18/06/2019 Gartner Reprint

Licensed for Distribution

Magic Quadrant for Project and Portfolio Management

Published 21 May 2019 - ID G00366297 - 61 min read

By Analysts Daniel Stang, Mbula Schoen, Anthony Henderson

Continuous delivery is driving more PPM leaders to connect aligned strategic business
investments with diversified, changing delivery focused on time to value. This Magic Quadrant
evaluates PPM providers offering technology to support these endeavors.

Strategic Planning Assumptions

By 2023, 80% of organizations will have an enterprise project, program or product management
office (PMO) focused on integrating digital products and programs.

By 2021, at least 40% of large enterprise IT organizations will have completed their
implementation of a product-centric approach.

By 2023, 65% of organizations that moved to product-centric delivery will have embedded their
digital product managers in a business area.

By 2023, technology providers focused on artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and digital
platforms will disrupt, and elicit a marked response from, the traditional providers within the
project and portfolio management (PPM) market.

Market Definition/Description
ContinuousNext (see Note 1) is driving the need for PPM leaders to apply more diverse
combinations of PPM tools, capabilities and consulting services to support the needs of today’s
enterprises. 1 Scaling digital business requires PPM leaders to adopt new approaches to strategic
planning and execution, and drive successful business transformation initiatives and programs.
PPM leaders must adopt simplified ways to use multiple types of PPM tools to support both
decision making and execution without introducing technology redundancy.

Before applying any PPM technology, PPM leaders must first identify themselves with at least one
of the evolving types of management organizations or groups that best defines the role that the
PPM function is intended to play in their enterprise. Understanding the types of organizations or
groups that the PPM technology is supposed to benefit can help PPM leaders determine which
vendors and PPM technologies best fit their specific use case. These entities include:

■ Strategy realization office (in some use cases)

■ Business or digital transformation office

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■ Enterprise portfolio office

■ Enterprise program and project capability center

■ Reporting enterprise program management office

■ PMO

■ Collaborative work management teams or groups

Once PPM leaders understand the makeup of their management organization and their specific
use cases clearly, they can turn to the PPM market for supporting technology. The estimated $3.1
billion PPM market represents a variety of existing and emergent PPM submarkets. 2 It is a strong
market, but one that is commoditizing in some areas and diversifying in others simultaneously.
The market is also polarizing, with clear distinctions between standardizing strategic portfolio
decision making and management and diversifying execution methods and approaches based on
time to value.

Connecting strategy and execution for true alignment is also as equally important now as
allowing these two main PPM functions to operate independently from one another when
appropriate. This is driving a natural proliferation of complementary PPM tools supporting both
the strategic and execution activities playing out as part of digital business.

New PPM Market Challenges

The latest digital trends are presenting some clear challenges to the PPM market, and these
challenges have yet to be met. There are new, emergent approaches to both strategic planning
and execution requiring more innovative PPM technology. Demand for the latest digital
technologies (e.g., AI, robotic process automation [RPA]) in all enterprise software markets is also
applying pressure to providers in the PPM market.

Digital technology challenges for the PPM market include:

■ Strategy-to-execution alignment and management

■ Standardized enterprise portfolio decision making connected to diversified execution and

delivery

■ Continuous change

■ Supporting the shift from project-based management to digital-product-based management

■ Funding and resourcing agile investments at the portfolio level

■ Funding and resourcing digital products at the portfolio level

■ AI-enabled PPM technology, including conversational AI and machine learning (ML)

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■ RPA-enabled PPM technology

PPM market providers recognize these challenges and are reacting to them in many ways, but are
doing so incrementally, as opposed to delivering major releases of functions in these areas. As
PPM evolves in its best practices to support scaled digital business, so too will the PPM vendors
and technologies available in the market. 3

Established PPM vendors are investing in new combinations of product capabilities and/or
acquiring other PPM-related vendors and products to meet these varied needs. Pricing models
are beginning to change to better suit customer needs and provide more flexibility in the usage of
different types of licenses and functionality. AI and RPA are being explored by providers for later
infusion into their existing product offerings. Customers and prospects, however, are clamoring
for these things now.

Prospective PPM tool customers should look carefully at the market defined by this Magic
Quadrant research to determine what part of their needs the products discussed will meet.
However, they should also consider other Gartner PPM market research covering PPM software
submarkets (e.g., strategy execution management, low-cost project management tools) to
address all PPM use cases in their organization. Organizations moving aggressively toward
ContinuousNext and scaled agile constructs may need to look beyond these traditional players to
complete a technology profile that covers digital business comprehensively.

Portfolio Versus Execution Configurations

At the portfolio level, PPM leaders are interested in aligning and prioritizing the contributions they
make and the work they do with value markers defined by business leaders. Those markers
include strategy realization, positive business outcomes, transformed business and operating
models, and the resolution of persistent business challenges. PPM technology configured for
portfolio management can support many of these interests, but might also require augmentation
with technologies that complement the portfolio management function.

At the execution level, PPM leaders are interested in diversifying their use of traditional and
alternative work and project execution methods. They wish to reduce overall project durations,
promote continuous customer responsiveness and satisfaction, and base any execution
approach they apply to varied work efforts on the business’s perceived time to value for those
efforts. If agile tooling is already employed for agile and iterative work — for example, Atlassian
Jira, Broadcom (CA Technologies) Rally and CollabNet VersionOne — then integration of this
tooling with a PPM technology is now a priority requirement.

Standard Use Cases and Critical Capabilities

New approaches toward executing transformational initiatives in the midst of ContinuousNext
drive a variety of distinct PPM technology needs. The proliferation of submarkets for PPM is a
direct reflection of these differing technology needs and respective use cases we see among
teams, departments and enterprises seeking out PPM software. In response, the PPM market

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continues to grow and expand to support a variety of PPM use cases involving different types of
user groups, each of which has its own distinct goals and challenges.

Gartner specifically defines four distinct PPM use cases in our Critical Capabilities research,
including IT PPM, enterprisewide PPM, reporting PPM and collaborative PPM.

PPM capabilities identified as essential or critical include:

■ Project demand management

■ Project planning and management

■ Time management

■ Resource management

■ Resource capacity planning

■ Project portfolio management

■ Project collaboration

■ Program management

■ Reporting services

■ Security and user management

■ Integration

■ Usability

Risk management and change management are also important capabilities but are not
specifically measured in our PPM Critical Capabilities research as major items; rather, they are
covered as underlying capabilities by some of the ones included in the list above.

PPM vendors apply several different approaches to providing PPM critical capabilities in the four
distinct PPM use cases. Many are compelled to provide a broad set of PPM software products
achieved largely through mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Others offer one product and focus
on developing and extending it directly, and/or integrating it with other tools and software
products, to cover the new needs that their base products cannot cover.

PPM software providers covered under this market definition aim to support the selection,
planning and execution of a variety of different work packages or containers, including traditional
waterfall projects, as well as iterative and agile projects. Comprehensive support for the
management of digital products is still in a very early stage.

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PPM providers often fold in collaboration and communication capabilities, and allow work teams
and project offices to report, monitor and identify course correction in resource-intensive project
and work environments. Providers included in this Magic Quadrant offer these capabilities directly
through their own products, but frequently recognize that specific integration points may also be
needed to connect niche tools or data sources.

AI- and RPA-Enabled PPM

ContinuousNext requires PPM best practices to evolve toward continuous and adaptive strategic
and operational planning, streamlined and efficient communication, and rapid and continuous
execution. 4 Without also evolving the enterprise’s PPM technology foundation to support these
modern best practices, increasingly intolerable levels of administrative overhead begin to surface,
leaving little or no room for innovation.

Currently, PPM leaders struggle to avoid this situation or find modern technologies to optimize
and support the new roles, responsibilities and delivery methods of their PPM function. Applying
AI to PPM-enabling technologies and disciplines appears to be a promising answer to this
5
struggle, and yet the PPM market is in an embryonic stage as it relates to AI-enabled PPM.

End-user fatigue is also officially setting in as PPM leaders and project professionals are
expected to interact with, update and share information with many or all of these different tools
and technologies. A change or update that a PPM end user must make to one software system or
tool could require additional logins and keying of information into others. Traditional APIs and
hard-coded integration approaches are not enough to reduce the amount of time that PPM
leaders and project professionals must spend logging in and out of and updating multiple
systems used for PPM.

RPA can remedy the many integration inefficiencies found among the tools and technologies
used for PPM in enterprises investing in digital business. RPA investments among digital leaders
will spike in the next few years and, by 2022, enterprise software vendors will provide strong AI-
and RPA-enabled options in their technology offerings for customers. The PPM market must also
follow suit. Currently, however, the PPM market is in the very early stages of providing RPA-
enabled PPM.

Magic Quadrant
Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Project and Portfolio Management

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Source: Gartner (May 2019)

Vendor Strengths and Cautions

Broadcom (CA Technologies)
Broadcom (CA Technologies) provides one flagship PPM product, Clarity PPM, with on-premises
and SaaS deployment options. A second product, Broadcom Rally, provides an agile development
tool that can be purchased as a stand-alone tool or integrated with Broadcom Clarity PPM.

Strengths

■ To provide more flexibility and choice for its larger-size customers, Broadcom introduced a new
pricing and licensing model. The new model allows customers to shift license types from team
members to power users. Additionally, customers no longer need to predict a fixed set of
different types and amounts of licenses before they buy, as this newer model is based on, and
allows for, varied consumption.
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■ Broadcom continues to transform the Clarity PPM user experience, infusing the entire product
with a modern UX lauded by customers and end users, including team members, project
managers and portfolio managers.

■ Out-of-the-box integration between Clarity PPM and Broadcom Rally allows customers to
standardize on portfolio-level communication, strategic alignment and decision making, while
also supporting both waterfall and agile approaches to work management. The integration also
allows Clarity to organize the funding of agile work.

Cautions
■ Broadcom’s Clarity PPM is robust and comprehensive, and supports many different roles for
PPM. The strength of the product and cost, however, might not always meet the needs of small
or midsize PPM environments.

■ Broadcom recognizes the need to continue to provide customer relationship touchpoints for
Clarity PPM’s large installed base. Customers may experience impacts related to customer
service, as Broadcom transitions CA Technologies’ sales and support functions to support its
overall strategy.

■ Broadcom PPM products currently lack AI features like conversational AI and ML. These would
allow PPM leaders and project professionals to reduce the amount of manual data entry
required to feed Clarity PPM and query information from it, or reduce the amount of manual
planning required to use the product effectively.

Cerri
Cerri provides two PPM products, Genius Project and Cerri Apps, with on-premises and cloud-
based options for each.

Strengths

■ Cerri introduced Cerri Apps (Cerri), a collaboration platform consisting of a series of

applications (e.g., Task, Central and Calendar) to provide a more collaborative and agile work
experience for users. This provides a foundation for its increasing agile and mobile work
management support.

■ Genius Project is mainly suited for small and midsize businesses. The addition of Cerri
applications will further extend Cerri’s appeal to users requiring a lighter-weight, yet functional,
experience.

■ Cerri is currently modernizing Genius Project by moving it off of its legacy architecture and
enabling better performance and usability.

Cautions

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■ Currently, neither Genius Project nor Cerri applications support integration with third-party,
agile-friendly products, such as Atlassian Jira or CollabNet VersionOne. As Cerri focuses its
attention on building software technologies facilitating collaborative work, it must also support
integration to these types of third-party agile work applications.

■ Cerri is very focused on improving and accelerating its product development efforts. As this
evolves, the vendor is expected to introduce products on more modern architecture. This will
require it to invest more readily in migration services and support for existing customers, and to
ensure that there is enough support personnel to help the customer base move to a more
modern PPM product set.

■ Cerri is in the midst of transitioning away from its existing legacy architecture in an effort to
expedite innovation in other areas (e.g., chatbots, AI, ML), Until this transition is completed,
support for AI-enabled PPM will not be readily available in its PPM products.

Changepoint
Changepoint offers two main PPM products supporting the needs of its customers and
prospects. Daptiv PPM is a cloud-based service, and Changepoint, its namesake product, offers
on-premises and private cloud deployment options.

Strengths
■ Changepoint has introduced Daptiv Connect, a cloud-based integration platform powered by
Dell Boomi allowing Daptiv PPM to connect to third-party applications and offered for a flat
annual fee. Changepoint manages and maintains these integrations for its customers as a
service, rather than relying on third-party partners to build one-off integrations using a standard
API.

■ Changepoint aligned its PPM and enterprise architecture (EA) products into an Enterprise
Portfolio Management (EPM) offering, which provides customers adopting agile program and
product management with continuous planning capabilities tightly integrated with multimode
work execution.

■ Changepoint introduced an improved resource management capability that enables workforce

planning for enterprises. This allows customers to engage in continuous planning and drives
faster execution, while ensuring effective resource utilization and financial visibility.

Cautions

■ Changepoint is taking initial steps to respond to increasing market demand for a more modern
PPM technology UX, such as AI-driven visualization, natural language processing (NLP) and
ML. Currently, however, Changepoint products do not yet provide robust AI-enabled PPM.

■ Changepoint products can be configured to handle multiple work methods, including agile and
waterfall. But as PPM increasingly shifts from a project focus to a resourced digital product

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approach, the vendor will need to add this support to its products for customers engaged in the
shift.

■ Changepoint and Daptiv offer strong capabilities in project and portfolio management. But as
digital transformation leads to more overarching business programs affecting enterprises,
Changepoint will need to improve its support for program management in its PPM products.

Clarizen
Clarizen provides three cloud-based PPM products: Clarizen One (formerly Clarizen), Clarizen Go
and Clarizen Eagle.

Strengths
■ Clarizen amended its PPM product portfolio to address additional uses cases and address a
broader set of needs across the enterprise. In addition to Clarizen One, the vendor now offers
Clarizen Go, which targets agile- and team-based work management. Clarizen Go integrates
directly with Clarizen One to provide team progress updates. Another new product, Clarizen
Eagle, offers strategic portfolio-level management and alignment to work performed in Clarizen
One, and can also be sold as a stand-alone solution.

■ Supporting its executive-level end users, Clarizen One now includes Slide Publisher, which can
be used to expedite the creation of executive-ready presentations that provide summary-level
status updates based on user-defined templates and preferences.

■ As an initial step into AI-enabled PPM, Clarizen One includes Clarizen Bot, an integration with
Slack or Microsoft Teams that uses bot technology. Clarizen Bot leverages NLP to enhance
personal productivity, by identifying actions for completion for end users (e.g., time entry for
appropriate tasks) as well as smoother tool navigation.

Cautions

■ As the use of tools to support both the process and the system of strategy execution continues
to evolve, the vendor will need to accelerate the enhancement of Clarizen Eagle’s integration
capabilities in this increasingly competitive space.

■ While Clarizen Go is a move in the right direction to support the increasing needs for team
collaboration and engagement, Clarizen will need to improve the UX and user satisfaction with
its base mobile application for Clarizen One.

■ Clarizen leverages customer feedback to provide more modern, cleaner screen presentations,
and the look and feel of Clarizen One. Further improvements to Clarizen One’s UI, specifically in
areas such as the general presentation of tool features and more simplistic views for
presenting project information, would benefit customers and end users.

KeyedIn

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KeyedIn offers one main PPM product, KeyedIn Projects.

Strengths
■ KeyedIn Projects offers users the flexibility to configure their project workflows, gating and
approvals based on preconfigured project types supporting varied work and delivery
methodologies (e.g., waterfall and agile configurations), using a Kanban approach.

■ KeyedIn Projects’ reporting API enables point-and-click integration and allows users to build
simple queries to expose data that can be consumed by JSON-compatible business
intelligence and reporting tools.

■ With primary installations in small and midsize enterprises, KeyedIn Projects can be configured
in ways that support ease of use among end users who might not be PPM technology power
users or experienced in the use of project management software.

Cautions

■ KeyedIn Projects provides users with the ability to categorize projects by project type, thus
allowing for various types of governance workflow. KeyedIn Projects does not yet support
advanced capabilities relative to resourced digital product portfolio management.

■ KeyedIn Projects does not yet support AI-enabled PPM or RPA for its customers.

■ While there has been an emphasis on providing users with added flexibility for configuration
and reporting, KeyedIn should not avoid scaling to continue to provide the professional services
that have been applauded by users in the past.

Micro Focus
Micro Focus provides one main PPM product, Micro Focus PPM, with on-premises and cloud-
hosted deployment options.

Strengths

■ Micro Focus is responding to customer demand for continuous strategic portfolio

management by providing a tight connection between tools used for agile and other work
management and its portfolio management capabilities. It also provides the ability to track
digital products at the portfolio level to manage funding and resources without having to go
directly into an agile tool.

■ Micro Focus improved the look and feel of its PPM product with a more modern UX, including
new charting and graphics libraries enabling a new dashboard system. This allows for easier
user configuration and additional out-of-the-box content with new chart types.

■ Micro Focus PPM includes evolving enterprise agile support, by allowing users to define
strategies using its portfolio management features, analyze various portfolio scenarios based

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on value metrics and potential benefits realization, and advance approved work packages for
detailed execution.

Cautions
■ Micro Focus PPM only supports mobile accessibility natively and does not yet offer a mobile
application available on Google Play or in the Apple Store.

■ Micro Focus continues to evolve its SaaS strategy. However, a significant portion of the Micro
Focus PPM installed base remains on on-premises deployments. For Micro Focus customers
interested in adopting or migrating to a public cloud-hosted deployment, be aware that the
vendor is still building its expertise in these new environments.

■ As customers shift from project-based to digital-product-based methods, Micro Focus will need
to continue to evolve its support for collaborative delivery teams. Micro Focus released its
initial capabilities in this area in February 2019, and more features are slated for future
releases. Currently, however, these new capabilities are in the early stages of adoption by
customers.

Microsoft
Microsoft provides two main PPM products, Microsoft Project Server (on-premises solution) and
Microsoft Project Online (cloud-based, hosted by Microsoft in Office 365). Other PPM products
include Microsoft Project, Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Teams.

Strengths
■ Microsoft is strengthening its messaging to customers and its partner network to reduce
complexity and confusion on how to implement and leverage its PPM technologies. This
includes helping customers more easily understand how to combine and configure the various
Microsoft PPM components to meet specific PPM and business needs.

■ Microsoft PPM offerings allow users to evaluate the impact of unplanned work on portfolios of
programs and projects. Users can capture and track formal project or work change requests,
and assess the impact of these changes on work, durations, costs and resources.

■ Microsoft introduced a new platform it calls Project Service, promising a modern approach to
work management. This evolving product leverages and integrates with different Microsoft
components, such as Microsoft Flow, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Planner and Microsoft
Project Online, in a more modern way.

Cautions

■ Microsoft’s new Project Service is relatively new and untested in the marketplace. Existing and
new Microsoft Project Online customers will have access to Project Service as part of their
Project Online subscriptions. These customers should refrain from overly customizing (rather

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than configuring) their use of Project Online until the two offerings are combined into one
platform and unified UX.

■ Microsoft offers many PPM-enabling products and options for its customers, especially project
managers who want to successfully manage and report on their projects. However, continued
customer feedback indicates that Microsoft must improve its customer support specifically for
PMOs and enterprise PMOs (EPMOs). Navigating the many PPM technology options Microsoft
offers can be confusing for PMOs and EPMOs interested in exploring how they can automate
PPM using Microsoft products.

■ Project Online offers strong capabilities for named resource management at the detailed
project and execution levels. However, dynamic resource management at the portfolio level,
with the ability to create multiple scenarios and assess potential positive or negative impacts,
would be a welcome addition that could expose macrolevel budget and schedule risks.

One2Team
One2Team offers one main PPM product, One2Team.

Strengths
■ One2Team provides improved resource management and capacity planning capabilities with
the inclusion of an additional module that allows One2Team customers to perform capacity
management, what-if analysis and dynamic replanning independent of, and without impacting,
the product’s role as a PPM execution system of record.

■ One2Team now offers preconfigured options for new product innovation (NPI),
telecommunications (e.g., infrastructure rollouts) and IT PPM. This allows customers to
expedite their implementations, while also allowing configuration supporting the specific PPM
needs and varied use cases of an enterprise.

■ To support the provision of real-time information and enablement of collaboration across both
the execution level and portfolio level of PPM, One2Team now offers what-if analysis
capabilities for building and comparing alternative portfolio scenarios.

Cautions
■ One2Team is transitioning from managing 100% of its implementations with internal staff to
using select implementation partners to support growth in underserved markets. As One2Team
continues to scale, it must invest in more formal onboarding, training and collaboration with
implementation partners to avoid dampening its reputation for customer responsiveness.

■ One2Team is making incremental investments in pursuing North American markets and must
continue to do so to strengthen its brand, and marketing and sales execution, in this region.

■ One2Team does not yet provide PPM-enabled AI and RPA as part of its PPM offering.

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ONEPOINT Projects
ONEPOINT Projects offers one main PPM product, ONEPOINT Projects.

Strengths
■ ONEPOINT continues to build on its strength in bidirectional integration with Atlassian Jira.
ONEPOINT Projects’ Jira integration now allows users to automatically synchronize custom
fields, facilitating more modular planning for large or complex initiatives.

■ Version 18 of ONEPOINT Projects demonstrates the vendor’s commitment to improving the

product’s UI and usability. Version 18 includes an improved look and feel, with the addition of
Kanban boards for building and managing to-do lists and activities, as well as improved work
breakdown structure views.

■ ONEPOINT Projects is attractive for small and midsize organizations, given its accelerated
deployment durations and ease of use. A free trial option is offered so that prospective
customers can test and apply the use of the product to a small subset of users before making
a purchasing decision.

Cautions
■ ONEPOINT Projects version 18 includes improved portfolio management capabilities such as
scenario planning and an upgraded portfolio dashboard. While the provided capabilities may be
appropriate for small and some midsize organizations, they might not always suffice for larger
enterprises.

■ ONEPOINT provides mobile support via ONEPOINT 360 and ONEPOINT ME (iOS only), but
requires improved UI capabilities to better support those project stakeholders requiring robust
mobile accessibility and support.

■ ONEPOINT Projects does not yet provide AI-enabled PPM capabilities or support for RPA.
These capabilities are in the early stages of development and will not be included in the
product in the next 12 months.

Planisware
Planisware provides two PPM products, Planisware Enterprise and Planisware Orchestra.

Strengths
■ Planisware Enterprise offers a collaboration feature for users, with a first-stop entry point called
Workbox. The feature is part of the system’s new UX, redeveloped in line with Google interface
standards. Workbox lets users see, at a glance, a to-do list grouped by theme. From there, users
can go directly to the pages where they can perform needed actions.

■ Planisware’s SaaS strategy has evolved so that it now owns and controls all of its application
services and infrastructure across all the data centers used to support its cloud-hosted

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customers. As a result, Planisware can directly ensure security, and it can accelerate change
requests and incident response times as part of customer support.

■ This year’s 6.3 release of Planisware Enterprise introduces support for the Scaled Agile
Framework (SAFe). With Planisware Enterprise, SAFe can fit alongside users’ other methods
(e.g., Scrum, Stage-Gate, hybrids like iterative waterfall). This flexibility allows users to
accommodate various approaches to programs, projects, nonproject work and product
enhancements, and to report on them all together in the portfolio.

Cautions
■ Although Planisware continues to evolve its SaaS strategy, a significant portion of its installed
base remains on on-premises deployments, largely due to the longevity of Planisware in this
market and its high customer retention rate. The vendor’s experience in cloud hosting is still
maturing.

■ Lengthy waterfall implementations have been a challenge for new Planisware customers. The
vendor introduced a new approach it calls “Agile Implementation,” which is based on the
modules and features new users find most useful. However, Agile Implementation is an
unproven approach and may not address new customers’ priority needs if they do not actively
direct the vendor’s configuration efforts, and do not continue to iterate.

■ Planisware is committed to its strategy for IT PPM, but Planisware Orchestra is a better fit for
less-complex IT PPM use cases than Planisware Enterprise. Prospective Planisware customers
addressing IT PPM should evaluate Planisware Orchestra. Planisware Enterprise is better-
suited for enterprisewide PPM use cases, or in large IT organizations with advanced and
complex requirements.

Planview
Planview offers a number of PPM-related products, including Planview Enterprise One (cloud-
hosted) Planview PPM Pro (cloud-based), Planview Projectplace, Planview LeanKit and Planview
Spigit.

Strengths
■ Planview introduced a more modern pricing model for its customers, called Flex licensing. The
Flex option allows customers to shift between different types of licenses and PPM capabilities
at least twice during a contract year. Flex pricing allows Planview customers to shift their
license usage from traditional waterfall-based project management to agile, iterative or
collaborative work management licenses at no additional cost or penalty.

■ Planview’s portfolio of products recognizes the inevitability of tool proliferation in the enterprise
by providing different tools to meet different project and portfolio management needs. With
each acquisition, Planview continues to diversify the product options available to a variety of
PPM use cases and needs.

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■ Planview’s acquisition of Spigit gives the provider yet another product option for PPM
customers interested in ideation and innovation management. Spigit will be integrated with a
number of Planview’s PPM products and contextualized to support idea capture in a number of
PPM use cases.

Cautions
■ Planview Enterprise One provides a strong portfolio management, work management and
resource management platform for large enterprises. However, the vendor is quite aggressive
in its M&A strategy, and customers and prospects may experience uneven levels of customer
service and support as it executes on it.

■ Planview has invested in modernizing its UX in Planview Enterprise One. However, the more
modern UX is not yet completely infused throughout the product.

■ Planview has yet to offer AI-enabled PPM support or RPA options for its customers.

Project Objects
Project Objects offers two PPM-related products, Project Objects and Needful.

Strengths
■ Project Objects launched a new company called Uppwise to focus solely on the development
and marketing of its agile PPM product, Needful. This allows Project Objects to manage and
develop its foundational PPM product, Project Objects, separately from Needful, without
compromising focus or the pace of innovation for either product.

■ The Project Objects PPM product now includes a mobile team space accessible via mobile
application available for both iOS and Android. This allows executives to access dashboards
and team members to manage collaboration items using mobile accessibility.

■ Project Objects is accelerating the promotion of its products and capabilities using various
channels and by expanding its reseller partner base, placing specific emphasis on digital
marketing strategy, using blogging, various forms of social media, its website and expanded
telemarketing efforts. This will allow the vendor to better engage, deploy and support more
customers in varied regions of the world.

Cautions
■ Restful APIs are inherent in the Needful product, but adoption of them by customers is still in
the early stages.

■ Project Objects does not yet provide AI-enabled PPM or RPA options for customers in either of
its PPM products.

■ The Needful product currently supports only the English language. Support for additional
languages is planned for subsequent releases.
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Sciforma
Sciforma offers one PPM product, Sciforma.

Strengths
■ Sciforma recently redesigned the work management capabilities of its PPM product to include
more collaborative features, and inbox and Kanban views for managing issues, actions,
deliverables and risks. Users can seamlessly move among views of business cases, projects,
products, programs and portfolios.

■ Sciforma version 7.1 now offers facilities for faster and easier setup, allowing more efficient
and comprehensive configuration and deployment. Standard configurations can be completed
in a few days for most customers. Additional features supporting global scalability across
diverse work teams allow users to tailor modules and methods based on their needs.

■ Sciforma’s portfolio management capabilities now include features for budget-driven work and
project ranking, with drill-down capabilities for portfolio-level simulation and impact analysis.

Cautions
■ Sciforma does not yet support AI-enabled PPM or RPA options for its customers.

■ Sciforma does not yet provide robust mobile accessibility to the product. However, plans to
deliver initial capabilities in this area are slated for release some time later this year.

■ While Sciforma deployments span enterprises of all sizes, it is more attractive for midsize
enterprises with needs for PPM technology. The vendor continues to focus on improving
product scalability and support for large, complex enterprise environments.

Sopheon
Sopheon offers one main PPM product, Accolade.

Strengths
■ Sopheon introduced a new mobile application called Accolade Go. This application allows PPM
teams to submit approvals, decisions, input and feedback directly from their mobile device to
enable fast decision making and encourage more timely responses from PPM leaders.

■ Sopheon improved the UX within Accolade, adding activity boards and card views of work for a
more modern, graphical way to represent and manage work. New boards include a project
team board that presents all the work of a specific team on a project. A work board graphically
depicts all the work with a single stage or phase. There are also options for building customer
boards.

■ Sopheon introduced a new consulting deployment framework to improve client behavioral

change. Called the Value Assurance Approach (VAA) framework, it provides an organizational
behavior change methodology mapped to deployment processes.
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Cautions

■ Sopheon has strong capabilities supporting new product development (NPD) and enterprise
portfolio customers, and offers a light IT PPM capability focused on business alignment.
However, it has yet to demonstrate strength and deep experience in the traditional IT PPM use
case.

■ Sopheon’s strength in NPD PPM should not be confused with the shift from project-based to
resourced digital-product-based management. Sopheon has yet to demonstrate this capability
and experience in helping EPMOs and PMOs support resourced digital product management.

■ Sopheon made an initial investment in AI-enabled PPM by embedding a chatbot in Accolade,

but user adoption is still in the early stages.

Upland
Upland offers two PPM-related products, PowerSteering and Eclipse.

Strengths

■ PowerSteering provides top-down strategic planning supporting several use cases, including
EPMOs, IT PMOs, business transformation initiatives, M&As and NPD. In addition, Upland offers
an industry-specific preconfigured PPM option with Eclipse PPM that offers a migration path to
PowerSteering as customers’ maturity and requirements evolve.

■ Recently enhanced PowerSteering capabilities allow users to view portfolio data and
performance information using Upland Analytics. The Upland Integration Platform and Upland
Analytics enable extensions to other enterprise data sources.

■ Upland is in the process of leveraging its established Knowledge Management platform to

power investments in AI and chatbot with PowerSteering, and to extend collaboration,
stakeholder sentiment and user interaction capabilities.

Cautions
■ Although PowerSteering includes a certified bidirectional integration from Atlassian Jira to the
PowerSteering scheduling engine, customers often choose to configure this as a one-way
integration to ensure data integrity.

■ Upland’s PPM products do not yet support the funding and sourcing of resourced digital
products, while EPMOs and PMOs continue to shift in that direction.

■ Although AI-enabled PPM is part of Upland’s product roadmap, the vendor’s products’ AI or RPA
options for customers are being developed on Upland’s platform.

Workfront
Workfront provides one PPM product, Workfront.

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Strengths
■ In the vendor’s quest to make the Workfront product the “operational system of record,” it offers
many options for integrating with third-party products, including an API, out-of-the-box
connectors and Workfront Fusion’s drag-and-drop, codeless connector.

■ The Workfront mobile app offers a good baseline of core capabilities to enable an “anytime,
anyplace” work experience for mobile users. Users can manage timesheets, create and update
tasks, track projects, collaborate with other team members, and review and approve content.

■ The vendor recently introduced Workfront Library, which is a digital content hub allowing users
to create and access content (e.g., work products, deliverables, presentations). This enhances
document sharing and reuse of the appropriate collateral for a given work initiative.

Cautions
■ At its core, Workfront is a robust enterprise work management system. With recent
development, Workfront highlights resource management enhancements to allow for global
portfolio prioritization. Users should understand that, while this feature supports improved
portfolio management, Workfront’s overall portfolio management capabilities are not typically
sufficient to support the needs of EPMOs.

■ Workfront offers only one main PPM product in a market that is dictating requirements for
multiple PPM tools designed for different purposes. Having only one product may limit
Workfront’s ability to address a number of varied additional PPM use cases and scenarios
supported by the wider market using only one technology platform. However, Workfront’s
configurability accommodates different team and department work styles within the same
environment.

■ Currently, Workfront does not offer strong AI-enabled PPM or RPA options for customers.

WorkOtter
WorkOtter provides one PPM product, WorkOtter.

Strengths

■ WorkOtter provides small and midsize organizations with streamlined PPM capabilities, and is
an attractive option for customers looking for an affordable, quick deployment.

■ The current WorkOtter product includes enhanced capabilities for project planning to
accommodate the working preferences of Gantt charts, Kanban boards and grid views.

■ WorkOtter has improved dashboarding and visualizations with an inventory of interactive

options that provide a clean look and feel for an enhanced UI to accelerate user adoption.

Cautions

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■ Currently, WorkOtter manages 100% of its implementations with full-time employees. As

WorkOtter increases its marketing and sales successes, it will need to scale its internal support
team to match a growing customer base. Engaging select partners and building a stronger
partner network will also ensure that the growth of the customer base does not lead to
degradation of customer service, experience and support.

■ WorkOtter does not yet provide support and product innovations that would match the needs of
EPMOs and PMOs moving toward a resourced digital product management approach.

■ Currently, WorkOtter does not provide AI-enabled PPM or RPA options for customers, but it is
expected to introduce AI-based features in near-term releases.

Vendors Added and Dropped

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants as markets change. As a result of
these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant may change over time. A vendor’s
appearance in a Magic Quadrant one year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we
have changed our opinion of that vendor. It may be a reflection of a change in the market and,
therefore, changed evaluation criteria, or of a change of focus by that vendor.

Added
No vendors were added to this Magic Quadrant.

Dropped
No vendors were dropped from this Magic Quadrant.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

■ A provider must demonstrate active participation as a pure-play PPM software company — with
a clear and primary software business model, as opposed to a consulting business model.

■ The software products must not require customers to purchase a separate, non-PPM
technology platform to obtain PPM functionality. They also must not require investment in a set
of extensions or modules as part of a “single source” value proposition from a software
provider competing primarily in markets other than PPM.

■ The software providers must actively market, sell and support one or more stand-alone PPM
software products or online application services.

■ The software providers must focus mainly on collaborative PPM, enterprisewide PPM, IT PPM
and reporting PPM use cases. Vendors with a primary focus on, and significant presence in,
niche or specialized PPM markets are not included.

■ The software providers must demonstrate a solid track record of successful PPM technology
deployments and companion PPM consulting services across a majority of their PPM
customers, with little or no reliance on partners and customization to do so.

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■ The software products must offer comprehensive, integrated project, portfolio and resource
management features and capabilities.

■ The providers and products must demonstrate longevity in the PPM marketplace, with general
availability and active marketing to PPM leaders for at least the past five consecutive years,
and without any significant company, product or service disruptions.

■ The providers must be able to demonstrate significant market presence, including market
penetration, sales and support for multiple regions of the world.

■ The providers must be able to demonstrate a viable, proven SaaS strategy.

■ The providers must demonstrate a solid product development and innovation cadence shorter
than 12-month intervals.

■ The providers must have secured at least 10 new PPM customers (not repeat business or
renewals) during the past 12 months.

■ The providers must have at least $5 million in annual PPM software revenue, or reliable
financial backing.

Evaluation Criteria
Ability to Execute
Product or Service: Evaluation of the application services of the providers in this defined market
was conducted, including current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets and skills, as
defined in the Market Definition/Description and detailed in the subcriteria. This includes those
offered natively or via OEM agreements/partnerships. This also includes an assessment of
multiple, independent PPM products supporting differing PPM audiences and use cases. Vendors
with multiple PPM products recognize the limitations of trying to cover all PPM use cases with
only one software product. Ease of use, balanced with functional depth and cost-effective pricing,
were examined, as well as how well and how complete the vendor and products support PPM
depth and breadth. Capabilities specifically needed for PMOs were evaluated. Scalability of any
applicable products and breadth of deployment options for varied PPM use cases were also
assessed. Advancements in applying AI and RPA to PPM technology were measured, in terms of
availability in the product and adoption of it by customers in the field. The same measures were
applied for resourced digital product management. These measures were applied for execution
capabilities and portfolio capabilities.

Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): This is an assessment of the
overall organization’s financial health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and
the likelihood that the individual business unit will continue investing in its products. Also
assessed was a measure of the probability that the provider will continue offering the product and
will advance the state of the art within its portfolio of products. Organic and other signs of growth
were noted.

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Sales Execution/Pricing: The provider’s capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that
supports them were examined. This includes responsiveness in sales engagement, deal
management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales
channel. Renewal rates, compared to reported losses due to nonrenewals, were evaluated.

Market Responsiveness/Record: High marks were given to opportunistic providers that can
respond quickly and change development and/or company direction to meet the needs of an
evolving marketplace — either through acquisition or by other means. How well and how quickly
providers execute on a multi-PPM product strategy to support an expansive PPM marketplace
was measured. Providers should be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities
develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and/or market dynamics change. This criterion
also considers the provider’s history of responsiveness to customer requests. Track record in the
field was also examined.

Marketing Execution: We analyzed the clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs
designed to:

■ Deliver the organization’s message to influence the market.

■ Promote the brand and business.

■ Increase awareness of the products.

■ Establish a positive identification with the product/brand and organization in the minds of
buyers.

This mind share can be driven by a combination of publicity, promotional initiatives, thought
leadership, word of mouth and sales activities. Web presence was also examined.

Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs enabling clients to be

successful with the products evaluated were researched. This includes the ways customers
receive technical or account support. Services/programs were evaluated, including PPM process
consulting services, at little or no extra cost, that enable clients to be successful with the
products. Level of responsiveness in technical support or account support was examined.
Ancillary tools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups
and SLAs were noted. Customers’ impressions of doing business with the provider were
examined.

Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments was measured.
Factors include the quality of the organizational structure, such as skills, experiences, programs,
systems, underlying infrastructure and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate
effectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis. Security and data privacy were also measured.

Table 1: Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria

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Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Product or Service High

Overall Viability High

Sales Execution/Pricing Medium

Market Responsiveness/Record High

Marketing Execution Medium

Customer Experience High

Operations High

Source: Gartner (May 2019)

Completeness of Vision
Market Understanding: This is an assessment of the ability of the provider to understand buyers’
wants and needs and to translate those into strong PPM offerings. Providers that show the
highest degree of vision listen to and understand buyers’ wants and needs, and can shape or
enhance those with their added vision. The provider’s marked recognition of, and periodic
departure from, core product development to exploratory product development or other activities
(e.g., M&A) to address the needs of an expansive PPM marketplace, and even further beyond it,
were examined.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated

throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer
programs and positioning statements was recorded and evaluated.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products using the appropriate network of direct and
indirect sales, marketing, service, and communications affiliates that extend the scope and depth
of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base was measured.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The provider’s approaches to product development and delivery,
emphasizing differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to current
and future requirements, were examined. Value as it relates to deployment, ease of use, ease of
accessibility and ease of adoption was measured. A cost-competitive pricing model or models, as
evidenced in the field, was also measured. Native features and functions, versus reliance on OEM
agreements, were assessed. Functionality supporting bottom-up and top-down PPM
implementations, as well as depth and breadth of support for use cases defined in other Gartner
PPM research, was also taken into account. Scalability, depth and breadth of the product were
analyzed. Process consulting options, including remote process consulting, were also noted.
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Integration with requirements management, agile development, IT service management (ITSM),

ERP and other third-party systems, as well as to non-IT third-party data sources and software
systems, was examined. The ability to support a global installed base was measured. Acquired
products that are tracked postacquisition to determine if the provider is simply “maintaining” a
product line with small enhancements versus truly innovating it by adding new, meaningful
capabilities (or integrating multiple acquired products) using aggressive development efforts
were analyzed. Customer response to the vendor’s product strategy and tangible customer
benefits derived from product strategy was also considered. Applying AI and RPA to PPM
technology and product roadmaps was also examined, as well as any emergent plans to support
resourced, digital product management at the execution and portfolio levels.

Business Model: The soundness and logic of the provider’s underlying business proposition were
measured. How well the business model provides value to customers was also examined, as well
as how far it reaches to support multiple PPM use cases.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The provider’s strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet
the specific needs of individual market segments, including vertical markets, was examined.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise, or

capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes was assessed.
Recognition of the need for multiple PPM products for a PPM vendor to truly support the multiple
PPM use cases prevalent in the field today was also assessed. Also evaluated was the vendor’s
ability to offer seasonal product releases and exhibit rapid development and agile-driven releases.
Functionality demonstrating a strong product vision that pushes the market — not just the
provider — in new directions was analyzed. This is a gauging of the ability to lead the “herd” of the
market, rather than follow it. This includes:

■ The general availability of AI and RPA in the PPM products offered

■ Any improvements to reporting services

■ Introduction of social networking and collaboration as part of PPM process automation

■ Mobile application development and device support

■ User experience innovations; new and differentiating functionality

■ Showcasing of other activities that demonstrate the ability to respond quickly to the needs for
emergent functionality and/or introduce new concepts, techniques and functions to customers

Acquisitions should make sense and be followed by strong evidence of innovation in added
product development, product integration, and customer care and support programs, rather than
simple maintenance of a product line and installed base.

Geographic Strategy: An assessment was made of the provider’s strategy to direct resources,
skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside its “home” or native

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geography. The strategy could be executed directly or through partners, channels and
subsidiaries, as appropriate for that geography and market.

Table 2: Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Market Understanding High

Marketing Strategy High

Sales Strategy High

Offering (Product) Strategy High

Business Model Medium

Vertical/Industry Strategy Low

Innovation High

Geographic Strategy Low

Source: Gartner (May 2019)

Quadrant Descriptions
Leaders
PPM software providers identified as Leaders in this Magic Quadrant meet many of the PPM
application functionality and process automation requirements of targeted consumers. They
recognize the importance of different PPM scenarios and support the resultant, and often
different, use cases. Leaders understand that one PPM product alone cannot support all the
different market opportunities available to them, and they take steps to diversify their PPM
software product portfolios.

Leaders can provide comprehensive, resilient and high-performance PPM functionality to the
project-execution-level customer, as well as to the portfolio-level customer. Additionally, Leaders
recognize the market need for different types of PPM products that match well with the
proliferation of different project and work environments of their prospective customers. As such,
Leaders are acquiring and building out a thoughtful inventory of different PPM products
supporting the varied types of customers looking for software in the PPM space.

Most Leaders can demonstrate a strong market presence, combined with a higher-than-usual
level of frequency in sales activity and execution. Leaders are growing their installed bases, and
their average number of end users per deal is steadily increasing year over year.

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Leaders can verify their longevity and stability as on-premises and cloud-hosted providers in the
PPM market. Some also have additional products supporting small and midsize businesses, and
can offer cloud-based, rather than cloud-hosted, options for smaller workgroups or customers
with limited budgets.

Leaders provide depth and breadth of functionality in their applications, representing many years
of development. Leaders can provide overwhelming evidence that they are actively selling and
marketing their solutions. Their sales and marketing programs continue to be highly effective.
Leaders are often heavily engaged with customers as process consultants, in addition to being
software providers.

Leaders are beginning to acquire human capital with expertise in data science and AI, including
ML. It will not be long before Leaders begin introducing conversational AI and ML capabilities in
their PPM products.

Leaders are currently stable financially. In addition, no significant business or outside disruption
has shaken or distracted the Leaders in this Magic Quadrant.

Challengers
Many PPM software providers in the Challengers quadrant are enjoying steady, incremental
growth in customer count and average users per customer. Some Challengers in this Magic
Quadrant have been operating in the space for two decades or more. Challengers often rely on
their strong global presence and longevity in the PPM market, and almost exclusively rely on one
PPM product offered to the market. These providers are often missing a growing PPM product
inventory that would drive stronger vision marks if they recognized the need for a multiproduct
PPM business strategy. Others may have a growing product inventory, but are not yet leveraging it
in ways that drive diverse PPM technology adoption.

Challengers often seek to enable PPM broadly as a business process, but do not always choose
to build out additional PPM products targeting varied PPM use cases. Often bound to the
limitations of offering one PPM product, Challengers are not always able to extend, alter and
adjust their product to support the diverse needs of different types of PPM customers.

Challengers may focus more on core capabilities, but their products might also be missing recent
innovations, resulting in a slower pace of improvement compared to other providers in the market.

The financial viability, number of customers and average number of users per deal of many of the
Challengers often are in line with Leaders. However, support for AI- and RPA-enabled PPM is
uneven among the Challengers in this Magic Quadrant.

Visionaries
The Completeness of Vision weightings earned by Visionaries reflect innovative approaches in
areas such as collaboration, social networking, mobile device support, interoperability with third-
party data sources and group-specific collaboration. The latter might include PMOs, steering
committees, workgroups, project execution environments and teams.

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PPM service providers in the Visionaries quadrant are enjoying steady, increased growth in
customer count and average number of users per customer. Visionaries often demonstrate, as
their designation implies, forward-thinking features and traits, such as a cloud-based architecture
and agile application development cadence.

Some Visionaries have been more experimental with business models, and they may approach
various markets more broadly with variable packaging and pricing (e.g., free trials, try-and-buy
options and flexible contract durations).

Like Leaders, Visionaries seek to enable PPM broadly as a business process. However, they also
may focus on offering only one PPM product, as opposed to building out an inventory of PPM
products like Leaders. However, support for AI- and RPA-enabled PPM is uneven among
Visionaries in this Magic Quadrant.

Visionaries’ financial viability, number of customers and average number of users per deal may
not compare with those of the Leaders or Challengers in this Magic Quadrant. However, these
Visionaries make up for such limitations through innovative features and functionality, as well as
through direct, responsive customer care and some influence over future product development.

Visionaries are nimble and innovative, but they are also often lean in personnel and other
business-enabling resources. They may struggle at times to provide high-quality scalability and
performance for customers wanting to deploy hundreds or thousands of licenses.

Niche Players
PPM software providers identified as Niche Players in this Magic Quadrant provide a good core
set of PPM functionality and may offer more than one product. Their focus on specific portions of
the PPM market puts them close enough to customers to fully understand what improvements
should be made to their products quickly in the near term to keep their customers happy.

The products offered by these vendors are maintained well for reliability’s sake, and customers
are often satisfied, even if the providers are not always well-funded or making big leaps in gained
market share or innovation. Like Challengers, Niche Players differ from Leaders in areas such as
innovation. Customers may benefit from having more direct influence over a Niche Player’s future
product development efforts.

Context
This Magic Quadrant offers an analysis of PPM software providers by the relative placement of
the main players in the market according to a variety of criteria, and by offering strengths and
cautions for each of the included providers. The evaluations of the providers represent a
combination of research, analysis and client reference checks conducted specifically for the
Magic Quadrant process. They also include input from the Gartner PPM research community,
ongoing provider briefings, interactions with Gartner clients, market developments and other
research sources.

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Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for PPM is a useful input into a process to identify and evaluate PPM
software providers. Gartner’s “Critical Capabilities for Project Portfolio Management, Worldwide”
can also help with PPM product selection, as it evaluates the PPM products against specific PPM
use cases. Additionally, Peer Insights for Project Portfolio Management, Worldwide offers
perspectives from users of today’s PPM and project management software.

Enterprise users should select a suitable provider based on a detailed evaluation of their specific
needs and objectives, compared to a provider’s capacity to fulfill those objectives, to determine
which provider can best address their particular requirements. Additionally, care should be taken
to understand any PPM dynamics playing out in a prospective PPM buyer’s enterprise. PPM tool
proliferation is becoming more commonplace in today’s enterprises, as digitalization forces
enterprises to experiment with new methods of work and project execution, while also
normalizing communication in large-scale transformation initiatives and ensuing programs.

Providers in this Magic Quadrant are mature and robust, in most cases, representing nearly two
decades’ worth of product evolution. The average general availability of the products across all of
the vendors included in this research is 15 years. As such, many of the vendors demonstrate deep
levels of PPM experience and work in the field, regardless of their position on the Magic Quadrant.
In general, all the products these providers offer have a suitable amount of depth and breadth.

PPM for the Execution-Level PPM Customer

Execution-level PPM customers are mainly interested in enhancing the data sharing, collaboration
and communication between project managers and team members in a project environment. All
the providers featured in this Magic Quadrant offer some level of centralized request, demand,
project, resource and time management capabilities. Reporting services can provide consolidated
visibility into the current state of projects, resources and spending.

Execution-level configuration of PPM software supports detailed project or work record creation,
scheduling and leveling, resource loading and leveling, time reporting, and project cost
management, among other PPM processes. Reporting services, including portfolio-level reporting,
can aggregate the data that the system collects from users performing these activities within the
PPM system. In doing so, they often solidify over time as reliable project systems of record.
Although this frequently signifies a successful investment in PPM technology, these project
systems of record are not always flexible enough to then support project and resource planning
and replanning at the portfolio level.

When execution-level PPM software deployments mature and are adopted by the customer over
time, integration with other adjacent systems is common. These integrations include, but are not
limited to, connections to other management systems (such as the help desk and ITSM systems),
as well as to other third-party products such as agile development tools, collaboration platforms
and ERP systems.

The success of an execution-level PPM software configuration is highly dependent on the rate of
adoption by end users (specifically project managers and team members) of multiple PPM
features at the lowest levels of project or work management detail. Without this adoption, the
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reporting services dependent on said adoption will not provide valuable portfolio views. Therefore,
stronger adoption rates lead to better communication between project managers and team
members, greater visibility into what is happening at the execution level, and better reporting to
management and stakeholders interested in the progress of investments, programs and projects.

Applying social networking and collaboration features and functions in a PPM context within an
execution-level deployment can aid or accelerate daily end-user adoption. It does this because it
can curb the tendencies of project team members to go outside the PPM system (for example,
email, spreadsheets and third-party time-reporting systems) to handle communication and data
sharing during project execution activities.

For the execution-level PPM customer, project portfolio reporting services can be the shiny
objects that convince management of the value in automating execution-level processes.
However, execution-level PPM customers should not expect business managers and executives
to actively participate in the use of the PPM system on a daily basis, aside from accessing reports
and personal dashboards.

PPM for the Portfolio-Level Customer

Portfolio-level PPM customers are mainly interested in enhancing the data sharing, collaboration
and communication among project managers, business sponsors and any roles responsible for
strategy realization. Consequently, portfolio-level PPM customers will often look for a top-down,
stand-alone system where the portfolio management features and capabilities are not centered or
dependent on task- and assignment-level time reporting and detailed project schedule
management.

Portfolio-level customers want a common platform for planning, prioritizing and approving
demand prior to such work items being passed on to an execution-level PPM system. They want
this platform to replace existing spreadsheet-based planning and selection exercises, while also
integrating this platform with different data sources that can include one or more execution-level
PPM sources of record and financial data sources.

If the resulting system is not flexible enough to then perform independent planning and
replanning without compromising their hard-earned PPM systems of record, PPM leaders are
doing one of two things. They are using spreadsheets for independent planning and vetting at the
portfolio level, or they are turning to the market again to procure a top-down, portfolio-level
software system that can work in conjunction with an existing execution-level PPM system.

Choosing project-portfolio-level PPM allows customers of the project organization, program

managers, project managers and resource managers to communicate and collaborate during
high-level project and resource planning, replanning and decision making. Summarized,
aggregate, execution-level information can also be fed into this common planning platform
without severely disrupting the way a project manager (or even project teams) works on a daily
basis.

PPM Support for Agile Development and Innovative Work Delivery

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Without adding any new, specific functions, some PPM systems have some of the administrative
workflow “plumbing” to be configured to support a few parts of agile project delivery in both IT-
specific and non-IT forms. Successful use of a PPM system to support agile development teams
— or the needs of experimental, innovative project teams — is mainly dependent on how well that
system complements and integrates with the typical creative processes in the environment.

Currently, PPM providers are challenged with the critical task of adapting their software for
customers increasingly engaging in iterative and agile approaches to project execution, as this
represents a major departure from traditional waterfall support already available in their products.
The PPM market is already evolving to address this challenge, by developing graphical task
management managed as storyboards, and integrating with popular third-party, agile-friendly
products (e.g., Atlassian Jira, Broadcom Rally, CollabNet VersionOne). Some vendors are also
acquiring additional products to address the needs of evolving iterative and agile work execution
environments. Funding and sourcing for digital product management is still a work in progress.

Another ongoing trend in the market includes vendors providing preconfigured PPM software
supporting collaboration, communication and project-portfolio-level reporting for agile
development and innovative work delivery. Providers with existing footholds in application
development process software markets are already providing some level of transparent PPM
functionality in integrated development environments. Some vendors are also developing some
direct agile-friendly support in their tools. Some of the PPM providers covered in this Magic
Quadrant are emphasizing the importance of providing out-of-the-box aggregate application
development activity reporting in their products.

PPM, Social Networking and Collaboration

Social networking and collaboration platforms, capabilities, and integration points continue to
surface in PPM software. Gartner is seeing a few different approaches to applying social
networking and collaboration in a PPM context. Some providers in this Magic Quadrant are relying
on classic and basic communication tools and functions, including issue tracking, threaded
discussions, calendar synchronization, integration to and from email systems and applications,
and other mechanisms.

Other providers integrate with increasingly popular social networking and collaboration products
such as Atlassian Confluence, GoToMeeting, Slack and Workplace by Facebook. Still others fully
engage in developing native social networking and collaboration as part of their core products.

Notably, some vendors’ innovations in packaging and pricing facilitate interenterprise

collaboration, allowing project and program team members from partners, suppliers, customers,
and project contractors and subcontractors to participate and collaborate on projects and
programs.

Social networking and collaboration features in PPM applications can be contextual and support
execution- or portfolio-level PPM configurations. They can also trigger viral adoption and
“stickiness” among end users. These features are of particular importance to project groups
automating adaptive PPM workstreams.
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PPM and Mobile Device Support

Many PPM providers continue to add support for mobile devices, including tablets and
smartphones. However, building dedicated applications for a series of known wireless and mobile
devices available in the field is quickly becoming a differentiator among the providers in this
Magic Quadrant. Many PPM providers can support mobile devices by leveraging HTML5
development to push out specific features and capabilities to mobile users of their products.
Other vendors have taken mobile support a few steps further, offering dedicated mobile
applications available on Google Play or in the Apple Store, with offline access when connectivity
is an issue and synchronization when connectivity is restored.

PPM providers are focused on delivering three main mobile capabilities to their customers early:

■ Time reporting and task viewing, allowing end users to report their time and progress from
mobile devices

■ The ability to approve items within a process flow of a PPM system, which enables managers
to approve time sheets, project ideas or requests from mobile devices

■ Executive reporting to mobile devices, so end users (for example, business managers or project
managers) can access and view reports and dashboard information from their tablets or
smartphones

Basic Project Management and Reporting From Non-PPM Providers

After more than 20 years of evolution, the PPM software market remains diverse and expansive.
Because the need for project management and reporting functions can arise anywhere in today’s
enterprises, the number of non-PPM providers offering some level of basic project definition,
tracking and reporting capabilities has grown over the years.

The initial and core PPM software capabilities that triggered the market in the mid-to-late 1990s —
time, resource, and project tracking and reporting — are now largely commodities of the PPM
market. The ability to provide these functions in a non-PPM product or platform is well-
demonstrated by a growing list of software vendors or consulting firms in markets outside of
PPM. But having this basic functionality, which often manifests itself as an extension of a non-
PPM platform, an add-on module or a “suite,” does not alone make such vendors pure-play PPM
providers.

Non-PPM providers laying claim to the PPM market believe they can do so because they have
encountered customers with some project assignment, tracking and reporting needs, and were
able to support those needs. These functions alone are not enough to support the needs of
strategy realization offices (SROs), EPMOs or workgroups engaged in alternative delivery
methods like agile or iterative.

SROs and EPMOs need the advanced capabilities offered by the vendors included in this Magic
Quadrant. Project automation stemming from platforms and products in markets adjacent to

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PPM (e.g., ITSM, application life cycle management [ALM], ERP) often does not fit or match all of
these needs.

Aside from capabilities within a PPM product, SROs and EPMOs also need a PPM provider and
technology that can deliver the capabilities out of the box. Many organizations that commit to
non-PPM providers for their PPM technology later learn that many of the features and functions
are not truly out of the box. Instead, good configurations end up requiring more customization to
support PPM than would be expected.

Additionally, customers of a non-PPM provider’s project management product might be looking

for a solid implementation partner well-versed in PPM, with many options for advanced levels of
PPM consulting services. They may discover that the non-PPM provider’s partnerships and
services in this area are uncommonly thin for a vendor participating in the PPM market.

Non-PPM providers offering some coverage of project management and reporting in their
products do so because they can address some specific use cases for project management that
might not require a fully capable PPM product. These technologies and use cases include:

■ ALM (or software development life cycle [SDLC]) suites — when orchestrated development
efforts require the definition of a development roadmap, work effort or execution plan

■ Collaborative work management (generic platforms) — when a collection of related activities

requires a loosely structured, general work plan centered on achieving a common goal

■ Consulting firms’ tools (engagement-driven) — when a consulting effort designed to reach a

common goal, optimize a set of business rules or practices, or solve a finite business problem
would succeed more easily with software technology that supports the outcomes of the
engagement

■ CRM or sales force automation (SFA) platforms — when services delivered for a customer
require an organized plan to ensure they are delivered effectively to satisfy the needs of the
customer

■ EA software — when defining the change vehicles (e.g., projects) that will take an IT footprint
from a current state to a desired future state

■ ERP platforms — when tracking capital and operational expenditures requires the tying of
defined capital or operational projects to financial management systems for financial reporting
purposes

■ ITSM platforms — when infrastructure and operations (I&O) groups need to define, track and
report on the projects they must deliver, or when the successful execution of an operations
project can reduce the recurrence of trouble tickets, incidents and support requests

■ Project planning and collaboration tools (general-purpose, lightweight) — when the need for an
organized work effort is identified and needs to be defined in the midst of day-to-day
collaborative activities and communications
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■ Task-, issue- and bug-tracking applications — when the recurrence of issues and bugs can be
significantly reduced by executing a project

■ Time reporting engines (for resource costing) — when there is a need to tie resource costing
and billable hours to client-facing work, or to charge back expenses incurred by one internal
department to another internal department

■ Workforce management products (focused on HR planning) — when the specific work

employees are doing requires an organized plan that results in a unique deliverable, a desired
outcome or a product

Market Overview
Providers in this Magic Quadrant include those focused on general-purpose or enterprisewide
PPM, as well as IT PPM, as long as the providers meet all of the required inclusion criteria. When
evaluating and positioning the vendors included in this research, emphasis is placed on the
importance of vendors offering multiple PPM products supporting different PPM use cases.
Evaluation of the vendors and products also includes an assessment of their ability to AI- and
RPA-enable PPM, as well as evolving support for the shift from project management to digital
product management.

The four representative PPM use cases are as follows:

■ Internal IT PPM

■ Enterprisewide PPM

■ Reporting PPM

■ Collaborative PPM

Additional research contribution and review: Audrey Apfel, Michelle Coehlo, Sarah Davies, Robert
Handler, Joanne Kopcho and Lars Mieritz

Evidence
1
“From Digital Transformation to ContinuousNext: Key Insights From the 2018 Gartner
Symposium/ITxpo Keynote”

2
“Market Share: Enterprise Application Software, Worldwide, 2018”

3
Provider-submitted forms detail all the products and services for each provider cited in this
research. Multiple analyst briefings were conducted with each provider cited. Interviews or written
surveys were conducted with user references from each provider cited. This Magic Quadrant
follows the methodology outlined in “How Markets and Vendors Are Evaluated in Gartner Magic
Quadrants.”

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4
“The 2019 CIO Agenda: Securing a New Foundation for Digital Business”

5
“How AI Will Reinvent Program and Portfolio Management”

Note 1
ContinuousNext
“ContinuousNext” is a Gartner term used to describe the perpetual renewal, swift delivery and
interaction required to establish and scale digital business. In adopting ContinuousNext, CIOs
apply three leadership principles — shape, shift and share — to consistently benefit from
consistent, unending change associated with business transformation that takes full advantage
of scaled, digital business.

ContinuousNext is a formula for success in a world of sustained and rapid change — through and
beyond digital transformation. It addresses the need for continuous innovation, continuous
intelligence (for example, real-time streaming), continuous delivery (enterprise agile, DevOps),
continuous integration and continuous development. It is the evolution of bimodal thinking.

Evaluation Criteria Definitions

Ability to Execute
Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor for the defined market. This
includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills and so on, whether
offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships as defined in the market definition and
detailed in the subcriteria.

Overall Viability: Viability includes an assessment of the overall organization's financial health, the
financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood that the individual business
unit will continue investing in the product, will continue offering the product and will advance the
state of the art within the organization's portfolio of products.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that
supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and
the overall effectiveness of the sales channel.

Market Responsiveness/Record: Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve

competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and
market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the vendor's history of responsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs designed to deliver
the organization's message to influence the market, promote the brand and business, increase
awareness of the products, and establish a positive identification with the product/brand and
organization in the minds of buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by a combination of publicity,
promotional initiatives, thought leadership, word of mouth and sales activities.

Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to be

successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers receive
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technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer support
programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, service-level agreements and so on.

Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factors include
the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs, systems and
other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently on an ongoing
basis.

Completeness of Vision
Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor to understand buyers' wants and needs and to
translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen
to and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those with their added
vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated

throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer
programs and positioning statements.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network of direct and
indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth
of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that
emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to current
and future requirements.

Business Model: The soundness and logic of the vendor's underlying business proposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet
the specific needs of individual market segments, including vertical markets.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or

capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the
specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or through
partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography and market.

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