Good analysis to get you started with PPM tools
Each year in June, Gartner Inc. releases its Project and Portfolio Management Magic Quadrant. It shows a 2×2 matrix with ‘Ability to Execute’ on the y-axis and ‘Completeness of Vision’ on the x-axis. It results in four areas that categorize the software providers:
- Leaders - best
- Challengers - less visionary but able to execute
- Niche Players - usually smaller players
- Visionaries - good vision but perhaps less able to execute
It is a good analysis to get you started with understanding the universe of PPM tools. Some vendors have introduced SaaS models that could be implemented very quickly. As I mentioned in my previous blog, before you embark on the journey to implement a PPM tool, make sure you have gained sponsorship, you have put in place a basic PPM process and have used the process for a while (at least as a pilot).
The vendors that appear on the magic quadrant are (please see Gartner’s report for where they fall on the magic quadrant or contact Amplio Consultants for help with tool selection):
- Big players
- Mid-size players:
Some smaller players are not yet on Gartner’s radar screen, but are worth looking into especially for smaller companies:
- Automation Centre (www.acentre.com)
- BrightWork (www.brightwork.com)
- Clarizen (www.clarizen.com)
- Dekker (www.dekkerltd.com)
- Deltek Systems (www.deltek.com)
- Genius Inside (www.geniusinside.com/web/website.nsf)
- GenSight (www.gensight.com)
- InventX (www.inventx.com)
- MaestroTec (www.maestrotec.com)
- Onepoint Software (www.onepoint.at)
- Portfolio Decisionware (www.pdware.com)
- Project Invision International (www.projectinvision.com)
- Project Objects (www.projectobjects.com)
- Project.net (www.Project.net)
- Projility (www.projility.com)
- Skire (www.skire.com)
This year’s version of the PPM Magic Quadrant was released on June 2, 2009. You can also get a summary of the anlysis through some of the large vendors mentioned above.
