Title Guaranty of Hawaii’s
Road to Enterprise Project
Management (EPM) –
A Case Study
Deb Pyrek
Introduction
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Title Guaranty (TG) is
Hawaii’s largest Title and
Escrow company.
TG provides real estate
settlement services and
title insurance to the local
community and
international customers.
Introduction
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Business requires innovation to stay
ahead of the competition, and
innovation requires new projects and
initiatives.
With many ideas and limited resources,
Title Guaranty needed to improve their
project management processes.
Title Guaranty decided to adopt a more
formal project management process and
implement Enterprise Project
Management (EPM).
Outline
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TG’s project management history
Need for change
Is Enterprise Project Management the
solution?
EPM Proof of Concept, Pilot, Implementation
Challenges and Opportunities
TG’s EPM Timeline
Project Management at TG today
Plans for the future
Project Statistics
The following statistics from Gartner Group and other
analysts highlight the importance of managing
projects effectively.
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70% of all technology-related projects are likely to be
challenged or impaired
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20%-30% of these will fail outright
Project Statistics
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Non-canceled project will
experience:
– Cost overruns in excess of
150% (on average)
– Schedule overruns of 175% (on
average)
– Deviation from original
specifications of at least 30%
Project Statistics
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The larger the project, the more likely it is to
slip schedule or fail outright
– Large software projects have a 65%
cancellation rate
Similar statistics are provided by Meta Group.
On average, projects at completion:
– Are 189% over budget
– Are 222% late
– Contain only 60% of their original
features.
TG Project Management
History
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“Old” project management methods
– Challenges we faced
– Limited success
“Old” Project
Management
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Documentation
– Standard format existed but not always used
– Specifications at a very high level, much room for
interpretation
– Often completed after-the-fact
– Not always updated to reflect changes
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Process
– Loosely followed Microsoft Solutions Framework
(MSF) process
“Old” Project Management
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Project Team
– No trained Project Managers
– The Project Manager is the person who had
the idea
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Or the IT person who talked with the person who
had the idea
– Teams followed MSF roles, but most roles
were filled by IT staff
– Not all team members understood their roles
“Old” Project Management
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Resources and Schedule
– Lacked structured resource planning
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Resource planning meant asking the question
“when can you get that done”
– Low commitment from some staff to
participate on project
– No easy way to know about delays, changes
in priority, etc.
– Projects were just late.
“Old” Project
Management
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Scope Creep
– Weak specifications led to many
changes in scope.
– Many last minute “can you just add
this feature?” requests
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Rework
– More often than not, new
requirements were discovered at
rollout.
– Required reprogramming, retesting,
redocumenting, etc.
“Old” Project Management
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Limited Success
– Some projects were successful, but typically
delivered late
– Some projects required several unplanned iterations
before meeting requirements
– Some projects rolled out but were never used
– Some projects rolled out and were used, but with
low user satisfaction
– Some projects rolled out but resulted in operational
chaos or had a huge support impact
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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Lack of visible leadership behind
new ideas/projects
– Do we need more clarity about who is
supporting this effort?
– Do we need better support from
managers, executives, owners?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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Sometimes the idea is not well thought
out, specifications are not clear
– Do we need to do a better job validating the
ideas and confirming we have all the
necessary information?
– How do we minimize surprises after we are
far into the project?
– How can we better measure where we are
on a project?
– How should we revisit the plan throughout
the life of the project to make sure we are
on track?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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The plan is not always communicated
effectively
– How should we share information about project
status, priorities?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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Often, there is no
timeline or we exceed
the planned schedule
– Why do we see this
happen so often?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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We struggle to get people working on our
project teams
– Perhaps we are not sure who is on the team or how
to get resources allocated to the team
– Do we have the right
people in the right role
on the right team?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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Often the same people are on many
projects – over-allocated resources!
– Do we need to do a better job managing
resources?
– How do we find out who is doing what so
that we don’t assign too many things to
the same person?
– How does a project manager get things
done when the people on his/her team
report to a different manager?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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Often difficult to get
accurate status
information about
the project
– Are there too many
concurrent projects?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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Implementing a new idea, process,
system, etc. is difficult
– Why are our rollouts so challenging?
– How can we do a better job rolling things
out?
Confirmed Challenges
with Management
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Conflicting priorities, resources
– Do we have different opinions about
priorities?
What do we need?
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We needed to prioritize and report on all the
projects across the organization
We needed to manage resources across the
organization
We needed more diverse and committed
project teams
We needed better methods to manage
projects
We needed tools to make all of this easier
Solution – EPM
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Researched Enterprise Project Management
(EPM)
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“Sold” EPM to Senior Management
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EPM Proof of Concept
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EPM Pilot
Research
Feedback from those who have gone before us…
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Approximately 20
companies were
contacted about their
EPM implementations.
All have successfully
implemented an EPM
solution.
Not one company
was able to do this
without dedicated
staff.
Research
Feedback from those who have gone before us…
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All companies had some form of a PMO (Project
Management Organization) with multiple
dedicated staff members.
Most companies of our size (500 – 600
employees with less than our number of
projects) had 5 or more dedicated project
management staff working in their PMO
department.
Research
Feedback from those who have gone before us…
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Some companies had a mix of
dedicated PMO staff and department
heads/managers serving as project
managers.
Research
Feedback from those who have gone before us…
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Some companies did not dedicate staff to the
project initially, or did not clearly define their
procedures up front during the planning stage.
– These companies had to run a second pilot or
suffered long delays in implementation due to
significant amount of rework, redesign, additional
consulting hours, etc.
– Only after they assigned dedicated staff and spent
the time to clearly define procedures were they able
to move ahead.
Research
Feedback from those who have gone before us…
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Users, management, and project managers are
often reluctant to try EPM and require help to
understand the benefits of EPM.
Training is absolutely critical for all project
managers who will be involved in an EPM
implementation.
Strong executive sponsorship is critical for the
success of an EPM implementation.
Find Key Opinion Leaders
Involve Key Opinion
Leaders
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Get them using
solution quickly
Solicit and
incorporate their
feedback
Ask for their
guidance
Focus on PMO and
governance groups
Manage the Solution
Story
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Make it easy for
your opinion
leaders to talk
about the solution
Give them quick
facts to use
Provide a Web site
with links to more
information
Eliminate Adoption
Barriers
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Don’t create
reasons to say no
– Restrictions on
Functions
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Any item they didn’t
help create can be
viewed as a barrier
“Sell” the Problem
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Clearly define the problem to be
addressed by the solution
The solution becomes apparent once
everyone agrees on the problem
Communicate the problem statement
repeatedly and consistently
Use problem statement to control scope
Build a Community of
Advocates
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Has to become "our" solution, not your
solution
Disbelievers need to hear the message
from multiple sources
People distrust the unfamiliar. Give them
what they need to understand.
Involve users in the solution governance
You Are Your Best Case
Study
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If you don't use it, why should anyone
else?
Builds credibility
Provides opportunity for staff to grow
skills ahead of demand for those
advanced skills
Use Project Server to manage
deployments
TG’s EPM Pilot
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Establishing success criteria
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Technology selection
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Consultant selection
TG’s EPM Pilot - Scope
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Portfolio Management
– Doing the right work
Project Management
– Doing the work right
Resource Management
– Getting the work done
TG’s EPM Pilot - Schedule
Proof of Concept
January 2006 – March 2006
Pilot
May 2006 – November 2006
TG’s EPM Pilot Resources
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Staff
– Volunteer EPM Pilot team
– Volunteer PMO
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Costs
– Consultants
– Hardware/Software
TG’s EPM Pilot Validation
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Checkpoints
– Go/No Go Gates
– Mini-decisions
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Approval to Proceed to next
Checkpoint
TG’s EPM Pilot – Test
Project
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Vacation Ownership System
– Tested many aspects of EPM
processes
 Project Management
 Resource Management
 Team Roles
 Documentation Standards
 Software Tools
TG’s EPM Implementation
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Transition from Pilot to Production
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Establishing a PMO
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Establishing a Priority Board
TG’s EPM Implementation
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Committing Dedicated Resources
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PMO Manager
Project Managers
Systems Analysts
Operational Resources
Challenges &
Opportunities
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Culture Change (Culture Shock)
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PMO “overhead” and ROI
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Why do we need consultants?
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How hard can it be?
You can get all of this done over the weekend,
right?
Lessons Learned
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Persistence is key, don’t give up!
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Just because you said it doesn’t mean they heard it.
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What’s obvious to you is not always obvious to others.
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If you ignore it, it won’t just go away.
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Don’t expect others to join you just because you say so
– you must sell this!
TG’s EPM Timeline
09/2004:
05/2005:
09/2005:
12/2005:
01/2006:
03/2006:
05/2006:
06/2006:
07/2006:
08/2006:
09/2006:
10/2006:
11/2006:
11/2006:
01/2007:
03/2007:
IT team starts to investigate EPM, takes PMI Training
IT Team (w/Consultant) Performs Readiness Assessment
IT proposed EPM concept to senior management
Approval to hire consultants & start EPM Proof of Concept
Kickoff – Proof of Concept
Proof of Concept complete
Approval to proceed with EPM Pilot
EPM Pilot 1st checkpoint & go/no go decision
2nd checkpoint & go/no go decision
3rd checkpoint & go/no go decision
Priority Board established, PMO established (volunteers)
4th checkpoint & go/no go decision
EPM Approved for Implementation
Software tools purchased
Priority Board selects priorities, official PMO members confirmed
First post-pilot project complete
Project Management at
TG today
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Successful projects
Successful teams
Increased productivity
Effective communication
Clarity of goals
Still more work to be
done
Plans for the future
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Improving tracking
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Improving forecasting
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Improving Resource Management
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Improving Portfolio Management
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Increasing output
Questions?
Contact Information:
Deb Pyrek
VP Information Systems
Title Guaranty of Hawaii, Inc.
dpyrek@tghawaii.com
Jerry Opedal
PMO Manager
Title Guaranty of Hawaii, Inc.
jopedal@tghawaii.com
Thank you to our LMR consulting team from San Diego for their support of
our EPM efforts and for slide contributions.