Specialist in SME and SOHO advisory services, Spiro Vitae Consulting has chosen to implement Project Portfolio Office (PPO), an online project portfolio management (PPM) and collaboration application, in order to centralise its many projects, as well as manage opportunities.
Frik van Rensburg, Spiro Vitae Consulting owner, explains that the consulting management services company runs a number of different projects at any given time, a scenario that poses a real challenge in terms of having a standard view of the progress, risks and budget of each project. “Not only is inputting and managing this information time consuming, but from a project management office (PMO) viewpoint, it is also important that the information is as current as possible, preferably real time, something that is often difficult to achieve.
“In addition, we had found that sending instructions via e-mail was not always effective due to the sheer volume of e-mails some projects generate and the pressure the teams are under to deliver within budget and time.”
Based on these requirements, Spiro Vitae Consulting realised that it needed a tool to address its challenges that was, at the same time, easy for team members to use, without resulting in duplicate work.
“PPO is simple, easy to understand, quick to implement and allows for fast learning,” says Van Rensburg. “We reviewed a number of solutions before finally deciding on PPO. There are a number of good project management suites available, but the biggest drawback of all of them is that they are far more complex than PPO and cannot be rapidly rolled out. This has a tremendous effect on a business, as quite simply, the faster the project team is fully productive, the lower your project start-up cost.
“An added benefit of PPO is the central document depositary with version control and additional functions including the time-sheet facility and an approval function.”
Spiro Vitae Consulting’s contractors, associates, and in some instances clients, are using PPO to control all of its projects centrally. The company has successfully delivered a number of projects recently, within both the public and private sectors, including a corporate real estate strategy, occupational, health and safety audits, strategy and tactical business plans, GRAP compliance, forensic business due diligence, and the development of policies and procedures.
“Simplicity is the key to PPO,” states Project Portfolio Office CEO, Guy Jelley. “Its cloud-based application is easy to use, yet enterprise capable, with numerous preconfigured solutions available. As a true Software as a Service (SaaS) application, PPO is immediately available, meaning that teams are up and running in very little time.
“Unlike other PPM applications, PPO is an application that includes project and portfolio management functionalities, as well as document management, timesheet and reporting features, in one simple-to-use interface at a single cost per user,” Jelley continues. “This clearly differentiates it from many other solutions that require different modules, and in some cases, different technologies to bring these features together, something that greatly affects complexity, time and setup and maintenance costs, as well as licencing fees and training.”
