7 Multi-Project Management Success Factors (+ Tools & Checklist)

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Are you familiar with these kinds of issues when handling many projects in parallel: inefficient scheduling, employee overload, repeatedly increased costs or quality problems? If you consider the success factors for multi-project management described below, these pain points will decrease significantly. You will learn what leads to successful multi-project management or program management in the following chapters:

Definition Multi-Project Management

Multi-project management comprises all projects of an organizational unit – i.e. many projects are implemented in parallel and with the same resource pool.

For differentiation: we define the distinction between multi-project management and program management as follows:

  1. Projects within a program serve a common, overall goal.
  2. Multi-Project management comprises all projects of an organizational unit

Reading tip: 8 tips on how to succeed in program management.

Multi-Project Management Example

A multi-project management example is the IT department in a bank. There, many people work on different projects that are not (necessarily) interrelated:

  • One team is implementing the new CRM system requested by one of the departments
  • Another team is working on documentation software
  • A third team is expanding the features of the software used to display stock market prices
  • etc.

This IT project portfolio of the bank is implemented in parallel using the same resource pool but does not serve a shared program goal. This is why we speak of multi-project management rather than program management.

Challenges in Multi-Project Management

If you are working in a multi-project environment, you will be familiar with the number one challenge: you must implement many projects in parallel while drawing on the same resource pool.

In addition, smooth functioning is hampered by the circumstances of the multi-project environment:

  • Projects are implemented in different departments
  • Resources from different departments need to be coordinated
  • The projects’ priority and strategic contribution can change
  • Project costs have to correspond to the budget
  • Some projects are interdependent
  • The project environment becomes more and more international
  • Report requirements become increasingly complex
  • Decisions must be made in a short space of time
  • Precise project information is required

Problems in Multi-Project Management and Their Causes

It is a fact that: the sheer number of parallel projects makes for regular surprises. This leads to the problems listed at the beginning:

  • Rescheduling
  • Resource conflicts
  • Cost increases
  • Variations in quality

Frequent causes of these problems in multi-project management are:

  • Missing overview of all projects and resources
  • Wrong priorities for initiatives and projects
  • Unrealistic planning of delivery dates and efforts
  • Unprofessional management of projects
  • Wrong decisions in the case of resource conflicts
  • Improper closure and documentation of projects

If you succeed in reducing these problems, or even removing them as far as possible, your projects will be more successful.

The following list of 7 success factors in multi-project management will help you.

Read this article and find out more about the meaning of project success.

7 Crucial Multi-Project Management Success Factors

Success Factor 1: Provide for an Overview

Keep track of the many parallel projects. You will only succeed in this if you use a central database once you have reached a certain number of projects. The central database will permit you to produce reports as required for your information or for informed decisions.

The chart below shows the different possible perspectives on the project portfolio. In addition to a central project list and resource overview, the illustration provides the following information on the portfolio:

  • Status reports
  • Portfolio and pipeline overviews
  • Risk matrix
  • Resource and cost charts

Learn more about the Project Status Report.

Underneath, you can find the tools for controlling the individual projects: for resource coordination, project monitoring, and data exchange with the controlling department.

The PPM Paradise
The PPM Paradise – Basis for informed decisions in multi-project environment

Download now: Free eBook (PDF) on “The PPM Paradise”

Here is what an optimal customizable solution for project, portfolio and resource management (PPM) should be capable of – tips and important arguments for your decision-makers. > Download eBook (PDF) “The PPM Paradise”

With a central solution for project, portfolio and resource management (PPM), you can track all information from the aggregated overview down to the smallest detail. If you are looking to implement an environment of this kind, remember this: better to start with limited functionality and build on that than to use maximum functionality and fail at the very beginning.

We will elaborate on the possibilities and the benefits of such a paradise PPM environment (we call it “The PPM Paradise”) further below in this article after the success factors.

Our tip: Make portfolio meetings time-limited. It is impossible to look at all projects and resources each time. Therefore, make sure that you define traffic light indicators and other criteria that will allow you to effectively filter the right projects and resources.

(Reading tip: How to manage your multi-project environment with project portfolio meetings)

Success Factor 2: Employ Your PMO

If you want to administer your environment for multi-project management efficiently, your projects must meet certain standards in structure and setup. In addition, you need to define processes for planning and updating your projects.

As decisions have cross-project effects, controlling for all projects should follow the same intervals – using data that is as recent as possible. Project managers need to know what to do when. And how to do it. That is why they need the appropriate training and supervision.

PMO in multi-project management
With appropriate processes and high data quality, a PMO ensures professional control in multi-project management

Your PMO should serve as a hub of communication between project managers, team leaders, decision-makers and controllers. It should be responsible for the efficient flow of information and the continuous improvement of the maturity level in project management.

PMO functions and improvements could for instance include:

  • Supporting the roles involved
  • Determining how projects are initiated
  • Coordinating resource requests
  • Ensuring reports are up to date, complete and plausible
  • Establishing processes and methods
  • Training project managers
  • Implementing a suitable tool environment for project, portfolio and resource management

The benefits of a well-established and accepted PMO should be:

  • Time savings due to routine and training
  • Decrease in project delays, costs and effort overruns
  • Improved profitability of customer projects
  • Reduction of resource conflicts
  • Improved strategic direction of the projects
Distribution of PMO responsibilities of PMO in multi-project management
Current actual and future desired distribution of PMO responsibilities (source: PMO Survey 2020 by TPG The Project Group)

Our tip: It is vital for your PMO to have backing from top management. However, it must not be perceived as a supervisory body. Instead, it has to give clear proof of its value to the project teams. This will ensure acceptance.

(Reading tip: Successful PMO Setup in 4 Simple Steps)

Success Factor 3: Prioritize Initiatives and Projects Appropriately

To avoid having to deal with too many projects at once, you should concentrate on the important and urgent ones. Therefore, set priorities in line with corporate strategy. Start your projects according to these priorities.

We urgently recommend a way of making prioritization easier. Create a decision matrix to differentiate between operations and different project types. The design of this project-worthiness analysis needs to be individual for every company.

Criteria Operation Minor Project Project Selection
Number of areas involved 1 area Up to 3 areas Over 3 areas Up to 3 areas
Size of entire project team 2 – 5 people Over 6 people Over 12 people Over 6 people
Resource requirements 10 – 30 man-days 30 – 100 man-days Over 100 man-days 30 – 100 man-days
Capital expenditure Under 10.000 € 10.000 – 50.000 € Over 50.000 € 10.000 – 50.000 €
Duration 1 – 3 months 4 – 10 months Over 10 months 4 – 10 months
Inherent complexity Low Medium High High
Novelty for project team Low Medium High Low
Quality risk Low Medium High Medium
External impact Low Medium High Low
Recommendation: Minor Project

Project-worthiness analysis for distinguishing between operations and project types

Our tip: Download our free Project-worthiness analysis template (MS Excel). You can easily adapt the template to your needs.

Depending on the rating, you need to use different controlling methods. This is about investing the administrative and controlling effort appropriate to the size of the undertaking.

Make your prioritization independent of the project type. You can determine the importance by using previously established drivers.

Our tip: Make sure you actually use the most resources for the most important projects.

(Reading tip: Project portfolio management: 7-step guide)

Success Factor 4: Be Strategic in Your Capacity Planning

Strategic resource planning, also known as capacity planning, has one aim: the predictive allocation of employees with the necessary skills.

You also need to ensure that the appropriate employees will be available at the right time to implement strategically relevant projects.

With inadequate capacity planning, you run risks such as:

  • Projects are not finished on time due to insufficient resource allocation
  • Project costs increase, as you are not using enough appropriate resources
  • Business opportunities cannot be exploited, as the required skills could not be obtained on time
  • Your coordination efforts for resolving resource conflicts are significantly higher
  • All of this can result in dissatisfied customers
portfolio / multi-project management scenario planning
When is it possible to start new projects in the portfolio from a resource perspective? Overview of the utilization via TPG CoReSuite Portfolio Manager App

Strategic resource planning done properly can gain you a variety of benefits.

These include, for instance:

  • You ensure that you reserve the most resources for the most important projects rather than for staffing unimportant ones
  • A complete overview of all resources, their project assignments and operations will keep you informed about the overall resource utilization
  • You know which – and how many – new projects can be started and also carried out in addition
  • You recognize resource bottlenecks in good time and can react to them in accordance with your corporate strategy
  • Many resource conflicts are avoided, as they never actually arise

Our tip: For successful strategic capacity planning, a strong PMO with backing from top management is vital. In addition, you need a suitable tool environment corresponding to the number of projects and resources.

(Reading tip: Important success factors of capacity planning.)

Success Factor 5: Optimally Support Tactical Resource Planning

Tactical resource management is the process of coordination between project manager and team leader. Project managers assign resources to the tasks of their projects. In doing so, they hope to actually get the team members they planned with. Where those team members are deployed in the end is the decision of the respective team leaders.

Tactical resource planning is anything but easy for project managers and team leaders because:

  • Efforts may not have been estimated as required
  • Team members are not as interchangeable as initially assumed
  • Project scope and delivery dates can change
  • Absences due to illness tend to be unexpected

The graphic below shows the people required for three projects on the left. On the right, you can see that the capacity of the available people is reduced due to absences and operations. As a result, the remaining project availability is no longer enough to serve all projects fully (Project A fully, Project B a little less and Project C significantly less than requested by the project manager).

Coordination project / team in multi-project management
Actual project availability takes absences and operations into account

Please note the following: In resource planning only complete planning is good planning. To achieve this, you should mark the following points:

  • Planning can be considered complete once each team member’s absences, operations and project assignments have been recorded
  • Only team leaders are able to plan completely for their team members; project managers lack this insight
  • Project availability is determined by looking at the capacity minus absences and operations
  • Planning project assignments differs between line and matrix organizations.

Our tip: Better to be complete and slightly unspecific in your planning than specific but incomplete. Only complete planning is good planning. And get used to the idea that resource planning will not always be 100 per cent specific. Outside interferences tend to come before you can adjust your planning.

You might like our article about quick Resource Planning Implementation or consider getting our free eBook on tactical resource planning below.

Success Factor 6: Ensure Transparency of Dependencies

The steering committee for multi-project management or programs issues its targets at regular intervals. This includes, for instance, directives concerning the important milestones at the interfaces.

These targets are allocated to the corresponding projects (top-down). And the project managers must implement them.

Success Factors for Multi-Project Management – Cross-project dependencies
Cross-project dependencies must be automatically visible without pre-empting decisions (example with TPG ProjectLink for Microsoft environments)

Our tip: Use “soft” links between the tasks of different projects. These have the advantage that project managers can see the resulting scheduling conflicts directly when making changes. However, this happens without changing their own plan, which is important. After all, project managers stay in control of their own planning.

(Reading tip: Successful program management with R&D example)

Success Factor 7: Simplify Budget Planning and Cost Tracking

In performing their tasks, project managers and controllers are reliant on each other’s data.

This makes it necessary to provide for system integration between both worlds via integration middleware. Without an automatic transfer of data in both directions, two things would be impossible:

  • Timely monthly billing
  • Prompt distribution of remaining budgets between the projects

The basic integration scenarios are the following:

  • Aligning the project structure of the PPM and ERP systems
  • Forecast transfer from the PPM system to the ERP system for budget creation
  • Transferring the actual hours from the PPM system to the ERP system for settlement
  • Transferring the actual cost from the ERP to the PPM system for controlling
Data synchronization between controlling and project management (here: transfer of the structure in both directions at the push of a button via TPG PSLink for SAP integration)

The advantages of such an integration are as follows:

  • Simplifies many work steps thanks to consistent project management processes
  • Integrates project planning, controlling, collaboration and document management
  • Eliminates dual data maintenance
  • Better data quality as decision-making basis for project manager, controlling and management

Our tip: The benefit of such a tool integration increases along with the number of projects and updates. The integration of PPM, ERP and other systems can be simple at first. It can be gradually extended as required.


FAQ on Multi-Project Management

Why do I need multi-project management?

Multi-project management (and the directly related portfolio management) allows you to, for example:

  • Establish a link between corporate strategic planning and project management
  • Gain an overview of all projects at the company
  • Identify and utilize synergies and potential synergies between the projects
  • Identify dependencies between projects
  • Utilize scarce resources the right way
  • Decide on the right timing for the project start

What are success factors for implementing multi-project management?

  • Success factor 1: Stay on top with a suitable IT environment for project, portfolio and resource management (PPM) with a central database – see „The PPM Paradise“ (PDF).
  • Success factor 2: Use your PMO as a central hub, e.g., for standardizing all processes, methods and tools. What is more, the PMO can have many different PMO functions.
  • Success factor 3: Prioritize initiatives and projects correctly. A project-worthiness analysis can help decide when a project is to be treated as such and how.
  • Success factor 4: Plan your capacities strategically to make sure that most resources work on the important projects.
  • Success factor 5: Support tactical resource planning between project and line management to keep resource overload as low as possible.
  • Success factor 6: Ensure the visibility of dependencies between projects with the aid of a suitable tool environment.
  • Success factor 7: Simplify your budget planning and cost tracking with integration middleware for the automated data exchange between ERP and PPM system.

What are the benefits of multi-project management?

The joint coordination of all projects at the company (via project portfolio management), with a view to identifying mutual dependencies and using the shared resource pool, makes it possible to be more successful and efficient in implementing the entire portfolio and the individual projects.

Starting from which number of projects do I need multi-project management?

There is no set rule stating from which number of projects a company needs multi-project management. It depends on various factors, such as the size and complexity of the projects, the number of employees and departments involved and the available resources. If a company carries out multiple projects in parallel and has difficulty keeping an overview, setting priorities and using resources efficiently, it can be helpful to implement multi-project management.


“The PPM-Paradise” – Your Optimal Multi-Project Environment

Even today, many companies work exclusively with Office tools for spreadsheets (e.g. Microsoft Excel is still very common), text documents and e-mail attachments in multi-project management. In a small environment, this may still be feasible, but when the project portfolio grows, this approach quickly reaches its limits. This section of the article you are currently reading is meant precisely for those people who detect these limits at their company.

Download now: Free eBook (PDF) on “The PPM Paradise”

Here is what an optimal customizable solution for project, portfolio and resource management (PPM) should be capable of – tips and important arguments for your decision-makers. > Download eBook (PDF) “The PPM Paradise”

What Are the Benefits of a PPM System in Multi-Project Management?

“Paradise” conditions in multi-project management mean: your project, portfolio and resource environment (PPM) works with maximum efficiency. You are always fully informed about your project landscape. You are spared a lot of effort, unnecessary cost, loss of time and coordination mishaps. The data on which you base your decisions is always up to date, and you can make the best possible use of your company’s resources.

In a nutshell: In your complex multi-project landscape, you have exactly the right environment to make informed decisions.

“The PPM Paradise” is the is a concept for the optimal environment for enterprise-wide project, program, portfolio and resource management – tailored to individual customer requirements. In addition, it gives all roles involved the good feeling to always have full control over the project environment: the PMO, management, the team leader, the project manager and the controlling staff.

The PPM Paradise provides a good overview of your multi-project landscape with for example:

  • Status across all projects
  • Portfolios with important information on the projects
  • Project pipeline
  • Risk assessment
  • Overviews of resource utilization and costs
  • Details on the strategic contribution of the portfolio
The PPM Paradise
“The PPM Paradise” for a good overview and easier work in multi-project management

Key Responsibility Is with the PMO

The PMO is meant to improve processes in multi-project management. If you wish to implement the PPM Paradise as a centralized tool environment with the appropriate processes for PPM activities at your company, this is a task best managed by the PMO.

Portfolio Dashboard

To maintain an overview in the multi-project environment and to exercise a controlling influence, you urgently need good project portfolio management. A portfolio dashboard serves as a tool for monitoring and controlling the project portfolio to top management and the decision-making bodies. Using important KPIs, the status of the portfolio is clearly presented. With the appropriate tool, it is possible to zoom in on the details of individual projects from here.

The PPM Paradise – Portfolio dashboard – Key modules as an overview for good project portfolio management
Portfolio dashboard – Key modules as an overview for good project portfolio management

Central Project List

The central project list offers the following advantages for your multi-project management environment:

  • Standardization of projects in structure and presentation
  • Data is gathered in a database rather than in scattered files
  • There is only one current and correct status of the portfolio data
  • Historization of the data allows the identification of trends
  • Individual assignment of read and write permissions depending on the person / role
  • Basis for the integration in different systems (e.g., data exchange with ERP, CRM, work management, etc.)

Standardized Project Initiation

The standardized process for project initiation offers the following benefits in multi-project management.

  • Central recording of ideas and project requests
  • Methodical approach with processes and workflows (small-scale / medium / large-scale project or operation?)
  • Permissions and criteria for approval steps
  • Ensuring the planning quality of new projects
  • Avoiding doomed projects

Resource Scenarios for the Project Start

Portfolio management software with resource scenarios offers you the following benefits for your PPM environment:

  • Creation of scenarios for the timing of projects
  • Consideration of the priorities
  • Depiction of resource requirements for running and new projects
  • Based on the actual resource availability
  • Variation of capacity of resources and skills
  • Avoidance of the widespread “it-will-fit” mentality which definitely jeopardizes projects

Professional Individual Project Management

The environment for optimal individual project management offers the following benefits for your PPM environment:

  • Improved data quality thanks to central templates
  • All documents in one place:
    • Order, addendum
    • Stakeholder and risk management
    • Schedule, cost plan, resource plan
    • Status reports with deadline reminders

Program or Multi-Project Environment

For higher-level control of several individual projects, there is program or multi-project management. For this, it is necessary to summarize important information from the individual projects, such as milestones, bottom-up at the push of a button. The goal is to show the information in one easy-to-read plan. In addition, it must be possible to display deadline dependencies between the projects and to import deadlines top-down from the program level.

The environment for professional program management provides transparency regarding dependencies between projects
The environment for professional program management provides transparency regarding dependencies between projects

The possibility to control programs offers you the following benefits:

  • Controlling cross-project dependencies
  • Summarizing important milestones of the projects in an overview (bottom-up)
  • Top-down deadlines from an outline plan to the sub-plans
  • Dependencies between the projects, only for (“soft”) display
  • Direct dependencies between projects for (“hard”) links with shifting of tasks

Team Management

The appropriate resource planning tool for team leaders offers the following benefits for your multi-project management:

  • Involvement of team leaders in the planning process
  • Complete planning of all team members’ working hours
    • Planning absences
    • Recording all activities including operations
    • Displaying workload and project availability
  • Documented process support for requests and commitments between project and line managers
  • Reporting to portfolio committee for scenario calculation

Work Management within the Team

Team members are in the best position to estimate the effort necessary for their tasks. Hence, modern team management is moving more and more in this direction: team members should collaborate on detailed planning in the context of work management and, ideally, do it themselves. Moreover, they should provide detailed information on how far they have progressed with their tasks.

There are suitable tools for this that can become part of the PPM solution through integration. This makes it possible to work in the tools for work management and project management in parallel, and honest estimates for planning are conducive to project success.

Recording Actual Hours

An intuitive time tracking interface offers the following benefits for your multi-project management:

  • Central setting of the elements from project planning
  • Reminder process for latecomers
  • Detailed recording and correct allocation
  • Transfer of actual data to other systems (e.g., ERP and PPM)

Controlling and Reporting

To ensure controlling receives the data it requires, appropriate specifications must be made (cost, project, phase structure, etc.).  When implementing your PPM environment, you can have these taken into account. This gives you the basis enabling you to submit your forecast to controlling at the push of a button thanks to the integration of the ERP and PPM systems – without having to search and copy! It is also possible to forward actual costs to other departments that may need them.

Data transfer from the project environment to your controlling department can be greatly facilitated by system integration

Appropriate reports and a good reporting process are the backbone of project controlling. These enable you to systematize regular communication in projects. Automated project management reports provide you with a repeatable format for populating reports with data quickly at the push of a button. They enable the efficient support of the entire project life cycle and optimal control of projects.

System Integration

The connection of the individual modules mentioned above to a powerful and advanced PPM environment is an essential point. No PPM tool in the market offers all the described possibilities out of the box. By integrating various tools which are best suited for their respective purposes (e.g., ERP, PPM, CRM, work management, etc.), you maximize the benefits of the integrated overall solution.

Bidirectional and multidirectional integration of IT systems for data exchange
Bidirectional and multidirectional integration of IT systems for data exchange

We have already discussed the benefits of system integration above in Success Factor 7 for multi-project management.

How to Implement the PPM Paradise

The first step – even before you get started with one of the three possible avenues – will always be: create a central project list in a suitable database-supported PPM tool. With many parallel projects, this is a much better option than an Excel list that needs to be updated manually on an ongoing basis. You will not be successful in multi-project management without a central overview of all projects.

Make sure your central project list really includes all projects. What is not on the list must not exist in the company either.

Based on this premise, there are three possible ways to further detail and improve your project management environment – via:

  • Scheduling
  • Resource planning
  • Portfolio planning

Reading tip: The approach is described in the article “Project Management Implementation – 3 Ways to Get Started”

Up to this point, the PPM Paradise has been completely independent of the technology chosen. The only important thing is to store your project data in a central database. This ensures that there is a single source of truth rather than different versions of files over which nobody has a real overview.

Below is a brief overview of the technologies we at TPG The Project Group can use to implement the concept of the PPM Paradise for you. Of course, implementing a similar PPM landscape is also possible with other environments and tools.

Technical platforms on which TPG can implement individual PPM solutions such as the PPM
Technical platforms on which TPG can implement individual PPM solutions such as the PPM Paradise

Conclusion and Checklist for Multi-Project Management Success Factors

This article has explained why multi-project management ranks among the more difficult disciplines. And why this can have consequences for everyday project management.

You have also learned about 7 key multi-project management success factors which could help you master the challenges of multi-project environments:

  • Success factor 1: Stay on top of many parallel projects with central project lists, reports, and overviews.
  • Success factor 2: Use your PMO for standards, processes and methods to increase project success.
  • Success factor 3: Prioritize initiatives and projects according to importance and urgency and in line with your corporate strategy.
  • Success factor 4: Plan your capacities strategically. And make sure strategically relevant projects are implemented by qualified employees.
  • Success factor 5: Support tactical resource planning with complete planning by the team leaders.
  • Success factor 6: Ensure transparency (top-down and bottom-up) in the case of cross-project dependencies through “soft” links between tasks and different projects.
  • Success factor 7: Simplify cross-project budget planning and cost tracking by integrating controlling and PPM systems.

An important topic for successful multi-project management is a powerful tool environment based on centralized data storage and the integration of third-party systems. The section on the PPM Paradise has introduced you to the arguments for this.

Our final tips

Get to know the individually adaptable “PPM Paradise” – the concept for an optimal environment for your enterprise-wide project, program, portfolio and resource management. Download the eBook now (just click, no form).

And sign up for our bi-weekly blog newsletter to make sure you receive all our updates.

How do you master the challenges of multi-project management? Do you feel we have missed an essential point? We look forward to receiving your comments.

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Johann Strasser, The Project GroupJohann Strasser
Managing Partner at TPG

The certified engineer, has been a managing partner at TPG The Project Group since 2001. After many years as a development engineer in the automotive and energy sectors, Johann Strasser spent a decade as an independent trainer and consultant in the field of project management. During his tenure, he also served as project manager for software projects in the construction industry and provided scheduling and cost management support for large-scale construction projects. At TPG, he applies his expertise in product development and consulting services for international clients. His special focus is on PMO, project portfolios, hybrid project management, and resource management. For many years now, he has shared his knowledge through presentations, seminars, articles, and webinars.

Read more about Johann Strasser on LinkedIn.


Achim Schmidt-Sibeth
Senior Marketing Manager

After earning his engineering degree in environmental technology, he gained many years of experience in project management through his work at an engineering office, an equipment manufacturer, and a multimedia agency. Achim Schmidt-Sibeth and his team have been responsible for marketing and communication at TPG The Project Group for many years now.

Read more about Achim Schmidt-Sibeth on LinkedIn.

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2 Comments

  1. jesus gualdron on

    buen articulo, sin embargo no esta claro que herramientas usar para cumplir cada uno de los pasos.

    Good article, however it is not clear what tools to use to comply with each of the steps.

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