A year in the life of Alptis Assurances' PMO

Joseph Pares, PMO of Alptis Assurances, took to the VIRAGE Days stage to share his typical year as a "project officer". It was an "open door" conference given by a man with a passion for projects and strategy. Ready to immerse yourself in the day-to-day life of the office dedicated to strategic project portfolio management?

Twelve months of strategic sequences, budgetary processes, project implementation, etc. A year as PMO covers a broad spectrum, combining technical, management and communication skills. Governance highlights, support for project teams, steering bodies, appointments of key project managers...

Double immersion: both in responsibility and in the project office. Because behind the "O" there's also the Officer and the Office.

After reminding us of the origins of the PMO, Mr Pares opens the door to the project office wide!

A cross-functional Project Management Office (and Officer) at Alptis Assurances

The creation of the PMO unit was preceded by in-depth work on ISO certification. These foundations on all the company's processes also addressed project management. Alptis Assurance's quality guidelines defined a project methodology. The genesis of the Project Office, recalled in the introduction to the conference, was the subject of a dedicated testimonial available in replay.

The PMO is responsible for managing the strategic project portfolio. The PMO reports to the OTOP Department, which in turn reports... to General Management. This is a key point in understanding that the PMO focuses on strategic projects with a cross-functional approach. Given the importance of IT in this insurer's projects, the PMO could have been attached to CIO. But it's a strong choice to have a position detached from prime contracting and project management.

"We decided to set up an Optimization and Operational Transformation Department (OTOP), reporting directly to General Management and headed by Salomé Neveu," explains Joseph Pares.

To support its digital transformation, the company has drawn up three-year strategic plans. The current plan, called "Symbiose", is scheduled to run until 2023, and is built around 4 ambitions embodied in 200 initiatives and projects.

The PPMtool Project Monitor from VIRAGE Group has enabled us to implement the project portfolio management process and industrialize practices. A key aspect in managing these ambitious transformation plans. The Project Monitor platform has been renamed KAIROS.

PMO missions: a mix of leadership and coordination

Before sharing his typical year, Joseph Parès reminded us of the PMO's key missions. They reflect the PMO's broad spectrum of responsibilities, which comes as no surprise when you preside over the destiny of more than 50 strategic projects a year:

• Make the link with corporate strategy
• Coordinate qualification of N+1 project portfolio
• Monitor the portfolio and facilitate its completion
• Assist Project Managers and Sponsors
• Manage management tools including Kairos

The PMO framework - the office and its manager laid... make way for the highlights that punctuate the portfolio year. 👇

A PMO year starting in July with budget preparation

Thebudget preparation process begins in July. And since strategic projects account for more than 10 million euros, it's also the kick-off to the PMO year.

At Alptis, the budget is allocated at the level of the departments concerned by the projects. They are aligned with the budget note drawn up by the departments. In-depth work is carried out by the CODIR to target/orient/pre-select projects in line with strategy. This is therefore the official month for launching the collection of candidate projects, at the same time as the presentation of the budgetary framework note (DAF).

September - it's (also) the start of the project season, with the costing of the N+1 portfolio. The PMO brings together all stakeholders to produce a macro-costing of the desired projects. The POPP - Point Opérationnel du Portefeuille Projet - is a weekly meeting coordinated by the PMO. A special POPP is held in September. Each manager estimates the time spent by the teams on the projects. They then finalize an estimate of the annual landing of portfolio N & any overruns (backlogs).

The following months will be used to refine estimates, arbitrations and schedule.

In October, the project portfolio is aligned. Following costing, the elements will be presented to the Finance Department. This involves aligning the portfolio with the Departments' budget notes.

November is the month ofadjustment and planning. Financial arbitration requires management to adjust budgets (purchase of licenses....). Financial constraints and objectives lead management to adjust the project portfolio: do we need to review the scope? do we need to delete a subject? do we need to postpone a project?

"Thanks to the work done upstream, we generally have very few adjustments to make," stresses Joseph Pares.

In December, it's time for the annual review of the portfolio in progress (have the projects been completed? Have some been deleted? Have new ones been added? ....). The definitive project portfolio for the coming year is validated and budget envelopes allocated.

End calendar year with validation of project portfolio

January: New (calendar) year = New portfolio! This is an opportunity to communicate about the validated project portfolio, and to get the project and development teams on board with upcoming projects. The team also secures the closure of any unfinished business from the previous year, so that unfinished projects don't encroach on the new portfolio: "We prepare the launches, we try to launch the annual projects, and above all we secure the closure of any unfinished business from N-1. That's where the PMO comes in, to hunt down project managers to close these projects and avoid taking up bandwidth in the year to come!

A monthly review of the current portfolio is also carried out with the PMO, the OTOP Director and the DOSI. In a dynamic of agility and continuous improvement, it's a challenge to regularly question these governance bodies and the associated participants. "Is a body like the POPP still intended to exist? Are the participants in this body still the right people following the company's reorganization? We ask ourselves all these questions on a regular basis, to make sure we don't fall asleep on a humming-bum existence, and to restore our dynamism!

In February, we come under control. With the closing of N-1 balances secured and start-of-year adjustments (organization of meetings, project planning, etc.).

March is the month of the first assessment, the first quarterly review to analyze the behavior of this new portfolio. The first studies will enable us to fine-tune the budget.

Manage the arrival of new projects at any time of the year

New projects, not included in the initial portfolio, are also likely to arise. The team manages to find solutions that avoid recourse to arbitration by the management committee. In most cases, this is done through POPP steering committees or more specific steering committees. They see how to fit these issues into the current portfolio, and whether certain schedules need to be revised.

There may be new issues or hazards, such as a competitor challenging a new offer in the sector, or a regulatory change. We have to analyze these "disruptive" elements: we have to identify the needs, the urgencies, the impacts. Depending on the investigation we carry out, we will identify scenarios and integrate them, or not, into the portfolio.

Review and adjust projects before starting up again for another year

In May, it's an opportunity toimprove project management. Monitoring continues throughout the year. However, Alptis Assurance is conducting a more in-depth technology watch on the Project Monitor project portfolio management tool. We analyze new features and identify interesting ones to deploy or not.

Project Monitor launches updates and new features. In this case, we analyze what's new and what features need to be implemented. We don't look at the deployment of each new feature or functionality. In project portfolio management, we always start from the principle that we must first experiment with methodologies, and then use the tool to industrialize these practices.

And in June, it's time to finish and start again! OTOP management will be taking stock of the first half of the year, and possibly revising quarterly forecasts. "We will then prepare the schedule project portfolio N+1, which will arrive in July, along with the budget envelope and the next project portfolio.

The Project Management Office advent calendar

A month-by-month look back at a typical PMO year at Alptis Assurances :

Questions / Answers

How do you give visibility to the business departments?

In the POPP (Point Opérationnel du Portefeuille Projet) meetings, we meet the main managers of CIO every week. Then we have quarterly reviews presented to the Management Committee to share this information with the other departments concerned. The Project Monitor tool is open to the whole company, since we enter time via the application, so everyone has access to the projects they are involved in.

How do you manage the number of projects over the year at N+1?

In September, when we review the costings, we identify the needs of the project managers. In the OTOP department, we have 4 project managers, each managing 2 to 3 projects, depending on the size of the project. For other projects, depending on their subject (technical or business), we will rely on a Product Manager to ensure coordination, or on IT resources who have the role of Product Owner. Having project leaders enables us to balance the number of projects. What's more, we also balance the subjects over the year, which means we can manage several of them.