PMO Drives Project and Resource Management Improvements for Global Semiconductor Manufacturer

This global semiconductor manufacturer’s newly-formed PMO needed to understand project costs and status, as well as recognize resource demand, capacity and gaps. With fragmented data and multiple project management tools being used across the enterprise, the PMO leader was determined to establish visibility and standardization for better project and resource management.

This maker of high performance analog semiconductors chose Planview PPM Pro™ to collect and report on data for better analysis, optimize resources and improve project delivery. The PMO now has full transparency into consolidated, real-time data, using the tool to produce roadmaps and customized executive dashboards to keep everyone on the same page and improve project completion timelines by 200%.

When the new Vice President and CIO for this global semiconductor manufacturer joined the company, he asked leaders to show him the projects, risks and value in the portfolio. They presented six spreadsheets with much of the work overlapping, fragmented data that was not in real-time. “I wanted to create a PMO that would evolve to an ePMO to streamline multiple project management tools, create a 3-5 year roadmap to lay out where we want to go, and get better control over resources and projects,” says the VP and CIO. “We had to globalize, standardize and centralize all IT projects into a single bucket, move away from spreadsheets and have everything in one place.” Specifically, he focused on establishing processes and investing in technology to support world-class project management that would bring value to the enterprise.

The VP and CIO hired a Senior Manager to join the newlyformed PMO. With previous experience with Planview PPM Pro and C-level support, this Senior Manager immediately chose the tool for the semiconductor manufacturer’s new initiative. Currently, the PMO utilizes Planview PPM Pro to build their roadmaps and dashboards that they share with executives and for Project Financial Management to forecast expenses, record actuals, track labor costs, and manage project budgets. They also use PPM Pro for capacity utilization and demand management. “Now, if someone asks for a new resource, my decision is objective, based on data versus subjective based on pressure or emotion,” says the Senior Manager. “IT resources aren’t free. We can tell leadership how much things cost, capturing resource time, capacity and other related costs.”

Reporting has been an important focus of the PMO, providing visibility into where they are now and how they are delivering on their promises to the business. The PMO created a CIO dashboard, developed and published business portfolio roadmaps and dashboards, published timesheet reports to share with management, developed financial planning reports, and integrated Planview PPM Pro and Power BI to track KPIs.

“We are relying on PPM Pro for our project and resource management for one of our three business units and it couldn’t be going better,” says the Senior Manager.

“We were able to customize the tool to meet the specific needs of that unit, integrating it with other applications. We are able to export all of the PPM Pro data into our data lake for business analytics that is more real-time and accurate than before and reflect the data into dashboards that go to executives.”

With processes and Planview PPM Pro in place, it is much simpler to assign resources to tasks and projects while giving them a place to see work assigned to them, target dates and project priorities. “We feel like we finally have project management in place,” says the Senior Manager. “Once you have the tool, building the people and processes around it allows projects to be completed on time more accurately. There are fewer delays and greater visibility into the status and risks of each project.”

With consolidated, real-time data, bi-weekly meetings with executives are more productive, enabling leaders to speed decisions and adapt to change before it happens. The PMO tracks all metrics in Planview PPM Pro. Before PPM Pro, projects completed on time hovered around 50%. They set a goal of 84% and have surpassed it, measuring at 96%. “PPM Pro has given us a constant, clear view of data that directors track, establishing accountability and transparency we never had before,” says the Senior Manager. The PMO has also rolled out Planview LeanKit™ with a business partner, going from one pilot digital Kanban board to 70 boards with 202 users and 2,685 cards. “We haven’t had to promote AgilePlace at all,” he says. “Its adoption has been solely by word of mouth and now everyone wants to use it.”

The VP & CIO says the PMO will continue its journey, refining it, adding integrations, and utilizing more of the Planview® functionality. They have a goal of using PPM Pro for all planning when it rolls the tool out across the entire enterprise. It will also continue working on eliminating all other Project Management tools and consolidating everything into PPM Pro, rolling up the data into dashboards to create a clear view for leadership in every business area. “Planview gave us a ton of support,” he says. “We have changed the culture of IT and how the rest of the business views IT. We went from being scorekeepers to being players but are on our way to being a quarterback.”

To learn more about what Planview® solutions can do for your organization, visit Planview.com.