Organizations often struggle to organize their projects, especially with disparate systems and outdated tools that are no longer relevant to their current business scenario. In such circumstances, organizations need a single point of truth that can provide insights about their projects and portfolios from initiation to execution.
Businesses can leverage Project Portfolio Management (PPM) to get a detailed analysis and optimization of the costs, technologies, resources, and processes for all the projects that are part of a portfolio. PPM ensures that the results of the portfolio align with the strategic goals of the organization. Your portfolio manager or PMO can easily do this by reviewing budgets, conducting business analysis, and forecasting while reducing risks.
ServiceNow Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) helps businesses capture essential investment data in a unified way and control the presentation, accumulation, and distribution of this data among stakeholders. Apart from helping businesses align their project portfolio to overall business goals, ServiceNow PPM ensures the resources and budget of the organization are optimally used while achieving these goals. Gartner has rated ServiceNow Project and Portfolio Management 4.9 on a scale of 5 based on its enterprise performance across industries.
ServiceNow makes moving from conventional delivery to Agile delivery effortless with its several out-of-the-box features that can make a real difference to your project and portfolios. Let’s take a quick look at four ServiceNow PPM applications and how they can benefit your organization.
Gather, analyze, and convert ideas into demands easily with Demand Management
ServiceNow Demand Management helps you get a comprehensive view of strategic and operational activities through detailed charts and customized data visualizations. Trends and ideas can be recorded in ServiceNow, and you can analyze them to prioritize which ones will turn into demands.
In the first step, the main information about a trend or an idea in focus is gathered. In the next step, votes or comments can be taken from the stakeholders, and once it is finalized, the demand manager can generate demand in just a matter of a few clicks.
Once the demand is generated, it goes through six collaborative stages on ServiceNow: Draft, Submitted, Screening, Qualified, Approved, and Completed. In the Draft stage, the details about the project and its budget, including supporting records such as requirements and risks are gathered. The stakeholders and demand managers can leverage this information to screen and evaluate demands and determine which idea or trend they should invest in.
ServiceNow makes it easier to evaluate these demands by categorizing them based on factors like risk, value, and size. Once the demands reach the Approved stage, they can be used to generate a project.
Manage projects effectively from start to finish with Project Management
The Project Management function helps you carry out a range of actions from tracking daily activities to performing complex analyses. Once the demand is approved and a project is generated, the demand manager can start sourcing information for the project. Project managers of teams can fill out the information manually or apply a template. The project team then gathers information like budget, resources, cost plans, and so on to start the project.
With ServiceNow Project Management, every project goes through five phases that can be customized based on the governance model of your organization: Initiate, Plan, Execute, Deliver, and Close. In the Plan phase, projects are further classified into Waterfall, Agile, or Hybrid.
With options to observe and command, the ServiceNow Project Management application allows you to keep a close eye on your organizational endeavors, along with creating, ranking, and assigning individual tasks to one primary user or multiple users. When a task is assigned, the system sends out a notification to the user, and they can see the task after logging in. ServiceNow visually plots tasks and updates against a baseline for you to validate if project details are on track or some adjustments need to be made.
The ServiceNow application automatically converts your data into comprehensible formats so your team can review their work. It also provides a customizable feature called the Project Workspace that gives you a clear picture of projects through detailed reports and widgets like percentage completed, delayed tasks, and milestones. It further allows you to drill down by looking at the tracking console displaying a visual timeline of the project with details like status reports, risks, and costs. The system keeps all your stakeholders informed with quick access to all project data, facilitating faster decision-making and task completion.
ServiceNow ITBM also offers support for Agile through the Agile 2.0 application. Agile 2.0 combines with the Project Management application to support hybrid projects in PPM. It allows teams to create stories and compile them under a theme. In the next step, the teams can collect finances and create the project to complete the theme. The stories created with Agile can be implemented through scrum methods. Teams can also start with an idea in hybrid projects and follow the Demand Management best practices. Once the idea converts into a project, the system designs tasks through workflows and stories using the scrum method, accommodating and simplifying Agile.
Get complete calculations and reports on all portfolios with Portfolio Management
Portfolios refer to the assortment of related projects, programs, and demands. ServiceNow Portfolio Management helps you create actionable financial plans and monitor the status and progress of these portfolios. Your teams can also manage multiple projects under the same category easily with this application.
To find out about the status of a portfolio, you just have to select the portfolio you wish to check. For individual projects and demands, you can get additional details by selecting the fields. The cost calculations of a project include both Capex and Opex expenses. You can also adjust the target from the same screen and check additional expense details through various bubble charts that display the risk and value of both projects and demands and timeline views that display approved and planned projects against time. The application also evaluates the effect of a project on your resources and finances so that you can make better business decisions.
Accurately manage resources across portfolios and projects with Resource Management
Using the ServiceNow Resource Management application, resource requestors like project managers can gain a comprehensive perspective on resource availability, costs, and utilization to create resource plans, place resource requests, and allocate tasks to resources. It also allows them to assess current and projected resource requirements.
All projects saved in the ServiceNow system give you a complete view of resource demands and allocations. All assigned resources for projects are on an FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) basis and the cost is calculated based on that assumption. These settings can be adjusted according to the project requirements, providing flexibility and accurate data.
With the ServiceNow Resource Management application, you get resource numbers at your fingertips, which helps you create your resource management strategies effortlessly. You can easily adjust and assign resources according to your plan so you can accurately plan, manage, and forecast.
Need help with ServiceNow PPM?
Enhance your revenue, optimize efficiency, and reduce costs with an intelligent Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) solution. ServiceNow PPM guides every step of your decision-making by providing comprehensive visibility into your resources, demand, portfolios, and projects so you can execute your strategies with excellence.
Collaborating with a reliable and certified ServiceNow partner gives you an edge that can make a big difference in the business world. Trust Nous Infosystems to give you that edge and help you navigate the smart world of ServiceNow efficiently and effortlessly. Talk to our team today to make your ServiceNow vision a reality.
