Implementing EPM in an Organization

The most effective business discipline and system for guiding your organization to deliver your business plan is Enterprise Program Management, or EPM. EPM is a systematic approach to program management and is based on the principle that your organization's vision, mission, and objectives are a set of projects. When effectively defined, planned, integrated, and communicated, you are provided with a 360º view of your organization's ability to define and achieve its objectives. This article will provide you with the 3 critical elements that can make or break the implementation, and an effective 7-step process for implementing EPM.

REDEFINING TRADITIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Traditional project management is designed to make a single project successful. When you look at the challenges of managing multiple projects, the processes and tools of traditional project management are incomplete. The tools and techniques of project management don't tell you how to resolve conflicts, prioritize resources, and balance scope across all projects in an organization. Nor does traditional project management give you a reliable connection to your company's strategy. The solution to creating a reliable connection between a company's business strategy and projects is to redefine traditional project management into EPM (figure 1, below).

Figure 1 - Redefining Traditional Project Management

Traditional Definition Enterprise Program Management Definition

EPM gives you the complete framework and systematic approach for staying connected to your company's business strategy, remaining responsive to business needs, and prioritizing your resources for maximum effectiveness. EPM expands your focus from pursuing results on a project-by-project basis, to a seamless enterprise-wide view of all the work you need to accomplish.

THE PROJECT CORPS EPM VISION

The most effective organizations work in total alignment from top to bottom. Executives and senior managers set strategy, which is clearly translated into an actionable plan for resources. EPM provides the methods and tools to achieve total alignment of the organization.

The EPM framework sets four primary levels of responsibility: Executive Owners, Sponsors, Program Organization, and Project Teams and Resources (figure 2 above). Executive Owners are responsible for establishing the vision, mission, and goals of the organization. Sponsors are responsible for translating the vision, mission, and goals into tangible objectives to be pursued as projects. The Program Organization works with project teams to align multiple plans and schedules into an integrated, comprehensive view for Sponsors and Executive Owners. Project teams represent the functional and technical resources who plan and execute activities to deliver in accordance with organizational objectives. Together, the four primary levels work in complete alignment to define and deliver upon key business objectives.

Interconnected planning and execution cycles create the mechanism for total alignment. People are provided with the processes and tools to operate within their level of responsibility, and across adjacent levels of the organization (figure 2 above). Within each level of responsibility, people operate with a cycle that allows them to perform their work in a consistent, coordinated fashion. Each cycle takes input from and provides results to adjoining cycles. From an organization-wide perspective, it is possible to see how each responsibility-level cycle connects with the adjacent cycle to provide a complete organization-wide planning and execution cycle.