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UMT360 Blog

UMT360 solution positioned in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools™

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 3, 2023

UMT360 software is positioned in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for for Enterprise Architecture Tools™. This is the first time UMT360’s solution has been included in Gartner’s Enterprise Architecture MQ, having already been positioned in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Strategic Portfolio Management report. UMT360 is one of only two companies listed in both reports, reflecting our belief that true …

Importance of Strategic Portfolio Management Highlighted In New Research Report

Ben Chamberlain

Updated November 18, 2022

A recent report initiating coverage of UMT360 by 451 Research asserts that strategic portfolio management (SPM) is key in helping organizations “capture what success looks like, understand current and future states in terms of architectures and business capabilities, and align different stakeholders to get there.” The report examines UMT360’s ability to deliver SPM capabilities to …

UMT360 Strategic Portfolio Management Solution positioned in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

Ben Chamberlain

Updated November 18, 2022

UMT360 software is once again included in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Strategic Portfolio Management report. Gartner’s 2022 report also provides a stark warning to organizations that disruptions should not be ignored or dismissed, but rather expected when planning and executing strategy. The report goes further, predicting that that by 2025, organizations that don’t apply a …

UMT360 Client Showcases Solution At Business Architecture Innovation Summit

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated November 18, 2022

UMT360 client Cargill will present at the 10th Annual Business ArchitectureInnovation Summit on Thursday, March 24, 2022, at 3:55 pm EDT, discussing the different ways the company performs and utilizes assessments they generate using UMT360’s Enterprise Connect solutions. Due to the complexity of their business environment, Cargill requires business capabilityassessments at multiple levels, by function, …

Forrester’s Strategic Portfolio Management Report Features UMT360

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

Having already been positioned early this year in Gartner’s 2021 Strategic Portfolio Management Magic Quadrant, UMT360’s Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) software is now also included in a new Forrester analysis of the SPM market. Forrester’s Now Tech: Strategic Portfolio Management Tools is the second major analyst report featuring UMT360’s software, and positions UMT360 as one …

Strategic Planning Office

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated January 24, 2023

The Strategic Planning Office is at the heart of the ability to deliver strategic success The Strategic Planning Office ensures that all planning across the organization is integrated and aligned with strategic priorities. It manages the maintenance and evolution of those plans for all work types and all portfolios through the continuous adjustments that are …

Demand better demand management

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

Has any executive ever complained that they had too few projects? Most feel that they have way too many projects, and can never get them all completed. Yet having failed to deliver 100 projects for each of the last ten years they’ll still happily approve another 100 projects next year in the hope that something …

The Tri-Modal Reality

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

Gaining visibility across all project execution Today’s work is executed using traditional, Agile, and back-of-the-napkin approaches, so PMOs must provide top-down governance & control to gain a 360°view across all work and allow teams to work in their tool of choice. That’s the Tri-Modal Reality. The Tri-Modal Reality of work management Most organizations now manage …

Align Strategy Execution

Ben Chamberlain

Updated March 9, 2022

Use an objective approach that drives the right decisions to help orchestrate transformation In today’s dynamic enterprise, it’s difficult to keep strategy aligned with execution. An objective approach is required to drive the right decisions that help orchestrate transformation, but which is the right approach for your organization? What good is a strategy that can’t …

Scaling Agile

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

Hitting the wall while trying to Scale Agile within your organization? Agile work management tools continue to gain ground across enterprises. As more teams implement these easy-to-use tools, organizations have a greater need for a coherent strategy to scale and incorporate Agile adoption into their overall approach to work governance, without impacting or slowing innovation. …

Continuous Planning

Ben Chamberlain

Updated February 2, 2023

Move beyond a set-it-and-forget-it annual planning model to a more agile, continuous planning approach. An agile approach does not necessarily mean 100% Agile execution. The Tri-Modal reality makes traditional planning obsolete. What’s needed is a portfolio management technique that allows you to control all work throughout the year, regardless of how it is executed. What is a …

Strategy Realization Office

Ben Chamberlain

Updated May 12, 2022

Your strategic realization office or SRO is the hub of all strategic activity Whether you refer to it as a business transformation office, an enterprise PMO, or some other function, the ability to consistently ensure that all of the work being done aligns with your strategic drivers is critical to success. SRO Role Summary …

It’s time to go beyond – far beyond…

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

We’ve spent a lot of time in this series of blog posts looking at different elements – the imperatives – that are driving the need for Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM). Because we believe that mastering these seemingly disparate elements is the key building a successful business. But there’s another question, one that we’ve touched on …

UMT360 Positioned for its Strategic Portfolio Management Solution in the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Strategic Portfolio Management

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated January 24, 2023

We’ve been telling the world for years now that Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) is the key to accelerating business transformation. And now we’re happy to announce our inclusion in Gartner’s new SPM Magic Quadrant. Gartner’s first ever Magic Quadrant on Strategic Portfolio Management has positioned UMT360 for its completeness of vision and ability to execute. …

Adopting Agile Execution Doesn’t Necessarily Make Your Business Agile.

Ben Chamberlain

Updated March 30, 2022

It’s a familiar story. You adopt Agile techniques to start delivering projects, and it seems to work well. So, you start delivering more projects using Agile, and that works well too. Sure, there are a few missteps and a few areas where it’s less successful, but you gloss over those, because, well, it’s Agile! Over …

Is That Really The Outcome You Were Hoping For?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 4, 2022

Why do you invest in projects and programs? A simple question, but one that many employees likely can’t answer. All investments are made to generate an outcome. Whether that’s financial, reputational, regulatory, or any other category label you want to apply, every investment – in projects, programs, products, capabilities, technologies, et al has to produce …

Portfolio Analysis Answers The Age-Old Question “What If…?”

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 4, 2022

In an earlier post, we looked at roadmaps, something that has been getting a lot of attention in the last couple of years. Most will agree that roadmaps need to have substance behind them and their purpose is to improve your ability to run your business and make key decisions. And perhaps most importantly, they …

What’s the status of your status reports?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated March 9, 2022

Status reports have always been the bane of every project manager’s life. Generating status reports can be a logistical nightmare, but with the right automation, it’s possible for any organization to dynamically build performance dashboards and centralize the administration of the entire process. Your status isn’t as interesting as you think it is Most executives …

Roadmaps are the key to driving all transformation.

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 4, 2022

If your business doesn’t already produce some roadmaps, then you probably feel as though you should have them. Because that’s what everyone seems to be been talking about – you have to have roadmaps, you can’t manage your business without roadmaps, roadmaps will unlock your strategic potential. And on, and on, and on. But when …

Hard to deliver a return on investment if you don’t manage the actual investments!

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 4, 2022

There’s only one reason to engage in any piece of work – and that’s to achieve value. Sometimes the value is direct – like more revenue or lower costs. And sometimes it’s indirect – compliance, customer and employee satisfaction and the like. But regardless of how value is defined, every piece of work do has …

To do planning right, it needs to be both continuous and adaptive.

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

A series of blogs about Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) wouldn’t be complete without a post stressing the importance of continuous or adaptive planning. You may think you’ve heard it all before, but you really haven’t. Because what is being promoted as the concept of continuous planning, and what many organizations have tried to embrace, isn’t …

What good is strategy if you can’t deliver on it?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 4, 2022

Life used to be simple. Leaders got together once a year and set priorities for the business, and those became goals and objectives. Departments developed project proposals, with the “best” of those proposals (or the ones with the best sales pitch) approved as the initiatives that would help to achieve the stated goals and objectives. …

SPM gives you the ability to see everything, no matter how it’s executed.

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

Our last post introduced the concept of Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), kicking off a series of posts that will explore each of the key business imperatives you’ll need to address, and how effective SPM capabilities can help you address them. There’s no better place to start than with the most fundamental question of all – …

Strategic Portfolio Management – the answer to today’s business imperatives

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

When Gartner starts talking about something, people typically listen. And recently Gartner has been highlighting the importance of moving beyond the traditional project and portfolio management (PPM) approach to embrace the concept of Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM). Broadly speaking, the idea behind SPM is that you manage all execution as if it is connected to …

Gartner® advises organizations to adopt SPM processes and technology

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

A recent Gartner report offers insight into the evolving nature of PPM and the strategic portfolio management tools that program and portfolio management leaders need to effectively manage all work. This report is especially poignant to those who are tasked with driving digital transformation while also grappling with the associated challenges of managing work across …

Portfolio Selection

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

Align all project requests with strategic priorities. A structured portfolio selection process enforces a rational approach to decision making to help ensure that the organization is focused on the right projects and programs. Best-practice, objective portfolio selection techniques equip PMOs to recommend that the right investments are selected. With scarcity becoming the new reality, it’s …

Portfolio Metrics and Benchmarks

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

Go past traditional KPIs to track actual business impact. Harness all of the valuable information within your PPM processes to clearly demonstrate how your PMO is driving transformation. Traditional project-level health indicators alone (such cost, schedule, work, risk) can’t reflect the true value being delivered by your PPM tool. Inside every PPM tool is a …

Business Capability Management

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

Effectively orchestrate business transformation Improving business capabilities is a key driver for aligning execution with strategy and gaining control across all enterprise investments To effectively drive business transformation, organizations must continuously improve the performance of their business capabilities. Capabilities – comprised of people, processes and technology – represent the operating fabric of your company and …

Migrating from Oracle Primavera to Microsoft Project Online

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

These days, more and more organizations are looking to make the switch from Oracle Primavera to Microsoft Project Online. This decision can be driven by the need to move to a cloud-based SaaS solution, or simply because the organization wants a better user experience and increased flexibility for managing projects and portfolios. Primavera -> Project …

UMT360 extends Project for the Web capabilities

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

Project for the web marks the next chapter for Microsoft Project, providing a distinctive modern web interface and user experience for managing work of any size. In this post, we’ll explore how you can quickly add the robust portfolio management capabilities needed to help you accelerate business transformation. In addition to an elegant and easy-to-use …

Gartner® Market Guide Confirms Strategy Execution Requires The Right Tools.

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated October 28, 2022

The most recent Gartner Market Guide for Strategy Execution Management features a simple but profound statement: “Strategy should always drive what we decide to do and how we decide to do it.” Take it from a company who has been saying essentially the same thing for years, that quote really nails it. Strategy execution expertise …

Using Microsoft Teams collaboration capabilities with UMT360

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

Many organizations are in the process of moving from Skype to Microsoft Teams. In addition to providing the ability to message and call team members, Microsoft Teams also provides great team collaboration capabilities. Let’s take a look at how to leverage those capabilities in conjunction with UMT360. Integrating Microsoft Teams with UMT360 When creating a …

What Are The Keys To Mastering Portfolio Management?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

Chances are good that if you’re not already acting on a mandate from your executives to drive business transformation, you’re looking for a way to do just that. But if you approach this challenge focused only on project execution, you’ll soon discover that driving transformation without first connecting execution to strategy is next to impossible. …

Streamlining Resource Planning: Case Study

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated October 23, 2021

Resource management has always been a thorn in the side for organizations looking to optimize precious resources. For one educational institution, adopting a new process has literally meant the difference between night and day. Here’s a before and after look at how they improved it. A very sticky situation During their quarterly planning process, the …

Configuring Custom Project Fields in Microsoft Project Web

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

You may already know this, but Project for the web comes with a Dynamics app called Project. At the time of writing this post, the app provides you with the following capabilities: Access to a central repository of all the projects created with Project for the web Access to the pool of resources assigned to …

Microsoft Project Web: Creating Automated Approval Workflows Using Power Automate

UMT360

Updated October 23, 2021

Project for the web is Microsoft’s most recent offering for cloud-based work and project management. It’s built on top of Common Data Service (CDS), which opens a lot of possibilities when working with Microsoft’s new chapter of project management software. One of the scenarios made possible by CDS and the Power platform is building robust …

Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ recognizes UMT360 as a visionary

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated January 24, 2023

Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications (IIPA) was just released, and once again, UMT360 has been recognized as a visionary provider. According to Gartner, “integrating portfolios using IIPA software enables IT managers to see the cost, effort, technical complexity, feasibility and interrelated effects of a proposed IT change or digital initiative …

Microsoft Project Web: Building Reports and Dashboards

UMT360

Updated March 8, 2023

Project for the web marks the next chapter for Microsoft Project, providing a distinctive modern web interface and user experience for managing work of any size. Project for the web is built on the Microsoft Power Platform, which means that, unlike its predecessor, all data is stored in the Common Data Service (CDS). Why is …

Microsoft’s Work Management Offerings Just Got More Interesting!

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated January 24, 2023

Microsoft’s robust selection of modern work management offerings just got a whole lot more interesting with the release of Project for the web. This exciting new, modern web-based task and project management solution provides an experience that supports co-authoring, interactive grid/board/timeline views and a whole lot more! A range of work management solutions This new …

The View From The Gartner PPM Summit

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated January 24, 2023

Last month in Washington DC, PPM leaders from all over the world gathered for Gartner’s Program & Portfolio Management Summit. We thought we’d share a few observations from the event. With close to 2,000 attendees, this annual Gartner summit is certainly one of the highlights of the year for anyone involved with PPM. As one …

Exciting new roadmapping capabilities now available for Microsoft Project users!

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

Microsoft recently released a new feature for Project called Roadmap. According to Microsoft, “Roadmap is a visually exciting way to combine information from multiple Waterfall and Agile projects and share it with co-workers.” But that’s just the beginning… Every organization knows that there’s no one-size-fits all approach to managing work. More and more organizations are …

Gartner’s Market Guide For Strategy Execution

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated October 23, 2021

Gartner’s recent market guide on Strategy Execution Management Software advises that any PPM leader interested in driving business transformation invest in tools to help them more effectively manage strategy execution. So what does that mean? Gartner asserts that strategy execution management requires a solution that focuses on “supporting the dynamic portfolio management needs of business strategists, steering …

Gartner® 2018 Magic Quadrant™ for IIPA Recognizes UMT360 as a Visionary

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated October 28, 2022

For the seventh consecutive year, UMT360 is once again recognized as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications (IIPA). In its 2018 report, Gartner recognizes UMT360 for its completeness of vision and ability to execute. The full report can be found here (Gartner subscription required). According to the Gartner report: …

Responding To A Mandate For Business Transformation

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

Every year, UMT360 participates in the Gartner PPM Summit. This year’s event was held June 12-14 in National Harbor, MD. As they have in previous years, the folks at ProjectManagement.com asked me to provide some observations on this year’s Summit. You can find the whole article here, but if you don’t have an account (register …

UMT360 Named A Visionary In Gartner® 2017 Magic Quadrant™ for IIPA

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated October 28, 2022

UMT360 has once again been recognized as a Visionary in Gartner’s 2017 Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications (IIPA). This is the sixth consecutive year that UMT360 has been recognized by Gartner for its completeness of vision and ability to execute. The full report can be found here (Gartner subscription required). According to …

Using Dependencies & Validations for Project Online/Server Fields

Margaret Wallace MPM, MCP, MCTS

Updated October 23, 2021

I was recently teaching a class for UMT360 Administrators, and as I was covering the feature Dependencies and Validations for Project Server Fields, one of my students in the class exclaimed in a eureka moment, “I didn’t know we could do that!” So I thought, maybe others who are not aware of what their UMT360 …

Microsoft Project Online: Display People Pickers using Javascript

Margaret Wallace MPM, MCP, MCTS

Updated October 23, 2021

I’ve heard of lots of folks having issues displaying a People Picker in a Project Server web part. Well, good news, there’s a fix that I found recently in this article by James Boman, Use SharePoint people pickers on Project Server or Online PDPs. The trick is using a JavaScript code snippet that allows you …

Introducing UMT360 Apps for Microsoft PPM

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

There’s no question that Microsoft Project Online and Project Server are world-class PPM solutions. When implemented correctly, Microsoft’s PPM platform enables organizations to establish the solid foundation they need to manage project execution. But when it comes to extending capabilities beyond Microsoft’s core PPM features, organizations have historically relied on expensive and complicated customizations and …

New tools and techniques turn project management into strategy execution

Ben Chamberlain

Updated January 24, 2023

Gartner recently published its Market Guide for Strategy Execution Software. If you’re a Gartner client, you can access it here. The report speaks to the “execution gap” that many organizations are struggling with, and the main culprit seems to be a reliance on traditional tools and processes that keep project success rates stuck at around …

New Pricing & Options For Microsoft PPM Cloud

Margaret Wallace MPM, MCP, MCTS

Updated October 23, 2021

Microsoft recently announced new pricing for its Project Cloud PPM platform. As with any pricing change, how this new plan may impact your organization depends on your particular situation. Let’s first take a look at the facts, which will help provide a clearer idea of what it could mean to you. All current available plans will eventually …

For today’s strategic PMO, real business transformation begins at home

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

What do people really mean when they talk about business transformation? And why do we seem to be hearing so much about business transformation within the context of project and program management? Perhaps a few insights from this year’s Gartner PPM & IT Governance Summit in Orlando can help to answer those questions. The future …

Gartner Summit 2016. Stop Managing Projects. Start Orchestrating Investments!

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

We’re excited to be participating in the Gartner PPM & IT Governance Summit once again this year. The Summit will will be in Orlando from June 6-8. If you plan on attending, please do stop by the UMT360 booth and say hello. The theme of this year’s event is Results-Driven PPM: Leading Change and Delivering Value …

Can A PPM Platform Really Deliver 300% ROI?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

A recent Forrester Consulting report commissioned by Microsoft examines the costs and benefits of deploying Office 365 Project and Portfolio Management. The bottom-line? According to Forrester, a typical organization can realize a 301% ROI over three years! That’s a pretty bold claim, so let’s take a look at how they arrived at that figure. An …

Microsoft PPM Platforms: The Fact And The Fiction

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

“Decades-old fables about Microsoft Project’s lack of capabilities bear little resemblance to today’s reality.” We’ve all heard the age-old myths about the moon being made of cheese or fantastic creatures patrolling murky depths or hairy giants haunting the Pacific Northwest. With experience comes the wisdom to recognize which is truth and which isn’t. Yet, some of us do still …

Looking to do more in 2016?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

The end of the year is a time to connect with loved ones, celebrate the holidays, and make resolutions for the New Year. For PMO leaders, it’s also the perfect time to take a step back and assess the effectiveness of the processes you use to manage project and program investments, while also assessing their …

On A Journey To PMO Maturity

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

This fall, the UMT360 team participated in several industry events featuring PMO leaders presenting thought-provoking keynotes and informative breakout sessions. Attending these events always gives us a chance to learn, along with an opportunity to speak with PMO leaders from all walks of life. It also is a great reminder that no two organizations have exactly the same needs or …

Is Your PMO Ready To Lead?

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

UMT360’s own Ben Chamberlain presents the keynote at this year’s Project Management Days event in Helsinki. I was invited to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Project Management Days in Helsinki. It was an honor to kick off this event in front of hundreds of project management professionals from around the world. But I have …

An Oasis For PMOs In The Desert

Ben Chamberlain

Updated October 23, 2021

The UMT360 team, along with PMO leaders from around the world, will be in Phoenix from November 8-11, 2015 for the PMO Symposium. The PMO Symposium is one of our favorite events of the year. It’s where hundreds of business leaders gather for a behind-the-scenes look into the proven strategies and practices that drive success for some of the …

A Good Start Makes All The Difference

Hubie Sturtevant

Updated October 23, 2021

It’s back-to-school time. And that means a fresh start for kids just looking for an opportunity to learn and grow. This year, the UMT360 team is hoping to make a difference for a few foster kids here in Washington state. Because each fall, thousands of them head back to school, and too many lack the essentials to succeed in the classroom. But …