New Software Helps Companies Manage IT Projects

Pacific Edge Software has introduced Portfolio Edge, an IT planning product that lets executives manipulate portfolios of technology assets. A combination budgeting and prioritization tool, Portfolio Edge ensures not only that projects get done right, but that the right projects get done.

By offering a more formal approach to planning, Portfolio Edge and similar products from software vendors such as Business Engine, Primavera, and ProSight provide an alternative to ad hoc tools such as spreadsheets, says Matt Light, research director at Gartner.

Schlumberger Ltd., a provider of petroleum exploration services, has been operating a beta-test version of Portfolio Edge together with an older Pacific Edge Software product, Project Office, which it installed three years ago.

Schlumberger has used the products to weed out obsolete projects, a traditional drain on IT resources. Between 2001 and 2002, the number of small projects (those costing less than $100,000) was reduced from 233 to 13, and the number of medium projects (those costing between $100,000 and $1 million) was reduced from 84 to 54, for an aggregate savings of $11 million.

Under Schlumberger's "zero-based" planning approach, each project is assessed anew at the start of every planning cycle, says Jane Walton, Schlumberger's IT portfolio director. At many companies, a disproportionate weight is assigned to ongoing projects, causing "frontier" projects and R&D to get overlooked, she adds.

At Schlumberger, projects are judged on their strategic value. At the low end of the spectrum are projects for maintaining the core infrastructure or meeting existing business needs. Next up are projects for improving company operations, whether by reducing costs, increasing efficiency, or boosting customer retention. At the high end are projects for opening new markets or raising market share in existing markets.