For organizations with complex IT departments and multiple projects in process, the challenge is to find a way to manage these operations effectively. Fortunately, by leveraging a single system for both IT Service Management (ITSM) and Project Portfolio Management (PPM), companies can unlock several benefits that can drive success. Let’s take a look at some of the key advantages of such an approach.
Reduce Resource Strain
Using a single platform tool for both ITSM and PPM enables you to better plan for resources and projects when it comes to tackling multiple projects, as well as demand management. Using resource capacity planning allows you to make sure that the right personnel, tools and equipment are available when needed in order to meet deliverables on time while remaining within budget.
There are many benefits to proper resource capacity planning, including:
- Improved IT productivity
- Improved quality of service (QoS)
- Improved IT performance measurement and reporting capabilities
At Covenant HealthCare they use TeamDynamix for ITSM and PPM. CIO Frank Fear said this single platform approach to both service and project management has improved the organization’s transparency and communication as they no longer need to toggle between different programs and tools, “I have my own CIO dashboard and in one look I can see any negative survey that’s come in the last 24 hours, then pivot over and look at any project that has a status of red that needs my attention, then pivot over and look at what’s going live in the next 30 days, then pivot over and see what critical tickets have come in from the help desk that maybe affect our entire organization.”
Fear also uses the dashboards in daily huddles with his team to set priorities and see what needs to be done, “I can report on our key strategic projects and see which project requests are coming in and be able to report status on those very cleanly and clearly through dashboards. I’m able to communicate to the organization the value that all these IT dollars are delivering.”
Enhanced Communication and Efficiencies
When all your team members are using the same platform to manage their workflows – from tickets through completion – information is easily shared across departments while communication is improved due to streamlined processes.
This means more efficient workflows that enable teams to work together more productively so projects do not suffer delays or face costly roadblocks due to miscommunication or unavailability of resources.
“With one platform now we can actually see the tickets that are being worked on as well as the projects that are in the pipeline,” Hema Nekkanti, project management office manager for the City of Sunnyvale, said. “This gives us the ability to actually allocate the resources appropriately, and there’s no resource conflict.”
Nekkanti said she and her team use the TeamDynamix dashboards internally to view projects in the pipeline as well as tickets. At Sunnyvale, each department has its own dashboard specific to its projects and tickets – within these dashboards they can view both the entire portfolio of work across the city, as well as their own projects.
“It’s all there, and when they drill down into each of those projects they can tell how far they are into the project. There’s a Gantt chart that shows the execution time and when the start time of each project is,” Nekkanti said. “This actually helps us (in the project management office) and those in the departments to understand exactly where the projects are and when they can be finished.”
Sunnyvale CIO Kathleen Boutte agreed, “We really needed that visibility, and it’s why this has been such a great tool for us. Having both the service side and the project side means I can see whether my team is working on a ticket or a project and how busy they are. I get visibility into their availability, and I can forecast more accurately to know that I am not overworking staff or that we’re not just sitting on the bench twiddling our thumbs.”
Better Project Outcomes
By having one unified interface where all tasks related to both ITSM and PPM can be managed in real-time, organizations can get up-to-date insights into their operations at all times. This reduces guesswork when forecasting performance which leads to improved outcomes on critical projects over time.
And when you use TeamDynamix for ITSM and PPM you get the added benefits of being able to escalate tickets into a project or project request.
In today’s highly competitive business world, it is imperative that organizations use every advantage they have in order to remain relevant and successful. Leveraging an integrated system for both IT Service Management and Project Portfolio Management provides just that improving resource capacity planning and improving communication and transparency throughout your organization.