Enterprise Project Management: How To Plan & Implement

Without a robust project selection process, the projects in your portfolio won’t align to overarching business goals. And, in execution, you’ll find inefficiencies in trying to plan, manage, and close out projects individually.

Enterprise project management can help you lower project failure rate, optimize resource utilization, and get the return on investment you're looking for. Enterprise project management software is critical for implementing this.

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What Is Enterprise Project Management (EPM)?

Enterprise project management (EPM) is the process of managing multiple, usually complex, projects within an organization. 

EPM often requires cross-functional collaboration among different departments and project teams to make sure individual projects within an organization’s portfolio stay on track and meet stated objectives. While different projects may have different business objectives, these objectives should align with enterprise level goals.

Through EPM, organizations can select and prioritize projects for completion, effectively allocate and manage resources, avoid duplication of effort, and complete projects on time and within budget.

Organizations can practice EPM regardless of the project management methodology that they use for their projects—whether waterfall, agile, or hybrid.

How Does Enterprise Project Management Differ From Traditional PM?

Enterprise project management is focused on outcomes, whereas project management is focused on individual deliverables. Project success is measured by how well the project meets the needs of the organization, rather than by whether the milestones have been met and dependencies unblocked.

EPM also takes a more collaborative approach than traditional project management. Because EPM projects are often interdependent, it is important to involve stakeholders in decision-making. This allows for a more coordinated and efficient use of organizational resources. 

EPM emphasizes adaptability and flexibility. With ever-changing organizational objectives, EPM must be able to rapidly respond to changes in scope or priorities. EPM takes into account the strategic objectives of the organization to involve stakeholders in decision-making functions.

EPM requires a different approach than traditional project management, or even program management.

A note on EMPOs

An enterprise project management office (EPMO) focuses on keeping projects, programs, and portfolios aligned with the higher-level business strategy, while a project management office (PMO) is concerned with project execution and standardizing methodologies within a department or business unit.

 

The EPMO operates at a strategic level across the entire organization and keeps an eye on governance, resource optimization, and value delivery, whereas a PMO typically provides support, tools, and guidance for specific projects.

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How To Plan An Enterprise Project

As a systematic approach to managing projects across an organization, EPM incorporates seven specific elements to improve business processes and productivity.

1. Risk analysis and control: Identify potential project risks early on and develop a risk management plan to mitigate them
2. Project estimation: Estimate the cost, timeline, and resources necessary for a new project
3. Methodology review: Continuously evaluate and tweak systems, enterprise PM frameworks, management processes, and workflows to improve project performance
4. Issue prioritization and escalation: Quickly address any problems that arise during project execution
5. Time management: Plan, monitor, and adjust project schedules
6. Information systems: Use data to inform project reviews and decisions and track progress
7. Training and mentoring: Provide employees with the resources they need to succeed

Each of these elements is essential to the success of any EPM system and should therefore be applied thoroughly when planning any enterprise project.

How To Implement EPM In Your Organization

Here's how to implement enterprise project management within your org:

1. Inventory ongoing projects at your organization to understand the current state of your enterprise project portfolio.
2. Create and set enterprise business goals to understand what you want to achieve.
3. Evaluate the list of ongoing projects against your business goals and adjust the project list accordingly to align with these goals and with capacity.
4. Create a reporting system for teams to record project progress and track against business goals. A centralized enterprise project management dashboard lets your organization maintain visibility across multiple projects.
5. Monitor and control progress, including a cadence for creating quarterly goals and documenting lessons learned and decisions made. Many EPM software providers offer the capability to create goals and align and track project progress against goals.

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Everything you need to know about EPM, in one place!

• The basics of EPM
• Readiness guide for your organization
• Implementation tips
• Breakdown of best EPM software platforms

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Benefits of Enterprise Project Management

Taking the time to plan and implement enterprise project management at your organization yields several benefits:

• Robust project selection process: makes sure the projects you choose to pursue align with organizational goals
• Stakeholder accountability: engages stakeholders in organizational decision-making and holds them accountable to project outcomes
• Enterprise resource allocation: streamlines resource planning and allocation across your organization
• Improved project reporting: reports on project progress individually and organization-wide to understand potential bottlenecks and opportunities for collaboration

Challenges With Enterprise Project Management

Here are some common challenges that you might run into as you're implementing enterprise project management.

1. Lack of buy-in: If you don't have the support of the executive team, you'll struggle with change resistance and getting the rest of the org in on the change. This can cause misalignment between goals and execution.
2. Lack of consistent standards: Without a strong enterprise project management framework, different PMOs and departments in your org might use different methodologies and frameworks. This can lead to a drop in the quality of work and more difficulty in enterprise-wide reporting.
3. Lack of data visibility and integration: Without a centralized system for tracking, reporting, and monitoring health metrics and progress, you'll run into delays in decision-making and fragmented data across disconnected tools.

Best Practices For Enterprise Project Management

Here are three best practices that can help you implement enterprise project management:

1. Make use of OKRs: Implementing the objectives and key results (OKRs) framework into your portfolios can help you make sure each project supports your strategic goals and measure the impact that it's having.
2. Try scenario modeling: This technique can help you anticipate constraints, better allocate your resources, and time your projects to line up with external factors and internal capabilities. There are plenty of AI-driven tools that can help you with this.
3. Go beyond financial ROI: When you're evaluating projects, use a composite score to rank and prioritize projects. This can take into account factors like the strategic importance, risks, and innovation potential of each project (alongside the financial ROI).

Tools to Simplify Enterprise Project Management

Enterprise project management software is a specialized form of project management software that helps organizations and the enterprise project management office (EPMO) plan, execute, and track large-scale projects across an organization.

Here are our picks for the best enterprise project management software:

1. 1. monday.com — Best for data protection
2. 2. Wrike — Best for scalability
3. 3. Quickbase — Best for standardized, automated workflows
4. 4. Productive — Best for project profitability tracking
5. 5. Zoho Projects — Best for easy customization
6. 6. Screendragon — Best for resource scheduling
7. 7. Miro — Best for visual collaboration
8. 8. Rocketlane — Best for enterprise client portals
9. 9. Nifty — Best for cross-organizational reporting
10. 10. MeisterTask — Best for brainstorming and task management

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Here's a list of alternatives to Quickbase and alternatives to Planview, two popular tools on the list above.

You might also make use of other enterprise tools like enterprise project portfolio management software and enterprise workflow software, which can further boost productivity by aligning projects with strategic goals, automating processes, and maintaining consistency across projects and teams.

What Is EPM Software?

EPM software can be used to manage multiple types of projects ranging from construction to product launches. It typically includes features for project planning and scheduling, resource management, task tracking, and budgeting.

EPM systems can also help you optimize resource usage, improve efficiency across your project portfolio, identify potential risks and issues upon project initiation or early in the project life cycle, and track project progress.

When choosing an EPM software, consider the following factors:

• Robust feature set: EPM software should offer a variety of features, such as task management, resource allocation, and project reporting, that are essential for managing large and complex projects. The software should also meet any needs specific to your business, such as custom budgeting or time tracking requirements.
• Ease of use: EPM software should be user-friendly so that employees can start using the tool effectively with minimal ramp-up time. Spending a lot of money and time on software acquisition and implementation does nothing for you if your team members are unwilling to use what you’ve purchased.
• Affordability: Software costs should be in line with your organizational budget.
• Compatibility: The software should be compatible with other applications that your organization uses. In addition, it should be scalable, so that the software can grow with your business as it expands.

Get more details on each of the above tools (and more) in this video:

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