'Scope iT' Right for Project Management Ease

Only 29 percent of all IT projects are fully functional, on time and within budget, according to a Standish Group Survey. As a result, companies lose 22 cents of every dollar spent on IT projects. Scope iT thinks it can solve this problem with a unique, repeatable standard process that helps managers refine their estimates.

Scope iT, from the El Dorado Hills, Calif.-based company of the same name, is a new and relatively small project-planning software service that is expected to grow because of its features geared toward helping managers solidly start projects.

The Scope iT service has a comprehensive knowledge repository that assists users in following frameworks such as Sarbanes-Oxley, ITIL, CMMI, COBIT and Six Sigma. These frameworks require specific processes to be repeated on every project, allowing managers to build a foundation for improvement.

The multiple-user version of Scope iT is dubbed Scope iT Planner. Although it has a good project-planning feature and rules-based estimation engine, it does not compete directly with Microsoft Project or eProject. Scope iT Planner also does not track actuals, so it's not a direct competitor to project and portfolio management solutions such as Niku, Mercury's Kintana, PlanView or Primavera.

Scope iT Planner tracks changes that often occur during preplanning stages such as estimating and managing costs. While engaging on initial project stages, users often go through several iterations of Scope iT Planner's factor questions (based on cost) before exporting that information over to Microsoft Project or PPM products. Planner also can export files to Excel, Word and XML.

Version 5 of Scope iT Planner supports project portfolios to better manage groups of projects. This feature is useful in enterprise environments, where large systems are built by multiple IT groups. Version 5 also provides stronger password management features and allows users to develop templates offline.

Navigation on the software now is more oriented toward planning than cost estimation. Users can add their own cost categories such as marketing or hosting. Costs in this version are separated into recurring and nonrecurring costs. Version 5 emphasizes granular structural and task-based changes because Scope iT executives believe that the key to successful project planning lies in the details. Essentially, the more effort that is placed on getting estimates right, the better the chances of finishing a project on time and within budget.

In principal, the accuracy of Scope iT Planner can increase over time as long as project managers follow the templates properly. However, a gap still exists between designers, planners and users, and CRN Test Center engineers believe that many projects will still be plagued by delays until that gap is closed technologically.

As a software-as-a-service provider, Scope iT is new to the channel so its channel program is in its early stages. The program currently favors in-house developersnot those seeking to just resell the product. For in-house users, the program is relatively robust, offering good support options and volume discounts. Scope iT promises to build a more VAR-focused channel program this year.