building a project portfolio management solution in the

Building a Project Portfolio Management Solution in the AEC Industry

ABSTRACT

TranSystems Corporation, anEngineering, Architecture, andPlanning firm headquartered inKansas City, approachedMilestone Consulting with arequest to assist in implementingMicrosoft Project Server and aneed to tightly integrate theirProject Portfolio Management(PPM) efforts with their keyEnterprise Resource Planning(ERP) systems. The goal was tosignificantly increase theeffectiveness of staff resourceplanning, and to provide ProjectManagers with an integratedtoolset to plan, execute, andmanage projects more effectively,while also delivering informationdashboards to provide detailedand accurate real-time projectstatus. Milestone worked withTranSystems to deliver on theirrequirements while alsostreamlining a number ofoutmoded and cumbersomeelements of their overall internalproject management process.

CLIENT OVERVIEW

TranSystems Corporation is anEngineering, Architecture, andPlanning firm headquartered inKansas City, Missouri, with 30+offices around the United States.Their 800+ associates design andproject manage transportationinfrastructure around the US,Europe, and Asia. Their projectsrange in size from small designand survey projects to multi-firmconstruction managementengagements on some of thelargest infrastructure projects inthe US. As such, having efficient,streamlined, and repeatableproject management technologyprocesses and tools to helpautomate and ensure projectconsistency across the entireportfolio is key to the firm’ssuccess.

BUSINESS SITUATION

TranSystems approachedMilestone with an interest inimplementing the MicrosoftProject Portfolio Management

©2018 Milestone Consulting Group 1

For TranSystems, theprimary objectives of PPMwere to achieve betterresource and demandmanagement, and toenable the organization tomore effectively leveragepeople, processes, andtools in an integratedfashion. To do this, thePPM solution needed toprovide a consolidatedproject and resourcemodel to better supportthe overall portfolio ofprojects being managed atany given time.

TranSystemsCorporationCase Study

(PPM) solution based uponMicrosoft Project Server 2010 tosupport improved project andresource management across theorganization. Since the primarysoftware platforms and corebusiness applications ran onMicrosoft technology,TranSystems reasoned that aproject management systemrunning on similar platformswould ease integration efforts.

For TranSystems, the primaryobjectives of PPM were toachieve better resource anddemand management, and toenable the organization to moreeffectively leverage people,processes, and tools in anintegrated fashion. To do this, thePPM solution needed to providea consolidated project andresource model to better supportthe overall portfolio of projectsbeing managed at any given time.The consolidated work planscreated in PPM would allowTranSystems’ Senior Management,Resource Managers, and ProjectManagers the ability to view allresources allocated to workefforts in a variety of ways. Thisgoal facilitated a number ofobjectives from TranSystems’long-term PPM plan.

One key objective was to manageresources more effectively bycentralizing resource allocationand work assignments into asingle common repository, thusdecreasing the manual effortsrequired for resource

management and increasing theability to identify resourceconstraints and bottlenecksearlier in the planning stage. Byproviding a common repository ofwork and resources, this schemeensured those resources werebetter aligned with businessobjectives. Resources were alsodefined by role, level, and officelocation, which supportedoversight at a more granular level.

Another key objective was toprovide an integration betweenPPM and TranSystems’ CustomerRelationship Management (CRM)system, Deltek Vision, and theirfinancial accounting system,Deltek Costpoint. The integrationwould allow a workflow to beinitiated in Vision beginning withthe project opportunity, and thendrive the appropriate actions inPPM to ensure consistency andcompleteness for projectplanning, execution, and resourceassignment and loading. Projectfinancial data would then flowseamlessly from PPM intoCostpoint, for invoicing andoverall project budget andfinancial management.

The integration was to servethree purposes: 1) provide PPM

timesheet data to Costpoint viathe timesheets system; 2) pulldata regarding non-resourceproject expenses from Costpointto maintain a complete projectcost picture, and; 3) provideapproved project contract andbudget changes to seniorbusiness management for reviewand visibility.

TranSystems also wanted toprovide an effective collaborativeenvironment that included a basicdocument repository and theability to log project issues, risks,and change requests. Reportswould be developed that showedthe count of issues and risks forall projects.

Finally, TranSystems wanted toprovide Project Managers with amore effective tool to plan,execute, and manage projects inorder to gain more detailed andaccurate real-time project status.

Said Matt Clayton, TranSystems’Associate Vice President ofOperations, “[Better resourcevisibility] provided by a fullyintegrated tool will drive outefficiencies in our projectmanagement process by reducingthe amount of time spent by thePM performing manual efforts,and allowing for more timedevoted to what drives ourcompany’s bottom line –delivering our projects to ourclients.”

©2018 Milestone Consulting Group

TranSystems Corporation Case Study

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SOLUTION

To validate these goals, Milestoneplanned and conducted a robustsurvey of involved parties acrossthe TranSystems organization toidentify, reconcile, and prioritizeCritical Success Factors (CSFs)for the PPM initiative. Oncecompiled, the CSF resultsconfirmed a number of key areasof focus and desired outcomesfor the overall initiative, whichincluded:

Better Resource Management Better Visibility to ProjectStatus Integration with OtherApplications in theOrganization More Consistent ProjectDelivery Better Change ControlManagement

Additionally, the survey identifiedseveral secondary CriticalSuccess Factors:

Better Project ManagementPractices Better Project Schedules Better Project Financials Better Project PortfolioManagement Better Timesheet Capabilities

Said Clayton: “Theimplementation of the PPMsolution will satisfy the need for atool that can be utilized forvarious aspects of managingprojects, as opposed to a toolthat only provides a means forcommunicating project financial

information. The latter isabsolutely necessary and criticalfrom a global perspective forevaluating our overall portfoliohealth, but from a projectperspective our PMs really needa toolkit for managing thetotality of a project.”

A key focus for TranSystems wasthe integration of their TimeManagement & Tracking system (amodule of the Deltek Costpointsystem) into the larger PPMprocess. For most consultingcompanies, the proper recordingof time is the lifeblood of theorganization. It not only providesthe inputs for availability ofindividual resources, but alsoserves as the mechanism bywhich that time is recorded toprojects and invoiced and billedas appropriate. For TranSystems,that was very much the case,though their current time trackingsolution was limited andessentially end-of-life. Milestoneand TranSystems mutuallydecided to make time entry thebeginning point of the new PPMsolution.

Said Kanon Cozad, TranSystems’Chief Information Officer: “It wascrucial that the PPM solutionprovide a seamless interface forour users to make it simpler forthem to enter their time workedon projects. We wanted toemphasize ease-of-use as muchas possible, though with multipleproject and billing codes beingadded to the system frequently,that goal can be a challenge.”

The project team initiallyevaluated making programmaticmodifications to the existingDeltek time system, but ultimatelyTranSystems and Milestonedecided to adopt MicrosoftProject Server’s timemanagement functionality as thekey interface for recording time.To accommodate all keyfunctional needs, the projectteam also chose to incorporateMilestone’s Timesheet Advantageproduct plugin to enhance theout-of-the-box application.Timesheet Advantage providedadditional robustness to thenative Project Server time entryapplication, such as the ability to



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The New Timesheet Advantage Interface



manage “favorites” (common taskson a timesheet) and the ability tomanage comments at a moregranular level. Milestone alsodesigned and made significantcustomizations to the nativeProject Server timesheetfunctionality to support criticalTranSystems’ requirements, suchas complex real-time validationlogic for time entry, leave timebalances, labor corrections,multiple overtime types, andsalary classifications. Milestonewas able to accomplish thesecustomizations quite effectivelyby leveraging their solutionstarter code base, which reducedboth time and cost by over 40%.

Another element of the projectwas TranSystems’ request toreplace an aging, stand-alonebudgeting tool with one moreseamlessly integrated into PPMitself. The project team reverse-engineered the business logic forthe existing in-house application,and designed a new interface andset of application logic andworkflows (dubbed “Contract &Budget Forecasting,” aka CBF) toprovide the necessaryfunctionality. While CBFfunctions as a stand-alone customapplication, it’s accessed via thePPM interface and was designedto be used alongside the largerset of project managementinterfaces and processes.

The TranSystems PPM solution, asper the requirements brief, wasbuilt on top of Microsoft

Windows Server 2008 R2, withsupporting enterpriseapplications such as Microsoft’sSharePoint 2010, SQL Server2012, and the Project Server 2010toolset itself. TranSystems was inthe process of designing a newcompany Intranet based on amore updated version ofSharePoint, so the plan was toupgrade the PPM platform to thatmore current version once theIntranet project was officiallyreleased. As with all enterpriseapplication initiatives, the stagingof technology to ensurerobustness and compatibility ofthe entire technology stack is key(Rule 1: don’t break legacyapplications!).

The Microsoft PPM system allowsfor robust and significantconfiguration to accommodateproject management processes ofmany sizes and levels ofcomplexity, and the TranSystemssolution was no different. The firmemploys a proprietary, 27-stepprocess to manage their projects,with a significant number ofproject templates and sub-processes to accommodate awide variety of project types andPM skillsets. (For example, aproject plan for a largetransportation design initiative isnecessarily different from that fora relatively simple surveycontract.)

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The New Cost & Budget Forecasting Tool



To that end, Milestone workedwith the firm to align the tool’sworkflow and decision trees withthat of TranSystems’ differentproject types. When a project isinitiated in the Vison CRMsystem, a base set of projecttemplates is automaticallycreated based on the project’ssize, type, and scope, to includeboth the project plan itself alongwith a boilerplate resource plan.The resource plan is pre-loadedwith resource types from othersimilar projects, making it simplerfor the project manager to createa specific plan tailored to aparticular project rather thanhaving to reinvent the wheel eachand every time.

Additionally, the PPM solutionincluded robust informationreporting dashboards to facilitatevarious levels of managementvisibility across and throughoutthe project portfolio. Individualkey elements such as costing,schedule, and resource utilizationare viewed as quick-hit stoplightsin these dashboards, with theability for the user to dive intovarious levels of specificinformation as needs demand. Inthis way, TranSystemsmanagement is able to clearly andquickly monitor the key aspectsof project delivery in a consistent,dynamic manner.

ROLLOUT

Having done their homework,TranSystems was realistic about

the pace of change they’d seewith their PPM implementation.As with any system roll-out that’sdependent on organizationalchange management, a great dealof emphasis was put on thetraining process for bothmanagers and system users.TranSystems and Milestonedesigned a training approach thattrained users not only on systemfunctionality but also abouttweaks to the overall projectmanagement process that camealong with the new platform.Because of the flexibility of thenew set of tools, many processefficiencies were able to be bakedinto the new tools that were oncemanual interactions.

The first component of thetraining curriculum was held atTranSystems’ Kansas Cityheadquarters. Milestone designedand conducted a multi-day, in-depth training class with a

hand-picked group ofTranSystems power users fromaround the country. Those usersthen served as “PPMAmbassadors” for the rest of thefirm, returning to their homeoffices and regions to serve asmentors for their peers and staffs,as well as to ensure consistencyand confidence in the overall userpopulation. Milestone alsoconducted in-depth trainingclasses at selected regionallocations, holding over a dozencustomized multi-day classes atvarious TranSystems offices, whilealso sharing the detailed trainingdocumentation that was createdas a part of the implementation.

TranSystems was sensitive to thefact that large, complex ITimplementations often haveteething problems that affect theorganization in the short term.Coupled with the intrinsiccomplexity and complex business

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rules of certain US Staterequirements (such as properlycalculating California’s prevailingwage mandates), the switch to thenew time entry platform carriednot only significant benefits butalso potential risk. To that end,the Milestone team, along withthe Operations and Accountingfolks from TranSystems, puttogether a “quick-reaction” squadto deal with any user time-entrychallenges, both at the point ofinitial data entry and withautomated backend validationprocesses as weekly, and monthlyreports and processes were run.A weekly processing cycle simplycouldn’t be missed.

Said CIO Cozad: “It’s a fact oflarge system roll-outs that somechallenges are likely to beencountered along the way, butthe Milestone and TranSystemsteam anticipated as manypotential gotchas as we couldand had fallback and manualplans in place if needed. In theend, the conversion went assmoothly as any in my career; weultimately didn’t miss any keydeadlines or timing deliverables.”

The project team actuallyencountered far fewer issues thanthey’d expected (another victoryfor excellent planning!), and dealtwith those that did arise quicklyand largely without drama. Andwhile measurements of successfor projects like this cansometimes lack clarity, to Claytonit was simple: “If the PMs reportthat the tool provides a moreefficient and effective means formanaging projects (relative totheir previous approach), andoperational efficiencies arerealized through the use of theadded resource managementvisibility, then we’ll know we’ve gotwhat we came after.”

BENEFITS

At the end of the day, regardlessof how smoothly a system goesinto production and howcomfortable users are ininteracting with the new system,real success is measured on howwell the effort aligns with theexpected outcome over time. Tothat point, TranSystems wasdeliberate in creating its projectscorecard for the PPM initiative,and defined the following keymeasurements to gauge ongoingsuccess and adoption:

Number of active projects by Project Manager, office, and regionNumber of projects withoutbaselinesNumber of projects withplanned remaining work in theprevious month or beyondNumber of status updatespending for 2 weeks or moreNumber of projects with lessthan 85% of remaining laborbudget assigned to resourcesNumber of inactive projectswith planned remaining work

While the expectation was thatthese metrics would initiallyprovide a simple baseline ofperformance and then improve asadoption and comfort with usingthe new tools improved, rightaway TranSystems saw significantprogress. Pleasantly, they’vecontinued to see these metricstrending upwards after a numberof months post-implementation,and the convenience of themonitoring dashboards has madereporting on these metrics aregular part of team meetings andsenior management get-togethers.

Milestone Consulting Group, Inc.4666 Slater RoadEagan MN 55122

tel 952-400-7850

web www.milestoneconsultinggroup.com

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