Most project-oriented organizations have already adopted project management tools to help their teams improve the delivery of individual projects. We are now seeing growing numbers of companies move up to the next level and implement Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) project management platforms.
EPPM vs project management: How do these two types of technology compare? What are their respective pros and cons? Most importantly, which one is right for your business? Let’s investigate.
Project Portfolio Management (PPM)
Project Management solutions are designed to help Project Managers and teams carry out a variety of project tasks. They provide features such as Gantt charts, calendars, timesheets, and budget plans to enhance visibility into project activity. The idea is to make project planning, resource allocation, tracking, and project delivery easier and faster. Your typical Project Management tool relies heavily on task automation to speed up workflows and free up human workers.
Key capabilities of PM tools include:
Project Planning
Resource Management
Budget Management
Monitoring and Reporting
Project Communication
Team Collaboration Tools
Such basic Project Management software is usually affordable and easy to use. It can greatly improve the way your organization runs and delivers individual, discrete projects and may also positively impact the management of project resources and business objectives.
But there’s only so much these “simple” tools can do. When your business and your PMO level up, you may want to upgrade your toolset to embrace Enterprise PPM.
Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM)
Enterprise PPM tools are industry-grade solutions aimed to support the management of a grouping of projects, products, and/or programs in a coordinated and consistent manner. They enable PMO and PPM leaders to pull back from traditional project management to get comprehensive insight and a better knowledge of project schedules, resources, and business goals from a higher level.
Robust Enterprise PPM software will help portfolio managers understand the relations, links, and dependencies between multiple initiatives across the organization in real time. This understanding is crucial to inform prioritization decisions.
While Project Management tools excel at managing individual endeavors, Enterprise PPM technology provides a big-picture view that helps you determine where to invest your resources to maximize value and strategy alignment.
Key functionalities of Enterprise PPM include:
Resource Optimization
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Financial Oversight
Strategy Alignment
What’s more, proper Enterprise PPM solutions support interfaces with such systems as PLMs and ERPs.
EPPM vs project management tools: Which way to go?
Project Management tools are a go-to for younger businesses. Their user-friendly features and attractive pricing make them ideal for basic project needs. But, when it comes to managing at scale, you may bump into their limitations: They’re simply not designed to coordinate a large number of concurrent projects.
This is where Enterprise PPM products come in: with their greater functional coverage, enhanced robustness, and ability to connect all the dots across the organization’s project activity, they can meet more sophisticated needs.
Note: “Sophisticated” doesn’t have to mean “headaches”. Some of these enterprise solutions were designed with accessibility in mind!
Many factors come into play when choosing the best piece of software for your PMO, including your company’s size and industry, your PPM goals and setup, and the maturity level of your users.
In any case, when shopping for business software, the best practice is to check the reviews firsto
