Project Business Management (PBM)
PBM includes two professional domains that are very different from these mostly internal projects. That is to say:
- Managing projects for paying customers under contract
- Managing complex and dynamic project supply networks (PSNs)
Figure 1: Concept of Project Management under a legal agreement[1]
Let me dig a bit deeper into these domains.
Managing Customer Projects
Managers in customer projects have the job of bringing money home for their own organization. In an internal project, the benefits are typically expected rather in the future, when a new product or service can generate revenues, a strategic advantage can be used, or whatever the expected benefit may be. In a customer project, however, the benefit lifespan is simultaneous with the project — it begins with the first payment and ends with the last.
Figure 2: Comparison of internal project life spans with that of an external project
Project managers in customer projects have two main tasks: Bringing money home with projects and making the customer happy. In other words, an internal project is a cost center, while a customer project, which is a profit center. As a consequence there are many more interesting differences that influence the demands on a project manager, and the decision as to which approach to use in a given situation.
1. Images by Shutterstock/Andrey_Popov and from own material, ©2017 Oliver F. Lehmann, PMP
|
Introduction
