Center for Business Practices' New Research Reveals the Project Management Challenges and Trends Among Global 2000 Companies

HAVERTOWN, Pa., Feb. 7, 2003 -- A survey conducted by the Center for Business Practices (CBP), the research arm of project management consultancy PM Solutions, reveals the latest project management challenges and trends facing executives of Global 2000 companies.

The survey, "Project Management: The State of the Industry," polled 1,000 project professionals and senior-level executives representing Global 2000 companies in industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, and information technology.

Executives and project professionals report that their organization's biggest project management challenges are developing a consistent approach to managing projects (23.9%) and allocating resources (19.7%).

The next most common issue for companies is that they manage too many projects or the wrong projects (16.9%). Other challenges are project manager competency, economic pressures, and limited visibility of project activities.

According to survey respondents, the three most commonly implemented project management improvement initiatives are software tools (77.9%), methodology development (69.1%), and staff training (69.1%). Companies that implemented project management improvement initiatives spent an average of $712,000 on them annually.

"It's clear from this survey that more and more companies value project management as an important element of business performance improvement," says Jim Pennypacker, director of the CBP. "These findings are helpful in gauging what aspects of project management matter most to companies and where the industry, in general, is headed."

Other key findings from the survey include:

Projects - Companies are implementing a variety of project types. In terms of complexity, 51.7% are considered complex or highly complex, with the majority (72.4%) lasting less than a year in duration.

Enterprise Project Management - According to the survey, more than half (59.7%) of companies manage projects at the enterprise-level. Additionally, 44.6% of companies have an established project office, a center of excellence for project managers and project management.

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) - PPM, the practice of project selection and prioritization, is considered important or very important to 49.3% of those surveyed. Most companies, however, are still at the low rungs of PPM maturity. Only 8.2% of respondents report having an enterprise-wide (Level 5) PPM process.

Value Measurement - The survey also reveals that 51.4% of organizations measure the value of their project management improvement initiatives. The metrics most commonly used to assess value are measured improvements in delivery dates and budgets (78.9%), bottom-line economics (65.8%), and product and/or service quality (57.9%).

Software - An overwhelming 95.6% of respondents report using Microsoft(R) Project as their primary project management software tool.

Outsourcing - Companies' limited staff, technology, budgets, and other resources have persuaded more business decision makers to look at project management outsourcing. According to the survey, 54.2% of organizations have only 1-9 project managers on staff, and 25% have 10-25 project managers on staff. Of those surveyed, 39.2% of respondents say they outsource the project management function or are considering it.

The CBP "Project Management: The State of the Industry" survey was sent by mail to 1,000 subscribers of Projects@Work magazine. Seventy-four companies were represented in the survey findings.

About the Center for Business Practices(R)

The Center for Business Practices (www.cbponline.com) is a knowledge center created to capture, organize, and transfer business practice knowledge to project stakeholders, helping them excel in today's rapidly changing business environment.

Harnessing project management knowledge and expertise, the CBP holds regular Benchmarking Forums, and publishes research and benchmarking reports, the newsletter People on Projects: A Project Management Best Practices Report, a free e-mail newsletter The Best Practices e-Advisor, and in partnership with publishing house Marcel Dekker, the PM Practices book series. The CBP offers a pmValue(SM) measurement system designed to help organizations justify their continued investment in project management practices.

About PM Solutions, The Project Management Experts(R)

PM Solutions is a management consulting, training, and research firm dedicated to optimizing business performance through project management initiatives. Core services include organizational project management maturity assessments, Strategic Project Office deployment and enhancement, methodology development, corporate training, project management technology integration, project portfolio management, and professional staffing/outsourcing services.

PM Solutions' comprehensive approach integrates business strategies with project management practices, enabling sound management decision-making and higher profitability. Headquartered in Havertown, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa., PM Solutions has built its reputation by providing premier service to clients through the most knowledgeable and expert consultants in project management.

For more information, visit www.pmsolutions.com.

      --30--NR/ph*

      CONTACT: PM Solutions, Havertown                          
               Mary Yanocha, 610/853-3589                        
               myanocha@pmsolutions.com              
                or
               Schubert Communications                         
               Rachel Zimmerman, 610/269-2100, ext. 231                 
               rzimmerman@schubert.com