VPMi is a cloud-based suite of Project Portfolio Management software used by companies to gain visibility into their project portfolio to manage schedules, budgets, scope, alignment with strategies, balanced scorecard, resources and documents. The VPMi suite was created to help prevent miscommunication between business units and IT staff. The VPMi suite originally comprised two software tools, VPMi Professional and VPMi Express, however, both of these applications have been merged into a new application simply called VPMi. The application is developed by VCSonline, a company headquartered in Valley Park, just outside St. Louis, Missouri, with an additional office in Kolkata, India. VCSonline is mentioned in the 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Based IT Project and Portfolio Management Services, Worldwide.
History
VCS online was co-founded in 1998 by Nick Matteucci and Jeff Pupillo, two former Ernst & Young project management consultants. The first version of VPMi Professional was released in 1998. By 2003, the company had grown to 10 employees and a new worth of $1.3 million. Version 3.0 introduced "online process maps that show where different projects are located in their life cycles." The latest release of VPMi, version 5.1.18686, was released in November, 2014. The company currently employs a staff of 20.
Implementation Options
Like other web based project management software VPMi can be delivered as both a software, a service (SaaS) model as well as through a local implementation. Currently, on every second friday of the month VSConline publishes patches and release updates for VPMi every month. Release Notes are made available on the Monday before the update is made available, and the User Guide is updated with new information by the official release date. These updates contain new features, bug fixes, and any other alterations made to the application.
VPMi's version number changed from 5.0.x to 5.1.x with the release of the Workplan Gantt Editor in January, 2014.
Version 5.1 Features
Hybrid Forecasting: Added a new form of forecasting that combines team forecasting and workplan forecasting. Modify ETC through Assignments: Added the ability to modify ETC directly from the assignments page. Partial Time Period Lock: Added the ability to lock a time period partway through the week. This does not submit time, but prevents time from being modified within the locked period. People Audit: Tracks all changes to people, including roles. Service Request Single Routing: Improved routing for Service Requests so that it can be done from a single page. Time Audit: Tracks all changes to timesheets, allowing intensive auditing of time entry practices. User Defined Fields: Added a large number of custom fields with a new interface to improve customization within the application. Workplan Gantt Editor: Create Workplans via a browser with drag and drop simplicity. Now includes critical path scheduling.
Features
Workplan Gantt Editor
A prominent feature in version 5.1 is the workplan gantt editor. This is a .NET tool powered by RadiantQ designed to streamline the project management process. This improved the classic workplan management pages by reducing the need to reload pages and allowing a Project Manager to review the effects of their changes prior to saving them.
The editor contains two sides, a workplan side (see above) and a gantt side (see below).
Unlike previous implementations of the gantt in VPMi, the Workplan Gantt Editor lines up work-plan rows with gantt rows, making the relationships easier to see.
Dashboards
VPMi has a variety of dashboards that quickly provide access to information at a glance. These dashboards also link to full records within VPMi. Currently, there are the following dashboards in VPMi: My Home, My Resources, My Projects, My Organizations, My Reports, My Calendar, Organization, Project, and Program.