Enterprise programme management: Connecting strategic planning to project delivery

Companies today face many conflicting priorities in remaining competitive. Some of the challenges include leading company staff in thinking bigger, operating in direct relationship to customers and stockholders’ needs, while staying flexible and adaptable to economic and market shifts. How does a facilities manager stay connected to the business strategy, manage more projects with less staff, and still provide responsive service, while the business environment the manager supports is changing rapidly? The manager may be faced with consolidating facilities owing to a merger or company restructuring. Consolidation presents several challenges that must be met. The manager must work with executives to align equipment deployment and facility use to merger goals and objectives. He/she must consolidate facilities management infrastructure into a cohesive unit from the different approaches of the original companies. This requires the ability simultaneously to coordinate the strategic, tactical and technical aspects of consolidation, while maintaining the seamless operation of the company. If it is a large operation, with facilities spread across a region, facilities management may have been distributed, with each location responsible for their own projects and maintenance. A major change effort such as consolidation requires a centralised facilities management structure that is tied directly into the strategy of the company. The answer for many companies in meeting these challenges is enterprise programme management (EPM). Enterprise programme management is a way of thinking, communicating and working, supported by an information system, that organises an enterprise’s resources in direct relationship to leadership’s vision, and the mission, strategy, goals and objectives that move the organisation forward. Simply put, EPM provides a 360‐degree view of an organisation’s collective efforts.