For the first time, the SNEC PMI Conference Committee is excited to offer two separate “Lunch and Learn” sessions hosted by two of our Platinum Sponsors, IBM and Microsoft.

Microsoft’s session will focus on the value of aligning corporate strategy with project investments and how Project Server and Project Portfolio Server 2007 can facilitate the Project Portfolio Lifecycle. Microsoft will demonstrate how an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution can capitalize on your people, processes, and technology to generate the change needed to keep your organization current and competitive.

Synopsis of SNEC-PMI Lunch-n-Learn session, sponsored by Microsoft

Room 16 

Effective Project and Portfolio Management with the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management Solution

In this session, we’ll discuss the value of aligning corporate strategy with project investments and how Project Server and Project Portfolio Server 2007 can facilitate the Project Portfolio Lifecycle.

Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 is a top-down portfolio management solution that helps organizations to realize their potential by identifying, selecting, managing, and delivering portfolios that best align with their business strategy. Office Project Portfolio Server 2007, a key component of the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management Solution, can help executives gain visibility, insight, and control across their project, program, and application portfolios.

An Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution capitalizes on your people, processes, and technology to generate the change needed to keep your organization current and competitive. In the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution, based on Microsoft Office Project Server 2007, you can use improved capabilities for allocating human resources and managing projects and programs in line with strategic objectives. The Reporting Data Services provides you with better presentation functionality in common business reporting tools such as Microsoft Office Excel and Business Scorecards. The new version expands tracking of project finances as well as types of work across the project lifecycle.

The Microsoft EPN Solution helps organizations select the optimal project portfolio and execute projects and programs more effectively, thereby improving performance, reducing costs, and increasing return on investment. The Microsoft EPM Solution includes Microsoft Project Server, Microsoft Project Portfolio Server, and Microsoft Project Professional.

With the EPM Solution, your teams can share knowledge, collaborate smoothly to complete tasks and deliverables, and adjust activities quickly to accommodate project changes and updates. And you can accurately assess your needs and effectively deploy resources across the organization.

The Office EPM Solution provides organizations with an end-to-end project portfolio management solution. By enabling increased employee productivity, faster cycle times, reduced costs, and improved time management, the Office EPM Solution provides a positive and sustainable return on your investment. In IT portfolio management, software can cut costs 2-5 percent, improve productivity 20-25 percent, and shift 10-15 percent of budgets to more strategic projects. In developing and bringing new products to market, the best performers — those who have applied rigorous process and technology to their research and development and go-to-market activities — can reduce time to market by more than 30 percent.

Session Topics Include:

• An overview of the Portfolio Management process
• Determining appropriate project selection criteria
• Connecting business strategies to the project selection criteria
• Preventing “problem projects” from entering the opportunity pipeline
• Executing selected projects, tracking schedules and optimizing resource allocations
• How to determine when to terminate an existing project
• Using technology to optimize your portfolio & gain visibility