JSE-listed retail group, Woolworths, has elected to roll out Project Portfolio Office (PPO), an online project portfolio management (PPM) and collaboration application, to improve its project and portfolio decision-making.
In order to achieve this, PPO will provide Woolworths project managers, business champions, sponsors and the portfolio management team with access to a centralised repository of relevant project information. Additionally, the new solution will enable more consistent reporting across the portfolio, as well as automated project progress tracking in a centralised database.
According to Melissa Boolsen-Lotz, head of the Woolworths project management office (PMO), the group opted to go the PPO route due to the solution‘s cost-effectiveness and ease-of-use. “Not only this, but as a practical solution that is developed by project managers for project managers, PPO‘s comprehensive functionality aligned to our business requirements and can be effortlessly administered and configured. It also has a low change management barrier.
“Moving ahead with PPO in the longer term, we plan to give key team members access to the solution in order to ensure utilisation of the tool‘s collaboration functionality,” she adds.
According to Guy Jelley, PPO CEO, the centralisation of information is a key element to greater project success. “Storing, retaining and providing easy access to project documents, knowledge and lessons are crucial actions for any project team. PPO will assist the Woolworths team by allowing members to easily upload, categorise and store all project governance documents, while enabling them to search, download and access information from anywhere.
“The fact that PPO is highly configurable is of great benefit to Woolworths, as the group has been able to tailor it to meet its specific needs. Furthermore, the solution provides project teams and stakeholders a far greater visibility of the status of their work, projects, programmes and portfolios, allowing them to work, plan and complete projects together collaboratively, while also providing the required communication and alerts to keep teams informed.”
Corporate Project Management (CPM), a PPO partner, has supported Woolworths with the configuration and implementation of PPO, in addition to assisting with training and first-line user support. CPM has an ongoing relationship with Woolworths to provide the organisation with project management, business analysis, change management and consulting services.
