Enterprise Project Management (EPM) as an approach for managing projects is defined in varying ways by project/program offices, by project management consultants, and software vendors.
Organizations come to the point of pursuing an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution by identifying the need for greater maturity in project management or desiring to select the projects that best fit the strategic vision or complying with new regulations or any number of other reasons. Seldom does anyone actually state, “We need an EPM solution to solve the xyz problem.” But the question that frequently ends up as a result of an evolution resulting in something like, “What combination of processes, tools and techniques – including necessary software – will help us to move from where we are today to the type of organization we have said that we want to become?”
Whether the need is driven from the consistent failure (or inconsistent success) of projects to meet their original objectives or from a desire to replicate the success of a division that has become consistent in executing projects well, there is a clear sense that there is a need for change, for improvement in project management from an enterprise perspective.