How a Client Optimizes Planning of Project Teams and Costs with Hyperion PFP

Multiple challenges make project planning, management and reporting difficult. Many of these challenges arise from the multi-disciplinary nature of projects – different departments need to share expense and capital budgets, and people from different functions need to be assigned in a timely way.

Can project headcount and costs be planned, and actual results measured, in a way that drives efficiency and accountability?  We helped the IT Project Management Office (PMO) of our client, a top-50 US bank, accomplish this.

Our client’s IT department manages approximately 200 active and upcoming corporate-level projects, which include systems implementations and other initiatives.  About 40 project managers are responsible for planning and managing project headcount and spending across the bank’s
organization.

Our client deployed Essbase, Oracle’s multidimensional analytic tool, and Hyperion Project Financial Planning to track and analyze headcount and spending by project.  Hyperion Project Financial Planning (PFP) is a module of Hyperion Planning used for budgeting and forecasting of project expenses, capital and headcount in support of the complete project financial management lifecycle.

Before, there was little visibility into how headcount was allocated by project.  It was difficult not only to plan project spending and headcount, but also to measure and report actuals by project.

The solution Analysis Team helped design and deploy enables person-level allocation of headcount to projects and allows for people (or roles) to be assigned to multiple projects.  Actual headcount and spending by project are also tracked in the solution, enabling continual measurement of actual results vs. plans.

The bank’s ability to understand project staffing and spending has significantly improved thanks to the PFP solution.  Project managers better understand what drives the needs for specific skills and can optimize project staffing levels.  In addition they can much more accurately track actual staffing and spending, making variances more visible.

The solution is also used in the annual planning process, enabling management to see demand for technical skills over a longer time horizon.  This enables the PMO to assure projects are appropriately staffed in time and that project financial plans are thoroughly vetted and approved.

In an environment where skills are critical, scarce, and potentially expensive, this solution provides the functionality and visibility to assure optimal resource allocation and success of key initiatives.

How could Hyperion PFP do the same for your organization?