Successful projects, delivering real results, are a must in today’s competitive environment. Setting projects up for success can occur by following a proven methodology. Optimally, organizational processes, behaviors, and results are directly correlated to, and as a result of, the creation and cascade of an overall organizational vision. From the vision, a strategy is born. However, your strategy may never become a star if it remains relative obscure to the larger organization. One of the key challenges many companies face is operationalizing, or making the strategy a reality. Projects are the vehicle to move strategy from the boardroom to the back offices and ultimately a core plank in delivering your overall strategy.
Topics:
Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),
Project Management,
EPM ROI,
Executive,
EPM
Maximizing the value of your EPM BPC Implementation
The Need for Change
The Finance function is central to the successful operation of any organization. Finance organizations are not immune to today’s pressure faced by businesses to reduce costs of business transactions while improving processes in alignment with the overall strategy and direction for the organization. Faced with the demand to increase their role in the EPM lifecycle, Finance functions are moving away from a transactional data management focus to becoming deliberate business partners by providing assistance to the CEO and the organization in the development of strategic direction and key business decisions.
Topics:
Financial Information Management,
Investment Comparisons
Column5 CEO David Den Boer once told me, “Behind every checklist there is a dead body. “ As a military veteran, he knew that safety procedures were often put in place in the aftermath of a tragic accident that unfortunately involved the loss of life. The military is well known for their rigor, strict definition of procedures, and processes that deliver consistent and repeatable results. Isn’t that what we all strive for in delivery of our EPM projects? You can accomplish this result without enduring fatalities along the way.
Topics:
Best Practices,
Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),
Project Management,
BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation)
Why OCM is Critical to the Success of Your EPM Transformation.
According to analysts and customer feedback, EPM projects, as a subset of Analytics projects, are among the most challenging to achieve positive business value results. The reasons are many, including not having appropriate expectations laid out in a business plan, ill-advised technical designs, poor technical execution, not having internal skills to properly manage the solution, and not including a beneficial process change while implementing the technology.
Topics:
Best Practices,
Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),
Project Management,
BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation)
The nature of projects and project management is change. Often times, the change brought about by commissioning a project is overlooked, as the focus is placed on the technology. Just as frequently, the need to assess and address the people-side of the project is initiated separately and often too late in the project lifecycle. Most projects are managed using a methodology based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which focuses on management of scope change and the potential impact to budget, timeline, or resource allocation. However, PMBOK does not address the human aspects delivered through the project, or how to successfully identify, plan for, and mitigate resistance to the change.
Topics:
Best Practices,
Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),
Project Management
Successful delivery and adoption of any project requires a partnership between the business, IT, value chain partners and end-users to ensure the solution delivered meets business objectives and return on investment. Collaboration is required to make certain:
Topics:
Best Practices,
Project Management,
Implementation
Previously I discussed the top five critical success factors for a project. Remember the word of caution mentioned in that blog – “slick, leading-edge technology alone will not guarantee project success.” So what factor from that list must be coupled with the technology to ensure a successful adoption of your EPM or SAP BPC solution? The Human Factor, or quite simply, the people that will be involved in using the system once deployed can make or break your project. I’ll discuss in this blog why Organizational Change Management (OCM) should be one of your Top 5 Critical Success Factors for your EPM or SAP implementation.
Topics:
Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),
Project Management,
Value,
Implementation,
BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation)
Do you ever wonder if you are keeping up with the plethora of project management methodologies? Waterfall, Scrum, Agile, Lean, ASAP, Agile Waterfall and Sprints form just a handful of concepts. What is a project management methodology anyway and how do you choose the most appropriate one for your Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Business Planning & Consolidation (BPC) or Business Intelligence (BI) SAP project?
Topics:
Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),
Business Intelligence (BI),
Project Management,
Value,
Implementation,
BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation)
It's not uncommon for business stakeholders to start forming a mental image of the solution once there is a high-level understanding of the features a new technology provides. But is understanding the sizzle the new tool brings to your current business challenges enough to have a winning project? Perhaps not!
Topics:
Process Improvement,
Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),
EPM ROI,
Value
Connie Folk
