2014-04-22

Innotas Review – Project and application portfolio management, with detailed reports and straightforward dashboards that provide users with top-level analysis of complex situations

PPM and APM are more than just acronyms for businesses that rely on project portfolio management and application portfolio management systems on a daily basis. For these organizations, PPM and APM are the foundation of structured and strategic business processes. Innotas is a seamless project portfolio, application portfolio management, and resource management solution that gives CIOs, PMOs, and IT managers a 360-degree view of their operations and initiatives.

In this Innotas review, I will describe how Innotas works and what separates the SaaS solution from other project portfolio management applications. I also plan to describe a few of Innotas’ standout features, and explain how pricing works for businesses that choose to utilize the company’s platform.

Innotas Review – About the Company

A solid foundation is the key to building a project management application. For Innotas, this foundation was developed more than eight years ago, when the company’s founders set out to improve the IT management process by developing a system that included complete visibility, total accountability, and virtual transparency. The SaaS solution they came up with was Innotas, a PPM, APM, and resource management platform that IT executives can use to execute and align their organizations based on the unique goals of their businesses.

One of the few vendors that puts PPM and APM in the same place, Innotas has been used across almost every market segment. The company has an especially strong foothold in the fields of healthcare, financial services, government, retail, and technology. Within these fields, Innotas is commonly used by professionals in the IT, PMO, NPD, and EPMO departments, along with agile development organizations.

Main Functionality of Innotas

A comprehensive platform that encompasses virtually every aspect of its users’ portfolios, Innotas has been designed to provide complete visibility for its users throughout the lifecycle of their projects. In particular, Innotas can be used to manage people, projects, budgets, and tasks – across the entire enterprise.

A few of Innotas’ most popular features include project portfolio management, resource management, and time tracking. The SaaS solution offers “What If” scenario planning, which gives users an accurate view of hypothetical business scenarios. By adjusting the resource allocation or timeline constraints on these hypothetical scenarios, managers can better determine how they should handle the types of difficult challenges that come up on a day-to-day basis – such as staffing changes, customer requests, or technical delays.

Another key feature within Innotas’ cloud-based platform is application portfolio management, or APM. Users can manage all of their companies’ applications and project portfolios in one centralized location. They can also manage requests quickly and easily by relying on Innotas’ demand scoring and prioritization features, which integrate with existing systems to streamline most basic business processes. Finally, Innotas provides its users with detailed status reports and dashboards, which can be configured through the platform’s web portal.

Benefits of Using Innotas

Using Innotas increases the chances of success for any project or team. The platform’s executive level visibility tools make it easier for managers to make strategic business decisions based on real-time factors. Because most managers live in a bubble when it comes to handling day-to-day tasks, they often miss out on the big picture. Innotas can help prevent this shortsightedness, with hierarchy views that show managers what’s going on outside of their own work teams.

At a higher-level, Innotas helps managers handle conflicting schedules, resources and workplace issues from within its centralized platform. Teams that work virtually and those that work together inside physical offices can all take advantage of Innotas, particularly when it comes to defining and scheduling project plans. Projects that need additional attention can be flagged with configurable health indicators, as well. Ultimately, using Innotas helps busy teams work more efficiently and keep their projects both on budget and on time.

The Basics: What Does the Interface Look Like?

From within the Portfolios tab, you can see a hierarchical view of your entire team. Review portfolios for each of your customers or clients on a single page, and quickly assess the status of any project at any time. Everything in Innotas is configurable, which means you maintain complete control over how your dashboard looks.



Innotas dashboard

To take a more detailed look at individual portfolios, click on your portfolio list from inside the Innotas dashboard. The details of each portfolio should include the health of the project, along with the title, ID, category, owner, and parent portfolio. You can also review the date when the project was last modified.



Portfolio details

Innotas helps managers handle detailed financial outlooks. The platform’s budgeting features are available through the Portfolios tab. Not only can you see the total budget to date for any project, but you can also view a breakdown of that budget and see how the actual hours and cost compare to your estimates.



Portfolio budgeting features

Support Information

Innotas provides top-level support for its customers, with all client services available free of charge. In addition to basic support, Innotas also staffs a customer success team to help new users become acclimated with the solution and increase adoption rates. The company’s Community Portal also provides customers with access to self-service tools for finding answers to frequently asked questions, along with tips and tricks for using the solution.

Pricing Information

Innotas utilizes a subscription-based business model, with an annual cost that is based on a per-user monthly fee. Multi-year purchases are available, as well.

Innotas Review – The Bottom Line

Innotas is one of the only vendors that combine PPM and APM solutions. They have been rated as a “Leader” in Gartner’s Cloud-Based IT Project and Portfolio Management Magic Quadrant for two years running. The Magic Quadrant is a methodology for monitoring the progress and competitive position of companies using a two-dimensional matrix. Innotas also stands apart thanks to its integrated application portfolio management solution – which has been ranked as “Visionary” in Gartner’s Integrated Portfolio Analysis Tools Magic Quadrant.

With Innotas managers in many different departments can utilize the SaaS solution to standardize work execution across silos and prioritize resource capacity levels. With detailed reports and straightforward dashboards built to provide users with top-level analysis of complex situations, Innotas separates itself from others in the market.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5

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