While technologies like ERP, SCM and CRM have been gradually adopted by Indian industry, the concept of ‘Enterprise Project Management’ has not gained much ground in India. Mukesh Arora, executive director, KLG Systel, spoke to Srikanth R P on the potential of project management software and how can it make a difference to companies in managing large projects.

What exactly is the concept of ‘project management software’ and how can it be beneficial for an enterprise?
In organisations that manage large portfolios of projects, enterprise project management software can empower each level of the project management hierarchy to monitor the health of projects. Typically, it is seen that over 60 percent of basic groundwork activities are duplicated in each project. With higher competitiveness, there is tremendous pressure on each level to deliver projects on a faster basis. This is where project management software acts as a means of empowering project managers to control projects better. For instance, the progress of any project can be observed in real-time and at all levels through dashboards. So if there is any problem—say a delay in getting regulatory permission or taking note of unutilised resources in a particular activity of the project—corrective action can be taken at the right time.

Could you elaborate on the advantage of using an enterprise project management software with ERP?
ERP helps companies to manage transactions as they are taking place. But an enterprise project management software helps companies not only to plan for project management resources, but also to look into the future and make informed decisions. An integration of the two gives an organisation the best of both worlds. At the operational level, an enterprise project management software can make the difference between on-time, on-budget efforts and delayed over-budget projects. For example, all projects tend to have a large number of risks and uncertainties like cash-flow problems, resource optimisation issues and delayed regulatory approvals. For projects with a long implementation period there is a need to adapt rapidly to changes in the business environment without affecting the rollout of the project. This is where an enterprise project management software like Primavera can help a company to not only monitor the progress of every project individually, but also ensure that a given project is completed within schedules and budgets.

If you compare the traditional approach with the concept of EPM, what will be the differences and
benefits? Please elaborate.
By using the traditional approach companies have been doing project management as islands of applications. It is a very non-integrated approach to overall project management at the enterprise level. This is why project management software makes for an excellent decision-support tool rather than just a planner’s tool.

Which are the companies that have benefited using this model?
National Australia Bank, the 16th largest bank in the world, implemented Primavera TeamPlay and made cost savings that was estimated at 25 percent across all projects. Similarly, Hewlett Packard has saved around $15 million in just three quarters using project management software.

Can you give an example of an Indian company using this model. How exactly has it gained from using this model?
In India, ONGC is an excellent example on how the concept of enterprise project management software can help improve operations. The nature of operations of ONGC involves it undertaking high-risk and high investment complex projects at multiple locations. As the nature of operations was huge, the company needed a solution that could help it manage projects in a easy way.

After a series of evaluations of different packages, the company chose to implement an integrated enterprise project management solution. Through the solution all the projects can be managed by the respective project teams at project locations and are also controlled and monitored by the respective project in-charges and the top management at New Delhi. As the organisation’s project locations are spread across India, in the first phase, ONGC plans to implement this solution to cover ten project locations.