The Oracle EPPM Board discussed extracting strategic insights from project portfolio data. There was consensus that most companies have improved data generation but face challenges in analyzing patterns to predict outcomes and link insights to strategy. Executives need concise information to guide investment decisions, but also require softer contextual factors beyond numbers. The future of project management involves disseminating intelligence across organizations as knowledge centers rather than modifying data internally. Aligning information to consumption patterns will also be key as the next generation of workers expects freedom in accessing and sharing resources.

1. CONNECTING THE DOTS
EXTRACTING VALUE FROMYOUR PORTFOLIO DATA

2. INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
For this latest sitting of the EPPM Board my fellow members and
I set ourselves an ambitious goal; to assess the quality of information
available to the executive on project portfolio performance. Quality is
of course the key value in this pursuit, because no organisation suffers
for a lack of information quantity. Rather, the emphasis is on providing
focus, and aligning the insights generated with the values and
measures most directly connected to the decision-making process.
The momentum companies are gaining in terms of their approach
to information delivery, and ensuring the right data is available at the
point of need, is discussed in the following pages.
I would welcome further contributions to what is clearly a very complex
topic, and one that will no doubt be explored in future EPPM Boards.
What’s exciting is the international flavour of the discussions following
recent sittings in EMEA and the US, and long may they continue
because maintaining this open channel for external viewpoints is
essential for ensuring relevance in our product.
Yours sincerely
Mike Sicilia
SVP GM, Oracle Primavera
The Oracle EPPM Board is a prestigious international
steering group of senior industry executives, academics
and commentators. It has produced a number of reports
highlighting how the C-level can successfully prioritise
and manage the project portfolio, ensuring it remains
a strategic asset.

3. VIEWS FROM THE BOARD
At the executive level, project and portfolio
level management tools have delivered much
in terms of transparency to encourage greater
collaboration with customers. Strategic visibility
that has dramatically increased intervention times
in response to challenges and opportunities –
and helped align resources and schedules
around mutually agreed priorities.
The challenge now for organisations is to maintain
this C-level focus as the spotlight is turned inward
and onto more executional data points. As one
Board member stated, “there can be a general
tendency for executives to consider their job done
and to move on from a project once the decision
to invest has been taken. However, there is a
danger of not maintaining a constant two-way
flow of information to chart progress.”
In the words of another member, “to me it’s the
analogy of a construction company cutting a road
through a dense jungle. The teams hacking away
up front are very task-oriented, and therefore unable
to take a step back and measure the accuracy of
their work or rate of progress. Alternatively, the
people with the map, the managers and planners
at headquarters, are unaware of any immediate
challenges, necessary course corrections, or
looming problems. Yet, constant data is being
generated by both parties, and success is
increasingly dependent upon our ability to connect
this data together, as well as our ability to make
sense of it.”
ASSESSING THE CURRENT REALITY
An analysis of the effectiveness of current information flow and
availability, particularly with regards to crossing the divide between
execution and strategy to inspire executive decision-making…
FUNCTIONAL RIVALRIES
This connection in the information flow was also
seen as vital for transferring the C-level focus
from project portfolio management to project
portfolio direction. Such a development was
considered essential for driving wider strategic
transformation, and ensuring a suitable balance
exists between investing in ‘business as usual’,
versus initiatives capable of driving real change
in organisational behaviour.
Central to improving information flow, and to
unlocking its full potential, is connecting the
‘top down’ strategy piece with the ‘bottom
up’ execution data – an endeavour where few
organisations can claim success. Rather, it is
more frequently a cause of friction as delivery
teams massage the data pushed upward and
the executive aligns finite money and resources
to the projects they consider most likely to
deliver a decent shareholder return.
The solution for one board member was
straightforward; “we need to move beyond creating
rules to focusing on communication methods that
are aligned to the basic problem solving disciplines.
I need to uncover the real forums for identifying
indicators of performance, and what barriers
exist to creating a single version of the truth.
These are the fundamental questions that aren’t
being addressed; instead we rigidly maintain our
functional rivalries.”

4. VIEWS FROM THE BOARD
The consensus from the Board was that the
majority of companies have made great strides
in generating more detailed insights into project
portfolio activities. This has however created a
new challenge – how to extract strategic insights
out of this vast pool of data?
Part of the answer relates to the challenge of
segmentation, and how effective organisations
are at dividing the project portfolio by the totality
of its performance. This was seen as an extremely
valuable exercise because it supported the
identification of similarities; for example, what key
components are consistently found in successful
ventures, and what common causes typically lead
to project failure? It is the information uncovered
here that can have the biggest impact on future
planning, and as such was described as the ‘sharp
end’ for analytical insights – analysis that moves
the focus beyond project execution to business
outcomes and results.
As one board member commented, “I want my
analytics to help me uncover patterns of activity so
I can better predict the future not reflect on past
activity. I need to uncover the real factors impacting
our ability to meet delivery commitments, as
the basis for evolving our strategic capabilities.”
Another attendee agreed with this point, stating,
“this is the goal we all aspire to. However, in my
experience I would argue that a large number
of organisations are not really aware of the root
causes of project failure even if the information
resides within the business.”
PUTTING INFORMATION TO WORK
Exploring current approaches for turning data into strategic
insights, and the challenge of making sense from them…
LINKING INSIGHT TO STRATEGY
Information accuracy was also a concern for the
value and practicality of KPIs. The view was that
with the constantly changing nature of project
measurement, KPIs could quickly become ignored
or discouraged. The task for executives therefore
is to build a clear vision of where they want to be,
and how this journey should best be measured
– and then link the two together. According to
one Board member, ”we need the capability to
measure performance on an on-going, daily basis.
But we also need the ability to make sense of it,
and through this knowledge have the courage to
alter strategy if the results aren’t going as planned.
In reality, such decisions can be based on one
or two metrics, because what’s critical is not the
quantity of KPIs I’m presented with, but the quality
of insight the measurements offer.”
For another member, what was vital was to ask
the right questions. “We’re being overwhelmed
by data, and the real challenge has become one
of focus. The information is out there, I just need
to align it to what values I’m really interested in
measuring and ultimately predicting.” This led
to a discussion of how information alignment is
intimately connected with risk. As one attendee
commented, “connecting disparate pieces of
data together is the essence of risk prevention,
and exploiting this knowledge to augment our
understanding of what’s headed our way, and how
to adequately prepare for it.To me it’s the missing
piece in the jigsaw, and the action we need to take
is to work on the interface between risk thresholds
and strategic planning to ensure its output
resonates with an executive audience.”
“I want my analytics to help me
uncover patterns of activity so
I can better predict the future
not reflect on past activity.”

5. VIEWS FROM THE BOARD
The tendency of organisations is to view their
portfolio as finite entities created to achieve the
strategic vision.This is of course what they are,
but they’re also constantly changing in appearance
in response to external forces. Keeping a handle on
the size and shape of this extended operation is the
role of project portfolio management – the critical
interface between business KPIs and executional
KPIs. Any disconnect here can have a dramatic
impact on decision making processes, particularly
if its missing the twin values of consistency
and constancy:
• Consistency in terms of the metrics used
to ensure progress is in the right direction.
• Constancy in terms of the corporate values,
the long term vision that can incorporate
change in an evolving but instantly
recognisable business philosophy
However, according to one Board member, decision
making in general requires a radical overhaul;
“it has been suggested that executives make
between 50 and 60 important decisions a day,
and on average take 11 minutes to absorb the detail
before giving their answer. To understand this is to
understand the information requirements of the
top table. The emphasis will always be on what is
easiest to consume, which for many on the C-level
translates as financial data. We know numbers
don’t convey context, and the challenge for delivery
teams and for the PMO is to deliver project and
programme data that fits within a wider, strategic
frame of reference.”
This discussion also led to a common agreement on
the most important question asked by the C-level:
‘what’s going to happen next?’ As one delegate
explained, “If I can answer that then I’ll know if
I’m prepared to exploit what’s happening to our
advantage, or whether I’m going to be a victim
of circumstance. This is why the interface is so
important, combining different insights and opinions
to offer a consolidated view of risk and reward.”
VIEWS FROM THE BOARD
Good project and portfolio management ultimately
comes down to how well information is collected,
managed and exploited across the organisation
to support strategic decision making. Conversely,
the biggest obstacles to future success are
those aspects that can prevent a free flow of
data – particularly the two-way flow between
the top-down executive view and the bottom-up
executional view.
At the same time, the innovation that surrounds
the use of this information is increasingly the key
element in accelerating a company’s performance.
According to one Board member, “there are two
broad benefits we want our information visibility
to deliver. The first is organisational alignment,
and ensuring project delivery is intimately linked
to strategic priorities – and that these priorities
emerge from a detailed consideration of what we
can actually deliver. The second is to use EPPM
information as a catalyst for change, and for helping
us identify areas we need to invest in or walk
away from, as well as providing the vehicle for
communicating these changing imperatives.”
The choice facing organisations is therefore one
of how to use this data as much as it is about what
data to use. “It’s no good chasing metrics every
time something goes wrong,” explained a Board
member describing the reactive nature of many
organisations. It was also agreed that data should
not be used to put the ‘shackles’ on project teams,
or become so structured that decision-making is
reduced to merely an act of interpretation.
As one delegate described the situation, “at some
stage someone has to apply human instinct to
the equation, a sense of vision that cannot be
rationalised by numbers and data.This for me is the
long-term development goal for EPPM solutions;
an agile framework for managing both the hard
data and an enabling platform for the softer factors
connected to the business strategy – with the
ability to continually re-shape what we think best
practice is.”
FROM CONTEXT TO DECISION INFORMATION FLOW
A discussion on the role of information availability and the quality
of strategic decision making across the portfolio…
Defining the true source of information, and innovations
in its future use…

6. It was these ‘softer factors’ that for the Board
made up a significant percentage of the information
to be found within organisations. Such a view
tied in with the wider discussion on the future
of project management: the discipline was
seen as gradually evolving away from a focus
on technical skills toward leadership skills and
business acumen. This is a development closely
associated with information flow. In the words
of one attendee: “in many ways functional areas
like project management have to increasingly
become knowledge centres that are responsible for
disseminating intelligence across the organisation,
rather than trying to modify it themselves.”
For another Board member, the spotlight is firmly
on the “people side of PPM, and identifying the
best way to ensure different layers inside an
organisation are effectively joined up. Technology
will remain essential because the amount of data
we have available is frightening, and with the board
asking for more and more operational detail there
are less and less places to hide.”
KNOWLEDGE CENTRES
The latest EPPM Board on ‘Connecting the
Dots’ led to a range of interesting verdicts
on the strategic use of data assets that are
being generated across the extended portfolio.
These included the importance of identifying
a communication method that connects the
executive to forums that offer a true indication of the
factors behind performance. Further to this was the
challenge of analysing data to detect patterns behind
the success of investment decisions, and to use
these insights to better predict future conditions.
In addition, there was the discussion on context,
and delivering intelligence to the C-level in a form
that both fits within their strategic frame of
reference, and provides new insights to guide
subsequent investment decisions.
What it also highlighted however was the
importance of aligning information assets to
consumption patterns. The final discussion of the
evening considered this dimension and concluded
that such alignment was the principle driver of
change. Why? Because millennials are entering
the workplace, and with them come a whole new
approach to accessing and utilising information
resources. There is an energy here that challenges
traditional approaches to compartmentalising
information, of allocating access by hierarchy.
The emphasis is shifting to output, and providing
users with the freedom to access and share
information in any way they need to complete a
task. This is a new way of viewing the potential
of information, a new way of collaboration that
transcends concerns with top-down or bottom
up flow. Information will increasingly have no
place to hide, as employees deploy the analytical
capabilities to pull in relevant data with no
consideration for access privileges or seniority.
The task for organisations is to empower this
behaviour, and to take the last steps to inspiring
true information visibility.
IN SUMMARY
DISCOVER
MORE
The Oracle EPPM Board produces
regular reports and findings, all of
which can be accessed at
oracle.com/eppm/eppmboard
For further information,
please contact
patrick.chatterton@
oracele.com
“Technology will remain
essential because the amount
of data we have available is
frightening, and with the board
asking for more and more
operational detail there are
less and less places to hide.”

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