Organizations have to coordinate various portfolios of projects across different functions – Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, Tech, Ops, Finance, R&D, etc all have projects that reach across the business and have dependencies on each other.
Too many active projects will mean fewer initiatives make it over the finish line – work trudges slowly or stalls without full commitment.
Too few projects will result in underutilized teams and delayed innovation.
An Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO) operates at a strategic level in collaboration with leadership. The goal of is to provide company-wide visibility, prioritization, sequencing, and resourcing of projects across the enterprise.
Often, there are too many projects with unseen dependencies across teams. Prioritization can fall out of synch with strategic goals and jeopardize key initiatives.
The EPMO’s primary goal is to orchestrate coordination of cross-enterprise projects so that active projects are aligned with corporate objectives and have the resources to succeed.
The EPMO makes sure that every project has at least one executive sponsor and that the full portfolio of projects are aligned with leadership goals.
Effective program management ensures people and teams are working together to achieve a shared strategic vision.
Enterprise Program Management and project management might sound similar, but they are different. Enterprise Program management is needed as organizations scale and change requires more cross-organization coordination. The key difference between program and project management is the scope. Program management focuses on the broader strategy, continuous improvement, and benefit realization while project management focuses on the specific tasks, deadlines, and tactical execution
People are the Power. Real change doesn’t happen without people—and people need collaborative leadership, an innovative culture, and the resources – time and budget – to build new capabilities. EPMO is focused on this. People on the front line ultimately drive big changes and EPMO works to make sure they have what they need to succeed.
There are a large number of EPMO tools that organizations can use to manage programs, project portfolios, and projects. Leading applications include: Planview, Adobe Workfront, Microsoft Project, and Smartsheets.
Gartner has analysis and reviews for various tools. Checkout the 2022 Gartner reviews of Agile Planning Tools and Strategic Portfolio Management Tools.
Learn More. We have decades of experience building and developing Enterprise Program Management capabilities – putting in place the people, process, and tech to succeed. Contact us to learn more.
