One of the main objectives of the Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works is to uplift the standard of living of the region's communities through new and enhanced infrastructure projects, amounting to a total portfolio budget of R1.7 billion.
At the start of 2010, the department implemented a software as a service (SaaS) project management solution, Post Vision Technology's Project Portfolio Office (PPO), to assist with the management of accurate and meaningful project performance data of its 400 official projects, and it is already seeing the benefits of the solution.
The initial implementation was done by PPO partner, Business Connexion, and included project consulting services, project maturity assessments, fundamental training and extended PPO training.
“The department runs about 180 approved projects at any one time. As these projects are decentralised, we required a solution that could provide a single point of view for the project portfolio and meticulous communication to our geographically spread project sites and teams. As a result of our PPO implementation, we have achieved this and are especially pleased with the added benefits of an easier and standardised method of reporting, which is starting to facilitate project collaboration,” says Phillip Doubell, PMO director at the Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works.
As a Web-based, enterprise capable application designed, developed and supported in South Africa, PPO ideally supports the department's remotely located users, which include its executives and directors, programme and project managers, PMO management and staff as well as the site project managers. The strength of its adoption and use also lies with the fact that the government department's project champion is both fully supportive of the functions of the PMO and its ability to provide users with the necessary governance and management information required.
According to Colette Lundberg, senior manager - project services at Business Connexion, the tool has enabled the department to register all of its projects as mandated by participating parties, thereby eliminating the duplication of efforts, establishing an historical database, generating ad hoc reports and, ultimately, ensuring project management best practice.
“PPO has proven to be an excellent business fit and fully meets the requirements specification of the Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works,” she says.
Distinct value additions have been the ability to access the application remotely and its user-friendliness, all while encouraging standardisation and transparency.
According to Guy Jelley, CEO of Post Vision Technology, “at the click of a button” all users can precisely know what is happening where and when on a project. “With PPO, all project resources achieve better visibility of the issues influencing their project plans, thereby giving them the tools to proactively affect the productivity and deliverables of the department,” he adds.
Doubell highlights the simplicity and sophistication of PPO and says: “The solution is easy to use, its configuration and set-up is simple and its interoperability is good. Quite simply, it suits the geographical spread of our resources and the licensing model works.”
As a next step, the Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works is planning to integrate PPO with its electronic document management solution. An integration with its cost reporting solutions is also on the cards.
Jelley concludes that in addition to PPO directly solving the department's need to manage and control its projects' governance framework, templates, documentation, standards, workflows, processes, registration, prioritisation, and reporting, it will also indirectly play an important role in the social and economic development of the Eastern Cape through the achievement of projects such as roads, bridges and schools.
Share