Modernizing project management in the public sector
It is a beautiful thing when a plan comes together, but execution is another story. With a lot of moving parts, projects can often become overcomplicated, unorganized, and mismanaged. So how do you stay on track and maintain accountability to your constituents and key stakeholders, even with knowledgeable project managers? How do you ensure that everyone – whether it is your local constituents or your government agency executives – is aware of the status of any given project? This is where technology comes into play.
It is vital that public sector organizations and non-governmental organizations alike can generate progress reports to share with constituents. The ability to report milestones, accomplishments, opportunities, and goals is highly valuable. With more eyes on a project than ever, and a 24/7 news cycle, agencies must use available technology to be more accountable and less likely to stray from existing approved plans. Especially when it comes to the public sector, where projects are largely funded on the backs of taxpayers, showing the status of projects and efficient use of funds is paramount.
As an example, a state government had quite a plan on its hands. It created a massive, decade-plus long business and IT transformation plan to create an environment for industries to thrive and apply technology to all sectors. The roadmap included multiple core program areas, each with portfolios of projects to manage. The state also established a new office specifically devoted to providing project management services.
With a comprehensive plan and program resources in place, IT management still faced some big challenges: centralize project management and reporting, define core processes, and get things done quickly.
The road to a successfully completed project can be long, but thanks to technology it doesn’t have to be difficult. With 10 years’ worth of projects left in the plan, the state turned to AvePoint Public Sector for a Project Transparency solution that integrated Microsoft technologies already in use by the IT organization.
This solution framework was quickly integrated and incorporated familiar, easy-to-use technology. With AvePoint Public Sector’s Project Transparency solution, the state is able to:
- Create actionable items. From day one, dashboards and automated reports allowed project managers to assess risk and monitor real-time project information, ultimately resulting in more confident, informed decision making.
- Improve transparency. With increased project visibility, everyone involved had heightened awareness of project information. They also had the ability to keep constituents up-to-date by sharing public information via status reports.
- Drive collaboration. Instead of working in data silos, teams could easily work together and deliver better results.
Through this solution, the state was able to save time and significantly improve productivity. Project Transparency maximizes reporting and collaboration capabilities while also allowing room for enhancements and customizations between phases. With this solution, the state is empowered to plan for success and use technology to bring the IT transformation plan to life. For more information on AvePoint Project Transparency, please visit the AvePoint website.
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Kate Juanengo, Global Communications Specialist, AvePoint Inc. | 29 June 2015
