Category Archives: ProModel Training

Simulation Game is Game Changer

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Charley%20Harrell

Dr. Charles Harrell
ProModel Director and Founder,
Professor of Engineering and Technology – BYU

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) has emerged to become one of the most crucial ways of achieving strategic advantage in a business organization. In order to be competitive, business leaders recognize that they must be able to effectively plan and manage their project or product portfolio in a way that best achieves the financial goals of the organization. The question I would ask is: How well are university MBA programs responding to industry needs and preparing graduates who can effectively do PPM?

In the U.S. alone there are currently 214 graduate business or MBA programs offering either courses or emphases in PPM. But this number doesn’t necessarily reflect how many MBA programs do an adequate job of teaching PPM. Many programs treat PPM as just an extension of project management (PM), or they are content to treat it at a high, conceptual level rather than at an actual working level.

PPM is Not Just PM on Steroids

Traditionally, MBA programs have tended to focus on the management of projects, not the management of project portfolios. However, as universities have increasingly become aware of the fact that most organizations manage multiple projects rather than individual projects, PM courses have expanded to ostensibly address the issues associated with multiple projects. Unfortunately, in many of these instances the real issues associated with managing multiple projects are trivialized as though they are little different from those connected with managing a single project. One MBA program advertises that they provide an entire series of four courses on PM, yet only in the last course is the subtopic of “multiple projects” even raised. The mindset seems to be: if you can plan and manage one project, you can plan and manage multiple projects.

This practice of tacking PPM onto PM, as though it is simply a matter of planning and managing a bunch of individual projects, grossly underestimates the complexity of the decisions associated with competing projects vying for the limited resources of an organization, not to mention the strategic level of thinking that is required to make such decisions.

PPM is more than learning how to manage multiple projects. It is learning how to look at the entire portfolio of projects holistically with the goal of maximizing overall ROI. PPM blends strategy and decision making to allocate resources across competing opportunities for maximum value creation. These decisions are based on risk assessment and financial management and therefore go beyond the simple scheduling and cost estimating activities associated with PM. What this all means is that a good project manager isn’t necessarily a good portfolio manager.

PPM, a Learn-by-Doing Skill

Once an MBA program gets over the habit of treating PPM as simply an advanced exercise in PM, the next challenge is to treat PPM as a skill rather than simply a topic of discussion. Unfortunately, in many MBA programs PPM is addressed as simply one of many topics covered in a business strategy course where students are barely given enough exposure to it to know what it is.

Even where an entire course is dedicated to the topic of PPM, it is often treated at a high level with little attention given to the actual nuts and bolts of how it is done. It goes without saying that one can learn a great deal about PPM without really learning how to do PPM. I recently read one PPM course description in an MBA program that stated: “This course provides the basic concepts of portfolio management and differentiates portfolio management from project management, program management and the PMO. The course content defines the steps necessary to develop a project portfolio, including selecting portfolio components and applying financial and resource constraints. Portfolios have different risks than individual projects and programs, therefore an explanation of portfolio risk management is included.”

Such a course, if taught as advertised, could hardly give students a working knowledge of how to do PPM. While perhaps useful to someone interested in obtaining only a cursory knowledge of PPM, it is of little practical use to someone anticipating filling any kind of leadership role in PPM.

To develop a real working knowledge of PPM, students need to develop a sense of how project selection, prioritization and timing affect financial performance. They also need to get a good grasp of the way resource allocation over time and across multiple projects affects both cost and revenues. Gaining insight into the impact of uncertainty and risk on timing and financial performance is also vital. Especially useful is the ability to generate accurate statistical estimates of performance based on uncertainty. Such capabilities are best developed through actual experience in working with project portfolios.

EPS for MBA Programs

ProModel has developed a PPM simulation exercise using its powerful Enterprise Project Portfolio (EPS) product that is designed to take students through a realistic project portfolio planning scenario. It gives students an experience of what it is actually like to make portfolio planning decisions and helps improve their strategic thinking skills. Since this EPS module is hosted in the cloud, no software needs to be downloaded and students can work through the exercise at their own pace, usually only taking a couple hours to complete.

The EPS module provides both training and assessment so that students receive immediate feedback on the consequence of their decisions and are allowed to iteratively improve their decision making skills. Students come away with confidence in their ability to effectively plan a project portfolio.

ProModel is excited to be working with several MBA programs to pilot this EPS module. Preliminary results are promising, and it is definitely proving to be a bold move for professors to stretch beyond their comfort zone of classroom lecturing. Giving students this hands-on experience in PPM is sure to make them better business leaders. It is more than a simulation game; it is a game changer.

Please Visit the ProModel Academic Page:

http://www.promodel.com/academic/

 

ProModel Services

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Improving enterprise performance with a ProModel Solution is a multifaceted experience.  Whether you’re using our award winning simulation products on your own or working with some of our talented professionals in consulting, technical support, and training, ProModel’s goal is to help you make better decisions faster!  Take a look at this video to get a better idea of what ProModel Services mean to our customers.

For more information please visit our service page:

http://www.promodel.com/services/

Know Your ProModel Technical Support Team!

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Aaron Nelson – Technical Support Manager

ProModel’s Support Team consists of four individuals, Curtis Fletcher, Ryan Reyes, Andrew Hancock, and Aaron Nelson.  We are the support team for the United States and Canada.

There are hundreds of customers that use ProModel’s, software and services each day.  Because of the different industries and projects that our customers are associated with, each day can bring very different cases to work on.  Some of these cases that our team works on are new issues that have not been addressed till our customers’ needs arise.  Needless to say, this helps keep us on our toes and we enjoy the opportunity to work and grow our knowledgebase of the software and how it can improve our customers’ companies, as well as helping to improve their knowledgebase and help the customers achieve success.

We hope that our customers have the opportunity to build a good relationship with our team.  The ProModel Support Team takes a bit of pride in knowing your issues, your concern, your name, your numbers, and more times than not, your voice when you contact us. Because of the intimacy of our four-man team, we are able to work together to make sure the customer is taken care of.

Another great benefit of being a smaller company, when necessary we can work with the product development team to address issues that need their assistance.

ProModel Support Team

 

Join Our EPS Webinar and Learn How to Improve Your PPM Strategies

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Kevin Jacobson – ProModel PPM Product Manager

Thursday, October 11 at 1:00 pm ET

Click here to see the agenda and to register

There are many discussions about PPM Maturity out there on the web.  All express a similar evolutionary understanding of the process.  Each discussion outlines the various steps to achieving PPM maturity and the complicated nature of what it takes to get there.  Most organizations have a tendency to get stuck somewhere between level 1 and level 2 of the maturity curve. A lot of the discussions try to match people, processes and technologies to the needs of the organization based on its industry culture and its current level of maturity.

But what happens as you move up a level, or as horrible as it may be, down a level?  What if its cost and time prohibitive to make a move?  Sometimes you need a tool that can take advantage of where you are right now. Something that isn’t so complex it takes months to implement and you have to change the way you conduct business in order to use it.  You need a technology that matches where you are now and where you might wind up in five years.

Join me, Kevin Jacobson, ProModel PPM Product Manager for a 45 minute webinar with David Higgins, Sr. Consultant for PPM related solutions, as we explain how you can use EPS (Enterprise Portfolio Simulator) to improve your PPM strategies RIGHT NOW!

The ProModel Training Experience

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RPriceHere at ProModel we realize that successful use of our tools usually begins with great training. To that end, we have a variety of training options available. The course you choose will depend on your product and situation. These options are described on our Training page. This post is about our classroom based trainings, our facilities, and what you can expect if you choose to join us! Regardless of your experience with business travel, it’s usually nice to know what to expect when you reach your destination.

We have regularly scheduled classes held in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Orem, Utah. These classes usually last two or three days (depending on the course) and run from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm local time, with an hour break for lunch.

Our classrooms are set up with a computer for each student and a projector screen at the front. Your instructor will demonstrate and explain new concepts and then allow you time for hands-on implementation of the exercises on your training computer. If you bring your own laptop or wireless device, you are welcome to use our classroom Wi-Fi connection to access the internet during breaks.

Usually we have between three to six students in a class at a time, so you’ll have plenty of time and attention from our instructors, as well as an opportunity to get to know other ProModel customers and hear of their experiences and applications of the tool. We provide drinks and snacks throughout the day, but then “set you free” to grab lunch on your own. Frequently students will explore new restaurants together, but we understand that some clients need time on their lunch hour to catch up with business at the office.

We’ll start with a walkthrough of the Orem Training Facilities. You’ll want to fly into the Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC). Our office is less than an hour south of the SLC airport. For a Google map with directions to our office (and other local amenities), click here. You know you’re in the right place if you see this building:

It might be white and covered with snow, but don’t worry about the weather, that just means good skiing in the mountains. Seriously, though, Utah is well prepared for snowy conditions and getting around in winter weather is not usually a problem. The snow typically melts within a day or two in “the valley” (where we are) and sticks around up in “the mountains.” Our offices are in the east side of building C. You can take the elevator or the stairs to the third floor. As you exit the elevator (or stairs), you’ll be in our lobby. The entrance to our Orem training room is right there in the lobby.

The training room is equipped with computers for each student.

And a beautiful view out the window of Mount Timpanogos (which rises to 11,749 ft):

Allentown Office

If you plan on joining us in Pennsylvania, you can view a Google map with our location and surrounding amenities by clicking here. If flying, you may want to consider flying in to Lehigh Valley (ABE) – a very short drive to the office, Philadelphia (PHL), or Newark (EWR).

You know you’re in the right place when you see this building:

Our offices are on the third floor (just like in Orem–we must like the third floor). Just head down the hall and you’ll see the entrance to the Allentown training room on your left.

In both offices we have kitchen facilities you are welcome to use, including a microwave, fridge, K-cup coffee machine, and complimentary snacks.

We hope this information helps you feel welcome and excited for a visit to our training facilities. If you have any questions about travel, accommodations, training content or schedules, please don’t hesitate to call or email.

General Training course information can be found here and additional company facility and travel information can be found here.

Rochelle Price, Director of Training Services

rprice@promodel.com

801-223-4667