Project portfolio management

Development and establishment of a project portfolio tool for school construction projects

Project scope

  • Sector: NGO
  • Approx. 5 – 10 employees
  • Objective: to introduce transparency into the project environment through the development and roll-out of a project portfolio management tool
  • Expertise: portfolio management, coaching, PM experts
  • Project duration: approx. 18 months

Approach

Our management team first became aware of Jambo Bukoba after listening to a podcast. They were interested in the organisation’s work, so they contacted the founder and we invited him to a presentation about Assure Consulting. After the presentation we offered to sponsor a school construction project. In addition to providing funding for the project we identified areas in which we could support the organisation with our expertise. Jambo Bukoba implements multiple school construction projects concurrently, which means it’s essential to have a good level of project portfolio transparency and reliable reporting structures. Two Assure consultants were assigned to Jambo Bukoba in November 2020 to professionalise these aspects of the organisation’s project-based activities. They were joined later on by other team members and student consultants from JCNetworks.

Role

In terms of the central project management, our consultants took responsibility for the development and roll-out of a project portfolio management tool.

Result(s)

The teams in Tanzania and Germany documented the requirements of the new tool so that a customised, Excel-based project portfolio tool could be developed. The teams reviewed the tool at regular intervals.

The project portfolio tool’s roll-out, including project updates and status reports for the organisation’s school projects, has created greater clarity and transparency across the individual projects. A milestone plan helps the project teams to plan the projects in advance and assess project risks. A dashboard displaying the central KPIs supplements the project portfolio.

Project management workshops were also held to expand the Tanzanian project managers’ project-related know-how.

“Assure helped us to gain a structured overview of our projects. The new tool gives us more transparency and simplifies our communications and collaboration. What’s more, Assure Consulting has always treated us just like a paying client.”

Founder, Jambo Bukoba e.V.