How Aurora, IL Is Using Portfolio Management System (PMO)-as-a-Service to Scale Up and Manage Demand on IT

Michael R. Pegues, Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Department, City of Aurora

Michael R. Pegues, Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Department, City of Aurora

At the City of Aurora, we have been moving at lightning speed to modernize city services and continue building on our smart city strategies. Subscription models have transformed the way government entities have deployed software, supporting speed and agility throughout software implementation and operation. At the City of Aurora, 2nd largest City in Illinois, we have reevaluated how we work with our professional service partners through a similar and innovative model delivering similar benefits.

We are working with our long-time strategic partner, Crowe LLP, in a new and innovative way – through a partnership services model and a public sector consulting service subscription. Crowe’s Portfolio Management Office (PMO) as a service model gives us real-time access to Crowe’s portfolio and project management services and expertise to build our team’s capacity and support rapid IT implementations when we need it.

Crowe’s PMO as a service offering, “Crowe Government Guide” is transforming the way Aurora can scale its support of technology needs and citizen demand for services. We have realized the following benefits:

• The ability to scale support up and down when we need it the most

• Access to topical subject matter experts, experienced project managers, and a variety of other resources, all ad hoc

• Ability to revise scope and change course without a time-consuming change request process, allowing us to focus on highest priority areas and respond to urgent unforeseen issues

• On-demand access to experience and a menu of public sector focused services

• Increased agility in being able to respond fast to city needs, being able to do more in parallel, particularly as the IT demand increases citywide

• Enhanced IT team focus on other valuable initiatives

• Overall decrease in project cost

• More effectively manage our third party vendors and hold them accountable to contract and service level compliance

"We are working with our long-time strategic partner, Crowe LLP, in a new and innovative way – through a partnership services model and a public sector consulting service subscription"

Reimagining how we manage our IT initiatives has allowed the City to be more innovative, and do more, without drastic budget increases. We are working to implement new and modern solutions to enhance public service deliver rapidly than we could in the past. I know I’m not the only government agency CIO who has seen record demand in technology related initiatives across the departments and communities I serve. Everything involves IT. My phenomenal IT team of professionals continues growing and seeking to stay ahead of the curve, but they were over-burdened. Our challenge to keep up and stay ahead across risk mitigation of cyber threats, launching new technology projects, necessary upgrades, automating manual processes, and responding to growing citizen demand for online services required a new way to manage the portfolio and hit on all cylinders.

We are using PMO as a service subscription model to engage project management resources to build capacity and manage third party vendors. We’re currently using the service to implement three software solutions for the Fire Department –a records management system (RMS), a time & scheduling system, and a learning management system – in addition to a fourth project implementing a citywide time, attendance and scheduling solution. Without this support, these implementations would have been delayed or slowed, as they waited for project management resources currently engaged in other high priority initiatives.

In a short time, I’ve experienced how this model can work, translating the benefits of “as a service” models to my IT service team.