Samiedu is a vocational college in Savonlinna run by the Eastern Savo Municipal Federation of Education, which is owned by six municipalities. Samiedu offers award-winning vocational training both on-site and online. (www.samiedu.fi)
Thinking Portfolio supports the implementation of Samiedu’s development projects in line with the strategy
The Thinking Portfolio project portfolio is used to implement projects, including the support of Samiedu’s strategic-level communication and decision-making development. The portfolio provides an excellent overview of the status and future activities of development projects and how they contribute to Samiedu’s main strategic objectives. The portfolio also improves communication within projects, as it contains the necessary information on each project’s objectives and actions. It can also be used to monitor the progress of projects and view information needed for payments, among other things.
One important criterion for the acquisition of Samiedu’s portfolio was that it should improve real-time quality management. Therefore, it had to be possible to seamlessly build interfaces to other key systems, says Jonna Kokkonen, Quality and Project Manager at Samiedu.
-The essential starting point for acquiring the project portfolio was to have all the information related to project management in one place, from the financial and human resources situation to the progress of the project, and we have been very successful in this. We have an interface to the working time monitoring system, from where we transfer the working time allocated to a project to a portfolio, from where we monitor how the projects are progressing in terms of resourcing.
Meanwhile, the financial statements can be viewed in real time through an interface to the financial management system, which simplifies the work of project secretaries and financial actors. This will save time compared to the previous process of manually entering financial data into the project portfolio.
The Thinking Portfolio is used to ensure that project activities are goal-oriented
Through the proven reporting features and views of the Thinking Portfolio, Samiedu keeps track of how projects are progressing. The portfolio’s ready-made reporting templates ensure that project activities are on target. In addition to financial and resource outcomes, the portfolio shows, for example, how many projects are at different stages and how cooperation with economic actors and the rest of the network is being carried out.
With the new project portfolio, Samiedu has introduced a systemised post-project evaluation. After a certain period of time, the success of the development work and how it has been kept alive will be reviewed. After a certain period of time, the success of the development work and how it has been kept up will be reviewed. Having data in one place is also an improvement in terms of data protection, easier monitoring and reporting, says Jonna about the improvements brought by Thinking Portfolio’s project portfolio.
-We also have a project planning tool in the portfolio, which shows the project scope from preparation to completion. This makes monitoring much easier and faster than before. The Thinking Portfolio visualises things clearly. For projects running simultaneously, quality and schedule views allow us to compare the timelines of different projects, as well as important events such as payment and reporting dates.
-In addition, we have added communication plans for projects to the portfolio. It serves well our ambition to become even better at communication. So actually, we have been able to build everything we do for a single project to be visible in the Thinking Portfolio’s project portfolio.
Thinking Portfolio online course as part of the Samiedu curriculum
Project managers and other persons in charge in Samiedu who have been using Thinking Portfolio’s project portfolio have said that they can clearly see how the portfolio takes project management and reporting to a new level. The improvement in communication that has come with the portfolio has also been welcomed, as it is now easy to see more than just your own projects, and the overall picture is much clearer.
-The feedback received on the portfolio has been positive in all respects. The Thinking Portfolio has been really well received in our organisation, I’ve heard feedback that we should have had it with us earlier.
Jonna recommends Thinking Portfolio for those considering a project portfolio. Compared to other applications, she highlights the Thinking Portfolio’s clear structure and ease of customisation as particularly good features. Especially for organisations with a lot of development projects or where management is otherwise necessary from a financial or, for example, resource point of view, such a solution brings a lot of streamlining,” she adds. Less time is spent on administration and financial matters. In addition, this strengthens internal communication.
-The implementation project with the supplier went well. One can tell that you’ve done it before, it was well planned. The time schedule was set at the beginning of the project, it went smoothly, really smoothly. All the workshops were in an easy to understand format and we were able to get up and running quickly. Everything works as we thought it would.
Samiedu’s Thinking Portfolio users have also gratefully welcomed Thinking Portfolio’s eAcademy “Practical Project Portfolio Management” online course. It has been found to be a clear and highly informative information package on project portfolio management, especially for those new to the subject. Samiedu will also make this free course offered by Thinking Portfolio available to students.
-All in all, we are very pleased. I believe this will take our project management to a whole new level.
Jonna Kokkonen
Quality and Project Manager
Eastern Savo Municipal Federation of Education, Vocational College Samiedu
