2). However, around 25% of
management of the desired set of projects or pro­ the respondents cited portfolio man­
grammes, in order to meet organisa­ agement as one of the process areas
tional goals. It is about control of in­ which they wish to support with soft­
vestments (i.e. projects/programmes) ware in the near future. This reflects
to gain maximum performance. the increasing awareness of the impor­
Portfolio management is a cyclic itera­ tance of aligning projects and pro­
tive process, comprising four steps: grammes with the business strategy
and goals. In 2005, PPM solutions
n collect all relevant project or pro­ were found to show low functionality
gramme initiatives coverage1 scores for some portfolio
n analyse the various portfolio scenarios management processes. The studied
n decide which scenario to favour and solutions scored 60% and 40% for the
n effectuate the decisions by adapting ‘analyse portfolio scenarios’ and ‘adapt
the portfolio. the portfolio’ processes respectively,
which was relatively low compared to
Increased awareness Figure 2: Usage of portfolio other portfolio management processes.
of Business Strategy management This limited functionality support may
be one of the reasons why organisa­
alignment tions seem to be slow in adopting
portfolio management.
Programme management
19% On a lower abstraction level than
portfolio management, programme
management focuses on the realisation
of the business vision and strategy,
56% 19%
involving significant business and IT
changes, multiple projects and services
across various business areas.
6% Adopting the processes defined in
Managing Successful Programs
Use PPM solution (MSP)2, programme management
Use other tool(s) comprises the following activities:
Use combination of
PPM and other tools n identifying a programme
Don’t use tools n defining a programme
1 A functionality coverage score is the n governing a programme
percentage of functionalities covered
n running a programme and
by the studied solutions on average for
specific processes.
When looking at the complete project n closing a programme.
2 Managing Successful Programmes is an portfolio of the respondents (20,764
approach to programme management projects), it is found that only 25% In contrast to portfolio management,
developed by the Office of Government of the projects are governed as a port­ more than half of the participating
Commerce (OGC) in the UK. folio using the PPM solution. organisations indicated that they use
PPM solutions for IT Governance

9. the way we see it
their PPM solutions to support their most of the studied solutions offered More than half of the
programme management processes the basic functionalities and more for organisations use PPM
(Figure 3). The functionality coverage project management. They scored par­
score of the solutions for programme ticularly high for functionalities sup­ to support programme
management was 64%. porting the definition of projects and management
managing project capabilities (72.5%).
Figure 3: Programme management
support As depicted in Figure 4, most orga­
nisations use their PPM solutions to
support their project execution man­
agement processes.
Figure 4: Project execution 70% use PPM to support
management support project execution
35% management
53%
10%
6% 10%
6%
10%
Use PPM solution
Use other tool(s)
70%
Use combination of
PPM and other tools
Don’t use tools
Use PPM solution
From a solutions point of view, pro­ Use other tool(s)
grammes and projects are very much Use combination of
alike. It is therefore surprising to see PPM and other tools
Don’t use tools
that 35% still do not use PPM to sup­
port programme management.
Project management The most surprising aspect of Figure
Project management in this study 4 is that 10% of the organisations
covers the processes in the following do not use their PPM solutions to
three process areas: support project execution processes.
Further examination showed that or­
n Project execution management ganisations within this 10% use PPM
n Project cost management to support portfolio management,
n Control alerts management resource allocation management and
project cost management processes.
These areas are part of the core compo­
nents of a typical PPM solution. The Tracking the progress by expenditures
solutions study in 2005 showed that and physical scope accomplishments

10. PPM cost management: is also essential. Assessing the prog­ the most suitable resources to tasks
well supported, barely ress allows the manager to adjust the (within the constraints of availability).
project approach and the environment Recording personnel and administer­
used within which the project or programme ing their competences were processes
is being conducted. for which the PPM solutions scored
relatively high (70.7% and 72.9%
The highest functionality coverage respectively). Organisations in the
score was found in the project cost Manufacturing sector appear to favour
component of PPM solutions (76.6%). PPM solutions most in supporting
Nevertheless, a significant number of these two processes. 60% of the re­
organisations indicate that they are spondents in this group indicated that
using other tools (in combination these two processes are supported by
with their PPM solution) to support their PPM solution. More than 30%
this process area (Figure 5). This of the organisations use other tools
could be explained by the fact that to manage their human resources. In
integrations with financial systems many cases an interface is realised
are often realised to cover functional­ with an HRM solution.
ities for project cost management pro­
cesses. Processes relating to the allocation of
registered resources are well support­
Figure 5: Project cost management ed by solutions. On average, more
support than 60% of the organisations use
PPM solutions to support their re­
source allocation activities (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Resource allocation
13% management support
23% 48%
16%
16% 6%
Use PPM solution 16% 62%
Use other tool(s)
Use combination of
PPM and other tools
Don’t use tools
Use PPM solution
Use other tool(s)
Over 30% use multiple Resource management Use combination of
From a solutions point of view, the PPM and other tools
solutions for resource Don’t use tools
key is being able to register the infor­
management mation needed to allocate and assign
PPM solutions for IT Governance

11. the way we see it
When combining the figures of the The core PPM
2005 solutions study with the 2007 functionalities are
user survey, we can see that most
participating organisations use PPM used extensively
solutions to support project execution,
resource allocation, project cost and
programme management. As for the
remaining four areas we investigated,
few organisations appear to use PPM
solutions to support them, despite
the broad coverage of functionalities
offered.
Figure 7: Software support usage and functionality coverage
Project execution mgmt
Project cost mgmt
Resource allocation mgmt
Programme mgmt
Resource mgmt
Portfolio mgmt
Control alerts mgmt
Knowledge mgmt
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Use of PPM solution to support process area (2007 user survey)
Functional coverage (2005 solutions study)
This figure shows that many functions
and features available in solutions are
not used by the respondents.
On the other hand, it is interesting
to note that 43% of the organisations
indicate that they use other tools to
complement the functionalities of the
main PPM solutions.

13. the way we see it
2 Are users satisfied?
Top 3 PPM implementation An important aspect in user satisfac­ The respondents were also asked
objectives: tion is the extent to which the objec­ about the benefits of using PPM
tives of implementing a PPM solution solutions in terms of cost reduction.
Planning Control
n
were met after the implementation. About half of the respondents an­
Standardisation
n swered this question, and it emerged
Transparency
n
When the organisations were asked that more than 90% of them did not
to state the three most important achieve any reduction in costs. In
objectives for implementing their addition, none of the respondents
PPM solutions, most of them selected provided precise figures. This might
‘Planning control’, ‘Standardisation’ be due to the fact that IT investments
and ‘Transparency’. This corresponds are one of the most difficult types of
to a trend mentioned in 2005, where­ investment in which to determine the
by organisations seek enterprise­wide payoff. One important reason for this
project transparency and control. is that IT investments often entail sig­
Aside from the ‘Other’ category, the nificant changes in business processes
achievements of these three objectives and communications between depart­
are also the highest compared to other ments and employees. Expressing the
objectives, with average percentages value and benefits of these changes in
around sixty. This category includes monetary terms has proved to be very
‘gaining insight into supply and de­ difficult for organisations in general.
Cost reduction is not mand’, ‘replacing a dysfunctional solu­ Looking at Figure 8, we see that cost
tion’ and ‘integrating the back­office reduction was not even one of the
the main reason for teams in India with the front­offices most important reasons for imple­
implementing PPM early visibility of potential overruns’. menting a PPM solution.
Figure 8: Objectives of PPM implementations and achievement after implementation
Planning Control
Transparency
Standardisation
Coordination
Communication
Cost reduction
Time-to-market
Other
Quality Control
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
% respondents selecting this objective
% achieved after software implementation
11

14. PPM solutions contribute Of course, there were good reasons the PPM solution itself (Figure 9). This
to organisational maturity for the organisations to implement a may explain why organisations use a
PPM solution, although the benefits combination of the PPM solution and
were not fully quantifiable. When other tools to support their PM pro­
considering the professionalisation of cesses. The complementary tools men­
project management, the concept of tioned most often are Microsoft Excel
maturity is often cited as an important and home­grown applications.
benefit. The agenda of every project­
based organisation includes the achieve­ Software quality
ment of higher maturity in its project The respondents in the user survey
management processes and skills. were asked to indicate the software
This aim is based on the promise that quality as they perceive it. Three
higher maturity leads to better busi­ characteristics of software quality
ness performance. In this survey, were covered in the survey:
respondents were asked subjectively
whether they perceived any develop­ n Functionality
ments regarding maturity after the im­ Does the solution provide the
plementation, and the majority (69%) desired functionalities? Does it
indicated that the use of a PPM solu­ perform in accordance with user
tion does contribute to achieving a expectations? Does it adhere to
higher project management maturity application standards?
level. An important reason could be n Usability
that organisations which use a PPM Is it easy to learn to use the solu­
solution usually have stricter gover­ tion? Is it easy to operate? Is it clear
nance in place for projects. to the user what he/she can do with
it?
Most organisations Overall, respondents are satisfied with n Maintainability
are satisfied with PPM the support provided by the software Is it easy to identify causes of fail­
they are using. The respondents rate ures? Is it easy to modify or clear
solutions their satisfaction with tools other than faults? Is it easy to (re)establish its
their PPM solution higher than with running status?
Figure 9: General satisfaction - PPM solutions and other tools
50%
40%
% of respondents
30%
20%
10%
0%
Very dissatisfied Very satisfied
PPM solution Other tools
12 PPM solutions for IT Governance

15. the way we see it
Each respondent was asked to indicate Usability and
the extent to which he/she agreed with
maintainability
the statements underlying these three
aspects. need to be improved
Figure 10: ‘PPM solutions do well in terms of...’
Functionality
Usability
Maintainability
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Agree Disagree
After aggregating the results, we found
that most respondents agree that PPM
solutions fare quite well in terms of
the functionality aspect. When dis­
cussing software usability, opinions
are divided equally. Finally, it appears
that with regard to the maintainability
of PPM solutions, user organisations
believe there is a lot of room for im­
provement (Figure 10). The PPM so­
lutions have very low scores for main­
tainability. Since we have investigated
off­the­shelf solutions, the respon­
dents are partly dependent on the
vendors’ ability to solve deficiencies
in the software which affect maintain­
ability. This is because there is a de­
pendency between this aspect of soft­
ware quality and solution vendors.
Two interesting findings in this part
are the 20% of respondents stating
that their solutions do not offer the
desired functionalities and an even
higher percentage of respondents
1

16. Additional functionalities indicating that it is not performing in view of a number of the respondents
are needed accordance with users’ expectations. It on PPM solutions. Despite the possi­
is therefore not surprising that 59% of bility of configuring PPM solutions to
the respondents give positive answers fit the situation within organisations
concerning the need for additional as far as possible, more than 90% of
functionality. This score seems to the respondents indicate that there are
point to a well­known ‘disadvantage’ implemented functionalities which
of off­the­shelf software: it will never they do not use. There is a need for
be completely aligned with the needs greater adaptability in existing solu­
and wishes of every individual organi­ tions. One way to do this is by devel­
sation. oping a ‘light’ version of a PPM solu­
tion, as was requested by one of the
Complexity undermines The purpose of introducing PPM solu­ respondents.
maintainability tions is to provide an integrated soft­
ware solution for the different yet The implementation process
related processes underlying project­ Most of the respondents indicated
based management. A certain degree that achieving the objectives is to a
of complexity in these solutions is large extent related to how the imple­
therefore inevitable. However, not all mentation of the software was han­
organisations are ready or find it nec­ dled. An interesting coherence was
essary to implement the full­blown found when we examined the rela­
offering of functionalities embodied tionship between the scores given
by PPM solutions. The well­known for the support provided after imple­
phrase ‘Less is More’ appears to be ap­ mentation and satisfaction with the
propriate to describe the present­day software in general.
Figure 11: Importance of support after implementation
Excellent
Implementation support rating
Poor
Very dissatisfied Very satisfied
Software satisfaction
14 PPM solutions for IT Governance

17. the way we see it
A significant, positive correlation was Do not underestimate the
also found between the rating given for implementation process
the quality of support after implemen­
tation and the contribution of the soft­
ware to achieving the objectives of the
implementation. This clearly shows
that managing the organisational
change is an important factor for the
success of the implementation. The
respondents also indicated that support
by a third party is seen as highly valu­
able in this regard (Figure 12).
Figure 12: Implementation satisfaction - by support party
Satisfied
Dissatisfied
Implementation Organisational Support after
support change implementation
By software suppplier By third party By both
1

19. the way we see it
3 Getting the max out of PPM
The findings show a Most users do not require broader n Success of the implementation
functionality but are looking for an depends to a large extent on sup­
gap between users’ improvement in existing functionality port of end­users during and after
expectations of PPM and usability. The users’ message to implementation.
the vendors is clear: they must make n Implementing a PPM solution
solutions and the func- sure that: improves the PPM maturity of
n user­friendliness is improved by an organisation.
tionality offered. This offering user­focused functionality;
creates an opportunity n clients must be able to use modules PPM is a business area that is impor­
without having to implement the tant in today’s business. Many efforts
to bridge this gap over full­blown functionality; are managed in a project­based way.
the next few years. n project management methods are Alignment of approaches, setting up
clearly supported by offering solu­ a supporting organisation and imple­
tions with the appropriate termino­ menting a solution are equally impor­
logy on the screens; tant to enable an organisation to im­
n core functionality must be suppor­ prove on its project­based management.
ted in greater depth before additio­
nal (non­core) functionality is con­ This survey again stresses the impor­
sidered. The respondents indicated tance of a well thought­out approach
that they primarily use the core to implementing PPM solutions.
functionality and are not (yet) The solutions available offer a broad
interested in other functionality. range of functionality. The challenge
in implementation projects is how to
Where the vendors have one item to make the best use of the possibilities
focus on, i.e. functionality, the user offered. A combined approach of
survey presents a more varied picture processes, organisation, people and a
of users. The main topics are: supporting PPM solution are essential
n Not all functional areas are imple­ in this regard.
mented, although the functionality
is present. This offers a big opportu­
nity for users to extend the existing
implementation focused on project
and cost management and resource
allocation to other adjacent areas
such as portfolio management and
resource management. In this way
additional benefits will be achieved.
n PPM implementation offers broader
benefits than anticipated by many
users. The main goals defined prior
to implementation are planning
control, transparency and standar­
disation. In most cases these three
goals are attained, together with
goals in other areas such as cost
reduction, quality and control and
time­to­market.
1

21. the way we see it
4 About the Survey - Intention and
Method
When conducting a study of the use Telco Consulting
n
of PPM solutions, it is important to This group consists of telecommu­
explore first the backgrounds of the nications organisations and those
user organisations. We therefore col­ operating in the consultancy sector.
lected some key figures relating to the
characteristics of projects and the allo­ Some of the results in this report are
cation of resources at the participating presented on the basis of these four
organisations. sectors. The distribution of respon­
dents among these industry sectors is
The participants in the user survey are shown below (Figure 13).
classified into four industry sectors.
These are: We trust the information presented in
n Public services this paper will provide effective sup­
This group comprises governmental port for organisations planning to im­
organisations such as tax authorities, plement a PPM solution from scratch
ministries and local government. or those who are planning to optimise
n Manufacturing the implementation and extend the
Manufacturing companies and retail support of the solution to other pro­
companies belong to this group. cesses.
n Financial services
This group covers banks and insu­ This report contains the results of the
rance companies. user survey, which was based on an
online questionnaire containing 51
Figure 13: Number of respondents by questions. It provides insights into the
industry satisfaction with and use of PPM solu­
tions. A total of 32 user organisations
(one participant each) were willing to
share their experiences.
400 new projects are 13%
On average, the participating organi­
initiated each year on sations initiate around 400 projects
25% each year. However, when looking at
average the individual amounts, we observe
large differences, with one organisa­
tion initiating only five projects and
40%
22%
another up to 2,500 projects per year.
Public Services
Manufacturing
Financial Services
Telco Consulting
1

22. 650 active projects on In addition to the number of projects
average initiated each year, it is also interest­
ing to consider the number of projects
that are active at a certain moment in
time. The total amounts to 20,764,
which is on average around 650 pro­
jects per respondent. This number in­
cludes the projects which continue for
more than one year.
Most projects are A closer examination of the project
completed within a year duration shows that in all four sectors
the majority of projects are completed
within a year (Figure 14). This is not
surprising, since a shorter duration
makes projects more manageable.
It also reflects a trend we have identi­
fied among our clients, who wish to
define projects with clear objectives to
be achieved in a short time period in
order to optimise the manageability of
projects.
Figure 14: Average project duration by industry
Public Services
Financial Services
Telco Consulting
Manufacturing
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
% of projects
Less than 1 year More than 1 year
20 PPM solutions for IT Governance

23. the way we see it
The participating organisations were 40% of resources work
Figure 15: Average number of
asked to provide the percentages part-time in projects
employees in a project
of employees working part­time in
projects. It emerged that fewer than
50% of employees are allocated part­
time to projects in all four sectors.
6%
With regard to the number of emplo­ 13% Project team consists
yees usually participating in a project, 13%
most often of 5-25
the Public Services and Telco
Consulting sectors are the two sectors resources
in which organisations allocate more 29%
than fifty employees to a project. On
average, most of the organisations al­ 39%
locate between five and 25 employees
to a project (Figure 15).
5
5 - 10
10 - 25
25 - 50
50
21

25. the way we see it
Appendix A
About Capgemini PPI n PPI Solutions is focuses on
Capgemini’s Project Performance optimising the Project Portfolio
Improvement (PPI) practices are Management (PPM) processes in
globally present in the Netherlands, an organisation with the support
Belgium, Germany, Austria, Sweden, of the right tools. PPI Solutions has
Poland, Spain, France, the UK, India thorough implementation know­
and the US. These practices serve ledge of the PPM solutions available
project­based organisations with the in the market.
professionalisation of executing and n PPI Global Services Centre is a
governing projects, programmes and highly industrialised delivery centre
portfolios. PPI is a full service provid­ for PPM­application management
er in this market space: Consulting, and PPM reports and interface
Technology, Outsourcing. development.
The main business issue addressed For more information on PPI see
by PPI involves organisations that are www.nl.capgemini.com/PPI/ (in
not in control of the execution of their Dutch)
projects, programmes and portfolios.
n PPI Consulting offers services such
as project managers’ assessments,
organisation assessments (OPM3,
CMMI), setting up or running
Project Management Offices, imple­
menting PRINCE2, MSP and Project
Portfolio management (PPM).
2

26. About Capgemini
Capgemini, one of the and through a global delivery model
world’s foremost providers called Rightshore®, which aims to offer
of consulting, technology and outsourc- the right resources in the right location
ing services, enables its clients to trans- at competitive cost. Present in 35 coun-
form and perform through technologies. tries, Capgemini reported 2006 global
Capgemini provides its clients with revenues of EUR 7.7 billion and employs
insights and capabilities that boost their over 83,000 people worldwide.
freedom to achieve superior results
through a unique way of working More information is available at
- the Collaborative Business Experience - www.capgemini.com
Colophon
Capgemini Nederland B.V.
Postbus 2575 - 3500 GN Utrecht
Tel. + 31 30 689 76 25
dr/8F-093.27/1000
Copyright © 2008 Capgemini. No part of this document may be modified, deleted or
expanded by any process or means without prior written approval from Capgemini.
24 PPM solutions for IT Governance

28. www.nl.capgemini.com
Capgemini Nederland B.V.
Papendorpseweg 100
Postbus 2575 - 3500 GN Utrecht
Tel. 030 689 33 66