IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step: Unlocking the Business Value of Technology

PMO PROJECT EXECUTION STAGE

Once a business case is approved for full project funding, it moves forward rapidly into the execution stages. However, on some occasions other projects may need to be delayed or cancelled to fund very high ROI opportunities that Business Systems and the BU sponsors feel should be accelerated.

Project start-up is expected to take no more than five days, as the preparation has really been done in the business case stage. During start-up, contracts are signed, people are brought on board, the scope is rechecked, kick-off meetings are held and the project plan is baselined. This can all be done quickly because the business case stage included development of all required pricing information and estimates, preparation of required contracts, and legal review. These items are incorporated into the business case stage to ensure that cost estimates are as accurate as possible for decision-making purposes. Therefore, for approved projects, all that should be required in the initiation stage are signatures and kick-off meetings.

Throughout this process, all project actions are consistently monitored, enforced, and reported to stakeholders through Mercury dashboards. Project status can be viewed in any number of ways, depending on the requirements and interests of each executive team member. Major projects with multiple independent components are typically termed "programs," with individual components managed as projects within the program. Each project in a program ...