What is Project Performance Governance?

Project Performance Governance is a system of decision making and oversight capabilities.

Why do you need Project Performance Governance?

Companies are under increasing pressure to institutionalize their investment governance process – not doing so can be an existential threat.  Managing millions of dollars “off-line” on spreadsheets, PowerPoint, and email is ineffective, leads to poor decisions, and increases investment risks.  Some benefits of Project Performance Governance include:

1. Improve decision process
2. Minimize budget overruns
3. Realized benefits and outcomes
4. Increase productivity and limit revenue loss
5. Creation of standardization and governance
6. Eliminate process bottlenecks

Where in your organization is Project Performance Governance applicable?

Project Performance Governance is critical across the entire organization.  However, the office of the CFO, CIO, and the Transformation Office realize the most significant benefits.

Office of the CFO

The office of the CFO can greatly benefit from Project Performance Governance.  The CFO has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the companies scarce capital is put to the most effective use.  Some key benefits the office of the CFO can realize from Project Performance Governance are:

• Optimize expenses and maximize output
• Institutionalize investment standardization and governance
• Have visibility to companywide capital planning and portfolio of spend
• Provide board and executive level KPI’s
• Drive accountability and ensure optimal investments

Office of the CIO

On any given day, the CIO is bombarded with more initiatives than there is budget.  The CIO needs to identify high-value initiatives that will ensure execution against its technology strategy.  With so many competing initiatives, the office of the CIO needs an advanced solution to sort through the noise and make the appropriate investments.  Some key benefits the office of the CIO can realize from Project Performance Governance are:

• Develop and manage a pipeline of investments
• Make investment decisions with real-time objective data
• Shorten approval process and start initiatives sooner
• Conduct portfolio scenario analysis
• Drive accountability
• Communicate effectively to business unit consumers

Transformation & Strategy Office

The transformation office has become one of the most important additions to forward-thinking organizations.  In many cases, the transformation office is driving innovation and keeping their companies competitive and ahead of the pack.  Transformation initiatives are usually complex in nature, require significant change management, large budgets, and usually extends multiple years.  It has become imperative for the transformation officer to have a solution that keeps all the balls in the air, provides transparency, and helps drive accountability.  Some key benefits the transformation office will realize by adopting Project Performance Governance are:

• Manage transformation initiatives for results
• Monitor and track benefits and outcomes
• Ensure alignment of investments to strategies
• Provide board and executive level KPI’s
• Re-prioritize as strategies shift
• Communicate with transparency

In summary, Project Performance Governance has proven to be an effective capability for forwarding thinking leaders, including the office of the CFO, CIO, and the Transformation Office. Project Performance Governance significantly improves project performance thereby reducing project budget overruns, enhancing returns and benefits, and improving decision making.