With the release of Version 7.1, Sciforma launches Connections, a smart feature providing a holistic view of the enterprise

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sciforma, a leading provider of Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) software for large and mid-size companies, announced today the latest version of its PPM solution: Sciforma 7.1. Representing a new generation in PPM systems connecting people, teams and project data, Sciforma 7.1 helps keep all stakeholders constantly aware of the overall context, so they can anticipate any disruptions that would impact goals and objectives.

For any project manager, managing unforeseen changes can be immensely challenging, even for Agile teams. Team members are often involved in multiple projects at the same time, which exposes the entire team to the difficulty of factoring in external elements. Yet, most PPM software continues treating project managers as if they were working in silos, ignoring what is happening elsewhere in their organizations.

With "Connections," Sciforma gives project, product and program managers instant visibility into their surroundings.  The potential impact of previous, ongoing or future initiatives from other parts of the organization can be constantly factored into planning.

"With Sciforma 7.1's new Connections feature, people, teams and project data are all interconnected," explains Fabien Herelle, Sciforma Vice President of Solutions. "Managers can very easily track a project's history and predict its course in both the technical and business contexts."

Dan Stang, Gartner Research VP, wrote, "Project management offices often struggle to set the right priorities and achieve the desired outcomes and value from their work efforts. As program and portfolio management leaders transform their PMOs to support digital, they should use an approach that ends with projects and starts with context." ^[1]

"CONNECTIONS" BENEFITS:

• Identify any other business cases, projects, products or programs that share the same life cycle, budget goals or scope, so that they are systematically considered when changes to scope or dates are made.
  
  
• Constantly visualize their environment in the greater context, so that interconnections and dependencies with other parts of the organization are taken into account when making decisions.
  
  
• Leverage status reports to understand the status of any of those connected elements. Potential slips and associated risks can be anticipated and the right actors contacted, to enable everyone to adapt to upcoming changes.
  
  
• Easily communicate through Notes with the other stakeholders.
  
  
• Conduct program or product review meetings with dashboards consolidating and highlighting key elements from the connected projects.
  
  
• Easily keep track of the arc of a project: why it was launched; the how and why of decisions made along the way; and the objectives agreed upon to stay on target.

WHAT'S NEW IN SCIFORMA 7.1? 

• Stronger Multi-Methodologies Integration in Project Planning and Management: Project Managers can use the Sciforma solution to work either using Agile methodologies, more classic Waterfall approaches, critical chain, or other leading approaches - all at no additional cost.
  
  
• New capabilities to create assessment and scoring templates tailored to the organization's needs in Idea Management.
  
  
• New Resource Management techniques to allocate resources to projects, based on organization's maturity.
  
  
• New Budget-driven Ranking and drill-down capabilities for Simulation in Portfolio Management.
  
  
• Completely redesigned Work Management featuring more collaborative capabilities, Inbox and Kanban views for managing issues, actions, deliverables, risks, etc. and seamlessly moving them around  business cases, projects, products, programs, and portfolios.
  
  
• Fast and easy set up: The Sciforma 7.1 PPM solution is both comprehensive and very fast to install. The complete configuration can be done in a matter of days. It is designed for full scalability, so project teams across the organization and across the globe can instantly tailor it to the methodologies they want to use.

Feedback from customers using early release versions of 7.1 is excellent. "Having been one of the first to use Sciforma 7.1, we're pleased to report that it is very intuitive and easy to use," confirms Amirouche Sellam, PMO Director of Belron-Canada.

Total benefits for PPM users include savings from:

• Reduced project failure rates;
• Reduced project cycle times;
• Reduced costs overruns;
• Avoiding low/no-value projects;
• Eliminating PM time spent on low-value tasks.

In fact with Sciforma 7.1, companies running 50 and more projects per year can benefit from millions in savings. (Contact us to discuss your potential ROI based on your specific situation.)

PRICE/AVAILABILITY

Sciforma 7.1 is available for immediate purchase. Please contact a Sciforma representative or reseller for pricing information.

^{[1] Gartner, Real Project Prioritization Needs Context to Yield Real Results, Analyst(s):} Daniel B. Stang ^{, Published: 22 November 2017 ID: G00343401}

About Sciforma
Sciforma is one of the largest providers of Portfolio & Project Management software, delivering solutions to quarter million users worldwide since 1982. The company offers flexible and easy-to-use multi-platform project management and project portfolio management software solutions. Businesses that have multiple projects from multiple clients (including internal customers) need to be able to prioritize efforts that will bring the best results to the company. The configurable Sciforma PPM solution provides project managers and executives the ability to analyze investments, plan capacity, manage risks, and control expenses better.  For more information, visit: www.sciforma.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and on Twitter @Sciforma.

Contact:

Valerie Zeller, CMO
vzeller@sciforma.com

Maryse Camelan
maryse@mc3.co
+1 425 985 2121