Automated Outsourcing Services (AOS), a majority black-owned, independent third-party financial services company, has improved its project reporting and tracking, while enhancing overall project, portfolio and programme management within the company. The organisation recently rolled out PPO, Project Portfolio Office’s online project portfolio management (PPM) application, based on the solution’s ease of use, effective functionality and affordable pricing.
AOS has established itself as a leader in providing customised fund administration, business and technology solutions to the financial services sector via various outsource models, specialised technology, methodologies and highly skilled employees. It has offices in South Africa, Guernsey and Mauritius.
According to Tiaan Roelofse, AOS project manager, the company’s main objective from a PPM perspective was to enhance the quality of business deliverables. “In addition to these requirements, we needed PPO to assist by providing a centralised, enterprise-wide view on project progress, as well as allow for improved portfolio and programme management and deliver greater visibility on both projects and the workload of each individual resource. Furthermore, central document storage and access was needed for better management of project information and reporting.
“It is also critical that our project information is as current as possible, preferably in real time, allowing team members to decrease work duplication.”
Says Roelofse: “Our decision to go the PPO route was based on the strong reputation of Project Portfolio Office with blue chip companies, both locally and abroad. PPO is also easy to use and cost-effective, can be implemented quickly, and there is no need for upfront infrastructure set-up as it’s completely Web-based. The fact that there is a good local support base was also an important factor.”
PPO users within AOS include project managers and team members from the project office, as well as departments such as Business Solutions, HR, Liabilities and Offshore.
“Designed by project managers to assist organisations of any size and across all industries, PPO helps to plan, manage, collaborate, execute and report on projects, programmes and portfolios,” explains Guy Jelley, Project Portfolio Office CEO. “As a true software as a service (SaaS) application, PPO was the ideal choice for AOS’ specific needs, being simple to use but enterprise-capable and also immediately available.
“AOS made use of PPO’s preconfigured master instance in order to implement the software themselves,” he continues. “This highlights the fact that there is a viable option for organisations needing to save on rollout costs and implement PPO on their own.”
The PPO solution is currently being used on over 35 000 projects, with current clients including Deloitte, UTi, Kimberly Clark, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SABMiller, Vodacom, Cadbury and British Telecommunications (BT).
