October 10, 2023 Press Release

New major release allows planning Portfolio Epics and alignment with strategic objectives and key results (OKRs).

Graz, Austria — October 10, 2023. Agile transformation can create unwanted information silos if different parts of an organization transform independently. Hybrid project and portfolio management solutions, such as Planforge (formerly ONEPOINT Projects), facilitate this transition by integrating scaled agile structures into traditional and hybrid portfolios. The new release of Planforge hence introduces support for SAFe Portfolio and adds Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to its strategic management component.

Support for SAFe Lean Portfolio

"SAFe Portfolio allows to maximize value creation across multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and value streams," said Gerald Aquila, founder and CEO of Planforge. "The cornerstone of this new workflow in Planforge 23 is the Portfolio Kanban Board, which enables our customers to visualize, implement, and manage Portfolio Epics."

In addition to drag & drop functionality, the new Portfolio Kanban in Planforge provides explicit Work in Progress (WIP) limits for epics statuses, such as the Ready status.

Moreover, Planforge 23 simplifies the implementation of Epics through built-in support for backlog prioritization based on Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF). WSJF allows organizations to identify those Epics that deliver the highest business value in relation to the time invested.

Portfolio Strategy with OKRs

As Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are now an essential part of SAFe in version 6, Planforge is introducing OKRs as an evolutionary improvement to its Strategic Management Option (SMO). The SMO is an additional module that helps align strategy and execution by linking strategic objectives and initiatives — now key results — to ongoing projects, programs, and ARTs.

To support Lean Portfolio, Planforge 23 now allows users to plan strategies not only at organizational level but also at portfolio level. By connecting key results directly to Portfolio Epics, Planforge ensures that work being done contributes to broader strategic objectives and enables effective decision-making through increased transparency.

Portfolio Risk Management

Due to the current volatile political and economic environment, organizations of all sizes are improving their risk management. To optimize decision-making in uncertain times, the latest release of Planforge now also includes a new tabular "Risks" overview at portfolio level, automatically summarizing critical risk-based KPIs per project.

Other improvements include a new role-based permission management system. Planforge enables a more practical management of access rights based on user-defined roles, while optimizing the targeting of workflows and email notifications.

Availability

Version 23 is now available at www.planforge.io. Planforge is free for up to four users. Larger teams can test the hybrid PPM software in a free trial for 30 days. For more information or to test integrations with Jira or SAP, please contact the Planforge sales team at info@planforge.io.