Foster Wheeler to execute Project Management contract
for new Hydro-processing Complex in Russia

Reported by Miles Shepherd in London, UK

Foster Wheeler Energy Limited, the UK-headquartered subsidiary of engineering and construction major, Foster Wheeler, has been awarded a project management consultancy contract to build a new hydro-processing complex in Russia by OJSC Khabarovsk Oil Processing Refinery, a 100 per cent subsidiary of OJSC Oil Company Alliance (Alliance), at its refinery.

Top of Page

MEUN Announces 1st Meeting of Dallas Chapter - March 11
for Users of Microsoft(R) Project

Reported by A Matt Piazza in north Texas

MEUN has been launched in north Texas as a new non-profit professional networking organization. A first meeting of the Dallas Chapter has now been announced for March 11, 2008 at the EduCorp offices in Irving, Texas

Top of Page

Successful Seminar in Libya reflects growing demand for PM
in Mediterranean - building up for IPMA Congress in Rome

Interest in project management continues to grow in the Mediterranean area! This was the message resulting from a successful seminar on project management in Libya organized by IPMA, which received exceptionally high attendance by managers of Libyan Iron &Steel Co. This successful event helps launch further actions of the IPMA Mediterranean Network (MedNet) at the IPMA World Congress on Project Management, to be held in Rome during November. (www.ipmaroma2008.it)

Following the kind invitation of LISCO - Libyan Iron and Steel Company - IPMA has made in January 2008 at Misurata a presentation on Project Management issues, including training and certification. The presentation was attended by more than 100 LISCO Managers from various departments of the Misurata Steel Complex as well as by Managers of the Misurata Free Zone, which has plans for many important projects in the near future.

Under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mohamed Abdulmalik El Figih - LISCO Technical Director and Chairman of the Tender Committee - the presentation on Project Management was made by Prof. Mary McKinlay, Vice President IPMA and Prof. Dr. Refaat Abdel-Razek of Zagazig University, Egypt.

Mr. Roberto Mori, President Italian Project Management Academy, then presented, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, the IPMA World Congress of Rome 2008, focusing in particular on the IPMA Mediterranean Network (MedNet), the development of which will be the subject of a specific panel discussion in Rome, see.

In addition Dr. M.A. El Figih underlined the importance of project management to ensure that the many projects under way at LISCO Misurata are completed, respecting schedule and budget for the satisfaction of the stakeholders. The seminar was concluded by a long debate with active participation of many attendees, thus confirming the interest and importance of the theme.

IPMA representatives expressed sincere thanks to Dr. M.A. El Figih and LISCO Management for the opportunity granted to address such a high and qualified number of managers. A common wish was expressed that the Seminar be followed by other similar events in Libya, aimed at possibly establishing a Libyan Project Management Association.

The 22nd IPMA World Congress on Project Management, ROMA 2008 – Project Management to Run – will be conducted during November 9-11, 2008 in Rome, Italy. Project and program managers, experts and practitioners around the world are invited to attend the IPMA congress in Rome, which will be one of the largest project management conferences in the world this year. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 40 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Local societies serve the specific development needs of each country in its national language. IPMA provides an umbrella organization to represent them at the international level. Additional information is available at www.ipma.cht. The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress in Rome, Italy are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP).

Top of Page

International BPUG Congress Awards Announced
for Best Practice Achievement

Reported by Miles Shepherd in London, UK

The 2nd International Best Practice User Group (BPUG) Congress was successfully completed in London during 6-7 February 2008, with awards presented during a gala dinner at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London. The awards, which were a beautiful glass design incorporating a Best Management Practice logo, were presented to achievers in the design and use of OGC’s best practice methodologies.

The awards were presented by Pete North, Strategic Director, Manchester Improvement Programme, Sandra Lomax, BPUG Chair, and Richard Pharro, CEO The APM Group.

The first award was the Best Management Practice Partnership Award for Innovation in Training. It was won by Maven Training. The award was nominated by fellow Accredited Training Organisations.

Sandra Lomax said, “Maven Training has an enviable reputation for both quality and creativity. Delegates enjoy using their online delegate area with a variety of quizzes designed to suit different learning styles. Maven has a flexible schedule offering weekly, evening and weekend events to suit different working and life styles. Two of their promotional videos – Change Management and The Changes on PRINCE2 Course – are available on You Tube and they were responsible for training the 200,000th PRINCE2 candidate. They are very worthy winners of this award.

Melanie Franklin, CEO, Maven Training, collected the award. She said, “We are delighted to win this award especially in the category of Innovation in Training. This ethos goes to the heart of our beliefs at Maven. Innovation drives everything we do – not just product innovation - but also devising new ways of working, communicating and supporting our staff and delegates. Encouraging and motivating staff to generate ideas and then support them through to delivery is the secret of our success. We work as a team, not just as a group of individuals. This is recognised by the BPUG community, who voted for us. We would like to thank them and our delegates who are the heart of our course development and delivery.”

The second award was the Best Management Practice Partnership Special Merit Award for individual contribution to development of the guidance. The winner – nominated by fellow BPUG members – was Andy Murray Director of Outperform Ltd and Lead Author for the ongoing revision of PRINCE2.

Pete North, Melanie Franklin, Sandra Lomax,
Richard Pharro

Sandra said, “Andy was selected to receive his award by BPUG members for his work in developing PRINCE2 as well as for his work in implementing it in organisations across a number of countries. He receives the Special Merit Award for individual contribution to development of the guidance.”

Collecting his award, Andy said: “This award is a total surprise – if I had expected it, I would have worn a tie! I hope the updated version of PRINCE2 lives up to expectations – every effort is being made to ensure it will. It’s very rewarding to be recognised by your peers and I am very proud to be the recipient of this award.”

Pete North, Sandra Lomax, Eddie Borup, Richard Pharro

The third award was the International Special Envoy of the year, which was awarded to Eddie Borup for guidance implemented in over 150 countries. Eddie was Head of Projects at Cable and Wireless prior to forming his own consultancy business. His recent work with the United Nations, introducing PRINCE2 to developing countries, has required personal sacrifice in the form of significant periods away from home and family.

The fourth award was the Best Management Practice Partnership Honorary Award for contribution made to development of qualifications. This award was won by Colin Bentley.

Sandra said, “After the effort of writing the lion's share of the original PRINCE2 manual Colin "retired" to his home office to write some supporting guides. He was enticed out of his den to accept the challenge of creating a series of exams. He thought the work would fit between his other personal commitments. Instead it took over his life for the last decade during which period he has been the most influential person in shaping and developing the qualification scheme. His dedication, passion and determination to make the qualifications successful single him out as the most worthy winner of this award.

The fifth award was the Best Management Practice Partnership Grand Prix for leading-edge Innovation in a user organisation. The winner was Right Track North West and was collected by Jean Hunter, Chief Executive, South Ribble District Council.

Sandra said, “How many councils can say that they have a complete picture of all the projects running their organisations, or can honestly say that they feel that they are running the most effective portfolio of projects? Councils have to be more efficient and there is an urgent need to recognise the role of better PPM in this. The purpose of Right Track North West is to help councils address this issue and they are worth winners of this award.”

The sixth award, presented by Richard Pharro, CEO, APMG, was the Best Management Practice Partnership award for outstanding contribution to embedding PRINCE2 in the public sector and was awarded to Manchester City Council Capital Programme Group.

Richard said, “For the last five years, Manchester City Council and in particular the Capital Programme Group have been an active member and supporter of BPUG. The Capital Programme Group developed a fundamental approach to project management based on PRINCE2 with a view to promoting a standard methodology and further promoting PRINCE2 as a qualification. To date over 1,200 Manchester City Council officers have attended the Fundamentals and Board Members courses and 84 of these have progressed to PRINCE2.

”The authority has used the development of its staff to deliver better services for the people of Manchester, one example of many is the complex and successful Sure Start £12.5m Programme, 25 major projects over 2 phases was managed by Manchester City Council's own staff. The Capital Programme Group have maintained an open and helpful approach to others and have shared their experiences with over 70 other organisations, many are BPUG members,” Richard said.

The Award was collected on behalf of Manchester City Council by Kevin Fletcher, Strategic Planner. Kevin has been an inspirational leader in getting best practice adopted by Manchester and helping other Councils do the same.

The BPUG Congress awards were specially commissioned for the event and were made and designed by Egyptian Blue. For more information see www.egyptianblue.co.uk. Copies of presentations given during the BPUG Congress can be found at www.bpugcongress.com.

Top of Page

Call for Nominations for 3rd Annual PMO of the Year Award

Project organizations have until the end of February to submit a nomination for the Center for Business Practices Third Annual PMO of the Year Award. The award recognizes a Project Management Office (PMO) that demonstrates vision and acumen in implementing new ideas, methods, and processes that lead to measurable improvements in project management and tangible results for organizations.

Winners of this prestigious award will receive:

• All-expense paid trip to CBP Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona

• Free admission to CBP Summit for your PMO team

• Trophy presentation at gala Summit Award Reception

• Recognition by presenting your award-winning essay

• Renown through extensive industry press coverage

To be eligible to receive the PMO of the Year Award, the applicant must be the director or manager of the PMO nominated. All corporate, not-for-profit, and government PMOs are eligible for nomination. Submissions from third parties on behalf of a PMO are not eligible.

Major Milestones

• 29 February 2008: Closing date for entries

• 31 March 2008: Finalists and PMO of the Year Winner announced

• 25 June 2008: PMO of the Year Reception at CBP Summit

• 26 June 2008: PMO of the Year Keynote Address at CBP Summit

For information, visit https://www.cbponline.com/Articles.asp?ID=143.

The Center for Business Practices is the research and publishing arm of the consulting and training organization PM Solutions. The CBP promotes effective strategy execution through sound portfolio, program, project, and performance management by capturing best practice knowledge and integrating it into actionable, fact-based information: research, publications, and benchmarking events. For additional information, visit www.cbponline.com.

Top of Page

Planview Announces 2007 Growth and Successes

Planview®, a Texas-based provider of enterprise-wide portfolio management solutions, has announced that 2007 results included double-digit revenue growth, customer acquisitions, key industry partnerships, product enhancements and industry accolades. The company announced 52 percent year-over-year revenue growth in 2007. Planview also added new customers in the U.S. and abroad, including Ball Corporation and ICON, U.S.; Allianz, Germany; Zurich Financial Services, Switzerland; Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, Italy; ATAC (Groupe Auchan), France and Atradius, United Kingdom.

Planview was positioned as a leader in the Project and Portfolio Management industry in The Forrester Wave: Project Portfolio Management Tools, Q4 2007 (December 2007) by independent research firm, Forrester. In addition, Planview was positioned in the leaders’ quadrant in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management, 2007. The company was also recognized No. 241 of 500 in Software Magazine’s 2007 Software 500 list, a significant jump from 2006.

“Planview is executing on its strategic direction, delivering industry-leading solutions for enterprise-wide portfolio management,” said Pat Durbin (Pictured), founder and CEO of Planview. “As the portfolio management discipline accelerates across the enterprise, Planview is seizing the opportunity to help customers optimize their business and make better investment decisions.”

Planview introduced several new or revised products in 2007, including Planview Enterprise 9, an upgraded version of its industry-leading portfolio management solution with a focus on improving the user experience for project managers. Planview released Planview Enterprise 9.1 in November, which delivered more than 60 customer-driven enhancements, including Intelligent Help, an innovative tool designed to drive organizational adoption of portfolio management by integrating contextual help with best practices and E-Learning modules.

Planview Enterprise Business Process Manager (BPM) was introduced in July 2007, providing process design, automation, adoption and measurement capabilities. In September 2007, the company augmented its earned value management system (EVMS) offerings with the announcement of Planview Micro-Frame® Program Manager (MPM) Performance Manager, to provide more visibility and control over strategic business and IT programs for government agencies, program managers, and business analysts. Resulting from the company’s strategic relationship with BMC, Planview also introduced OpenSuite for BMC Remedy Change Management in the second half of 2007, providing integration between Planview Enterprise and BMC Remedy Change Management.

The growth in 2007 was due in part to Planview’s acquisition of Business Engine, which helped strengthen the company’s customer base and deepen its capabilities with earned value management and business process automation. The successful integration helped position Planview for future growth, particularly in financial services and United States Federal Government.

In 2007, Planview entered into several strategic sales, marketing and product relationships with industry leading organizations including BMC, Hitachi Consulting and Pervasive Software. Planview also strengthened its focus in the federal market, working closely with partners such as Fujitsu Consulting and SRA International to deliver portfolio management solutions and services to federal agencies. In addition, Planview expanded its global footprint in 2007 and launched online resource centers for France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy.

Planview hosted a series of virtual and live events in 2007, including its largest and most successful user conference to date. The Planview Horizons User Conference featured more than 350 attendees, 9 partners, 25 customer presentations and 235 “Meet the Expert” sessions in November, and nearly 100 Planview users and partners attended Planview Horizons Europe in Nice, France in June. Additionally, Planview hosted its first MPM User Group Meeting in September focused on the EVM user community. Planview also hosted a series of PMO 2.0 Leadership Forums in Chicago, Boston, Denver, Atlanta and San Francisco, where company executives and industry experts discussed the evolving role of the PMO.

In 2008 Planview plans to continue driving innovation within the portfolio management industry as the leading independent and pure-play vendor. In April, Planview will host its first Horizons MPM User Conference in Austin, and the company will continue to host PMO 2.0 Leadership Forums across the country.

Since 1989, Planview has been a market leader in providing comprehensive portfolio management solutions. Planview Enterprise®, the company's leading performance management platform, combines project and portfolio management software with adaptive best practices, Planview PRISMS®, to provide visibility into total IT spending. By integrating the business process management of strategies, services, and projects in a single, Web-based solution, Planview helps organizations achieve greater levels of control over their ever-changing environment. Headquartered in Austin Texas, with offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific, Planview supports more than 500 customers in virtually every industry. Planview is privately held and has been profitable for over a decade. For more information visit www.Planview.com.

Top of Page

Report from the Corporate Portfolio Management Conference in Florida - Keynote address by Thomas Stewart, Harvard Business Review Editor

Reported by A Matt Piazza in Florida

Navigating in a Global Environment:
FIVE CHALLENGES FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

The Corporate Portfolio Management Conference launched on February 25, 2008 in Clearwater Beach, Florida with Thomas Stewart (pictured). Attendees learned how the business management landscape is changing from Globalization.

Challenge #1: SPEED covers the factor of how fast business decisions must be made today. Like watching a thoroughbred horse race that starts and finishes in just seconds, we see today new product development on fast-tracks, customers ordering 24/7, Blackberry™ communications, fast capital movements – online banking and extreme corporation growth (Amazon and Google). While speed may kill, today’s challenge #1 is the SPEED of doing business.

Challenge #2: FUZZY BOUNDARIES identifies that the difference between relationships inside and outside the corporation are blurred. For example, an investor in a corporation like CISCO has money in the employees and also the relationships between the corporation and clients and vendors. Today, many CISCO deliveries are not touched by a CISCO employee after the design arrives at the Asian manufacturing facility and shipped directly to the client by FedEx.

Challenge #3: KING CUSTOMER defines how the customer has evolved to the on par negotiating position as the seller. The internet provides the buyer with a wealth of knowledge to avoid the seller’s power technique of ‘holding all the cards’. The buyer goes online and learns the dealers’ costs for six local dealers enabling the buyer to be stronger when negotiating the final purchase price.

Challenge #4: EXTREME COMPETITION describes how low cost has changed the market place. Nearly 90% of today’s inventory of socks comes from China, eBay and Craig’s List have reduced the advertising revenues of local newspapers’ classifieds, and corporations are developing engineering talents ‘where the brains are’ throughout the world, not just in the local corporate location.

Challenge #5: UNCERTAINTY is the business arena of future capabilities beyond predictability, beyond today’s management calculations and forecasts. The basic management toolbox deals with Cause & Effect.
The final message from Mr. Stewart delivered was when the next business management question arises, make more money by stopping to think before answering. The landscape has changed and making decisions by ‘shooting from the hip’ does not make as much sense as it did yesterday.

Information about the conference can be found at http://www.iirusa.com/cpm/overview.xml.

Top of Page

Report from Destination 2013, Cape Town 2008 -
Primavera International PARS' Meeting

Reported by O. Chima Okereke

At the beginning of each year, Primavera Systems Incorporated, a foremost producer of project management software solutions, meets with its international representatives in a large city outside the United States. The meeting is for international Primavera Authorised Representatives (PARs) outside the American continent; as a result, it is rotated yearly to different cities in various geographical regions.

This year, it was held in the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa that is located under the imposing cloudy Table Mount. With Primavera management and executives from the US and the UK leading the proceedings, representatives attended from as far away countries as Japan, China, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, various European countries such as Sweden, France, Germany, United Kingdom, etc. Representatives from Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, etc., were also present.

The theme of the meeting was reflected in its slogan, namely: “Destination 2013” and it was designed to build a foundation that should propel the organisation towards and through the next five years to 2013. The meeting started with a review of the past year. 2007 was described as the biggest and best year in Primavera operations. The company exceeded its revenue plan by 2% and was also 43% ahead of its performance in 2006. In addition, it added 32 new international PARS. Both Gartner and Forrester recognised it as a world leader in producing and providing Projects Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions.

Following this review, strategies for competing and winning in its various market verticals were discussed. Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) is the leading vertical, followed by Power, Energy and Process (PEP). Others are IT and Services (ITS), Government, Aerospace & Defense (GOV), and Discrete Manufacturing (MAN). Its core competencies comprise the following:

• Time-based planning and control

• Resource-sensitive management tools

• ERP integration

• Risk-based predictive modeling

These are realised in its major products such as Primavera P6, ProSight, Pertmaster, Contract Manager, Evolve, etc. New versions of these were released in 2007.

Whilst strategies for sales were discussed with PARs, there was a strong emphasis on collaboration. PARs generally constitute the public face of Primavera in many countries. Indeed, there was a PAR who was speaking to a customer over the phone but the latter could not place him even after he had given his name. However, when he explained that his company represents Primavera in the country, the customer conclusively exclaimed: “I now know you and can place your face”. It was interesting that the PAR was better known to the customer as Mr. Primavera and not by his own name.

While emphasizing the need for collaboration and cooperation, an America expression was used to drive it home. Primavera is the quarterback in the symbiotic relationship. It provides all the technical and strategic supports that PARs require to operate in the international marketplace.

The meeting that was held from 16th to 18th January was not all work and no play. It had appropriate doses of socials and tours in the beautiful landscape of Cape Town. From the cocktail- style welcome reception on the evening of 15th January, through the Hollywood Oscar-style awards and dinner night to the outdoor visits, participants had ample opportunities to network and get better acquainted. A boat cruise of the Hout Bay Harbour and a tour to the Table Mount were the two main outdoor activities. The mountain tour was aborted as the weather was bad; even then, there was a dinner at the Waterfront.
All told, it was a useful, re-quipping, and re-commissioning experience that should help the PARS in their campaign in the 2008 period, the first year in the five-year march to 2013.

Top of Page

Report from the Corporate Portfolio Management Conference
in Florida - Advanced Project Portfolio Management Workshop

Reported by A Matt Piazza in Florida

The launch of the Corporate Portfolio Management Conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida included a Workshop on 25 February 2008 by Samantha Dunbar of Wachovia and Peter Iovino of UMT Consulting. The workshop was titled “Advancing Project Portfolio Management: Project Portfolio Selection.”

According to these instructors, real world management experience shows that without project portfolio optimization, 60% of business potential is realized, leaving 40% lost. Samantha Dunbar described the ongoing process of evolving the Wachovia project portfolio culture over the last three years. This journey has really only just begun, but significant business savings are already realized. For example, the recent financial industry downturn required immediate reduction in planned project expenditures. In days instead of weeks and most importantly with management understanding, the project cutback selection process was completed. This achievement was possible only because management time and effort had been incorporated to pursue a project portfolio process.

The Wachovia project portfolio team also avoided the typical pitfall of focusing on a tool. Instead, their efforts were focused on one business unit and the following approach. To achieve optimization, the team (1) defined the business drivers no fewer than five and no more than ten; (2) prioritized these drivers; (3) assessed all business unit projects in regards to these drivers; (4) applied identified constraints such as total available funding; (5) conducted advanced optimization analysis; and (6) continued advanced selection analysis.

This team’s success depended on the “C” level corporate sponsorship and the above approach. The timing was important due to the “burning platform” environment that motivated cultural change by the business unit management. Project Portfolio Management is a form of change management and requires behavioral changes. This practice takes away the opportunity for heroes and opens up each executive’s area of business to the other executives, an unpopular business condition.

Ultimately, the project portfolio selection practice involves making judgment evaluations. A technique called “pair wise” is used to establish relative importance among the business drivers. These evaluations are the foundation of other measurements used to prioritize all projects and facilitate project selection. While no technique is perfect, this one produces favorable results. This technique also requires periodic repetitions throughout the year, usually quarterly to reflect business and marketplace changes.

In summary, the investment made by Wachovia in project portfolio management has paid off and is an ongoing technique. The approach is based on management culture changes with the assistance of an automation tool (approach: 90% process 10% tool). Periodic evaluations are conducted to reflect possible business driver changes that impact project portfolio selections. The strategy to implement this technique with one business unit enabled the success-to-date by avoiding “attempting to do too much, too fast.”

The Corporate Portfolio Management Conferences is organized by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and IIR, a division of SRA International.

Information about the conference can be found at http://www.iirusa.com/cpm/overview.xml.

Top of Page

PMForum named Media Partner for the DYNAMICS 2008
Project Management Conference in Turkey

The DYNAMICS 2008 Project Management Conference team in Istanbul, Turkey has selected PMForum as “media partner” for their 2008 International Conference which will be held Istanbul during 4-5 April 2008. The annual DYNAMICS project management conferences in Istanbul are intended to help raise the visibility of project management in Turkey, to advance the level of PM knowledge among local companies and executives, and to connect the Turkish PM profession with other PM experts and leaders around the world.

So far, the following main speakers have been announced for the conference:

• Wayne Abba (USA), keynote speech on the topic of “Earned Value Management”

• Lauren Bone (USA) on the topic of “Interfacing Earned Value and Risk Management”

• Neil Albert (USA) on the topic of “Linking Cost Estimating to Earned Value Management to Improve Performance”

Wayne Abba, Neil Albert and Lauren Bone are all recognized earned value management experts and former leaders of PMI’s College of Performance Management (CoPM). Wayne is a founder and former president of the CoPM. Neil is past president and chair, and Lauren is current Chair of the CoPM Advisory Committee.

The DYNAMICS 2008 Project Management Conference will be held during April 4-5, 2008 at the MARMARA Hotel (pictured) in Taksim, Istanbul. The DYNAMICS 2008 Project Management Conference is organized by the Istanbul Project Management Association (IPYD), with the support and involvement of PMI members in Turkey. For more information, visit www.dinamikler.org.

IPYD was officially founded on March 18, 1997 as an association for project management with 415 members now in various sectors mainly of construction, IT and finance. IPYD works in cooperation with Turkish members of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and delivers to its members knowledge on the practices and developments in the international project management world. For more information, visit www.ipyd.org.

As a PMForum media partner, IPYD will receive banner ad promotion on PMForum web pages; listing in PMForum’s online Events Calendar, pre-event news coverage, live breaking news coverage directly from the event, and post-event reporting. Examples of PMForum partnering efforts and media coverage can be found at http://www.pmforum.org/events/partner_program.htm.

Established in 1995, www.pmforum.org was the world’s first website devoted to professional project management and is one of the world’s most popular sources of project management news and information. PMForum is an organization formed to operate and administer the pmforum.org website. PMForum also produces the monthly online www.pmworldtoday.net eJournal where articles, case studies, papers and stories by leading PM authorities from around the world can be found; free subscriptions are available at www.pmworldtoday.net.

Top of Page

Report from the Corporate Portfolio Management Conference
in Florida - Using Corporate Portfolio Management to Drive Shareholder Value

Reported by A Matt Piazza in Florida

The Corporate Portfolio Management Conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida included a Workshop on 25 February 2008 by Michael Menke of Decision Strategies, Inc., entitled “Using Enterprise Portfolio Management to Drive Shareholder Vale.”

According to Mr. Menke (pictured), while project selection is absolute, portfolio selections are relative. Michael showed how one can get MORE out of a portfolio by putting LESS projects in the pipeline. The answer is optimizing the project selection within the portfolio at a group, business unit and / or corporate level.

As management methodology has evolved, today’s “Third Generation” corporations’ portfolio management uses six practices to achieve optimal resource allocation and add value by ensuring appropriate ownership of portfolio management and by aligning internal and external perceptions of value.

Real world examples from Michael’s years with Hewlett Packard were provided to reinforce the principals and practices identified in his presentation. He also gave the class an exercise in project portfolio selection. Based on given measurements, each table of attendees formed a team and selected the ‘best’ portfolio. No two teams selected the same combination of projects and no table manually calculated the ‘optimal’ selections. The process is very complex and without best practices and automated tools, the average management team will usually make some good selections and miss the other best opportunities. While no complete selection is the “right” answer in life, many choices made today are less than optimal and shareholders values are not realized to the fullest extent.

The best practice of generating Efficient Frontier diagrams was explained and demonstrated in several fashions. A SmithKline Beecham case study was used to backup this practice and showed that an approximate US $1 million portfolio optimization process investment netted an increased US $2.6 billion in shareholders’ value more than 1000:1 ratio improvement!

To maximize shareholders’ value, today’s management will perform better by utilizing corporate portfolio management at all levels of the business.

The Corporate Portfolio Management Conferences is organized by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and IIR, a division of SRA International.

Information about the conference can be found at http://www.iirusa.com/cpm/overview.xml.

Top of Page

Hill International Acquires Majority of Gerens in Spain

Reported by Alfonso Bucero in Madrid

Hill International, the US-based construction and project management company, has announced that it has acquired 60% of Gerens Management Group, S.A., a Spanish-headquartered firm that provides project management services on major construction projects throughout Spain, Western Europe and Latin America. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Gerens is headquartered in Madrid, with offices in Barcelona and Cancun, Mexico. The company has managed the construction of major projects in various sectors, including residential, commercial, healthcare, retail and leisure, infrastructure, and hotels and resorts. Some of Gerens' largest projects include the Ciudad Real Airport, the Caja Madrid headquarters building (the tallest skyscraper in Spain), the Endesa headquarters building, the Parque Norte Business Center, the five-star Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid, the new Toledo Hospital, the new Puerta de Hierro Hospital, the ESADE Business School campus extension in Barcelona, and the 300 Has Mayakoba Resort in Mexico's Rivera Maya.

Hill co-founded Gerens in 1998 but divested its minority stake in the company in 2000. Gerens, which has about 250 employees, plans to immediately change its name back to its original name of Gerens Hill International, S.A. In 2007, Gerens achieved unaudited total revenues of approximately EUR 21.0 million (US$30.6 million). The remaining minority stockholders of Gerens, who own 40% of the company, consist of Gerens' Managing Director and a group of leading Spanish savings banks.

"We are very excited about bringing Gerens back into the Hill organization," said Irvin E. Richter (pictured), Hill's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Their management team has built one of the leading project management firms in Europe in less than a decade and we look forward to helping them continue their success," Richter added.

"Gerens" management and the Spanish stakeholding banks feel excited about this agreement with Hill International which is to produce a win-win situation, as Gerens will become part of one of the most well-regarded firms worldwide in the construction consultancy area while Hill will benefit from Gerens experience and privileged access to new and important business areas both in Europe and Latin America," said Jose Manuel Albaladejo Gonzalez, Managing Director and co-founder of Gerens. In addition to maintaining his current position with Gerens, Albaladejo has also been named a Senior Vice President with Hill.

Gerens Management Group brings together extensive knowledge of the Spanish market and worldwide experience in the management and control of complex design and construction processes offering their clients best practices in project management and independent technical consultancy services. For more information on Gerens, please visit their website at www.gerens.com.

Hill International, together with Gerens, has 1,800 employees in 70 offices providing program management, project management, construction management, and construction claims services worldwide. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the 10th largest construction management firm in the United States. For more information on Hill, visit www.hillintl.com.

Top of Page

Report from the Corporate Portfolio Management Conference
in Clearwater Beach, Florida - Sponsors & Exhibitors

Reported by A Matt Piazza in Florida

Attendees at The Corporate Portfolio Management Conference in Clearwater Florida took advantage of multiple opportunities to update their knowledge of available services and products for this management discipline. As you can see from these photos, interest was strong at each booth.

Sponsors included Enrich Portfolio Systems at www.enrichconsulting.com, Power Steering at www.psteering.com; and SmartOrg at www.smartorg.com.

Other Exhibitors included Artemis (www.aisc.com), PD Ware (www.psdware.com), and the Product Development & Management Association (www.pdma.com).

The Corporate Portfolio Management Conferences is organized by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and IIR, a division of SRA International. Information about the conference can be found at http://www.iirusa.com/cpm/overview.xml.

Top of Page

Report from the CPM Conference in Clearwater Beach -
Stopping Investile Dysfunction

Reported by A Matt Piazza in Florida

The Corporate Portfolio Management Conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida included six keynote presentations. One of the most informative was delivered by Anand Sanwal with the title: “Stopping Investile Dysfunction. The Power of Corporate Portfolio Management”.

Mr. Sanwal, former VP Investment Optimization & Strategic Business Analysis at American Express and the author of the best-selling book “Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy” shared his view that industry leaders are those that consistently make better decisions. And it is the strategic and financial discipline of corporate portfolio management that enables companies to continuously make better decisions and hence become leaders by selecting, funding and executing on the best investments and projects.

Mr. Sanwal offered a pragmatic practitioner’s perspective having built the discipline at American Express’s on how to bring corporate portfolio management to one’s organization. He discussed the over indulgence on data, strategies and processes and indicated they needed to be balanced with significant attention to the culture and behavior of the organization. He quoted the CFO of Medtronic who he’d recently heard say “Culture eats strategy for lunch” and challenged the audience to understand that making better decisions is about better information and data as well as ensuring people know why better decisions are important and incentivizing them to make them by creating a “marketplace for discretionary investments.”

The problem of poor project or investment selection which Sanwal has termed “Investile Dysfunction” is commonplace. He cited statistics from the Corporate Portfolio Management Association (www.corporateportfoliomanagement.org) that over 85% of corporate management believes their resource allocations is “not-in-good shape”; that 55% of corporate investments are “not-in-good shape” with respect to the accuracy of their benefits, costs and time of delivery estimates; and that 86% of these corporation business decisions are driven by politics and relationships and not driven by data. Sanwal doesn’t argue for strictly data-driven decisions but what he calls a balance between decibel and data-driven decision-making or “intuition vs analytical” decision-making.

He did make the case that data does work citing the example of movie financier John Miller who makes movie selections based on a database of metrics related to movies – and not based on scripts, personal relationships, buzz, etc.

Other example of the power of data working in decision-making that he provided included those of Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s and his ability to use data to change the conventional “wisdom” on player selection as immortalized in the book “Money Ball”. He also cited an example from Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink on how Cooke County Hospital better allocated beds by determining which patients complaining of chest pains were actually having heart attacks by using data and statistics instead of relying solely on doctor’s diagnoses.

In summary, Sanwal demonstrated the power of corporate portfolio management and challenged the audience to not follow the best practice but to be the best practice. He stated that “There is no such thing as a world-class leader” and pushed the audience to strive to become the leader by utilizing Corporate Portfolio Management. His practical, “in the trenches” perspective and his success at American Express where he focused on the process as well as the cultural and behavioral elements seem to offer a viable treatment option to Investile Dysfunction which hurts most organizations today.

The Corporate Portfolio Management Conferences was organized by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) and IIR, a division of SRA International.

Information about the conference can be found at http://www.iirusa.com/cpm/overview.xml.

Top of Page

PMI Dallas Chapter announces participating companies
for March 13 Vendor Showcase in Texas

The PMI Dallas Chapter has announced the current list of project management suppliers and service companies that will be participating in the chapter’s 2008 Project Management Vendor Showcase being held on 13 March 2008 in Addison, Texas. The annual Vendor Showcase is one of the PMI Dallas Chapter’s largest and most popular events, normally attracting many vendors and more than 700 attendees.

To date, the following companies have signed on to participate in the PMI Dallas Chapter’s 2008 Vendor Showcase: 6D Tech ; CertTest Training; Cranes Software, Inc.; Crosswind PM Training; Daptiv; Doulos PM Training; Encentis Technologies; ESI International; Global Knowledge; Innovative Management Solutions; International Institute for Learning, Inc.; iRise; LMR Solutions; MDI, Microsoft; Oxford and Associates; RMC Project Management; Semantic Space Technologies Ltd.; Sogeti USA; Solutions Cube Group; Team Interactions, Inc.; True Solutions; University of Dallas Graduate School of Management; University of Texas at Dallas; Velociteach; Watermark Learning and WildWorks Group.

According to Marilyn Sawyer (pictured), PMI Dallas Chapter VP Programs, “Based on the number and reputation of the participating vendors that have signed up so far, we should have another very good turnout this year. The door prizes, the vendor booths, the large crowd and the networking activities help create an entertaining atmosphere. We should all have a lot of fun.”

The PMI Dallas Chapter invites PMI members and non-members alike to this annual event, featuring representatives from the best project management training, software, consulting and staffing firms both locally and nationally. You can look forward to a light buffet dinner while browsing vendor booths, earning 2 PDUs for the two hour event. A wide variety of door prizes will be offered by both the Dallas Chapter and the participating companies.

The 2008 PMI Dallas Vendor Showcase will be held from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, 13 March, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (North Dallas-Addison) at 14315 Midway Road in Addison, Texas, a city on the northern border of Dallas. With pre-registration, the event is free to members of the PMI Dallas Chapter, who can also receive two professional development units (PDUs) for attending. For more information or to register for the event, visit http://www.pmidallas.org/index.phtml?menu=s-cb-evt&evtDate=2008-03-13. Vendor registration is at http://pmidallasvendors.eventbrite.com/.

The PMI Dallas Chapter is a volunteer-based professional association dedicated to supporting the growth and development of project management practitioners, as well as building awareness of the project management discipline and its critical role in business and organization success. With more than 240,000 members in over 160 countries, the Project Management Institute (PMI®) is the world’s leading membership association for the project management profession. Founded in 1984 and with over 4,000 members, the PMI Dallas Chapter is one of the world’s largest PMI components. To learn more about the PMI Dallas Chapter and its service offerings, please visit www.pmidallas.org .

Top of Page