How to choose a PPM tool to manage a project portfolio?

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is the set of techniques, tools, and guidelines that help organize a company's resources to carry out multiple projects simultaneously.

With the right management and tools, better decisions are made to optimize the time, resources and costs allocated to project delivery.

What is a PPM tool?

A PPM tool is specifically designed to meet the needs of managing a portfolio of projects. Its purpose is to help you achieve the objectives of each project simultaneously. 

In order to be able to make strategic decisions that are not likely to taint another project, project portfolio tools allow you to monitor the health of missions one by one, but also as a whole.

To facilitate the alignment of your project portfolio with your business objectives, and in particular the prioritization according to the objectives of each assignment, the use of PPM software is essential to ensure the commercial success  of your business.

This type of system has project management features that enable the use of resources to be pooled, so that information is shared and coordinated to best meet the individual needs of each task.

Without a smart PPM tool, project planning can be hampered by resource conflicts, or budget cuts related to unmonitored costs.

What are the features of a PPM tool?

In concrete terms, a PPM tool makes it possible to manage several projects simultaneously, while integrating the overall resource capacity in order to plan tasks, talents or budgets without creating conflicts.

• Centralization of data: information is grouped in a single platform, allowing each resource used on a project to be deduced for better consideration of capacities.
• Project planning: the tool allows you to create assignments and the tasks that fall to them, to assign deadlines, but also to be able to modify schedules according to the evolution of the activity.
• Resource management: he is able to define the capacity in terms of human, time and financial resources in order to make a better assessment of the situation during the allocation and planning phase.
• Analytics: dashboards and a good number of reports must support management and indicate in real time and in forecasts where the performance of one or more projects is at.

Is a PPM mandatory?

The PPM tool facilitates precisely this process of optimizing project portfolio management because it allows for efficient project and operations management.

By setting up a budget that ensures the achievement of objectives, and that updates the availability of resources as it evolves, planning is streamlined, and the risk of financial loss or failure is greatly reduced.

It also allows you to define specific tasks and indentify responsabilities  in an agile, intuitive and coordinated way.

It automates notifications and speeds up communication between parties to notify any deviations in the planned execution of these tasks. This is very important for the correct management of deadlines and for detecting shortcomings that can prevent the execution of tasks according to the established parameters.

The advantages of a PPM tool

Control and monitoring of several simultaneous projects

To ensure that everything is going according to plan, project performance needs to be monitored. This can be done more easily with a PPM tool, thanks to reports, dashboards and alerts.

The first thing to do is to establish your KPIs , make sure they can be easily configured, and which ones will be monitored. These  KPIs can be strictly financial.

It is possible to have a contract management system that monitors down to the smallest detail the profit margins of each project, the state of progress, the profit and loss reports, etc. 

Track the profitability of your different projects in one place.

But these indicators can also focus on personnel management and human resources, or any other value that is relevant to the company's values and philosophy. 

The GPP software is a cross-functional tool that allows you to monitor the needs and objectives of the different sectors of the company.

The human resources department can ensure that the workload is balanced, or provide professional development for employees through current and future projects. And, at the same time, the accounting and finance department can check that the expenditure allocated to a certain activity corresponds to what was planned, and that the margin is respected.

Thus, a PPM tool brings efficiency to the entire company, as well as to the clients themselves, who will achieve the desired results in their projects.

Holistic project portfolio management

A strong aspect of a PPM tool is that it enables joint management of project portfolio quality, based on optimization of the shared and limited resources of each project.

In the day-to-day running of companies, unforeseen events occur – such as the unscheduled absence of a professional due to illness, for example – that require correct change management.

In these circumstances, a PPM methodology that allows for joint, optimized and simultaneous portfolio management allows resources to be reallocated with ease, without being subject to the actions of other clients.

With a PPM tool, you have a single overview. This overview that allows you to know where your business stands, and what is the best decision to make to achieve individual and global goals .

Capacities can be planned and resources allocated efficiently. Define the exact needs according to the types of projects we will undertake. At the same time, it makes it possible to establish a budget in line with the (competitive) reality of the customer, without reducing the profitability of the company.

Stafiz's resource needs show you the projects looking for profiles to staff by role or skill. The most suitable profiles are automatically recommended to you and can be staffed from this screen.

Learn more about resource allocation.

Integration of a PPM tool with other systems

For companies that need to streamline internal processes, remove administrative hurdles, and improve communication and stakeholder management, it's worthwhile – if not imperative – when possible to integrate your PPM tool with your other business management software.

Let's imagine that the finance department can connect its expense management application to invoices that are assigned, via the PPM platform, to a specific project. 

These expenses are automatically entered in the accounts, without the need for any intervention by a member of the finance department. This saves a lot of time on procedures and administrative tasks. Time that can be devoted to other strategic, high value-added actions.

In addition, possible errors when manually transferring information from one location to another are reduced to a minimum.

Benefits that could be extended to other areas of the company. Let us now consider a project that required a series of overtime hours. Automatically and without human intervention, the following circumstances will occur:

1. An additional cost is charged to the project in question, which was not initially planned, and which the project manager will have detected and controlled.
2. The finance department will reduce the initial cash flow forecast, due to the unexpected increase in personnel costs resulting from these overtime.
3. HR will see these workers' salary information updated automatically, thanks to the API connection between the PPM tool and its payroll creation and management platform.

Stafiz integrates with your existing tools

Explore available integrations

How to choose a PPM tool?

The first thing you need to do when choosing the best PPM tool is to determine your needs. From there, you will be able to detect the features and functionalities that your project manager should have as a priority. 

Once you've selected the programs that fit your business needs, pay attention to three other metrics: price, ease of use, and customer service. 

Every company has its own unique situation, processes and organisational culture. Depending on these parameters and the type of project you are working on, you will face challenges and needs that will determine the features and characteristics of PPM.

I need to improve the strategic vision and design of the project portfolio

You may have already made mistakes when prioritizing projects whose tasks cannot be completed under the agreed conditions.

Mistakes can also be made in accounting for costs and benefits at the proposal stage, leading you to identify projects that are not opportunities as opportunities. 

So you'll need consolidated KPIs, and projects that are truly tailored to their capabilities, resources and objectives.

I need to optimize costs

Whether it's for competitive reasons or for specific cash flow needs, you may need excellent cost optimization.

To do this, you'll need comprehensive cost tracking, in-project cost assessment , additional cost-cutting strategies, and more.

I need efficient resource management

This issue particularly affects large consulting firms or agencies working on a multitude of projects simultaneously, with high demands.

I need to analyze projects to identify areas for improvement

You may be part of a business that requires flexibility and agility to make the right strategic decisions.

With risk management, you can detect mistakes and learn from them for future projects.

I need to improve collaboration and governance

If you've identified a problem with lengthy meetings or difficulty in making decisions due to a highly structured hierarchy during performance reviews, you're probably looking for a ppm tool that will be able to adapt to your processes while facilitating collaboration.

I need to improve delivery times

Respecting delivery deadlines and monitoring ongoing projects is an issue that generally spares no service provisioning activity.

I need to integrate the PPM tool with other software

If you use multiple software programs in your work environment, there is a need to streamline internal processes, remove administrative hurdles, and improve communication and stakeholder management.

Other criteria to consider when choosing a PPM tool

In addition to the specific and technical needs described above, there are other criteria that are common to all companies that need to use a PPM platform to optimize their project portfolio planning.

The quality of customer service

When it comes to customer service, it's a good idea for the software publisher in question to offer a wide range of solutions to support the implementation of the tool and manage technical problems.

From simple user manuals to video resources with which you can make certain configurations yourself, to forums where you can ask questions that the experienced community can solve.

In addition, of course, to confirm that they have online and phone customer service that quickly answers your questions in case of an emergency.