An IT organizational unit within a university plays a pivotal role in supporting approximately 20 ongoing projects, 5 new projects in the pipeline, and nearly 20 potential projects on the roadmap. The management of these projects involves collaboration with a Project Control Group consisting of representatives from key university departments (HR, Purchasing, Finance). However, the unit’s manager faces challenges concerning resource allocation and project prioritization. The addition of new projects from the Project Control Group without substantiated data leads to resource constraints, project delays, conflicting priorities, unrealistic expectations, and high employee workloads. To address these issues, the unit turned to Versatyle’s BizzNav to gain insights and improve portfolio management.
Challenges:
- Balancing the allocation of resources among numerous projects.
- Lack of substantiated data to assess the feasibility of new project requests.
- Delays in projects due to misaligned priorities.
- Unrealistic expectations from stakeholders.
- Excessive workloads and stress among employees.
Solutions:
- Data-Driven Insight with BizzNav: The university IT unit utilized BizzNav to gather and analyze necessary data. BizzNav facilitated the linkage of concrete objects, connecting projects to individuals, systems, and their interdependencies. This approach provided comprehensive insight into the feasibility of the project portfolio.
- Scenario-Based Portfolio Optimization: In just a few days of work, the unit harnessed BizzNav’s powerful scenario feature to arrive at a more realistic and manageable project portfolio. Projects were prioritized based on urgency and aligned with the availability of human resources.
Results:
- Improved Control and Prioritization: The Project Control Group gained a more comprehensive and data-backed understanding of the project portfolio, leading to better project prioritization.
- Reduced Work Pressure: The restructured portfolio allowed for a more balanced allocation of resources, resulting in lower work pressure.
- Enhanced Stability: With a well-structured and realistic project portfolio, the unit achieved greater stability in project execution.
Key Takeaways: This case study highlights the critical role that data-driven insights and scenario-based optimization can play in project portfolio management. The adoption of tools like BizzNav fosters better decision-making, alignment, and stability, even in complex environments like university IT departments.
