Since seeing major growth in the number of projects it is running across Africa, Trans-Africa Projects (TAP) has implemented Post Vision Technology's Project Portfolio Office (PPO) Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) solution in order to gain better control and allow management insight across all projects.
Eskom Enterprises, the commercial arm of the state utility, and Fluor, a global engineering and construction company, both have an equal share holding of TAP, which specialises in the technology, design, engineering, project and construction management and commissioning of high voltage power transmission and distribution systems.
According to Gert van Zyl, managing director of TAP, the company investigated a number of PPM offerings within the market and selected PPO due to its flexibility and local support. "The fact that PPO could be customised to suit our specific needs, and that it is also Web-based were important considerations for us. From a management point of view, we are now able to get a cross-cut look at all projects, per risk category and by issues.
"In addition, PPO is complementary to our previous system, which has greatly improved integration."
TAP staff is now dedicated to using PPO actively, and recently began to generate project review reports using the solution. "When we originally implemented PPO we looked at it more from an operational level, but over the past few months we have begun to see it from a strategic point of view. The software has become an entrenched part of how we do business.
"There is no question that we made the right decision in selecting PPO," says Van Zyl. "More than 170 of TAP's projects have already been registered on the system and we believe that the commitment from management level, IT, project management and the company's operational side can attribute to the success of this project.
TAP is planning to roll out PPO to its site representatives, the company's "eyes and ears", construction sites and even partners into the future. It has already expanded the implementation of the solution to its Cape Town and Durban-based offices.
"TAP selected the software as a service (SaaS) route, which is Post Vision's preferred model, as it removes layers of complexity, allows for faster roll-outs to sites and gives the organisation access to the full PPO application on a hosted and rental basis," explains Guy Jelley, CEO of Post Vision Technology. "The top-down and bottom-up commitment from TAP management and project resources respectively has been very encouraging, as has the growth in the number of users at the company." While the initial implementation has been completed, TAP is currently approximately 70% of the way through its additional internal roll-out of PPO within the organisation.
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