Improving Visibility And Reducing Manual Reporting With Project Portfolio Management

Company Overview

FundSERV Inc. is a leading provider of electronic business services to the Canadian investment fund industry. Established in 1993, FundSERV is a private company that operates on a cost-recovery basis. FundSERV has spearheaded the development of what is widely acknowledged to be the most efficient investment fund transaction processing system in the world. Today, the company’s focus is on the data standards and security infrastructure that will enable the industry to continue to apply technology for the ultimate benefit of the Canadian investing public.

Goal

FundSERV created its Project & Portfolio Management Team in late 2004 to get control and gain visibility of the various projects that were being undertaken within the organization.

Situation

Prior to the creation of a formalized project management methodology, projects were completed by the ëMIAí construct (Management by Intimate Awareness), people instinctively knew what needed to be done and did it. Although the end result was usually successful, activities were not always coordinated and a great deal of overtime was required to complete projects on time.

Issues

• Project progress and status had limited or no visibility at the senior management level
  Lack of overall portfolio planning made it impossible to plan resources across multiple projects
• Without formalized reporting, projects with issues requiring management intervention were not easily visible
• Projects initiated by departments had little or no visibility, therefore it was impossible to measure their success in relation to the strategic goals of the company
• Over 700 man hours were spent in coordination meetings annually
• Document look-up was very difficult due to the multiple locations in which all project related documents could be found

Solution

Eclipse PPM was installed to provide a single point of access for all project and portfolio documentation and reporting.

”Eclipse provides a single, easy to use repository for the details and status of all planned, active, and completed projects.”

Geoff Fox, Senior Manager, Project & Portfolio Management, FundSERV Inc.

Results

• The status of the entire project portfolio is visible to the management team
• Monthly Project and Portfolio Scorecards are quickly and easily prepared
• All project documents can now be accessed from a single source (via Eclipse)
• Upcoming projects are easily identifiable and not forgotten
• Individual project reporting is simplified with the Eclipse reporting features
• There is now a single repository for all projects

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