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An Enterprise Application Strategy for Project Management

Create a Competitive Edge and Eliminate Redundant Costs
Table of Contents
Executive Summary The Challenge: How Cost Redundancies Occur 1

EXeCUTIVe SUMMARY
Redundancies happen in all businesses, especially in todays environment of multiple offices, numerous divisions and siloed departments. Its not uncommon for such organizations to incur individual and piecemeal project and software spending, and the accompanying repetitive integration and implementation costs. Combined with multiplesolution inconsistencies, resource inefficiencies and non-compliance issues, that spending undermines the savings and efficiencies originally sought by the organization as a whole, and erodes its profitability and competitive advantage. Enterprise license agreements help organizations decrease cost redundancies and operating costs by providing management-level oversight, controls for inventory assets, built-in redundancy checks, consistency in reporting and talking points to help project management software vendors develop strategies for standardizing solutions.

THe CHALLeNGe: HOW COsT ReDUNDANCIes OCCUR

Aggregate costs creep across an organization over time, project by project. By the time these unchecked costs are noticed, it is painfully obvious from an operational standpoint that the company manages projects (and the tools that are used) differently for every project and location.

The Solution: Getting to Organizational Efficiency and Savings 2 Take the First Step Deltek Can Help 3 4

Paying Retail
At ground level, this translates into local project managers and teams securing the solutions they want to manage their projects effectively and reach their individual or group goals. And, as project costs, those expenditures and implementations dont necessarily require corporate involvement. This scenario is typical for a project and it happens every day in many organizations. The question is, how many times has it occurred in your organization? Since a local colleague is typically the individual buying software, licenses are often purchased at, or close to, retail price. As a local staff resource, they are often unaware of similar initiatives across the organization and tend to purchase in low volumes. As a result, these individuals have little leverage with the software vendor or distributor and minimal options.

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Repetitive Integration and Implementation

The cost leakage doesnt end with paying retail. After the tools are procured, they must be integrated with ERP systems, legacy applications and other homegrown systems. Project management applications inherently require critical data that are likely to reside in other systems. Data such as actual costs (managed by accounting), time (managed by a timesheet application), resource information (managed by a resource management application), material and invoice data (managed by a purchase order system or accounting) are all integrated either directly or indirectly through exports and imports using CSV. The snowballing effect continues as implementation costs rise, training is needed and consultants are hired.

implementation to the management or executive level. Securing executive involvement is a crucial step in recognizing and eliminating project management redundancies for your organization. Enterprise license agreements offer a costeffective way to implement solutions involving large populations of divisions, departments, project managers and front line staff, while providing management oversight on associated expenditures. By following four key steps, an enterprise license strategy can start saving your company money today.

Simply put, an enterprise strategy is the best way to eliminate redundant spending and inconsistent project performance while improving the efficiency and performance of every project you deliver.

1. Take Inventory of Assets

First, inventory your software, training and integration assets for a snapshot of the as-is state: Analyze: How many project management applications your company has purchased, and which versions? How many licenses are owned, and when do they expire? Are they for unlimited users, concurrent licenses or named user license? How are they used are they actively used in production or sitting on the shelf? Taking this first step establishes a baseline from which you can measure your companys purchasing practices. Dont be surprised. Many organizations find that they purchase project management software for one project and abandon the license once the project is complete only to purchase it again for the next project. A good place to start is with the software provider that implemented your organizations solution. Often, they can assist you by providing reports of all licenses sold to your organization so you can avoid hiring an audit firm to find these licenses for you.

THe SOLUTION: GeTTING TO ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIeNCY AND SAVINGs

On paper, it seems preposterous and highly inefficient when thinking enterprise-wide. But this pragmatic approach to implementing project management systems has proven to be a successful model for many years. But when costs are examined, questions arise: How many times are we doing this within our company? How similar are these requirements? What do we do with the software and institutional knowledge once the project is complete? Can this system and process be used again on another project? How do the performance reports on this project compare to other projects? Does this process give our executives the information they need to assess organizational performance? In addressing these questions, best-in-class companies often choose to elevate the findings and decisions on process design and technology

WHITE PAPER: AN ENTeRpRIse AppLICATION STRATeGY FOR PROJeCT MANAGeMeNT

2. Quantify Potential Savings

After running an inventory of your as-is state, document the hard-dollar savings you can achieve by taking the alternative approach. The basis for capturing cost savings is simple. Instead of enabling each project or location to go through the expense of procuring the system, paying for the integration and training everyone multiple times for each project, you implement a standard solution once and make it accessible to those who need it. Use this savings opportunity to gain support for the initiative, highlighting the strategic improvements youll gain as well. Understand how these tools and processes are deployed, to eliminate or avoid key areas of cost, including: Paying retail for the software licenses Redundant implementation costs incurred through a project-by-project methodology Redundant and inconsistent integrations Inconsistent training results Overhead time lost on planning these implementations multiple times As a result, organizations often find they are duplicating costs unnecessarily and can benefit from an enterprise application strategy.

4. Elevate the Conversation

Invest the majority of your time discussing (internally and with your project management software vendors, consultants and partners) the strategic results and goals of taking an enterprise strategy for project management. Many companies will fall into the trap of evaluating software and their feature wish list. Dont be one of them. Instead, build a cross-functional team to serve as a project management Center of Excellence and focus your energy on results you can achieve. In order to ensure your team is effective they need to have public, executive-level support. They need to be funded to run pilot studies and proof of concepts to gain acceptance for their recommendations. At the end of the day, they also need to be empowered to commit your organization to their decisions. That is why most Centers of Excellence assign an executive sponsor as part of the team. Without one, the group will act more as a think-tank than the change agent they need to be to deliver results. For the first meeting with your software provider, encourage them to leave the demo at home. A software vendors natural area of strength will be to demonstrate the features of the application they offer. However, the initial round of discussion should be about the strategy. Look for software vendors that can provide customer references and have years of experience implementing this strategy, not just tactical implementation and eye-catching demonstrations.

3. Assert Project Management Consistency

Once you have collected an estimate on what your organization spends on project management applications and processes, and you have a sense for what will likely be spent in the future, its time to determine the strategic value of the initiative. Its important to make consistency a guiding rule. Organizations often have a catalyst that drives the need for project management consistency. Whether it was a failed project, a regulatory compliance infraction or reduced ability to compete for new contracts, senior leadership is required to step in and provide public support for this initiative. Management must make it clear to all employees that project management consistency is important to the success of the business and that support is expected. Executives will also need to enable a cross-functional team with the goal of making decisions and investing where needed to achieve the desired gains in productivity and quantifiable cost savings.

TAKe THe FIRsT STep

Moving to an enterprise strategy to amplify the value of project management (PM) technologies delivers hard-dollar savings while improving a companys ability to compete. Taking control of your PM strategy and execution can also help your organization improve consistency, increase reliability of project performance and improve customer satisfaction. Simply put, an enterprise strategy is the best way to eliminate redundant spending and inconsistent project performance while improving the efficiency and performance of every project you deliver. Should every company take on this important initiative? That depends on many independent factors. But if you find that your organization is unintentionally repeating decisions and spending on project management technologies and processes, the benefits of changing your strategy are obvious.

WHITE PAPER: AN ENTeRpRIse AppLICATION STRATeGY FOR PROJeCT MANAGeMeNT

Contact Deltek
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Deltek (NASDAQ: PROJ) is the leading provider of enterprise software solutions designed specifically for projectfocused businesses. For more than two decades, our software applications have enabled organizations to automate mission-critical business processes around the engagement, execution and delivery of projects. More than 12,000 customers worldwide rely on Deltek to measure business results, optimize performance, streamline operations and win new business.
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Even if you ultimately decide that this strategic shift isnt a good fit for your business, simply taking the first step of analyzing assets can open your eyes and save you numerous headaches down the road.

DeLTeK CAN HeLp

Deltek is dedicated to delivering enterprise management software solutions that meet the unique needs of project-focused organizations. With over two decades of experience, Deltek enables companies to maximize profitability and productivity, by integrating all aspects of their businesses. More than 12,000 customers worldwide rely on Deltek to streamline operations, improve performance, ensure compliance and win more business. For more info on Delteks software solutions, contact us at info@deltek.com or 800.456.2009

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