The Business Problem – Program and Project Delivery. Research and surveys from leading subject matter experts (SMEs) report that approximately 50% of projects fail to meet their objectives.

Impact of Delivery Issues – the products and services that the projects are intended to deliver can be significantly late, over budget, of less scope, of less quality, and/or not realize planned benefits. The strategic and financial impact that delivery issues may impose on a program or project can be staggering. As a result, project delivery represents a significant opportunity to improve profitability, customer satisfaction, and/or organizational effectiveness.

Positive Trends in Project Management – the following are a few positive trends occurring in project management:

• The ongoing evolution of Project Management standards such as PMBOK® and PRINCE2®
• The number of organizations that view project management as a core competency
• The number of experienced and certified project management professionals
• The introduction and evolution of application development methodologies

The Challenge – while there continue to be positive trends, the delivery gap has not closed beyond that of a “coin flip”. What is lacking are alternative risk mitigation solutions that provide the standards, products, and services to improve the measurement and assessment of project performance – the first step to improving delivery results. When properly planned and executed, Program & Project Assessments assist organizations with meeting delivery commitments by providing timely performance feedback, such that proactive measures can be put into place to address shortfalls before they become larger issues.

Program & Project Assessment (P&PA) – a structured evaluation of one or more project subject matter areas where performance is measured and assessed against established baselines. The following graph contains a comparison of PMBOK® 4th Edition, PRINCE2® 2009, COBIT® 4.1, and PROJECTRx® relative to P&PA. It should be noted that:

• PMBOK® and PRINCE2® are project management frameworks
• COBIT® is an assessment framework for IT (information technology) governance that contains elements of project management at a macro level
• PROJECTRx® is a program and project assessment framework

P&PA Framework Comparison

The results are based on an evaluation of the respective frameworks relative to key features of an effective Program & Project Assessment framework. The PMBOK® results are consistent with a ProjectRx Survey where 77% of the participants thought that PMBOK® does not adequately address project assessments. Click here to view the survey results: ProjectRx Survey.

Comparison Summary

Benefits

Why use Program & Project Assessment (P&PA)?

• Improve program and project delivery performance
  • Deliver the product and project scope
  • Meet the project schedule
  • Meet the project budget
  • Meet product quality standards and customer expectations
  • Realize product and project benefits
• Proactively mitigate delivery risks
• Utilize a consistent assessment methodology
• Perform objective measurement and analysis
• Obtain independent validation of results and expectations
• Provide effective communication of program and project performance in business terms

Why use PROJECTRx®?

The project management and assessment frameworks available from leading Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) lack the combination of assessment integration, framework, tools/automation, and project management content. Relative to P&PA,

• PMBOK® – lacks assessment integration, framework, and tools/automation
• PRINCE2® – lacks assessment framework mechanics and tools/automation
• COBIT® – lacks detailed project management content and assessment tools/automation

The PROJECTRx® Solution

• provides a comprehensive oversight solution (i.e. assessment integration, framework, tools/automation, and project management content)
• is fully integrated (i.e. leverages proven processes; state-of-the-art tools; experience, education, training, and mentoring)
• framework includes a basis of assessment (BOA), balanced scorecard, assessment process flow, earned value management (EVM), best practice facilitation, framework integration, and assessment mechanics
• can be used “stand-alone” (i.e. with its own project management process content), or used to enhance SME or Client developed frameworks
• features a flexible framework and product configuration
• bridges the gap between Program/Project Management and Audit/Assessment

The PROJECTRx® Solution has been positioned to bridge the gap between Project Management and Audit / Assessment Frameworks. It features the integration of proven assessment processes, state-of-the-art tools, and corresponding education, training, and mentoring.

PMBOK is a registered trademark of the Project Management Institute, Inc
PRINCE2 is a registered trademark of the Office of Government Commerce (UK)
COBIT is a registered trademark of the IT Governance Institute
PROJECTRx is a registered trademark and service mark of ProjectRx, LLC