Defining Successful IT Project Management

Are your projects meeting their goals? If not, you may be an underperformer…

When it comes to agile IT project management, is your organization an underperformer or a champion? In its Pulse of the Profession report, the Project Management Institute (PMI) defines those terms this way:

• “Underperformers: Organizations with 60 percent or fewer projects being completed on time and on budget, and meeting original goals and business intent—and having low benefits realization maturity
• Champions: Organizations with 80 percent or more of projects being completed on time and on budget, and meeting original goals and business intent—and having high benefits realization maturity”

How to Implement Agile IT Project Management

When it comes to agile IT project management The term “benefits realization maturity” is key. PMI defines this term as “the collective process of identifying benefits at the outset of a project and ensuring, through purposeful actions during implementation, that the benefits are realized and sustained once the project ends (PMI).”

It turns out that when organizations understand the business value of a project and align their IT project management activities around that value, projects are much more likely to be successful. In fact, agile IT project management champions reported that they completed projects on time, on budget, and met their original goals around 90% of the time, whereas underperformers only did so around 30% of the time. 

Filling the Project Management Gaps

That’s great news for champions! But, the reality is that most organizations aren’t champions. As the VP of Project Services & Strategic Consulting for Dataprise, I see this every day. We deliver over 600 projects per year across client organizations of varying size, maturity level, and industry for organizations that utilize project management as a service with Dataprise and for many that don’t. 

Here’s what I see; most organizations are short-staffed, don’t have time to learn new technologies, or are pulled in too many directions to focus on any one project. Most organizations have some concept of where they want to be, but struggle with how to get there. Most organizations need help.

Common Scenarios

Consider these two scenarios:

1. Client A decided to make a massive shift from one CRM platform to another. They signed a high-dollar contract with the new CRM provider, who was all too eager to start monthly billing and assured our client that the data migration would be “painless.” Then reality set in. Dataprise provided a PMP-certified project manager to organize and manage a project team consisting of resources from the client organization, the CRM provider, and external IT consulting firms. With our successful IT project management guidance, the project is back on track.
    
2. Client B decided to migrate email services from their premise-based Exchange environment to Microsoft Office 365, which is a straight-forward migration we conduct every day. As a nonprofit, this client tasked their in-house IT staff with executing the project. After months of deferring project activities due to the demands of day-to-day IT operations, they realized they needed help and outsourced the project to Dataprise. We assigned a Project Manager and dedicated technical resources and completed the project without further delay. 

Partnering with Dataprise: Our Methodology

Do any of these challenges or scenarios sound familiar? Is your organization an underperformer? It may be time to consider outsourcing. Partnering with Dataprise for successful IT project management, project delivery, or both might be what it takes to help you realize benefits from your next project. Our project managers have “been there and done that,” and can bring a level of objectivity and focus to agile IT project management that might not otherwise exist. Our deep bench of technical resources can tackle project engineering challenges while your in-house team focuses on what they do best – keeping your current IT systems running smoothly.

Corresponding Content:

• Questions You Need to Ask When Outsourcing IT Projects

Become a Champion: Achieve Successful IT Project Management

It takes a significant investment of time and resources to achieve high project management maturity and high benefits realization maturity. Not every organization can make the investment in agile IT project management. But, every organization needs the benefits that come from being a champion. Dataprise can help. Visit our IT Project Management page or contact us at 1-888-519-8111 to learn more.