Tag: Portfolio

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7 Secret Things You Didn’t Know About Successful Procurement Teams

Some senior members of staff see procurement expenses as a necessary evil and overlook any efficiency improvement methods for this sector. This is not an uncommon way of thinking, as procurement and the supply chain is a massive part of any company’s costs and can total up to 70% of an organisation’s total spend.

These managers are missing out on effective changes that can shift procurement to a significant supplier of growth and profit for any business.

Follow these 7 steps to improve your procurement team.

1.         Embrace Change

It’s so important for procurement managers to embrace and invest in technology changes currently taking place in the industry.

Managers should hold a full assessment of deficiencies in their processors and search for technology that meets the needs of the business, rather than fitting the business around new technology. For example, if you are having trouble with historic and retrospective analysis, invest in predictive analytics.

2.         Consider Outsourcing

Outsourcing may not be an avenue you have ever considered in regards to procurement, even though it happens all the time with HR and IT departments. Even so, many procurement managers are still apprehensive to apply it to their supply chain.

Outsourcing certain aspects of procurement can be a way of improving existing systems and processors rather than a cost reduction measure. It can also allow your business to access highly skilled procurement experts when it would be counter-productive to hire someone internally. These individuals are often very focused on delivering results, and if you plan outsourcing correctly, the increase in productivity will outweigh the costs of outsourcing.

If a procurement manager feels like there are areas in the business where costs can be cut, it might be worth bringing in a consultant. There are also outsourcing services that offer expert domain knowledge and vendor contact opportunities.

3.     Ensure Your Supply Chain Is Properly Staffed

The efficiency of a supply chain is very much dependent on the quality of its staff. As a procurement manager, it’s important to ensure that the supply chain is staffed with highly skilled individuals, and that these staff have regular access to education and training.

Procurement professionals will be tasked with a wide variety of roles, including:

  • Planning delivery timetables
  • Ensuring stores have enough stock
  • Overseeing the arrival of shipments

When hiring employees, it’s important to ensure they have skills such as communication, attention to detail and teamwork. They must also be willing to learn and improve throughout their career.

4.     Create Risk Management Policies

One of the key ways of making a procurement team more efficient is to prepare for the unexpected. Procurement managers should establish proper levels of control to manage risk and ensure that all these policies are periodically reviewed. These risk management fail safes should include:

  • The financial impact a risk might have
  • The likelihood to the risk occurring
  • A priority list for managing risks

All staff members should be aware of these risks, and the processes in place if the risks occur.   For example, if a major supplier goes out of business, your staff should be aware that there is a process for contacting secondary suppliers so you are never left without stock.

5.     Establish Relationships with Key Suppliers

Staff who deal with suppliers on a daily basis need to have brilliant relationship building skills. Procurement employees need to work closely with suppliers to try and keep communication consistent and amicable, even if issues arise at either end.

Suppliers can help procurement teams reach their performance goals, and they are often very knowledgeable, with expertise to share about their products. Procurement teams can learn a lot from them, like the audience, seasonality and key selling points of products; it’s worth working on these relationships.

6.     Stick to Ambitious but Manageable Targets

If a team has a tough but not unattainable goal to work towards they can prioritise, measure and focus on their tasks with a clear end in mind. This helps staff members feel more motivated and gives meaning to their work.

There will also be a sense of achievement when the targets are met, bringing your team closer together and improving teamwork.

7. Efficiency Is Attainable

The creation of a brilliant supply chain depends on your company’s understanding of procurement, along with the procurement team’s estimation of the total costs associated with each supplier and their contacts.

With help from technology, outsourcing, a great team and strong relationship building skills, your procurement team should improve its efficiency and business impact.

 

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How Technology Has Changed Procurement in the Last 10 Years

How technology has changed procurement in the last 10 years

Over the past decade business procurement has experienced rapid technological upheaval that, in the main, has made life easier for everyone involved.

The first ever Global Procurement Technology Summit was held in March 2016. It shows the emphasis procurement is now putting on understanding and utilising new technologies, and that it’s clearly a huge talking point for professionals across the world.

Looking in greater detail: which technology has been responsible and what has the effect been on procurement and buying professionals?

1. More informed decisions are being made

The digitalisation of procurement processes and integration of data-sharing across buyer behaviour, ratings and history of purchases over extended periods of time, has made for smarter and more informed decisions.

Despite the greater insight into decision-making, a study of US procurement professionals still revealed accurate forecasting to be the biggest challenge, something that’s possibly down to the rise in budget responsibilities over the last ten years.

The Coupa ‘Top 5: Constants and Change in Cloud Procurement’ report revealed that in 2003, budgets were reported as an average of $31m, compared to $100m in 2013.

2. Response times have drastically reduced

Procurement solutions are now quicker and easier than ever thanks to new marketplace technologies.

Buyers can take advantage of online purchasing possibilities, using websites like Amazon to source, purchase and arrange delivery of items.

The speed of procurement reflects the new speed in which consumerism moves ’’ the integration of digital mediums with online shopping has made the process of deliberation through to transaction much easier, a trend which has been reflected in the world of procurement.

3. Integration has brought its own problems

Technological integration has created many positives for procurement, but it’s also created challenges.

Millennials will make up 40% of the workforce by 2020, which is great for improving current procurement solutions as younger generations have higher expectations for technology and are early adapters.

However, the average age of procurement professionals in the UK is currently 44 – much older than the next generation of workers, who fully understand the capabilities of technology, and who will be easier to train and able to work with increased speed and accuracy.

The gap will close in the coming years, but procurement faces a struggle as older workers need to ensure their skills are relevant to the changing world around them.

Additionally, Hays’ ‘Procurement Salary Guide’ revealed that demand for procurement professionals has increased at all levels within the public sector, pushing salaries up. This demand is the result of a squeeze on public finances and attempts to cut costs following the slowdown in the economy.

4, Technology and the future of procurement

To conclude, technology is clearly a powerful enabler that’s here to stay. Plenty of companies are now seeing the importance of procurement technology as a means to improve their bottom lines, which was reflected in the inaugural Global Procurement Technology Summit earlier this year.

Integration of contract management, risk management and supplier lifecycle systems through investment in improved systems with added capabilities, has ensured more accurate sourcing is possible and due to the skills involved in running these systems, has driven salaries up.

Sophia Chapman is a guest contributor from Portfolio Procurement, expert recruiters in the compensation, benefit and reward sector.

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15 Shocking Project Management Statistics

15 Shocking Project Management Statistics

The project management landscape is changing  with an increased emphasis on productivity, reporting, and information technology. A number of studies have been completed that look into the success and  failure rates of projects.

Below are  15 shocking  statistics that reveal how project management has changed and is performing across various industries over the last 5 years.

  1. There is  projected to be 15.7 million new project management roles to  be added globally across seven project-intensive industries by 2020 reaching an economic impact of over $18 trillion, across seven project-intensive industries  including  Manufacturing, Finance & Insurance, Information Services, Utilities, Business Services, Oil & Gas  and  Construction (Project Management Institute)
  2. 75% of IT executives believe their projects are “doomed from the start. (Geneca)
  3. The healthcare industry is projected to increase project management roles by 30%,  a higher growth rate than any current project intensive industry between 2010 and  2020. (Project Management Institute)
  4. A third of all projects were successfully completed on time and on budget over the past year. (Standish Group)
  5. 80% of “high-performing” projects are led by a certified project manager.  (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Insights and Trends: Current Programme and Project Management Practices 2012)
  6. One in six IT projects have an average cost overrun of 200%.  (Harvard Business Review 2004)
  7. 44% of project managers use no software, even though PWC found that the use of commercially available PM software increases performance and satisfaction. (Pricewaterhouse Coopers)
  8. More than 90% of organizations perform some type of project postmortem or closeout retrospective. (The Standish Group: CHAOS Research Report 2013)
  9. On average, it takes 7 years in the profession to go from entry-level to managing large, complex projects.  (ESI International: Annual Salary Survey 2013)
  10. The average large IT project runs 45% over budget, 7% over time, and delivers 56% less value than expected. (Project Management Institute: Pulse of the Profession 2015)
  11. Only 64% of projects meet their goals. (Project Management Institute: Pulse of the Profession 2015)
  12. 60% of companies don’t measure ROI on projects. (KPMG New Zealand: Project Management Survey 2010)
  13. The United States economy loses $50-$150 billion per year due to failed IT projects. (Gallup Business Review)
  14. In just a 12 month period 49% of organizations had suffered a recent project failure.  In the same period only 2% of organizations reported that all of their projects achieved the desired benefits.  86% of organizations reported a shortfall of at least 25% of targeted benefits across their portfolio of projects and many organizations failed to measure benefits so they are unaware of their true status in terms of benefits realization. (KPMG – Global IT Project Management Survey 2005)
  15. According to an IBM study, only 40% of projects meet schedule, budget and quality goals. (Harvard Business Review 2004)

If you have any other project management statistics please share them with us.

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Why Should I Hire a Project Manager for My Church Project?

Is it worth hiring a project manager when any seemingly knowledgeable pastor or church member might do?

The truth is, project managers can be a valuable asset to any organization. Whereas the average church member who is only familiar with certain tasks might be overwhelmed by the complexity of major organizational assignments, project managers are trained to handle programs with elaborate factors such as high budgets, increased manpower and layers of duties.

An Astounding 97% of Organizations Believe Project Management Is Critical to Business Performance and Organizational Success. (Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers)

On the flip side, some professional bodies disagree, arguing that professionals like pastors, marketers, and accountants are able to manage projects just as well as any project manager with some effort.

Barely over Half (56%) of Project Managers Are Certified  (Source: Wrike)

“It’s a raging debate,” said Tony Marks, author of the 20:20 Project Management guide.

“Some industries, such as oil and gas, are hesitant to hire outside project management specialists because they may lack industry knowledge. Instead, these industries prefer to employ technical experts and put them through project management training.”

“The danger is that these  people  are more likely to get  sucked into their comfort zone dealing with the nitty-gritty and technical detail they understand and are fascinated by when they should be managing the project,” said Tony Marks.

In addition to being trained to juggle tasks efficiently, project managers spend an enormous amount of time honing their skills. Much more goes into the craft than obtaining Prince2 or APM certifications.

According to Mike Savage of Thales Training and Consultancy, the International Project Management Association requires its professionals to have at least 15 years of experience and training. The association has four grades from D to A. At the A level, project managers must have a minimum of five years project management experience, five years of program management and five years of portfolio management.

“So to Say That Anyone Can Be a Project Manager Is like Saying Anyone Can Be a Brain Surgeon, Said Savage.”

But just because there are individuals specializing in project management doesn’t mean non-specialists can’t learn the techniques as well. Ian Clarkson of training course provider QA encourages everyone to learn project management practices.

“The skills, leadership, planning and stakeholder engagement techniques are vital to all disciplines,” he said.

“Projects which are run by engineers with project management training are less likely to be successful than the reverse,” said Lloyd’s Register energy program director Roger Clutton. “If there is a lack of technical expertise that will show up in the risk assessment. But a lack of project management skills is much less likely to be detected.”

With that, it seems that the argument on whether or not hiring an outside project management is necessary will continue. But the debate only seems relevant to rival professions as there is projected to be 15 million new project management jobs within the decade. (Source: Project Management Institute).

No matter how you look at it, though, it seems that trained and experienced project managers  must be  worth their weight in gold.

 

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Axelos CEO Peter Hepworth in the Spotlight

Project Journal had the privilege of interviewing AXELOS previous CEO Peter Hepworth. Peter provided us with an insight into his role and AXELOS as a whole in October 2015.

AXELOS CEO Peter Hepworth

Peter joined AEXLOS as CEO in July 2013 and was previously Managing Director for Activision Blizzard  a $400 million turnover and $150million EBIT business.   In 2014, Activision Blizzard was the fifth largest gaming company in the world by revenue.

Peter is an economics graduate, chartered accountant, with an M.B.A. from Cranfield and A.M.P. from INSEAD.

What is AXELOS?

AXELOS is a joint venture set up in 2014 by the Government of the United Kingdom and Capita, to develop, manage and operate qualifications in best practice, in methodologies formerly owned by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

AXELOS promotes best practice frameworks such as PRINCE2 and ITIL and is developing a cyber resilience best practice portfolio later in 2015.

How does  AXELOS  differ from APM?

AXELOS is an independent organisation, allowing the user community to focus more on the content of frameworks and guidance without much interference. The firm puts a heavy focus on the guidance given, ensuring the content is fuelled by good ideas to keep the ITIL structure up to date. But while the business has a combination of access to one of Britain’s largest corporations and the UK government, more than 75% of publication sales and Prince2 certification is sold outside of the UK, a trend that is growing faster due to emerging markets.

The company varies its training approach. Its Portfolio, Programme, and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3), for example, encourages users to assess their performance against benchmarks. Mike Acaster, PPM portfolio manager, says: “PRINCE2 is applicable to many sizes of organisation, but sometimes it’s better to be a bit more specific. It’s about tailoring advice for that context. In some cases it has been tailored, and people don’t realise it’s PRINCE2 – you have to scratch the surface.

How do you view the future of project management?

After years of being associated with large engineering and construction projects, project management has moved beyond infrastructure. Firms across different countries and sectors now acknowledge the need to manage their processes and keep costs and timing under control. As businesses begin to recognise the importance of project management worldwide, questions are being asked about the standards required. AXELOS is focusing on how these can apply to different staff and situations, as well as how workers can develop a career path in project management.

Is AXELOS popular aboard?

“It’s hard to measure the adoption of our products, but if you look at the number of exams taken, you can see strong growth outside the UK, as well as in the UK,” he says. “In the US there’s a lot of interest, and the biggest international user of PRINCE2 is the UN, to make sure their aid development is correctly managed.

“Our Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) product was used to deliver the Olympic Games. I was in Tokyo after they had won the right to host Tokyo 2020 and the focus was ‘When can we have MSP?’ They want to see the same success as London has had.”

What are  the future priorities for AXELOS?

“Career path. For the individual, it’s about how your career can develop. There’s a different skill set between project and portfolio management, and no linear route. It comes to modularisation. We have been able to offer different dimensions.

Cyber Resilience is next. Companies need to put more emphasis on improving their reactions to cyber attacks rather than continuing to focus on prevent. Although there are a number of standards and best practices in place to prevent cyber attacks, firms are still falling foul, and this is usually due to the internal attitude and people, rather than technology.

New products launched in 2015 include PRINCE2 Agile; Cyber Resilience Best Practice and Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

What’s next?

Young people are learning things online and changing how it is done. We want our members to feel proud about having AXELOS qualifications and have launched digital badges so that project professionals can display their mark of professionalism across popular social networks.

Digital badges are tokens that appear as icons and are awarded to signify learning achievements in a way that can be easily verified and shared online. Our members digital badge’s will hold and display information about their professional development activity as well as the issue date and an expiry date.

Individual workers, organisations and entire industries can benefit from badges. Badges are a new form of currency – a more transparent and efficient way to communicate the acquisition and development of workplace skills.

From AXELOS to Microsoft, IBM to Oracle, many leading companies have adopted digital badges as a form of recognition for continuing professional development and certifications. The individuals who earn these badges enthusiastically share them to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other online destinations. Once shared, anyone can verify the authenticity of and learn more about the individual’s abilities. That shareability and verification can make all the difference in a competitive job market, whether an individual aspires to move ahead in her current position or move into a different job.

We also want continued openness from AXELOS, even more community collaboration and specific actions to further increase the relevance of AXELOS in the future.

Where do you believe project management is heading?

Anyone can benefit from project management guidance. “We are all project managers now,” he says.

 

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Millions of It and Project Management Professionals to Benefit from the New Axelos Professional Development Programme

For the first time, millions of professionals across the globe qualified in ITIL ®, PRINCE2 ® and PRINCE2 Agile┞¢ will be able to track and record their professional development through a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme as part of the new AXELOS Professional Development Programme, which launches today.

The AXELOS Professional Development Programme is an online membership programme aligned to the global best practice frameworks of ITIL, PRINCE2 and PRINCE2 Agile, that provides members with a range of specialised tools. Members will be able to assess their ability against industry benchmarks and gain access to exclusive content and activities designed to develop their skills and knowledge.

The programme will give practitioners the confidence and tools to keep up-to-date and relevant in their field while supporting them in their professional development. By completing the required CPD points, members will earn a digital badge that can be shared via online platforms to demonstrate their relevance and commitment to professional development.

Peter Hepworth, AXELOS Chief Executive, said: “There are millions of practitioners with either ITIL or PRINCE2 qualifications, and we want to champion these professionals by giving them a means to develop their knowledge and skills. This new programme is all about offering additional value for IT service management and project management professionals which goes beyond passing an exam and gaining a qualification.

“Ongoing investment in professional development also benefits organizations as well as individuals. Employers can ensure that their employees are continually developing their skills and the new digital badges will also help employers source the right talent by using them to differentiate against individuals who haven’t kept their skills up to date.

“The scheme will enable ITIL and PRINCE2 practitioners to achieve industry recognition and enhance their own personal brand. In addition, employers who invest time and money in CPD can develop their teams and drive up standards while improving staff loyalty and morale.”

Those wishing to join the scheme must hold an ITIL or PRINCE2 qualification. AXELOS are running a promotion so anyone joining in 2015 can save £100 on annual membership costs, and just pay the initial £25 registration fee.

The Professional Development Programme is the latest addition to the best practice portfolio owned by AXELOS – a joint venture between the UK Government and Capita plc. More information can be found on the AXELOS website: https://www.axelos.com/professional-development

Project Journal  staff were  not involved in the creation of this content.

 

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