About Our Project Management Business Support
Management Solutions Group was a pioneer in strongly advocating for the point of view that says there is a strong
connection between the world of business and the world of project management. In fact, we contend that many of the performance
issues that organizations experience today can be traced back to their lack of understanding of this critical connection.
This is our strong suit. Our project management business services are many and varied. In order to provide you
with some insights on the kinds of business support services we can provide, four specific consulting services are described
below…
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Support
Project portfolio management has become recognized as one of the best ways that organizations can ensure that
they are “getting the best bang for the buck” when it comes to their investment in projects. In our personal lives,
we recognize that financial investments come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. Project investments are no different.
Our approach begins with an examination of the types of projects that
your organization executes. Next, we determine your priorities─the key results you’d like to get from your projects
and the types of projects that deliver the greatest value. We continue to gather information until we fully understand your
situation and are properly positioned to design a project portfolio management “system” for you.
Finally, we work with you to implement this system, which (typically) consists of several critical components,
such as: configuring the portfolio categories; establishing evaluative criteria and methods; developing processes for project
selection; coordinating the projects in the portfolio; and many other elements of PPM implementation, including the actual
rollout to your organization.
If you’d like more information on how we
can help you manage all of your projects as investment portfolio,
Contact Us
Business Case Development Support
In today’s environment, companies simply cannot afford to pursue projects that do not show positive financial
returns and advance the organizational strategy in the most effective and efficient way possible. One of the single, most
important steps you can take toward ensuring that this doesn’t happen to you is by utilizing a “business case
approach” on your projects.
Project business cases are designed to provide
valuable information and insight to management decision-makers─thereby enabling them to make the best possible decisions
on which projects to approve and which to avoid. It is one the most crucial components of the business-project management
connection, yet few companies have a business case process. Even fewer do it well.
Management Solutions can help.
We can work with you to design and implement a business case analysis process that is suited to the needs of your organization
and to the types of projects you pursue. So if you’re interested in making a significant difference in the way you currently
select and approve your projects, Contact Us
Project Financial Analysis
As a stand-alone service, or as an accompaniment to our business case
preparation support, we can perform a financial analysis on any project. The result will be the calculation of common financial
metrics such as Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Payback Period, and Maximum Financial Exposure. A risk analysis
(sensitivity analysis) can be overlaid onto this process as well. This ensures all projects are financially justified and
well understood, thus eliminating waste through selection of the wrong projects.
If you’d like to learn more about project financial analysis and how it can help your organization,
Contact Us
Strategic Planning Support
Many companies today use a “bottom up” approach to fill their project pipeline. Project ideas surface
and are then screened for acceptability, using a variety of criteria. This seems like a good idea, but there is one huge problem
with this approach: the projects identified using this approach will probably not yield the best set of projects when it comes
to advancing corporate (or organizational) strategy.
The answer: leverage your organization’s
strategic planning process. Management Solutions Group can work with you to develop an approach for doing just that. In a
nutshell, it is a top-down, gap analysis technique. It uses your organization’s strategic planning outputs as a starting
point for project identification.
It’s one of the simplest and most powerful
techniques that your organization can adopt. If you’d like to discuss the process in more detail, or if you think you’ve
already recognized the need for this process, Contact Us
Executive and Senior Management Briefings
The key to effective implementation
of a business-based approach to project management typically begins with senior managers and executives. Management Solutions
Group can tailor a presentation to satisfy any need. We can provide educational briefings, we can discuss your circumstances
and potential solutions, or we can simply describe the wide array of consulting services we offer.
We’d be pleased to schedule an exploratory interview on any topic related to project management. We can
get to know you, you can get to know us, and together we can explore ways that─working together─we can help your
organization achieve excellence in project management. If an executive briefing seems like the best “first step”,
please feel free to Contact Us
