Situation
The client is a fast growing software security company that sells an increasing amount of its products and services online. The company’s PMO oversees numerous project requests that vary by type, size and dollar amount. A key responsibility of the PMO was to ensure the company’s resources are focused on the highest priority projects, given limited resource and budget capacity. However, this responsibility was difficult to fulfill without a consistent way to intake, evaluate and objectively prioritize project requests. As a result, organizational priorities were often unclear, and it was uncertain whether funding and resources were being allocated to the right projects.
Solution
Since the new project approval process would be a disruption to the status quo, the Augus team began by socializing the objectives, scope, vision and implementation approach with key stakeholders to gain early buy-in – especially from those most resistant to change. Augus then focused on building out the key infrastructure of the new project approval process, reviewing with stakeholders. The solution included:
- Clear and accountable governance structures to oversee project approval, resource and funding decisions
- A repeatable process and automated workflow to intake, evaluate, prioritize and make approval decisions for new project requests
- Standard business case template to ensure project approval decisions are based on sufficient information and analysis
- Financial template to calculate standard project financial costs and benefits
Once this foundational infrastructure was established, we met with key stakeholders to seek alignment and make any necessary updates to the proposed solution. We conducted an initial pilot of the new process, measuring performance to learn how well the process met its intended objectives.
Results
Key outcomes of the solution Augus delivered included
- Increased number of project ideas generated from within the organization
- Clear organizational priorities to guide funding and resourcing decisions
- Established governance structures and processes to guide project approval decisions
- Increased ability to measure and track the costs and benefits of all project investments