Has anyone been able to create an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) in PPM?

[umair4u88]

Hi,

I am trying to determine how we can utilize ServiceNow PPM to create an integrated master schedule (IMS) to visualize enterprise wide dependencies across projects. We have set up portfolios with projects, however there is no link between the projects to depict shared resources or constraints.

Currently, PPM only allows for creating separate project schedules and organizational leadership would be more interested in an IMS to help them mitigate risk and manage resources.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated on how this can be achieved.

Thank you.

[kellykaufmann]

Hi Umair

It sounds like you have several business needs here, let me try to list them so we can all collaborate to address them each (my comments are based in Helsinki):

1. Portfolio with dependencies between projects.Sounds like you have this part set.

2. Ability to see shared resources or constraints... Have you looked into Resource Management ?   The Portfolio Workbench has a widget of Resources - Actual vs Allocated by FY for that Portfolio, and another widget of Resources - Allocated vs Required by FY.  

And from the Resource Workbench, you can select a Portfolio and then it lists the different Resource Plans for that Portfolio. Is this what you need?

3. For Risk management at the Portfolio level - there is a Risk rollup widget on the Portfolio Workbench. You can click on the different bars of the widget and it will pull up a list of the risks within that bar. Same with Issues.   Is this what you are looking for?

4. I assume you want a WBS/GANTT that is more than a list of projects within the Portfolio. You probably want to see critical path that builds up the Portfolio? Currently the Portfolio Workbench just displays the projects. However, you could try playing with the custom GANTT functionality available in Helsinki to build this.

Let me know if I missed listing anything.

[umair4u88]

Hi Kelly,

Thank you for your answers. Please see my responses in red below:

1. Portfolio with dependencies between projects.Sounds like you have this

part set.

  - I have setup portfolios with active projects in our environment.

  However, I'm unable to show dependencies between projects. The only current

  way I know how to do this would be to create a project and add sub projects

  within the parent project to show dependencies. Are you implying this can

  be done a different way?

2. Ability to see shared resources or constraints... Have you looked

into Resource

Management

<https://community.servicenow.com/external-link.jspa?url=https%3A//docs.servicenow.com/bundle/helsink...>

?

The Portfolio Workbench has a widget of Resources - Actual vs Allocated by

FY for that Portfolio, and another widget of Resources - Allocated vs

Required by FY.

And from the Resource Workbench, you can select a Portfolio and then it

lists the different Resource Plans for that Portfolio. Is this what you

need?

  - We have not started using the Resource Management Module. Our

  organization may not be best suited to currently use this module, as this

  would require manual updating of resources, their calendars, time cards,

  etc. We have multiple contractors working within the agency so this can get

  a bit messy in sharing bill rates. We will need to come up with an approach

  which mitigates this.

3. For Risk management at the Portfolio level - there is a Risk rollup

widget on the Portfolio Workbench. You can click on the different bars of

the widget and it will pull up a list of the risks within that bar. Same

with Issues.   Is this what you are looking for?

  - Can you clarify where I can find the Portfolio Workbench? In my view

  when I click on a portfolio, I see it list out the associated projects

  within the selected portfolio. However, the Risk roll-up widget does not

  appear. When I click on a particular project, it opens the Portfolio

  Project form view where at the bottom it shows the tabs for Goals, Risks,

  and Issues. I doubt this is what you are referring to as the Risk roll up

  widget, as these are populated directly from the associated project record.

  It would great if we could see the portfolio level risks. Is this available

  in Geneva? (Our Current Version)

4. I assume you want a WBS/GANTT that is more than a list of projects

within the Portfolio. You probably want to see critical path that builds up

the Portfolio? Currently the Portfolio Workbench just displays the

projects. However, you could try playing with the custom GANTT

functionality available in Helsinki to build this.

  - To list out projects in a Gantt Chart view, which shows dependencies

  would be a great start. We are on version Geneva. I'm not sure if

  customizing Gantt functionality is available in this version.

I really appreciate all of   your insight. We've had challenges in getting

the tool to function out of the box properly with little configuration.

Thank you.

[kellykaufmann]

Hi Umair

1. You are correct about the functionality of dependencies. Milestones can't be shared between projects unless one project is nested under another project. You can add dependency between a task in Sub-Project 1 to a task in Sub-Project 2. pradeepbansal do you know about plans in future versions to be able to relate projects/tasks within portfolios/programs?

2. For Resource Management, can you clarify what you mean by the need to do "manual updating of resources, their calendars, time cards, etc."?

As for "We have multiple contractors working within the agency so this can get a bit messy in sharing bill rates."   > This would be a great new discussion in this group. Quickly thinking of things you would need to address OOTB, Resource Users can see the 'Allocated Cost' field in the related list where they could easily calculate someone's bill rate.   Resource Users really don't need to see Allocated Costs IMHO so perhaps it's just as simple as hiding that from that role and not granting contractors rights greater than that.

3. My apologies, correct the Portfolio Workbench is in Helsinki - I should have first asked what version you were on. In Geneva you do have the Portfolio Overview feature where you can see the risk, issue color for each of the projects in that portfolio. But it doesn't have the nice widget like in Helsinki.

4. The customizing GANTT is in Helsinki.

I wouldn't be afraid of configurations - the tool is highly configurable which can be a challenge to figure out exactly how you want to use it. But it's meant to be 'configured' which is fully supported. Doing customizations / coding is where extra caution is needed.

[georgimavrodiev]

Hello kellykaufmann ,

Hope you are doing fine!

I see this is the only thread in the ServiceNow Community in regards to the creation of an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) in (via) the ServiceNow Platform.
As the matter is from September 2016, I would like to ask you if there are any new tools, let's call them so, in Istanbul Release which cover the above mentioned requirements of Umair in a better way than their equivalent in Helsinki?

Also, could please give me an idea how ServiceNow Platform (which of its modules) can be used in order for an Integrated Master Plan (IMP) to be created and used?

If you may share any examples which visit your mind, I will be really happy to read them!

Thank you in advance, Kelly!

Regards, Georgi