Mahikeng, North West Province – 28 July, 2026 – North-West University
(NWU) is advancing its strategic vision to expand its national and
international impact by strengthening the delivery and governance of
projects across the institution.
To support this objective, the university has implemented Project
Portfolio Office’s scalable, cloud-based project portfolio management
solution, PPO [1], as its Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM)
platform, enabling the digitalisation and centralisation of project
management processes across multiple departments.
From strategy to execution
According to Ntsikie Kote-Nkomo, executive director: strategy and
strategic projects at NWU, [2] the move was driven by a fundamental need
for the university to connect strategy with execution.
“A challenge I identified on joining NWU in late 2022 was to
understand whether strategy implementation across the university was
truly aligned to our intent and having the ability to track progress and
pivot when needed.”
NWU’s strategy spans six core areas, including teaching and learning;
research and innovation; community engagement; student life; management
of people and talent; and technology and digital business, supported by
key enablers such as governance, stakeholder engagement, sustainability
and financial management.
Tied to this are several key priorities for the university, encompassing
the following: impact; the realisation of growth; advancing its
internationalisation; delivery through partnerships with local
specialists; recognition of diversity; and emphasis on operational
excellence as a proudly South African organisation.
“In order to realise these priorities, NWU needed to align these with
critical projects,” Kote-Nkomo states. “This would then help to
define our strategy and differentiate us from other universities.”
However, as initiatives expanded across faculties and departments,
inconsistencies in project portfolio management and limited visibility
into outcomes became increasingly apparent. This, according to
Kote-Nkomo, led to the establishment of an Enterprise Project Portfolio
Management Office (EPPMO), tasked with overseeing and coordinating key
programmes and projects across the institution.
And as the portfolio of strategic initiatives continued to grow across
multiple departments, NWU additionally identified the need for an
enterprise project portfolio management platform that could support
consistent project governance, provide visibility across the portfolio
and improve strategic decision-making.
A disjointed project environment
At this point, NWU’s project environment was fragmented. Across
departments such as IT, Smart Campus, Capital Projects and the
Enterprise Project Office, project portfolio management practices varied
widely. Each team worked in its own way, with different methods, levels
of detail and reporting approaches. While the work was being done, it
wasn’t consistently tracked, governed or communicated across the
division.
Within the IT division, Yvette Labuschagne, senior project administrator
[3], describes an environment where information was inconsistent.
“Project data lived everywhere –spreadsheets, presentations, emails,
Teams and even WhatsApp. There was no single, synchronised project
portfolio management system. That made it extremely difficult to
establish a single reliable view of our portfolio or provide management
with real-time insight into project status, dependencies and risks.”
Reporting processes were equally challenging for IT. Monthly reports
could take up to a week to compile, requiring manual consolidation of
inputs from multiple teams.
In Capital Projects, a sub-support department falling beneath the
facilities umbrella, the complexity was even greater due to the scale of
operations. Petra Davis, senior projects administrator, notes that the
department manages an extensive portfolio, including new buildings,
infrastructure development and the renovation of existing facilities
across NWU’s three campuses, namely Mahikeng, Potchefstroom and
Vanderbijlpark.
“Prior to PPO, each project manager used their own tools, from Word to
Microsoft Projects, with no central system for scheduling, change
requests, path tracking or risks, and we had to manually consolidate
everything into reports,” she explains. “Monthly reporting took
several days, while major governance reports, such as those prepared
twice yearly for asset committees, could take up to a month to complete
due to the scale and complexity of the data required.”
Similarly, within the Smart Campus environment, which delivers
electronic and smart systems (including security infrastructure like
access control and surveillance, and the university’s audiovisual
systems) as well as managing energy and water metering across the
university’s campuses, reporting cycles were often extended due to the
effort involved.
“Having also previously used Excel as well as a more basic type of
project management software, we found that, while Smart Campus was able
to manage individual projects, we couldn’t easily see the bigger
picture, such as the amount of work per project manager, the health of
our projects and whether we were running on schedule,” comments Danie
Stoop, facilities director, Smart Campus [4]. “Reporting was
particularly challenging; largely manual, time-consuming and difficult
to consolidate. We often stretched reporting cycles to quarterly because
of the effort involved, and even then, it could take several days to
compile a report.”
Introducing structure, visibility and governance
NWU had already begun designing an overall Enterprise PMO framework,
with the assistance of management consultancy firm, African
International Advisors (AIA). With a recommendation to adopt an EPM
tool, NWU underwent a benchmarking exercise, evaluating a number of
project portfolio management tools, before deciding that PPO met its
specific requirements for local support, integration with the
university’s existing systems, a straightforward licensing approach,
user friendliness and experience within the higher education sector.
According to Kote-Nkomo, the implementation of PPO has transformed
NWU’s project portfolio management environment by introducing a
centralised, structured approach, while still accommodating the diverse
needs of different departments.
Through phased implementation from early 2025 – involving 17 cycles –
the project portfolio management platform has enabled NWU to standardise
how projects are requested, tracked, governed and reported. The
implementation was supported by AIA as the systems integrator partner
for NWU.
“In project-heavy environments, like in the capital space, PPO has
been like a dream come true. The project portfolio management tool has
sanitised some of the information, created order and provided us with a
portfolio view. For the first time, we can see our project portfolio in
an organised, comparable way.
“One of the biggest shifts is that we now have a common language and a
consistent reporting structure,” she states. “PPO has shown us how
real information can have real impact and inform our strategy moving
forward.”
Across the IT division, PPO has brought greater consistency and
discipline across its portfolio, which ranges from a major cybersecurity
project to the establishment of a digital academy for NWU staff to stay
updated with digital skills, more specifically artificial intelligence
(AI). “The PPO project portfolio management tool has helped us to move
away from person-dependent tracking to a more process-driven
approach,” clarifies Labuschagne. “Everything is now in one place,
from scheduling and communication to reporting.”
In Capital Projects, PPO has introduced a live, centralised view of
projects across campuses. “Information is updated in real time, which
means leadership can see what is happening on the ground as it
happens,” adds Davis. “This is a major shift from the previous
environment, where reports could already be outdated by the time they
were completed.”
In fact, one of the most immediate benefits for NWU has been the
improvement in project portfolio management reporting efficiency.
For the IT division, reporting time has reduced from up to a week to
approximately one day. For Smart Campus, reports can now be completed
within hours. And, according to Davis, Capital Projects’ reporting
cycles, which previously took weeks, can now be completed in hours or
minutes.
Beyond speed, the quality and reliability of information have also
improved significantly. “Leadership now has access to structured,
comparable data,” says Labuschagne. “That enables better
prioritisation and more informed decision-making.”
Furthermore, PPO has introduced stronger governance controls across the
project lifecycle.
“Previously within Capital Projects, moving between project stages
often relied on informal processes,” explains Davis. “Documentation
was not always consistently available, and tracking compliance with
governance requirements was difficult. PPO has introduced gated
approvals, which means that project managers cannot proceed to the next
phase without completing the required documentation and receiving
approval, which ensures that governance requirements are consistently
met.
“It has also centralised key governance documents, which were
previously difficult to locate. Auditors often request specific
documentation, and retrieving it used to be a challenge. Now, these
documents are stored and managed within the project portfolio management
system, a step that has introduced much-needed discipline and
accountability into the project lifecycle.”
Stoop concurs on the importance of gated approvals, adding that this
step has instilled greater discipline within the Smart Campus
department. “As part of this process, when a project is finished, we
now have a gated approval before it can be administratively closed. This
has introduced a moment to stop and look at the current scenario for
that specific project, which I love.”
The PPO platform has also improved financial oversight by integrating
with the university’s ERP system, enabling more accurate tracking of
project costs and alignment between financial and project data. “There
is now a clear expectation that financial and project information must
align,” says Kote-Nkomo. “That has strengthened accountability
across the institution.”
A single source of truth
A key outcome of the project portfolio management tool implementation is
the creation of a single source of truth for project information.
This has improved collaboration across teams and departments, enabling
stakeholders to work from the same, up-to-date view of project status,
risks and dependencies. This is of particular importance for larger
projects involving several departments, such as the construction of
NWU’s new medical school on the Potchefstroom campus, which will also
encompass two satellite buildings based at hospitals in Klerksdorp,
lecture rooms, offices and more.
“Transparency has been one of the most significant benefits we’ve
seen with the rollout of PPO. It’s much easier for teams to engage
because everyone is looking at the same information,” says
Labuschagne. “We can identify challenges earlier and respond more
effectively and are also much more easily able to identify which
projects are higher priority.”
In Capital Projects, the system also provides detailed visibility into
contractors – with a mechanism to record contractor information and
values – and funding, enabling better management of service providers
and improved transparency for stakeholders.
The implementation of the PPO project portfolio management solution has
been as much about organisational change as technology. “This was not
just a system implementation, it was a change project,” says Stoop.
“It required people to move away from manual processes and adopt a new
way of working.”
The flexibility of the platform has also been a key factor. “The
system was adapted to fit our environment, not the other way around,”
continues Davis. “That made a big difference in how quickly teams
could adopt it.”
Looking ahead
While adoption continues to grow, NWU is already seeing the benefits of
a more structured, transparent and data-driven project environment.
“The foundation is now in place,” says Kote-Nkomo. “The next step
is to deepen the uptake of the project portfolio management tool,
particularly at leadership level, and continue building our project
management maturity.”
NWU continues to work with AIA and PPO to drive further tool maturity,
adoption and utilisation, underscoring the need of a strong tool, and
disciplined implementation support. The university is also exploring the
potential role of emerging technologies, such as AI, in further
enhancing project portfolio management and governance.
“Tools enable, but people deliver,” she adds. “What we now have is
the structure, visibility and insight needed to deliver on our strategy
with confidence.”
Guy Jelley, founder and CEO of Project Portfolio Office, says NWU’s
journey reflects a broader shift among large, complex organisations
towards more disciplined and data-driven project environments.
“Institutions like North-West University are recognising that it is
the ability to consistently execute, measure and adapt that ultimately
drives impact. By establishing a single source of truth and embedding
governance into everyday project delivery, NWU is building a strong
foundation for sustained strategic success,” he concludes.
ABOUT PROJECT PORTFOLIO OFFICE:
Project Portfolio Office helps organisations achieve greater project
success by assisting at every level of the project and portfolio
management (PPM) process. From consulting to businesses on how to build
a successful Project Management Office (PMO), to delivering the
capabilities needed for effective project delivery, Project Portfolio
Office can provide the services and solutions needed for companies to
improve execution within a competitive business environment. This
includes its PPM tool, PPO, which is used to plan, manage, collaborate,
execute and report on their projects, programmes and portfolios.
Project Portfolio Office (PPO) is committed to advancing the project
management profession through support of the Project Management South
Africa’s (PMSA) invitation- only PMO Forum. The PMO Forum, aimed at
senior PMO practitioners, is part of a series of forums presented by
industry thought leaders. The forum hosted by Project Portfolio Office
offers a quarterly opportunity for discussion and knowledge transfer by
means of case studies, best practices, research outcomes and lessons
learned presented.
As an active player in growing the project portfolio management
profession, Project Portfolio Office manages and coordinates the South
African PMO Awards competition. This annual competition identifies and
recognises PMOs that are delivering value to their organisations. The
winners get to suit up and tango with the best on the global stage
through the annual PMO Global Awards.
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