What is P3M3®?
P3M3® looks at how effectively an organization manages change; evaluating to what extent the organization understands and is in control over its management processes and expressing this as a pre-defined scale of maturity levels.
Three connected, but independent, individual maturity models can be used to examine three tiers of management: portfolio, programme and project. In brief, you can consider a project as being a relatively short term endeavour intended to deliver a relatively contained objective; a programme is a collection of related projects and activities which serve to address a strategic objective and the portfolio is the collection of all programmes and stand-alone projects which are being undertaken by an organization.
Each model is used as a basis for assessment of an organization’s level of maturity in the respective discipline focusing on up to seven Process Perspectives, which exist in all three models.
At its most sophisticated, when carried out by an APMG-accredited Consulting Organization (ACO), such an assessment will provide you with answers to questions like:
- How does my own organization’s maturity compare with similar organizations in my industry and geography?
- What is the right level of maturity for my organization to handle the challenges it faces without unnecessary investment?
- What are the priority areas for improvements where investment offers the greatest return and value for money without increasing bureaucracy and costs?
- How can we identify projects outside the norm that require different levels of controls?
- How attractive are the outcomes and products of a particular project to future users and other stakeholders?
- How can we fine-tune how a particular project is being managed to maximize the achievement of the project objectives to deliver business success?
Why should I be interested in P3M3®?
The Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University originally developed the model on which P3M3® is based. Their research found a significant improvement in Return on Investment in organizations that adopted a maturity model approach to process improvement. More mature organizations experienced an 85% decrease in defects and a 75% reduction in costs.
The results of the assessment provide a base-line which, together with the P3M3® model itself and knowledge of where the organization needs or wants to be positioned in the future, are used to develop an improvement plan. Repeating the assessment after implementation of your improvement plan provides a measurement of the effectiveness of your investment in organizational change.
How can I carry out a P3M3® Assessment?
P3M3® Self-Assessment
You can carry out a P3M3® self-assessment using tools which can be found on the official P3M3® website. We can help you to do this by preparing your staff to organize and carry out the assessment or by facilitating your assessment. See the article on P3M3® self-assessment for more information.
P3M3® Audit
Alternatively, you can commission an assessment by an APMG-accredited Consulting Organization (ACO), which will provide you with an independent review at a deeper level of analysis. Together with CUPE Ltd., we can offer you a range of P3M3 audit options which will provide you with pragmatic and usable recommendations for improvement in portfolio, program and project management maturity. Please get in contact with us or read the article on P3M3® Audit to find out more about this powerful tool for inmproving the effectiveness of your change management.