Project Portfolio Management Experts in Germany

Assignment focus: Leading digital restructuring in a highly regulated Defence and Aerospace environment. Focus areas: improving data flows and data quality, introducing paperless data collection in production, integrating machine data for automatic SPC calculation and process control, as well as cybersecurity analyses.

Main objectives:

• Analyze, structure and improve data flows and data quality in production
• Introduce paperless data collection in manufacturing areas
• Integrate machine data for automatic SPC data calculation and process control
• Implement digital restructuring while meeting regulatory requirements in the Defence environment

Measures and results:

• Analyzed and structured existing production data flows as a basis for control and reporting
• Established mechanisms to ensure data quality and availability across manufacturing areas
• Introduced paperless data collection in production — replacing manual and paper-based processes
• Integrated machine data for automatic SPC data calculation (control charts, Cp/Cpk) and real-time process control
• Conducted cybersecurity analyses in the production and IT environments

Area of responsibility: Project management for digital restructuring, paperless production, data management and data quality in a highly regulated Defence and Aerospace environment.

• Introduction of a new digital product to the Chinese market as part of a global growth strategy.

• Point of contact and coordinating interface between central product management, local Chinese teams and international stakeholders.

• Management of the entire program to coordinate complex digital projects.

• Successful market launch of a digital product in China (including successful certification for the Chinese market).

• Balancing local requirements with global priorities while taking tax and regulatory requirements into account.

• Introduction of a new way of working to improve collaboration and coordination across locations.

• Development and implementation of a scaling strategy for the digital business model in China.

• Use of Jira, Confluence, Miro, Scrum, agile working, SAFe.

• Project language: English.

Process architect and transformation driver for company-wide excellence initiatives (covering a vacancy) Establishment 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, process role architecture and further development of the integrated management system – including international implementation (Romania, USA).

Scope:

• Management of the Business Excellence department with 6 employees and functional leadership of 20+ Process Owners
• Establishment of a global process operating system (architecture, roles, governance, global-local logic)
• Development of a group-wide control and KPI system for processes (transparency, KPIs, maturity)
• Introduction of mechanisms to ensure effectiveness in day-to-day operations (role enablement, communities, feedback)
• Governance and role framework for new production sites in Romania and USA (mandates, roles, decision logic)
• Stabilization 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 — the basis for consistent management and scalability.
• End-to-end process ownership strengthened - Process Owner roles globally defined, qualified and anchored in Communities of Practice — clear ownership structures across all sites for the first time.
• KPI and process management logic established - Uniform KPI system, maturity model and reporting principles developed — the basis for fact-based decisions, prioritization and transparency throughout the company.
• Effectiveness in day-to-day operations increased - Enablement architecture, onboarding mechanisms, regular meeting formats and feedback loops introduced — the process system is applied 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 setup, management and integration.

• SAP S/4HANA upgrade from Release 2021 to 2025 and FI/CO transformation as part of a new TOM. Four streams and two SAP service providers; management during ongoing operations.

• Overall responsibility for time, quality and budget as well as cross-stream coordination of the four streams

• Coordination of process streams, business functions and SAP service providers

• Establishment and management of governance, planning, risks, dependencies, resources and escalations

• Provider management, regular management reporting, and preparation and execution of project and Steering Committee meetings

• Responsibility as Test Manager for test strategy, test planning, UAT, defect management and acceptance

• Result: Successful preparation for Go-live on 28.09.2026 during ongoing operations; quality and the planned absence of production interruptions ensured. Project governance established and positive feedback from management and stakeholders.

• Conclusion of partner agreements with OnePlan (portfolio management) and ForProject/EVMS (project controlling); ongoing qualification and implementation of both tools.
• Project management for the relaunch of [link] with a new focus on integrated PM/PPM toolchains.
• Development and implementation of approx. 60 PM standard methods (PMSP, CMSP, QMSP) according to ICB4 & PMBoK8 as a database application on MS Power Automate / M365 / MS Project, with a planned cloud launch in 2025.
• Deployment and cut-over standard process defined as Quality Gate QG07: go-live plan, cut-over plan, communication package, production launch, smoke test in production, hypercare team, incident and SLA management, confirmation of production stability and operational handover.
• Development of a classification and retrieval system (TOC) for ChatGPT projects to enable immediate cross-application object activation.

Tools: LinkedIn, Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Infinity, MS Copilot, OnePlan, EVMS/ForProject, Power Automate, SQL DB, O365, MS Project, MS Cloud, ICB4, PMBoK7, M365, Teams

A nationwide service provider for occupational medicine, occupational safety and health management, focusing on prevention, health and digital transformation.

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

Key areas:

• Establishment and further development of IT project portfolio management
• Analysis and structuring of business and technical requirements
• Management and coordination of cross-functional IT initiatives
• Stakeholder management at department, management and service provider level
• Introduction and further development of project management methods and tools (including Jira, Confluence, MS Planner)
• Preparation of decision-making documents, target visions and implementation concepts in the context of digital transformation
• Management and coordination of transformation, digitalization and organizational projects
• Preparation of decision templates and management documents for executive committees
• Conducting workshops and stakeholder management with departments and IT teams
• Definition of requirements for dashboards, reporting and KPI management
• Participation in the Wissenskompass project (requirements analysis and MVP concept)
• Analysis and evaluation of AI support opportunities 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 departments to further develop project management standards
• Introduction, configuration and training for Microsoft Planner to support project and task management
• Conducting user training and supporting employees in the introduction of new ways of working and tools

Context: Corporate transformation - Establishment of a central unit for Corporate Management & Transformation

• ▪ Established and managed the newly created Corporate Management & Transformation department on an interim basis
• ▪ Defined the Target Operating Model as well as the tasks, responsibilities and governance structures of the new unit
• ▪ Established company-wide project portfolio management for the transparent prioritization and management of strategic projects and initiatives
• ▪ Developed governance, decision-making and escalation processes for transformation and change initiatives
• ▪ Designed company-wide process management with an end-to-end process map, defined process responsibilities and consistent process governance
• ▪ Further developed standards and methods for project management, change management and organizational development
• ▪ Managed and supported strategic transformation, digitalization and organizational projects across the company
• ▪ Established systematic benefits realization to measure and track the benefits of change initiatives
• ▪ Advised the management on the prioritization, governance and organizational integration of company-wide change initiatives---

• Own company for Interim Executive Manager mandates; sole shareholder-managing director Denis Dlouhy.
• Positioning: Transformation, Post-Merger Integration, portfolio steering, HR for international corporations and hidden champions.

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

• Designed and moderated a NIS2 preparation workshop for RAS Reinhardt Maschinenbau GmbH and its IT service provider Catuno GmbH. Together with executive management and IT leadership, the current status was assessed, an initial GAP analysis was conducted and areas for action were prioritized based on ISO 27001.
• Developed an ISO-27001-based regulatory framework (ISMS) for NIS2 compliance, including a structured current/target GAP analysis, targeted improvement of the security maturity level and preparation of the organization for NIS2 audit readiness.

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

• Planning and implementation of a migration strategy for master and transaction data for the continuous loading of a cloud-independent database
• Creation and pilot implementation of a company-wide Business Data Model for customers, suppliers, contracts, products, prices, consumption, invoices, and dunning
• Concept and consulting for a Data Governance Framework incl. definition of committees, roles, processes, and metadata model
• Operationalization of the Data Governance Framework with definition of data standards
• Sub-project management in two pilot projects (PoCs) for Data Governance systems (ErwinDIS and Atlan)
• Training and coaching the data team in migration, data quality, and data modeling

Interim Lead ITSM Transformation

Industry: Retail & Industry – Optics (partly critical infrastructure)

Mandate: Transition of ITSM governance to the product- and capability-oriented governance model already established across the Group, as well as acceleration and partial automation of service volumes through optimized entry channels. Design and system-based implementation of an ITSM target operating model.

• ITSM target process design based on the capability owner model: target processes and ownership for Incident, Service Request, Problem, Change Enablement, CMDB, Service Level, Supplier and Knowledge Management, derived from the Group-wide target operating model
• AI-supported Enterprise Service Management: Reorganization of currently mixed requests into a structured, cross-functional service model including a new self-service portal. AI-supported classification and automation considered in the architecture model
• Migration & Cloud Architecture: Planning and management of the end-to-end migration, coordination of cutover management and go-live support; ensuring productive stability during the hypercare phase. Consideration of a multi-source CMDB (~500,000 assets), connection of go-live-critical field service and vendor interfaces
• Scaling & Blueprint: Central instance for headquarters and production, designed as a blueprint for additional international retail and production sites
• Delivery and Stakeholder Management: End-to-end management from target vision to go-live with regard to time, budget & quality. Building consensus and balancing interests between independently managed IT units up to CIO level

• Challenging consulting services as well as interim, transformation, program and project management
• Program Manager for dormakaba International Holding AG: responsible for the SAP rollout in the German subsidiary consisting of 16 projects for Sales, Service, Operation and Finance, preparation through a fit template pre-project, development and formulation of end-to-end business processes, guidance and coaching of the business in use case and technical concept creation, introduction of integration test concept and implementation of integration tests
• Senior consultant for AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG: specification of ITSM processes Incident and Release Management based on ITIL, examination of implementation options with SAP Solution Manager, managing the cutover of an SAP project
• Interim manager for bofrost DL GmbH & Co. KG: analysis and redesign of the existing business process model, management of strategic PMO including control of project portfolio management (up to 40 projects), project initiation process management, coaching of project managers, comprehensive reporting, ensuring economic viability of all projects, direct reporting to the advisory board, guidance for process and ITSM areas, management of strategic program including greenfield approach, system landscape redesign, end-to-end process introduction, CRM POC and platform provider beauty contest, development of target specifications using LEAN A3, design and implementation of POC with two platform providers
• Program Manager/PMO/PPM for Henkel KGaA global SCM consolidation: management of international template team for SAP landscape redesign, management of strategic partner Accenture
• Program Manager/PMO/PPM for Henkel KGaA migration from SAP BW to Microsoft BI: complete development lifecycle, transition of services to Accenture and hosting from HP to IBM, implementation according to PMI-based and agile standards, management of 20 projects, turnaround program setup, root cause analysis, contract amendments, governance, reporting, controlling, coaching of up to 60 employees, 20 MEUR budget, all milestones achieved on time and within budget
• Program Manager/PMO M&A IT for Henkel KGaA: SAP rollout and infrastructure transition worldwide after acquisition, carve-out management, onboarding of approx. 5 000 new SAP users, consolidation of servers and data centres, management of 30 projects across WEU, CEE, LA, NA and AP, PMI-based implementation, governance setup, coaching of up to 150 employees, 85 MEUR budget, 300 people worldwide, international tender management with providers such as Accenture, IBM, HP and Cisco, program completed on time, on quality and below budget
• Interim Manager for Bertelsmann AG: strategic IT sourcing program for Corporate CIO including six projects, planning, controlling, reporting, coaching, quality management, stakeholder management, contract transitions, development of system to verify savings, achieved 20% above planned savings
• Interim Manager IT Governance for Henkel KGaA: professionalisation of IT service management, audit and development of PMI-based project management process with group adaptations, group-wide rollout of ITIL processes incident, problem and change management
• Agile project for ALDI-Sued: finalisation and implementation of demand management process for IT requirements with interfaces to other processes and service catalogue
• Senior Consultant for hagebau IT GmbH: analysis of business processes, conception and implementation of NDA, RFI and RFP for Managed IT Services tender with EUR 30 million volume, transition planning of two data centres to Atos managed services, development of service catalogue and cost allocation model
• Interim Manager for Henkel KGaA: development of international resource management system for global IT to improve cost and capacity control, agile planning, controlling and scope management, realization of 25% capacity reserves
• Interim Manager for Netrada GmbH: professionalisation of IT service management, conception and creation of 16 SLAs, process analysis and documentation, service quality objectivisation reducing ad hoc workload by approx. 20%
• Senior Consultant for Saudi Telecom: introduction of PMI-based project management process, development of PMO, coaching of employees, support in acquisition of customer projects by applying the introduced method