For more information on our P3M3 services please contact Rod  Sowden on 01275 848099 or have a look at our downloads section at www.aspireeurope.com/DownloadList.php where we have more details on our service  offerings that you can review.

How does P3M3 save you money?

If you keep doing the same things you will keep getting the same results as the old saying goes. A P3M3 assessment will test and challenge your fundamentals. It saves you money by helping you:

1. Recognise your strengths and weaknesses and prioritise you investments in performance improvement
2. Identify the restraining behaviours and processes that are holding back your performance and are costing you time and money.
3. Set a performance baseline against which you measure improvements going forward.
4. Helps you avoid investing money in things you are already good at or in training that you don’t really need.
5. Provides you with a quality standard against which to procure reviews support for your organisations PPPM delivery.
6. Reduces the risk of procuring PPPM service suppliers, always seek out those that are certified by the APM Group.

Some headline features of the new P3M3

• easier to read and follow
• with an Executive Summary for those leading organisations with little interest in the detail
• with an Introduction setting out its benefits, how to use it, ascertain maturity levels, get to the desired level, get further help and so on
• with a chapter on the structure of the standard
• with three independent models for Portfolio, Programme and Project Management
• each with 5  maturity levels (identical to the previous model)
• each model is now independent of the other two i.e. it can be used to assess the maturity of an organisation’s portfolio and/or programme and/or project management.
• with 7 Process Perspectives (or themes as you originally phrased it). 
• each with 5 maturity levels
• each with specific attributes
• there are also a number of generic attributes that relate to each of the 7 Process Perspectives
• described in a brief 4-sided hard-copy brochure (available from Aspire Europe on request)
• with continuity to the previous P3M3 model at the portfolio, programme and project model level.

You can download copies of the P3M3 model, P3M3 Self Assessment Questionnaire and the official brochure from www.aspireeurope.com/DownloadList.php and click on Articles

Overview of the Model.

The following is a summary description of the P3M3 model so that you can assess it’s value to you and your organisation.

The P3M3 contains three models that enable independent assessment. There are no interdependencies between the models, so an organisation may be better at programme management than it is at project management, for example. The models are:

Portfolio Management (PfM3) OGC defines a portfolio as the totality of an organisation’s investment (or segment thereof) in the changes required to achieve its strategic objectives. Portfolio Management is a coordinated collection of strategic processes and decisions which enable the most effective balance of organisational change and business as usual/operations

Programme Management (PgM3)  OGC defines a programme as a temporary, flexible organisation created to co-ordinate, direct and oversee the implementation of a set of related projects and activities in order to deliver outcomes and benefits related to the organisation’s strategic objectives.   A programme is likely to have a lifespan of several years. During a programme lifecycle, projects are initiated, executed, and closed.  Programmes provide an umbrella under which these projects can be co-ordinated. The programme integrates the projects so that it can deliver an outcome greater than the sum of its parts.

Project Management (PjM3) is defined as a unique set of coordinated activities, with definite starting and finishing points, undertaken by an individual or team to meet specific objectives within defined time, cost and performance parameters as specified in the business case.

Similar to the SEI-CMM, the Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3) is described by a five level maturity framework. These levels constitute the structural components that comprise the P3M3.

Maturity Levels

Level 1 - Awareness process - the organisation is able to recognise, for example, projects. But has little structured approach to dealing with them.

Level 2 - Repeatable process – again, using projects as an example, there may be areas that are beginning to use standard approaches to projects but there is no consistency of approach across the organisation.

Level 3 - Defined process - there will be a consistent set of standards being used by all projects, for example, across the organisation with clear process ownership.

Level 4 - Managed process – the organisation monitors and measures its process efficiency, with active interventions to improve the way it delivers based largely on evidence or performance based information. The organisation will be focussing on optimisation of its quantitatively managed processes to take into account changing business needs and external factors. It will be anticipating future capacity demands and capability requirements to meet the delivery challenge, e.g. through portfolio analysis.

Level 5 - optimised process - The organisation will be focussing on optimisation of its quantitatively managed processes to take into account changing business needs and external factors. It will be anticipating future capacity demands and capability requirements to meet the delivery challenge, e.g. through portfolio analysis.

Process Perspectives

P3M3 focuses on seven Process Perspectives which exist in all three models and can be assessed at all five levels, these Process Perspectives are:

Management Control - assesses how well the organisation maintains control of the initiatives currently “in flight”

Benefits Management – assesses how well the organisation defines, tracks and ensures achievement of performance improvement from the investment.

Finance Management – assesses how well the organisation manages and controls the investment through business cases and budgetary control

Stakeholder Management – assesses how well the initiatives engage with and communicate with the external environment to minimise the negative implications engagement can achieve.

Organisational Governance – assesses how well the organisation controls the initiation and alignment of  its investments with the corporate strategy

Risk Management - assesses how well the organisation focuses on and mitigates the impact of threats and the leveraging of opportunities.

Resource Management – assesses how well the organisation develops its own talent and utilises the opportunities from the supply chain to overcome peaks and troughs.

For each of the Process Perspectives there are a number of attributes defined at each level of maturity. These attributes are the basis on which the organisation should assess its current maturity and make plans to improve.

Embedded within the Process Perspectives, there are a number of generic attributes that are common to all perspectives; these include planning, information management, quality review and training and development