Integrated Project Management Company
Consultant-Powered Project Management

A project management solution isn’t always software. Integrated Project Management Company, Inc. (IPM) provides a human solution– project management consultants. IPM’s project managers can offer consultative support to IT program management offices, prioritization of the IT department’s portfolio of projects, and end-to-end system selection and implementation of software solutions within IT and other business functions. IPM helps its clients efficiently realize a well-planned strategy because an endless loop of execution doesn’t improve ROI. With IPM there is a finite endpoint to every project.

For cross-functional projects, IPM manages stakeholders from each department to ensure the requirements are agreed upon by all involved. Interdependency management goes beyond the stakeholders to the actual end users, as the end users must embrace these changes for the implementation to be a true success.

The project management landscape has come a long way in the last decade. A recent Gartner report acknowledged clients are focused on increasing collaboration, communication, and project portfolio-level insight to gain more visibility into project demand, project status, resource capacity and utilization, and actual cost.

“We not only bring project management best practices, but strong leadership to inspire and motivate the project team to execute complex initiatives,” says Michael McLeod, COO of IPM, headquartered in Burr Ridge, IL. IPM applies professional project management methodologies to break down functional silos, engage stakeholders, and ensure the client’s initiatives are completed within budget, scope, and schedule.

Currently, IPM is bringing leadership and project management best practices to a mid-sized, global electronics manufacturer. What began as a six-month system selection engagement evolved into an 18-month extension for IPM because of their integrated approach to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation.

IPM is focusing not only on implementing the system but also on the end users and processes affected by the new system. The ERP system will affect over 13 departments and 75 percent of the company’s employees throughout the new product development, quoteto- cash, and service processes. And yet, forecasts indicate the system will launch on-time and 10 percent under budget.

Most software solution providers will offer project management resources or tools, but their scope of concerns typically focuses on the specific tasks related to launching their software solution, rather than the system’s impact on the affected departments within the client’s organization.

We not only bring project management best practices, but strong leadership to inspire and motivate the project team to execute complex initiatives

A system implementation requires a different kind of project manager – an integrated consultant who does more than manage the task list but understands the impact of the system on the end users. This approach enhances the team’s ability to identify where the software solution could create major operational changes.

“One huge trend in the IT field is the blend of change management and project management. Technology is useless unless end users seamlessly adopt it,” says McLeod. The end of a project signifies the beginning of the value stream. For the best ROI, a client needs a partner who can also lead an organization to accept, adopt, and appreciate the change of systems and processes to create a sustainable solution long after the project management consultants’ departure.