The ICT governance and project management frameworks are two key elements of the United Nations ICT strategy described in A/62/793. The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) recently launched an ePortfolio tool to support both of these ICT strategic initiatives. In February 2010, representatives from the Project Management Office and Field Systems Service of OICT conducted a training of the ePortfolio application tool at the United Nations Logistics Base (UNLB) in Brindisi, Italy.
Project managers and focal points from peacekeeping missions, Offices Away from Headquarters, Regional Commissions and Tribunals participated in two separate sessions. Each session provided a full day briefing of the ICT project management framework as well as two days of hands-on training of the ePortfolio tool.
About the ePortfolio tool:
The ePortfolio application is based on CA Clarity software and aligned with the PRINCE2 project management methodology. It supports planning and management of ICT investments by providing the organization with a comprehensive, integrated portfolio management system that encompasses top-down portfolio planning and analysis, along with bottom-up project management.
Benefits noted by participants in the training include:
- Increased transparency of global projects
- Central repository of all major enterprise projects
- Reduced redundancy and duplication of work
- Standard automated project and financial reports
What e-Portfolio does for project managers and OICT Senior Management:
- Facilitates synergy and harmonization of project management methodology within the UN
- Preserves institutional knowledge by using a standard management tool
- Provides a comprehensive view of the organization's ICT investments
- Empowers project managers to deliver controlled execution of projects
In March and April 2010, OICT will be conducting additional ePortfolio training sessions for ICT managers of UNHQ departments in order to continue the roll-out of ePortfolio across the UN Secretariat. It is important to note that the functionalities of this tool are constantly being updated. In the near future, OICT plans to expand the scope of the ePortfolio project to include the management of a global portfolio of applications and ICT services.
For more information on ePortfolio, click here.
Feedback from participants
