2022-07-27T05:12:00Z
JK
Head of Practices & Performance at Bupa Australia & New Zealand
  • 6
  • 41

What does a typical timeline look like when implementing a Project Management Office (PMO) tool?

Hi community,

I'm interested in experiences people have had when implementing a Project Management Office (PMO) tool, such as Planview Enterprise One. 

What does a typical timeline look like?

Thanks for your help.

6
PeerSpot user
6 Answers
PK
Owner at Thought Leaders Management Consulting
Real User
Top 5
2022-07-28T02:25:59Z
Jul 28, 2022

A lot depends on the size of the organization number of Projects that need to be migrated, the number of Project Managers, Programs, Portfolios, and so on. While the schedule and timeline are critical for the Assignment or Change Management Project, the cost of migration is usually ignored citing reasons like internal resource deployment, Knowledge Management, Capability Building and Resource Enablement. 


None of this, in my experience, fits the bill because the Project Managers are dedicated to Project delivery and the cost of distraction has to be accounted for separately either for the shared Managers sparing time for the PMO tool deployment or the dedicated Project Manager and their team working exclusively on the migration to the PMO tool. 


Even with a  dedicated team, based on the function and number of projects to be migrated the production teams sparing and sharing their productive time has to be assessed for a cost-benefit analysis. 


In our case of migrating from a disconnected manual SPI and CPI reporting to a Project Management tool, at the organizational level of about 5 products, 25 projects and about 50 Project  Managers (indicative numbers please, for contextual purposes) a timeline of over 12 months was not sufficient.


The learnings from our Migration Project can be categorised as follows: 


Planning and Suitability Check


Keep the customisation requirements very low and restrict them to reports. If the product required additional features for a fitment, then either the product is not suitable for deployment for your organization or the organizational processes need restructuring before you go for the PMO tool deployment decision. The PMO has a critical job to support the organization with this as is the study or the readiness study for the organization. Strictly no customization of functionality or new features or modules should be approved, at any stage of the migration timeline.  This should take about a month's time.


Process Mapping and modifications within the organization 


A dedicated team of change management professionals shall be deployed for mapping the Project Management processes to the product features. The changes for switching to the PMO tool should be identified. Based on the size and complexity 1 -2 months is a good time for this exercise.


Pilot or Go live? Decision, Accommodating the exceptions


Being an internal project a pilot project would be ad-hoc and questioned for resources, time and effort. So the go-live date has to arrive at a consensus and the consensus could itself take a few week time. Consideration would be requested from project categories like, legacy projects (cannot migrate as the entire data is on a different server/tool, data cleansing needs to be done before migration, no approval for tampering with the legacy systems, etc), Hot pursuit / critical projects, ( we need more time, as we cannot spare resources right now for the next few months/ until this project/ phase is complete, etc.), Our Projects are on client-server and the tasks cannot be reported on this PMO tool/ client prefers manual reports/ Client approval is required/ Cannot ask for client approval/ need approval for client access to the PMO tool, etc. Subject to a fairly complex organization with all these exceptions, this could take about 2 months to pursue and get the buy-in for the much sought-after organizational change.


Rule setting, Skills Building and Training 


The Project teams would go through a few meetings with the PMO deployment team to gain an understanding of the product, its mapping, and the procedure to access and start reporting tasks, requirements, CRs, Approvals, time and effort, backfills, absentism, dummies, exceptions, tasks, external consultants, internal consultants, client access and other criteria for deployment. This could take about 4-6 weeks time for a fairly complex organization with about 20 Project Managers/ representatives in the pursuit of their respective projects.


Time to Dance


Now the ground is ready and it's time for the first project to claim an award for the first task reported on the PMO tool. Under the pressure of production and CRs from the client assignment, a blended and balanced migration onto the PMO tool would be carried out by all projects. By the time the deployment team or Change Management team is ready with the migration project completion report it would be about 3 months time without causing any ripples in the production projects. We are again referring to the same "fairly complex" environment here. 


The timeline for the End to End


As such it is fair to plan a 6-7 months journey for a decent migration onto a PMO tool. Even if the organization is small and can afford a faster deployment, blending with production activities and billable tasks take higher priority to focus on the migration tool. 


Dos and Don'ts, Failure modes


1. The Project being a support activity, should be planned carefully to keep the PMO tool migration cost low.


2. Make changes to the organizational processes before the deployment. 


3. Strictly no functional modifications in the tool to meet the organizational needs.


4. Estimate the cost for all the resources involved, from the client assignments PMO team and bench, into the PMO tool deployment assignment. Set a limit to the total project cost as a percentage of the product cost. Roll up to the organizational infrastructure cost.


5. If the resources assigned to this project are released within a month of the initiation for want of Production/billable requirement, then the project timeline gets extended accordingly. If the resource reallocation continues, the project timeline could go up to 2-3 times the estimate. Time to decide whether the organization may actually not be ready for, or not need the PMO tool. 

EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Community Manager
Jul 28, 2022

@PraveenKambhampati thanks a lot for the quick turnaround!
I'm sure it will be useful for our community.

PeerSpot user
Search for a product comparison in Project Management Software
DT
Project Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
2022-07-27T12:02:28Z
Jul 27, 2022

Our recent migration from Project 2013 on-prem to Project Online was 4 months in planning and 3 months in execution...

Mir Nayeem Ul Haq - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder & CEO at Vaadi Outsourcing
Real User
Top 5
2022-08-29T15:51:01Z
Aug 29, 2022

The timeline for implementing a PMO tool will vary depending on the specific tool being used, the size and complexity of the organization, and the resources available. However, in general, it is typically recommended that organizations allow for a few months to fully implement a PMO tool. This timeline can be broken down into a few key phases, including:


1. Planning and Preparation: In this phase, the organization will assess its needs and objectives, select the PMO tool that best fits those needs, and develop a plan for implementation.


2. Implementation: This is the actual implementation phase, where the PMO tool is installed and configured.


3. Testing and Evaluation: Once the PMO tool is up and running, it is important to test it out and make sure it is working properly. This may involve piloting the tool with a small group of users before rolling it out to the entire organization.


4. Training and Support: Once the PMO tool is fully implemented, it is important to provide training and support to users to ensure they are able to effectively use the tool.

NC
Chief Marketing Officer at nancy chou marketing consultants
User
2022-07-28T19:48:06Z
Jul 28, 2022

It depends on the tool. Some tools like Planview are complex and can take time for managers and team members to adopt. Other tools that are more visual, such as Pie from PieMatrix, are easier to adopt and therefore the timeline of implementing such tools for PMO is a lot faster. 

Islam Bayraktar - PeerSpot reviewer
PPM Services Director at OPTIIM
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
2022-07-27T09:03:39Z
Jul 27, 2022

Hi @Jennifer Kelly


Having in mind that it depends on the various parameters such as the maturity level of the organization, the readiness of the processes, the scope, the tool scale and capabilities, etc) very roughly speaking the timeline varies between 3-6 months (turnkey + training + go-live support). 


Please, check Micro Focus PPM and Aangine case studies. 


Kind regards, 

EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Community Manager
2022-07-27T06:19:58Z
Jul 27, 2022

Hello @Allan Shafer, @Kelly Brummond, @Ray Veenema, @Roderic Person, @Keith Kennedy ​and @ProjectMan83637,


Can you please help @Jennifer Kelly ​by sharing your personal experience with ​Planview?


Thanks. ​ ​ ​ ​

Learn what your peers think about Planview Portfolios. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2023.
687,256 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Related Questions
Miriam Tover - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Delivery Manager at PeerSpot
Sep 13, 2022
How do you or your organization use this solution? Please share with us so that your peers can learn from your experiences. Thank you!
2 out of 51 answers
NM
Sr Information Technology Supervisor at Solar Turbines
Oct 15, 2019
The primary use case is for portfolio management on product development.
BH
R&D Project Management Coach at Johnsonville Sausage
Oct 15, 2019
We have three different teams on Enterprise One right now. We currently have research and development, MIS, and sourcing continuous improvement. The main business cases are new product introduction, MIS projects, and also continuous improvement of productivity projects. We are on the cloud.
Julia Miller - PeerSpot reviewer
Community Director at PeerSpot
Sep 13, 2022
Hi, We all know it's really hard to get good pricing and cost information. Please share what you can so you can help your peers.
2 out of 23 answers
NM
Sr Information Technology Supervisor at Solar Turbines
Oct 15, 2019
Our licensing costs are about a quarter of a million dollars per year.
BH
R&D Project Management Coach at Johnsonville Sausage
Oct 15, 2019
We are on the Flex licenses.
Related Articles
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Aug 17, 2022
Hi dear community members, In this edition of PeerSpot's Community Spotlight, you can find out what your peers are discussing and join in the conversation. Ask and answer questions on the topics that interest you most! Read and respond to articles or contribute your own! Trending These are the topics your peers are talking about on PeerSpot this week How do I estimate the requir...
See 1 comment
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Aug 17, 2022
Thank you to all the community members who share their knowledge with other peers! Also, special thanks to the articles' contributors included in this Community Spotlight: @Janet Staver, @Abhirup Sarkar, @Manoj Narayanan, @Beth Safire and @Shibu Babuchandran.
it_user85101 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company
Aug 16, 2022
System, Value, and Decision failures bring the grinding wheel to a halt As put by a Quality guru, People in general, more than 80% of the team are, in fact, productive and efficient. The problem then is with the chosen few who have an efficient short-term view but high-risk performance focus. By all means helpful except what it takes to future proof the organisation and make it relevant for th...
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Aug 2, 2022
Dear professionals, Welcome back to PeerSpot's Community Spotlight! Below you can find the latest hot topics posted by your fellow PeerSpot Community members. Read articles, answer questions, and contribute to discussions that are relevant to you and your expertise. Or ask your peers for insight on topics that interest you! Trending Here are some topics that your peers are discussi...
See 1 comment
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Aug 2, 2022
@Chris Childerhose, @PraveenKambhampati, @Deena Nouril, @Shibu Babuchandran and @reviewer1925439, Thank you for contributing your articles and sharing your professional knowledge with 618K PeerSpot community members around the globe as well as with a much bigger readers audience!
PK
Owner at Thought Leaders Management Consulting
Jul 31, 2022
A lot depends on the size of the organization number of Projects that need to be migrated, the number of Project Managers, Programs, Portfolios, and so on. While the schedule and timeline are critical for the Assignment or Change Management Project, the cost of migration is usually ignored citing reasons like internal resource deployment, Knowledge Management, Capability Building and Resource E...
See 1 comment
Ben Arbeit - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at a retailer with 51-200 employees
Jul 31, 2022
@PraveenKambhampati,​ great post, thank u.
Syed S - PeerSpot reviewer
Program Manager - Information Security at Gulf International Bank
Apr 13, 2022
Have you ever wondered how effective project management can really help you with your Cyber security projects? In recent times, cybersecurity has become an increasingly important issue worldwide. Every year, businesses spend more time and effort protecting their data. Gartner forecasted that global security investments will exceed $172 billion in 2022. Nobody can underestimate the necessity o...
See 1 comment
BV
Sr.Dir/Managing Principal Technology Consulting at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Apr 13, 2022
Cybersecurity had been recognized as a Fifth War Domain a while back: Land, Sea, Air, Space, Cyber.  As such, planning for war is important since it provokes managers to THINK.  While the plans that these managers develop are mostly useless since these plans become mostly irrelevant when the Cyber Battle ensues. Preparedness, counterintelligence, logistics, skills, adaptability, and distributed decision-making become more important as compared to PMI principles and best practices ( 'the disciplined agile' should be included and focused on as part of the adaptability;-)).
Related Categories
Related Articles
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Aug 17, 2022
Community Spotlight #20
Hi dear community members, In this edition of PeerSpot's Community Spotlight, you can find out w...
it_user85101 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company
Aug 16, 2022
A Skewed View of the Project Management Practice under the 7th Edition, the System and Value-based Development Practice and Delivery.
System, Value, and Decision failures bring the grinding wheel to a halt As put by a Quality guru...
Download Free Report
Download our free Planview Portfolios Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2023.
DOWNLOAD NOW
687,256 professionals have used our research since 2012.