Project Portfolio Management Experts in Germany

In-house consulting provider and driver of transformation within the group, multi-stakeholder environment and C-level.

Realignment and stabilization of a cross-functional transformation and scaling program within the group. Sharpening the target picture, priorities, and set of measures, as well as building reliable governance, planning, and steering structures. Structuring roles, responsibilities, and strategic initiatives while including AI and IT automation ideas.

• Designed program realignment and project portfolio management

• Developed strategy model and target picture for IT projects

• Structured portfolio, roadmap, and priorities

• Established governance and regular meetings

• Worked out operating model for flagship projects

• Assessed AI and automation ideas

• Clarified roles and responsibilities

• Implemented change measures

• Developed, moderated, and evaluated workshops

• Transformed 17 initiatives into a steering model

• Increased transparency and decision-making ability

• Strengthened commitment in steering

• Sharpened the operating model structurally

• Integrated three top-5 institutes

• Involved over 80% of stakeholders

• Governance

• Portfolio steering (PPM)

• Change management

• Artificial intelligence

• Workflow automation

• AI use case assessment

• Confluence

• Jira

• Stakeholder management

Due to the steady growth of the customer organization and the associated increase in the number of projects in a wide range of areas, including IT/digitalization, sales and organizational development, and controlling, the demands on the projects are increasing. Projects are often started but not implemented within the planned time frame, resources are not clearly assigned, and the business value is not clearly demonstrated. The goal of the assignment as Interim Head of PMO is to further develop and embed an existing project organization from the CDO area at management level. It is important that the governance is pragmatic, easy to understand, and simple to apply in daily project work. The tasks and roles are to be defined, embedded in the organization, and this strategic PMO is also to be supported by an IT solution. This solution is to be selected and introduced. In addition, all ongoing projects are to be gradually transferred into PMO governance and project control is to be centralized.

support SAFe adoption at team, ART and Portfolio level with consulting, coaching and training. Establish hierarchical enterprise backlog and Kanban Systems integrating portfolio, value stream and team level. Make e2e value stream flow across organisational boundaries visible and measurable. Teach "stop starting, start finishing" and Limit WiP.

Nationwide service provider for occupational medicine, occupational safety, and health management with a focus on prevention, health, and digital transformation.

• Role: Responsible for building and further developing professional project portfolio management in the area of Digital Transformation & Data. Steering and supporting strategic IT and transformation projects as well as supporting the introduction and establishment of project management standards, methods, and governance structures.

Focus areas:

• Build-up and further development of IT project portfolio management
• Analysis and structuring of business and technical requirements
• Steering and coordination of cross-functional IT initiatives
• Stakeholder management at business, management, and service provider level
• Introduction and further development of project management methods and tools (including Jira, Confluence, MS Planner)
• Preparation of decision bases, target visions, and implementation concepts in the context of digital transformation
• Steering and coordination of transformation, digitalization, and organizational projects
• Preparation of decision papers and management documents for steering committees
• Running workshops and stakeholder management with business units and IT teams
• Definition of requirements for dashboards, reporting, and KPI steering
• Support in the project Wissenskompass (requirements analysis and MVP concept)
• Analysis and evaluation of AI support options in knowledge management
• Investigation of AI use cases to improve knowledge provision and use
• Consideration of AI requirements as part of the Wissenskompass concept
• Coordination with strategic business units on the further development of project management standards
• Introduction, configuration, and training of Microsoft Planner to support project and task management
• Conducting user training and supporting employees in the introduction of new ways of working and tools

• Project management of a simplification project to reduce effort for an IT transformation project
• Stakeholder management and preparation of decision papers for top management
• Scoping and PI planning across multiple delivery streams
• Planning requirements for the transformation project
• Creating partner and customer journeys for structured end-to-end capture of requirements
• Designing suitable tracking methods for project progress
• Coordination with IT service providers and transformation project committees

Process architect and transformation driver for company-wide excellence initiatives (interim cover) Set-up and management of a company-wide process and governance framework to strengthen structure, leadership and effectiveness in an internationally growing family-owned company. Responsibility for the global process house, end-to-end governance, the process role architecture and the further development of the integrated management system - including international implementation (Romania, USA).

Scope:

• Lead the Business Excellence department with 6 employees and functional leadership of 20+ process owners
• Build a global process operating system (architecture, roles, governance, global-local logic)
• Develop a group-wide control and KPI system for processes (transparency, KPIs, maturity)
• Introduce mechanisms for effectiveness in day-to-day business (role enablement, communities, feedback)
• Governance and role framework for new production sites in Romania and the USA (mandates, roles, decision logic)
• Stabilisation and further development of the integrated management system (IMS)

Sustainable results:

• Global process operating system established - structure, roles, governance and global-local rules defined as a binding framework and anchored in the management system — basis for consistent steering and scalability.
• End-to-end process ownership strengthened - process owner roles globally defined, qualified and anchored in communities of practice — for the first time clear ownership structures across all sites.
• KPI and control logic for processes built - unified KPI system, maturity model and reporting principles developed — basis for fact-based decisions, prioritisation and transparency across the company.
• Effectiveness in day-to-day business increased - enablement architecture, onboarding mechanisms, regular meeting formats and feedback loops introduced — process system is used in daily work and continuously improved.
• Governance framework for new site implemented - mandates, roles, decision paths and escalation logic for the new production site in Romania developed — clear structure for set-up, steering and integration.

• Selected as SME for a government executive authority in Dubai, benchmarking four PPM platforms against technical fit and delivery risk and developing the target operating model and strategic benchmarks.
• Led an operational optimization project for a performance-based road maintenance contract, directing two consultants and delivering a 10% improvement against contract KPIs.
• Managed delivery of a smart city implementation as the consulting firm's project manager, coordinating the specialist solution consultant and the site's asset owner, and owning project governance and reporting.

• Holistic responsibility for modernizing and expanding federal networks and upgrading critical data center and telecom infrastructure in the high-security agency environment of BDBOS
• Planning and management of the expansion of national BOS network infrastructure in the VS-NfD/KRITIS environment with technical decision authority at the architecture and component level (Cisco, Layer 2/3, WAN redundancy)
• Planning, tendering (EVB-IT/UVgO) and oversight of the upgrade of security-critical telecom infrastructure for emergency call 110/112 (ACD)
• Capacity planning, rack integration, structured cabling, power supply, cooling concept (CRAC/In-Row) and DCIM monitoring for data center expansion
• Building the IT department from scratch: structures, governance, processes, team recruiting, vendor selection and long-term IT strategy
• Planning and managing infrastructure and application migrations: migration strategies, batch planning, hypercare stabilization and rollback concepts
• Creating vendor-neutral specifications (telecom systems, signature solutions) according to EVB-IT and UVgO; contract award and vendor management
• Setting up a secure IT environment according to BSI basic protection, ISO 27001 and VS-NfD; developing IT security concepts and CMDB analyses
• Hands-on program leadership: decision papers for management and steering committees, risk management, reporting and change request control

Large Insurance Company – Consultant Wiesbaden: Consulting support for the introduction of an integrated planning and performance management framework (operational, financial, customer) to enhance customer-centric transparency, decision-making quality, and steering capabilities across all lines of business within an insurance organization:

• Analysis of existing processes, reports, KPIs, and KPI calculation methodologies
• Design and introduction of new, standardized customer KPIs (gross/net), as well as key steering metrics with consistent linkage across all lines of business
• Recalculation, validation, and plausibility checks of KPIs based on existing and newly integrated data sources
• Conceptual support for the development of an integrated reporting and performance management setup
• Execution of customer insights analyses to identify patterns and anomalies within customer data clusters

Large retail company – Consultant in Karlsruhe: Advisory services for the setup and step-by-step implementation of an internationally deployable RELEX solution in the supply chain management environment:

• Advising overall and sub-project management on methodology, project setup and steering (e.g. agile approach, Jira configuration, RELEX phases, Jira Structure PPM)
• Strategic-operational consulting for the introduction of RELEX including best practices
• Support in defining overarching goals and requirements (2-year target picture)
• Guidance in scoping a relevant supply chain network segment for the project
• Development of a roadmap for iterative, incremental RELEX setup and rollout
• Assessment of project dependencies (interfaces, configurations, etc.)
• Advice on prioritized implementation of business requirements and data interfaces
• Support in test planning (data validation, system testing, UAT)
• Consulting on internationalization, change management, training, and knowledge transfer
• Stakeholder advisory and alignment activities between the client, implementation partner, and RELEX

Insurance company – Management Consultant in Munich: Analysis, consulting and support for the optimization of a large-scale business and IT transformation. Focus on strategically important programs and modernization projects in the area of Managed Services Operations and processes:

• Review of project plans and deliverables; analysis of programs and projects (e.g. cloud approach, process standardization, system integration, roadmaps)
• Identification of technical, functional and personnel risks and challenges; development of content-related measures and alternative solutions
• Proposal of quality improvements for program and modernization efforts
• Sparring partner and professional, technical, structural and organizational consulting for project and program management

Large retail group – Management Consultant & Stream Lead in Cologne: Consulting, process, project and product management for the introduction and implementation of a large strategic program in the field of advanced analytics, assortment and space management:

• Setup, test and rollout of a new space planning, automation and optimization product based on the existing cluster-based merchandising approach
• Definition and setup of new processes and transformation and change management measures for the new store-specific merchandising approach
• Collaboration with Advanced Analytics and IT (internal and external) for software implementations, automations, extensions and interfaces
• MVP approach and piloting in phases with gradual rollout (pilot with 80 stores, region with 500 stores, national level with 4000 stores)

Large retail company – Agile Coach & Change Agent in Cologne: Agile coach, OKR master and facilitator for the introduction of the OKR approach in a large strategic digitization program for retail stores:

• Coaching of the core team with topic managers and team leads
• Introduction to the OKR topic and setup of the OKR cycle
• Establishment of the OKR approach in teams and on a cross-team level

Delivery and logistics company – Management Consultant in United Kingdom: Consulting and coaching in the restructuring of the Data Analytics department:

• Analysis of current challenges
• Definition of overarching goals
• Development of a proposal for a new team structure
• Identification of required competencies, skills and responsibilities
• Advisory and alignment on communication and change management strategy

• Managing the further development of IT network service management

• Overall leadership of the transition, consulting on the transition of IT network services

• IT coordination of a tender in the area of IT network services

For (3) Further development of IT network service management Managing follow-up work for the transition (including setup of issue management) Managing and monitoring the performance of external service providers Consulting and managing the further development of IT network service management (processes, procedures, organization, tools)

For (2) Transition of IT network services Overall leadership of the transition (transfer of operational responsibility for IT network services to an IT service provider) Definition and setup of transition governance Planning and tracking of milestones, dependencies and cutover windows Managing the preparation, achieving operational readiness & process/tool integration Carrying out service handovers (cutover, parallel run, stabilization) Ensuring risk management, progress tracking, steering committee and management reporting, stakeholder management

For (1) IT coordination of the IT network services tender Managing all IT work streams of an IT network tender Coordinating the creation of all service descriptions IT review / evaluation of offers IT representative in bidder talks/negotiations Creating presentations/decision papers

• Managing the operational back office
• Handling quotations and invoicing
• Supporting preparatory accounting
• Coordinating appointments and operational alignments
• Interface management between management, clients, and external partners
• Structuring administrative processes in day-to-day business

By taking over operational back office tasks, management is noticeably relieved. Administrative processes run in a more structured, reliable, and efficient way, creating more time for clients, projects, and entrepreneurial decisions.

• Installation, maintenance and regular upgrade of the DB systems with 19x
• Use of OPatch and RU 19.27 on RHEL 8x, SLES 15.x and Windows
• DBA for DACH and European customers in production and last test environments (e.g. Konrad Adenauer) as well as others in CDB
• Processes via Confluence
• Support in operations for customers SR via Metalink

• Advising companies on strategic questions in the areas of digitalization, transformation, and organizational development.
• Coaching consultants and project teams on transformation topics, market requirements, and client strategies.
• Project Audit Logging and DORA: Supporting ZURICH with year-end closing in the area of audit logging.
• Aligning the logging of the German application landscape with DORA requirements in Germany.

• Took over and led the operational and IT workstreams to ensure operational readiness on Day 1

• Introduced SMO governance including status meetings and reporting

• Crisis management

• Managed the key ERP and non-ERP workstreams to secure data migration (SAP R3 to S4 Hana) and ensure operational readiness in logistics and production

• Identified actions to address weaknesses/deficits in the existing SMO/IMO structure to meet budget and closing deadline

• Developed and implemented a cut-over strategy including freeze and stock-taking

• Completed the carve-out activities by the closing date, including the separation of the production-specific departments Operations, Logistics, Supply Chain, Sales & Procurement, IT, transfer of all data and documents into the target structure of the acquiring company LDC, and integration of the IT infrastructure into the buyer's target structure

• Reduced the planned 7-day shutdown to 4 days

• Secured operational readiness on Day 1

• Handed over logistics inventory with inventory variance < 1 %