North-West University (NWU) is advancing its strategic vision to expand its national and international impact by strengthening the delivery and governance of projects across the institution.
To support this objective, the university has implemented Project Portfolio Office’s scalable, cloud-based project portfolio management (PPM) solution, PPO, as its Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) platform, enabling the digitalisation and centralisation of project management processes across multiple departments.
From strategy to execution
According to Ntsikie Kote-Nkomo, executive director: strategy and strategic projects at NWU, the move was driven by a fundamental need for the university to connect strategy with execution.
“A challenge I identified on joining NWU in late 2022 was to understand whether strategy implementation across the university was truly aligned to our intent and having the ability to track progress and pivot when needed.”
NWU’s strategy spans multiple institutional priorities, including teaching, research, community engagement, digital transformation and management of people and talent. Tied to this are several key priorities for the university, encompassing the realisation of growth, advancing its internationalisation and more.
However, as initiatives expanded across faculties and departments, inconsistencies in PPM and limited visibility into outcomes became apparent. This led to the establishment of an Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Office (EPPMO), with NWU additionally identifying the need for an EPPM platform that could support consistent project governance, provide visibility across the portfolio and improve strategic decision-making.
A disjointed project environment
At this point, NWU’s project environment was fragmented. Across departments such as IT, Smart Campus, Capital Projects and the Enterprise Project Office, PPM practices varied widely.
Within the IT division, Yvette Labuschagne, senior project administrator, describes an environment where information was inconsistent. “Project data lived everywhere –spreadsheets, presentations, emails, Teams and even WhatsApp. There was no single, synchronised PPM system.”
Reporting processes were equally challenging for IT. Monthly reports could take up to a week to compile, requiring manual consolidation of inputs from multiple teams.
In Capital Projects, a sub-support department falling beneath the facilities umbrella, the complexity was even greater due to the scale of operations. Petra Davis, senior projects administrator, notes that the department manages an extensive portfolio.
“Prior to PPO, each project manager used their own tools with no central system for scheduling, change requests, path tracking or risks, and we had to manually consolidate everything into reports,” she explains. “Monthly reporting took several days, while major governance reports, such as those prepared twice yearly for asset committees, could take up to a month to complete due to the scale and complexity of the data required.”
Similarly, within the Smart Campus environment, which delivers electronic and smart systems, as well as managing energy and water metering across the university’s campuses, reporting cycles were often extended due to the effort involved.
“While we were able to manage individual projects, we couldn’t easily see the bigger picture,” comments Danie Stoop, facilities director, Smart Campus.
Introducing structure, visibility and governance
NWU had already begun designing an overall Enterprise PMO framework, with the assistance of management consultancy firm, African International Advisors (AIA). The university also underwent a benchmarking exercise, evaluating a number of PPM tools, before deciding that PPO met its requirements for local support, integration with existing systems, a straightforward licensing approach, user friendliness and experience within the higher education sector.
According to Kote-Nkomo, the implementation of PPO has transformed NWU’s PPM environment by introducing a centralised, structured approach, while still accommodating the diverse needs of different departments.
“In project-heavy environments, like in the capital space, PPO has been like a dream come true. For the first time, we can see our project portfolio in an organised, comparable way.
“One of the biggest shifts is that we now have a common language and a consistent reporting structure,” she states. “PPO has shown us how real information can have real impact and inform our strategy moving forward.”
Across the IT division, PPO has brought greater consistency and discipline across its portfolio. “The PPO PPM tool has helped us to move away from person-dependent tracking to a more process-driven approach,” clarifies Labuschagne.
In Capital Projects, PPO has introduced a live, centralised view of projects across campuses. “Information is updated in real time, which means leadership can see what is happening on the ground as it happens,” adds Davis.
For the IT division, reporting time has reduced from up to a week to approximately one day, while for Smart Campus, reports can now be completed within hours. And, according to Davis, Capital Projects’ reporting cycles can now be completed in hours or even minutes.
Beyond speed, the quality and reliability of information have also improved significantly. “Leadership now has access to structured, comparable data,” says Labuschagne. “That enables better prioritisation and more informed decision-making.”
Furthermore, PPO has introduced stronger governance controls across the project lifecycle. “Previously within Capital Projects, moving between project stages often relied on informal processes,” explains Davis. “Documentation was not always consistently available, and tracking compliance with governance requirements was difficult. PPO has introduced gated approvals, which means that project managers cannot proceed to the next phase without completing the required documentation and receiving approval, which ensures that governance requirements are consistently met.”
PPO has also improved financial oversight by integrating with the university’s ERP system, enabling more accurate tracking of project costs and alignment between financial and project data.
A single source of truth
A key outcome of the PPM tool implementation is the creation of a single source of truth for project information. This has improved collaboration across teams and departments, enabling stakeholders to work from the same, up-to-date view of project status, risks and dependencies.
The implementation of the PPO solution has been as much about organisational change as technology. “This was not just a system implementation, it was a change project,” says Stoop. “It required people to move away from manual processes and adopt a new way of working.”
The flexibility of the platform has also been a key factor. “The system was adapted to fit our environment, not the other way around,” continues Davis. “That made a big difference in how quickly teams could adopt it.”
Looking ahead
NWU continues to work with AIA and PPO to drive further tool maturity, adoption and utilisation, and is exploring the potential role of emerging technologies, such as AI, in further enhancing PPM and governance.
Says Guy Jelley, founder and CEO of Project Portfolio Office: “Institutions like NWU are recognising that it is the ability to consistently execute, measure and adapt that ultimately drives impact.”