Peikko Group strengthened its decision-making through project portfolio management

International growth brought greater complexity to the business. As early as 2011, Peikko’s management recognised that its existing operating models were no longer suited to the company’s new circumstances. A new approach was needed, particularly for managing product development and investment projects.

Peikko began this development work with Kumura, which has since become part of IQI.

The objective of Peikko’s ProPeikko project portfolio management model was to strengthen decision-making through greater transparency, a more effective decision-making process and better management of change. Another important objective was to improve the management of individual projects, as an increasing number of them involved people from different functions and country organisations.

Peikko needed a shared language for communicating the status and progress of every project. The name ProPeikko was also important, as it clearly communicated across the organisation what the new approach represented.

Complete visibility of projects and resources for the management team

Implementing project portfolio management, including the selection of technology providers, took approximately 18 months. Peikko Group’s management team now knows exactly which projects are under way and, equally importantly, which projects are not.

The company also has more accurate and continuously updated information on project costs, schedules and resourcing.

Simply ensuring that every project has a named project manager who takes responsibility and submits an updated monthly report has significantly improved Peikko’s ability to deliver its projects effectively.

Each project is sponsored by a member of the management team. Peikko’s management team meets approximately six or seven times a year, and every meeting includes a status update and gate review prepared by the ProPeikko Manager. The reviews are conducted directly in the Thinking Portfolio tool without separate reports.

“The overall view helped us recognise just how many different initiatives we had under way. Some of the first and most important decisions involved terminating projects or putting them on hold so that we could use our resources more effectively.”

Topi Paananen
CEO

“We also realised that there were product groups and segments where we were not doing anything at all, even though we should have been. This led us to launch new initiatives. Overall, the management team has gained a much clearer understanding of what is important and what is not.”

Peikko’s next development priority is to improve the successful delivery of individual projects and strengthen the capabilities of its project managers through training.

“With the right tools, project lead times can be shortened and resources used more efficiently.”

Jukka Nykänen
ProPeikko Manager

Image credit: Peikko Group media library.