Planview Enterprise Introduces Automated Investment Optimization for Strategic and Project Portfolio Planning

Posted 18 July 2006

In 2006, Planview

New enhancements to the market-leading portfolio management platform drive improved decision making by automating investment optimization

SAN FRANCISCO on 18 July 2006

Planview, the leading provider of comprehensive portfolio management solutions, today announced significant enhancements to Planview Enterprise that help customers make better business investment decisions and maximize performance. The latest release of Planview Enterprise, previewed today at Ventana Connections in San Francisco, features breakthrough capabilities around automated investment optimization in addition to core improvements to portfolio planning, reporting, usability and integration.

“Determining how and when to allocate money and people to maximize returns is one of the most pressing business issues facing today’s CIO,” said Patrick Durbin, founder and CEO of Planview, Inc. “By the time an organization is at the project execution level, over 60% of investment decisions have already been made. By providing executives the ability to make better decisions around money and resources, risk and rewards earlier in the process, Planview Enterprise offers a single platform for departments across an organization to invest in strategies and initiatives that have the highest potential to maximize business value and drive innovation.”

The Planview Investment Optimization Engine utilizes sophisticated predictive modeling and scenario planning techniques to automate the process of evaluating limitless portfolio optimization strategies. By embedding analytics within a broader process framework, Planview Enterprise helps business and IT executives make practical, informed investment portfolio decisions that will deliver the highest overall business value. Unlike stand-alone optimization models, Planview Enterprise integrates both the financial costs as well as the resource capacity to provide optimal investment scenarios. The Investment Optimization Engine is part of a structured, collaborative decision-making process and offers scenarios for enterprise-wide strategic portfolio planning as well as project portfolio planning. For additional information on investment optimization please download the white paper at http://www.planview.com/optimize

According to Mark Smith, CEO & EVP Research of Ventana Research, “Today’s portfolio managers benefit from vastly improved processes and visibility, but they lack the power that simulation and optimization can bring to the portfolio analysis decision-making process. The introduction of the Investment Optimization Engine with Planview Enterprise addresses this key need in organizations. The importance of leveraging optimization technology will allow portfolio managers be confident that they have evaluated all of their portfolio options and align to direct business value.”

The 2006 release of Planview Enterprise takes portfolio management to the next level, introducing a wealth of new features and enhancements such as enhanced capacity planning, advanced strategic planning capabilities, extended globalization support, streamlined interface, and more robust reporting and analytics than ever before. This release of Planview Enterprise also features greater integration with Planview PRISMS™ adaptive management best practices to further advance organizational process maturity.

In addition to the investment optimization capabilities, highlights of the Release include:

Move from resource management to true organizational-level resource planning. Planview Enterprise delivers unprecedented levels of visibility and control into projects, for customer to efficiently prioritize work and make better decisions. New planning advancements enable users to engage in high-level, role-based capacity planning that extends the planning horizon.
Eliminate communication barriers between IT and the business. Enhanced collaboration tools enable clients of IT to self-register and quickly access Planview Enterprise to see real-time IT performance, participate in workflows, access a list of IT services through a service catalog, and submit new IT requests.
Better balance innovative spend with sustaining operational spend. Planview Enterprise adds depth to strategic management process, delivering the visibility necessary need to align strategies with resource capacities and funding across the organization. Customers can dynamically manage money and resources to support high value initiatives and make better decisions around investments, successfully synchronizing top-down strategic planning with bottom-up execution.
Improved analytics and reporting provide even greater transparency. Gain new insight into planning and work performance with faster data extraction, updated dashboard, faster, more flexible reporting with Business Objects XI Release 2, and a wider range of collaboration options such as content management integration with EMC Documentum.
Global footprint. New language support for Unicode and Spanish. Existing languages supported include English, German, French, Dutch and Italian.

Planview Enterprise combines IT portfolio management software with adaptive best practices to provide unprecedented visibility into total IT spend. By applying a portfolio management discipline to projects, strategies, and services, Planview enables IT and business executives to drive innovation and improve IT performance by making better business decisions. The new release of Planview Enterprise will be available in July 2006.

About Planview

Since 1989, Planview has been a market leader and trusted partner in comprehensive portfolio management solutions. Industry leaders such as Citigroup, Reuters, EDF and Hallmark depend on Planview solutions to align work, resources and business objectives across the enterprise. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Planview is privately held and has been profitable for over a decade. For more information visit http://www.planview.com.

Planview and PRISMS are a trademarks of Planview, Inc. All other product and company names may or may not be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.