CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY
Siemens uses CA Clarity PPM
for project management
of R&D for wind, solar and
hydro solutions
CLIENT PROFILE
Industry: Energy
Company: Siemens AG
Employees: 82,000
Revenue: Siemens AG revenue (€78.3bn) and Energy sector
revenue (€27.3bn) - 2012
BUSINESS
Siemens Energy develops
energy solutions that
support the reduction of
CO2 emissions. Its portfolio
of renewable energy
includes solutions for wind
power, photovoltaics,
concentrated solar energy
and marine turbines.
CHALLENGE
To support innovation and
maximise the company’s
R&D resources, projects
must be carefully selected
and controlled. Disparate
tools and time-consuming
reporting means project
management is lacking
efficiency.
SOLUTION
CA Clarity™ PPM (Project &
Portfolio Management)
enables streamlined
project approvals and
simplifies reporting.
Custom portlets and
dashboards provide full
visibility of project status
costs and risks.
BENEFIT
Today, Siemens Energy can
select, plan and execute
R&D projects more
efficiently and make better
investment decisions.
As a result, it develops
and delivers the renewable
energy solutions its
customers need.
agility
made possible™
Siemens AG
Business
Providing renewable energy solutions
Siemens Energy aims to boost the efficiency of power generation and transmission technologies while
substantially reducing CO2 emissions.
Siemens Energy, a part of Siemens AG, includes six divisions in total. The Wind Power division is based
in Hamburg and provides complete solutions for offshore, coastal and land-based wind power projects
in response to the demand for clean energy production and growing global usage.
Siemens Solar & Hydro division combines the photovoltaics business, the concentrated solar energy
unit and the marine turbines unit. These divisions are headquartered in Germany, Israel and England.
Challenge
Enabling effective research and development
Innovation and investment in the renewable energy sector will make the accessibility of electricity
more affordable compared to fossil fuels. To ensure the maximisation of its investments, the company
needs consistent research and development (R&D) processes.
“We needed a detailed view of our
R&D projects to control our projects
and portfolio efficiently.”
Dr. Christian Holland
Siemens Energy
Dr. Christian Holland at Siemens Energy comments, “We need full visibility of our R&D investments
to manage them effectively. In particular, we must be able to measure the success of every
single project.”
Siemens Energy was using various different project and portfolio management solutions across its two
renewable energy divisions, which lacked integration. As a result, the company did not have the
transparency or ‘single view of the truth’ that it needed. Reports were created using Microsoft Excel
and PowerPoint, but they were time-consuming to produce and lacked consistency.
02
Siemens AG
To improve the governance of its R&D activities, Siemens Energy embarked on a four-phase project
which involved:
1. reviewing its existing solutions and understanding its project and portfolio management
requirements
2. developing a strategy for project and portfolio management regarding its research and development
activities and conducting a procurement process
3. selecting a centralised solution that would best meet the defined criteria
4. implementing and configuring the chosen solution
Dr. Holland comments, “We needed a software based solution that would standardise reporting thereby
enabling us to react faster to differences in our project plans and make the necessary
decisions.”
“Furthermore we wanted to evaluate future projects regarding their chances of success and understand
the financial impact. This includes cost, risk and return on investment. The flexibility of the product
along with the right implementation partner were critical to realising our concept and ensuring the
success of the project.”
Solution
Centralised and standardised project management
Siemens Energy embarked on a thorough investigation of the project and portfolio management
products available. It screened more than 30 solutions before selecting CA Clarity™ PPM (Project &
Portfolio Management).
Project and portfolio management specialist itdesign assisted Siemens Energy with the implementation
and configuration of the CA Technologies solution. As Dr. Holland explains, “We discussed our concept
with itdesign in every detail and specified the migration. itdesign not only provided technical advice
but also assisted with creating individual custom portlets, views and charts. The solution partner also
provided large-scale data analysis and detailed reports in PDF format. The workflow processes for R&D
projects had to be created exactly the way we needed. itdesign’s experience and expertise helped
reduce risk and speed up the deployment.”
itdesign also offered training for Siemens Energy’s system administrators and users on a ‘train-thetrainer’ basis. Implementation started in July 2011, with the first phase of the project completed in
September ready for the go-live.
Around 160 members of staff from the R&D departments of Siemens Wind Power and Solar & Hydro
divisions now work with CA Clarity PPM. The solution is used to track approximately 80 projects, for
example, the development of receivers for solar solutions and wind turbines.
03
Siemens AG
Enhanced visibility of project status, risks and budgets
Innovation management at Siemens Energy Wind, Solar & Hydro starts with an idea being entered into
CA Clarity PPM. Various criteria are used to rate this idea, such as technical targets, budget, timelines,
risks and the involvement of external partners.
This information supports the project agreement process, which requires approvals from various senior
executives depending on the type of project and budget involved.
80
R&D projects are tracked
with CA Clarity PPM
Once a project is approved, the CA Technologies solution tracks its progress and delivers monthly
reports. As Daniel Nadler, Project Manager at itdesign, explains, “When projects require a budget
increase or exceed the specified duration or technical targets are modified, a change request must be
authorised. This gives the management team visibility of potential problems and can minimise the
probability of failure.”
Project data is entered in real time, stored in the database and is directly available for analysis. Project
managers get detailed information about project financials, such as actual costs, planned costs and
expenses that are connected to the project.
CA Clarity PPM delivers a graphical view of traffic light status, risks and milestones for each project via
management dashboards. A ‘cockpit’ view used by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Technical
Officer (CTO) and Project Management Officer (PMO) consolidates financial data across business units.
“The solution produces reports that show targets versus actual costs, deviations from specified time
schedules, assessments of technical objectives, and mitigates risks for the entire project portfolio,”
explains Daniel Nadler. “The reports also support quarterly reviews of the project.”
04
Siemens AG
To ensure data is accurate and consistent, CA Clarity PPM interfaces directly with SAP, Primavera and
Microsoft Project Server.
Now that the solution is successfully supporting Siemens Energy’s project management processes, the
company is extending its usage to facilitate idea management.
Benefit
Better project planning and delivery safeguard competitive advantage
Siemens Energy has a consistent and standardised approach to approving, controlling, monitoring and
reporting critical R&D projects.
“We have closed the gap between R&D strategy, our business goals, project approvals and ongoing
review cycles in terms of technical, financial and time targets” comments Dr. Holland. “We have better
visibility of projects and costs throughout the lifecycle, which means we can make better decisions.”
“We have better visibility of projects
and costs, which means we can
make better decisions.”
Dr. Christian Holland
Siemens Energy
Using CA Clarity PPM has also helped Siemens Energy to:
• take advantage of best practice processes
• increase efficiency through automation and streamlined reporting processes
• enhance collaboration within and across business units
Dr. Christian Holland comments, “Using CA Clarity PPM, we are not only able to bring greater
intelligence to project planning, but also execute each activity with greater efficiency and agility.”
05
Siemens AG
itdesign is a consulting company and has been a CA Technologies specialist
partner for project and portfolio management since 1999. itdesign provides
proven project management know-how to help IT and R&D organisations
maximise their investments. itdesign develops extended solutions for
CA Clarity PPM with its own modules called itd AddOns.
For more information about itdesign, go to www.itdesign.de/clarity
Copyright ©2012 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their
respective companies.
The information and results illustrated here are based upon the speaker’s experiences with the referenced software product in a
variety of environments, which may include production and nonproduction environments. Past performance of the software
products in such environments is not necessarily indicative of the future performance of such software products in identical,
similar or different environments. CA does not provide legal advice. Neither this document nor any software product referenced
herein serves as a substitute for your compliance with any laws (including but not limited to any act, statute, regulation, rule,
directive, standard, policy, administrative order, executive order, and so on (collectively, “Laws”) referenced herein or any
contract obligations with any third parties. You should consult with competent legal counsel regarding any such Laws or
contract obligations. This document is for your informational purposes only. CA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or
completeness of the information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document “as is” without
warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose,
or non-infringement. In no event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document,
including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised in advance
of the possibility of such damages.
06