Delivering PPM Excellence

PPM is commonly referred to as Project Portfolio Management that is a strategic approach to managing and prioritizing a collection of projects or programs within an organization.

Organisations use PPM tools to be able to efficiently collaborate, plan and share information quickly, monitor and control project budgets, improve quality and performance, and increase productivity and profitability. These tools help to optimise project portfolios and enhance overall management effectiveness.

A PMO performs various functions, including establishing project governance, supporting project and programme managers to manage shared resources by coordinating communication, providing guidance, training and mentoring, conducting project audits, facilitating lessons learned to ensure project management standards and procedures are adhered to, and developing and maintaining project documentation and policies and processes.

Agile project management techniques include Scrum, which organises work into sprints with defined roles and ceremonies, Kanban, which visualises workflows and limits work in progress, and Lean, which focuses on continuous improvement by eliminating waste in processes.

Organisations use project management tools to streamline project planning and execution, enhance collaboration among team members, monitor progress, allocate resources effectively, track budgets and costs, manage risks and issues and improve project management efficiency for better decision-making capabilities.

Portfolio Project Management (PPM) is defined as “the selection, prioritisation and control of an organisation’s projects and programmes in line with its strategic objectives and capacity to deliver.” (Source: APM)

“A project, programme or portfolio management office (PMO) is an organisational structure that provides support to projects. The PMO may be a project management office, programme management office or portfolio management office, depending on what is being supported” (Source: APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition). Overall, PMOs ensure consistency and excellence in project execution.

Agile project management is an iterative approach that emphasises collaboration, adaptability, and customer feedback. It breaks projects into smaller, manageable tasks, allowing teams to respond to changing requirements and deliver value incrementally.

Project management tools are referred to as software applications and platforms that help plan, execute and monitor projects efficiently. Some features include budget planning, resource management, task management, risk and issue management, and reporting.

Project management tools are important for working in a uniform and consistent way using a centralised platform ‘the single source of the truth’ that improves efficiency, ensures collaboration, enables data-driven decisions and compliance to ensure projects are delivered successfully.