Project Portfolio Management Information System Highlights It provides a single point of access to proposal and project information. It streamlines proposal preparation during all important tendering phases (e.g. Forecast, EoI, Tender, etc.). It leverages planning, monitoring and controlling of project execution through one holistic view of operational and financial data. Introduction Today, there is a wide range of different funding mechanisms offered by organizations like the European Union, the World Bank, national governments or other financial institutions. The main goal of these offered instruments is to provide funding and grants for a broad range of projects and programmes covering areas relating to the economy, education, health, research and innovation, environmental protection, humanitarian aid, institutional, infrastructure and judicial development, etc. It improves collaboration and communication with integrated Relationship and Document management. It leverages the recruitment lifecycle for project experts for best-fit assignments. It provides enterprise social networking and search capabilities. It enables simple and efficient reporting and advanced analytical research with dashboards, filtered views and ad hoc reports. It provides a comfortable and familiar user experience. Figure 1. Project Portfolio MIS Overview 1
Funding is managed according to strict rules to ensure that there is tight control over how funds are used and that funds are spent in a transparent, accountable manner. Since there are many different types of programmes managed by different bodies, related processes can be regarded as very complex. Often they involve multiple activities, participants, requirements, deadlines, documents and reports Figure 2. Starting page with up-to-date information about projects and progress in order to ensure that suitably qualified contractors and grant beneficiaries are chosen without bias and that the best value for money or the best price is obtained, with the full transparency appropriate to the use of public funds. But even before applying for certain funds, companies interested in receiving funds have to deal with the preparation activities including analysis and research of strategic documents, funding procedures and workflows, programming structures and funding opportunities, networking with potential consortium partners, experts and other useful business relations in order to be ready to submit a successful application. Main objectives of the solution The Project Portfolio MIS (PPMIS) is a complete project management solution that helps improve collaboration, communication, operational insight and overall efficiencies. Built on and accessed through cutting edge technologies, it provides a flexible and affordable platform that gives organizations a 360-degree view of tender and project information in order to enable them to quickly and easily resolve issues and track progress. The PPMIS automates and streamlines key tasks associated with proposal preparation, stakeholder communication, project reporting and much more, thus empowering organizations to meet their unique requirements and improve service delivery across all departments and functional areas. 2
Teched s PPMIS can help organisations attain the following objectives: Streamline processes and automate tasks Automating workflows and reducing administrative tasks minimize paperwork, errors, delays, and wasted time, so efficiency and ef- Figure 3. PPMIS Social networking and notification area fectiveness of staff are increased. data entry. Reports, dashboards Manage contracting pro- and other tools are readily available. cesses and project implemen- Enhance business intelli- tation gence Increase intra- and inter- PPMIS facilitates data access, analysis and reporting by consolidating project information into one central source, with real-time updates. This single, holistic view of your proposals and projects allows for more effective tracking, quicker and more accurate reporting, and increased ability to detect and resolve issues and discover trends as well as elimination of duplicated agency collaboration, communication and satisfaction The amalgamation of project information equates to a single view of the truth, reducing miscommunication and errors and improving relationships, as the flow of information within the organization and between organizations becomes smoother, more accurate and consistent. Monitoring proposal preparation activities and output reviews, project management and tracking progress help ensure that the application for projects and the funds received are managed and used efficiently, effectively, and as planned, in order to maximize project results and benefits. Provides a comfortable and familiar user experience 3
Most workers are already proficient with the Microsoft suite of products such as Outlook, Excel and Word to facilitate data handling and correspondence handling, so that users are able to quickly learn to use the system. A smooth and intuitive navigation system streamlines tasks and eliminates extraneous clicking, searching and window pop-ups. Figure 4. Activity management (e.g. e-mail, appointment, task, etc.) Process enforcement has also been enhanced to ensure that each interaction is handled in the best way. Main modules and features of the Project Portfolio MIS 1. Project Lifecycle Management and Project Management. It records and updates information in order to support management and control activities. This module incorporates two main sub-modules, namely for Proposal 1.1 Proposal management PPMIS helps you to prioritize project opportunities and make risk-appropriate decisions with consistent pipeline and proposal management processes. The system provides a seamless end-to-end experience from lead generation to opportunity management to project scoping and initiation, including the tactical Figure 5. My Active Projects list view 4
management of proposals, contracts and changes for projects already in execution. Figure 6. Project s Terms of Reference form The main task of the proposal management sub-module is to support the daily activities related to communication: search and evaluation of potential partners and collaborators; analysis and research of external/internal data sources and their collection; storage or update within the system; as well as preparation activities related to forecasts, expressions of interest or tender documentation. 1.2 Project management This sub-module ensures repeatability and profitability in every project activity with reusable planning templates, configurable cost controls, and standard, as well as ad hoc, reporting. Figure 7. Calendar with important project dates, deadlines and tasks. From the high-level handshake with business development during scoping and budget formulation, through project detailing, contract, project implementation and final handover, the Project Manager (PM) bears the burden of profitability. PPMIS helps to lighten that burden by giving PMs the tools 5
they need to streamline the entire process. Whether working on a small or a major project PMs, assistants, project experts can access data within one unified project management system that delivers real-time views into the status and trajectory of the project. Project cost, revenue, timetable of activities, quality, risk and other Figure 8. Monthly resource allocation by experts and project activities controls are essential and quantitative foundations for project monitoring. 2.1 Relationship management 2. Information and Know-ledge Management Recording and on-going update of information and support to execution of Business development and Project implementation. This module has the following submodules: This submodule offers several data registers and is easily and highly customizable. It includes registers such as Accounts, Contacts, Projects, Experts, Project References, Stake- holders, Partners, Beneficiaries, Competition, etc. If necessary, additional registers can be defined and created during customization activities. This solution addresses the recruitment lifecycle for project experts as well as tracking of education, certification, expertise, project experience and other data required to ensure that the best expert is found for each position. By incorporating enterprise social networking and search capabilities that traverse Human Resources, Project Management as well as Project collaboration systems, our solution delivers powerful capabilities to 6
identify and leverage the right expertise for any given situation. 2.2 Document management Project proposals, contracts, project plans, status and progress reports, timesheets, invoices, and many more digital and hardcopy Figure 9. Project report: Monthly expert costs documents flow through organisations every day. Therefore it is important to streamline contracting and project execution across distributed internal and external teams, with secure role-based document management. Our solution improves the necessary team coordination and communication related to documents such as Expressions of Interest, proposals, contracts, project plans, project reports etc. enabling appropriate version control, change audit history, and formal records management. 2.3 Collaboration management Creating value starts with people. The right person assigned to the right project at the right time. Of course, the right person also needs the right information to deal with the appointed task. The Collaboration sub-module makes it easier to collaborate within specific groups or teams. It structures and organizes information and data silos by combining multiple tools within the solution. As a result, end users of the system are able to use one tool for all project collaboration requirements. 2.4 Analytics, Reporting & Search This sub-module contains several components for simple and efficient report generation, as well as advanced analytical research and data mining. It offers search capabilities that make it possible to search and find all data and information throughout the overall solution. The solution also provides ad-hoc features for advanced reporting needs. Data can be easily exported to external business applications. Reports or aggregated information, 7
most important to executives and managers are presented through performance dashboards that visually show business trends and status. 3. Security and administration module Figure 10. Tracking of Project Income: Target vs Actual certain system functionalities can also be configured through security roles. Defining, maintaining and administering secure data access, data exchange rules, users rights and authorizations, as well as other relevant system information that needs to be organized. The PPMIS Security system is designed to work with security roles. For each entity in the system, a security role can have different permissions. The most common entity permissions are Create, Read, Write and Delete, but some entities allow additional permissions to be specified: Append, Apply To, Assign or Share. Permissions for performing Audit features of the solution enable compliance with various regulations to ensure availability of interaction history, audit logs, access reports, and security incident tracking reports. The solution also supports an auditing capability where entity and attribute data changes can be recorded over time for use in analysis and reporting. Contact us If you would like to find out more about our Project Portfolio Management Information System please contact us. Teched Consulting Services Ltd. Radnička cesta 80/VII 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia Phone: +385 1 4697 600 Fax: +385 1 4697 615 E-mail: teched@teched.hr Web: www.teched.eu 8