7 reasons why you should

adopt PlanningForce
1. Optimize the Resource Usage
Your resources are placed at the center of your planning process to help you have a success-
d| hdnan resodrce s|ra|ey or recrd|||n, |ra|n|n, no||va||n and reward|n yodr s|a
Resources are at the center of your planning process
Find the right balance in your workforce
Now that you have an engine that allows you to plan and re-plan in seconds, you can start
doing things that are not feasible with other products on the market: you can test new work-
ing scenarios and therefore create the optimal workforce
You will describe your resources through
|he|r spec|c roles, skills, levels, e-
ciency, and calendars, so everyone can
be scheduled and used consistently and
ec|en||y accord|n |o |he|r capac||y
PlanningForce scheduling engine bal-
ances task timing and resource selec-
tion to create an optimal resource
plan, and shows yod how ec|en||y |he
resodrces are dsed
Qualify and quantify, with
the PlanningForce tools and
methodology, the optimal
workforce in light of your
proec| por|o||o
Compare this optimum
with the existing workforce
,|n|erna| and ex|erna|)
Imagine and test scenarios
that match task require-
nen|s and resodrce oers
through simple HR tech-
niques (recruitment, dismissal,
training, use of contractors and
|enporary workers)
Set the optimal cost based
on estimated realistic pro-
ductivity and adapt the
sa|ary packae accord|n|y
Implement your decisions
and non||or |he|r eec-
||veness
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2. Concentrate on the most protab|e projects
Planning is a concurrent process: new projects compete with existing ones for the use of
||n||ed resodrces
6|ve more |mportance to the mar|na| eect oI a project
A particular project doesn't necessarily have a posi-
||ve eec| on |he en||re por|o||o, even | ||s
expec|ed |ncone seens very a||rac||ve
That's why we give more importance to the mar-
ginal eect of a pro|ect than to its income or its
|heore||ca| pro|
Question to ask yourself before adding a new project:
Is the rea| added-va|ue oI an add|t|ona| project pos|t|ve!
Calculate the expected
revenues generated by your
existing project portfolio
Imagine and test several
planning simulations with
this additional project
Compare the revenue fore-
casts of each of these simu-
lations to the initial revenue
forecast
Reject this project if, at the
end of the project, the
cumulated CF has not been
increased
Modify the composition of
the existing portfolio to
make it globally more prof-
itable with the new project
|han w||hod| ||
OR
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Incourae 'Project 0arwn|sm'
Among the reasons that explain why so many projects fail, one of the most important is cer-
tainly the lack of memory and/or transmission of previous experience
We propose you to use PlanningForce to encourage
what could be seen as 'Project Darwinism', but is
nothing else than using all available data to
learn, test, retain and diuse the best practices.
Create project templates and task
group templates
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Use historical data to estimate risks
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1|..||, ...)
Review your project lifecycle after
completion and understand the rea-
sons for divergence
Create benchmarks between similar
projects and retain the best planned /
achieved projects
Review your project lifecycle after
completion and understand the rea-
sons for divergence
Don't consider projects in isolation
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3. Anticipate risk and problems
In PlanningForce, you will be able to anticipate the incidence of recurring problems by
ds|n |he concep| o r|sk coec|en|s
Anticipate the incidence of recurring problems
Simulate, compare and choose the most realistic plan
Risks, such as illnesses, unplanned tasks, longer
tasks, changes, and interruptions are frequent
|hrodhod| |he ||e o |he p|an
These events are so frequent that we often have
s|a||s||cs or |he|r occdrrence Tha|'s why we w|||
node| |he|r occdrrence and |ncorpora|e |he|r eec|
|n|o odr p|ans
By doing so, you will improve the reliability of the delivery dates, and certainly the cohe-
s|on o |he |ean, |he qda|||y o |he work and, |hereore, |he pro|s
You can generate as many
planning variations as you
wish for the same Project
Por|o||o
You can change any informa-
tion and get a new adjusted
p|an |nned|a|e|y
Variations can be organized
into scenarios or simulations
|ha| can be conpared eas||y
This will allow you to:
Run what-if analyses to
assess the possible
impact of risks or new
opportunities
Compare KPIs, apply score cards and display radar
views in order to deliver the most realistic plan consid-
ering your assumptions, your goals and constraints
Develop best case / worst
case scenarios
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4. 8e as ex|b|e as your bus|ness regu|res
/ p|an |s o|en nade once and never chane, or || |s overs|np||ed w||h rodh es||na|es
You can get so much more from an agile planning process.
0eve|op an a||e p|ann|n process
Be prepared to the worst
(*)
Winning the Time-to-Market battle is question of
a||||y
PlanningForce allows you to re-plan parts of the
project portfolio that are not frozen, and to
re-balance and optimize your plans as often as
reqd|red by yodr bds|ness
PlanningForce scheduling engine will automatically generate new plans and schedules, while
also taking account of progress statuses, changes in your projects and resources, and
chanes |n yodr de||very da|es and pr|or|||es
You can test the impact on the delivery dates of:
Anticipation
Once your model is ready, you can
start testing all the scenarios you
can |na|ne n ds| a ew seconds,
PlanningForce will calculate the
|npac| o |hese on yodr p|an
` . | :. \.| || .:||, :.'|| r.| | 1|+:|r|1
Losing some critical resources
Changing some of the project priorities or
target end dates
Adding unforeseen activities or facing longer
and nore d|cd|| |asks
Encountering delays in some critical supplies
PlanningForce is a laboratory in which you will be
ab|e |o s|nd|a|e any k|nd o scenar|os
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5. Better performance of your PMO organization
The na| s|a|e o a p|an |s |he resd|| o even|s |hrodhod| ||s ||e
keep track and |earn Irom your project portIo||o h|story
Increase your turnover and your prots
Initial construction of the plan
Scenarios you assessed
Simulations you tested
Successive progress statuses
Events that forced you to change course
These d|eren| s|aes are a piece
of the history PlanningForce
keeps to help you better under-
stand your organization and its
environment and feed your learn-
|n cdrve
This material is priceless when
you have to share your planning
expertise or when you re-visit a
spec|c nonen| o |he p|an and
test the relevancy of alternative
work|n condra||ons
Planning can be seen as one of the most powerful methodologies for performing SWOT
ana|yses Fron sdch S\CT ana|yses, yod can s|ar| e|abora||n and |np|enen||n s|ra|e|es
no| ds| |o reddce cos|s, bd| a|so |o |ncrease yodr |drnover and yodr pro|s
r.|+ |.|r:.| (:| +.||.||)
Crea|e or nd bder ac||v|||es
Use bder resodrces
Anticipate and counter declines in
activity
Anticipate and counter disruptions
r.|+ |:|
Specialize your activities
Specialize your resources
Adapt your pricing dynamically
Adapt third-party agreements
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Pro|ect creation: use project and task group templates
Encodings: experiment innovative ergonomics to speed up your encodings
Navigation: nd, sor|, read or ed|| any da|a |n ds| one or |wo c||cks
Exports: save any kind of data in a click and use it in other programs
Scalability: manage dozens or thousands of tasks and resources with the same ease
Scheduling: build an optimized schedule in seconds from short to long-term
Re-planning: take account of progress and changes and re-plan on the spot
Reports: generate and read intelligent reports as clear summaries, not novels
6. Stop time-consuming manual planning work
Get an optimized plan in seconds
In wh|ch areas does P|ann|nIorce he|p you save t|me!
The rs| phase o a proec|, |he deve|opnen| o
the project plan, typically requires a lot of your
||ne
Even more work is required when you want to
a||oca|e resodrces ec|en||y, or when yod wan|
|o chane yodr '|dea|' p|an |o a 'rea||s||c' one
With PlanningForce, when you have to re-plan,
just hit the Scheduling button' and a new opti-
mized plan is delivered immediately!
PlanningForce focuses on drastically reducing the planning work and improving the
quality of the plan. Its planning engine builds an optimized plan in seconds, whether it is a
s|n|e proec| or a por|o||o o hdndreds o proec|s
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||| .:|||r...
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7. One version of the truth across your organization
One of the goals of the PMO organization is to make sure everyone will be able to share and
dnders|and |he |norna||on |he sys|en prov|des
Dene yodr competence matrix in light
of the project requirements, not from HR
lists
Dene and apply pro|ect templates as
much as possible and avoid 'free style'
proec| den|||on
Avoid named-resource requirements and
encourage the use of skill requirements
instead
Stop duration-driven task den|||on and
dse |he eor|dr|ven one |ns|ead
Do no| es||na|e |he eor| reqd|red by a |ask |n re|a||onsh|p w||h |he capac||y o a spec|c
resource, but do it as if it was handled by an average-skilled person
Basic recommendations
Break the walls between departments
Collaboration inside the PMO organization depends
on two factors:
The better you implement the following basic rules at the PMO organization scale, the
h|her |he re|drn o ds|n P|ann|nForce w||| be
The harmonization of the planning techniques
The sharing of resources
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Harmonizing planning techniques
Use one single competence matrix for all the departments
Unify the competence assessment procedures
Use one central repository as PM tool
Apply our recommendations for having "one version of the truth"
Look or |n|erna| so|d||ons rs|
Crea|e "y|n |eans" ab|e and w||||n |o work |n d|eren| depar|nen|s
Encourage the transparency about how and where resources are used
Modera|e |he |ndence o |he PMs |n |he oran|.a||on
Give to everyone the same importance in the negociation processes
Increase the sharing of resources
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Visit us at
www.planningforce.com
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