Case Study: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Gates Foundation has an impressive track record of tackling world health issues and infusing innovation in their projects that answer humanitarian needs.
The nonprofit wrestled with an iron triangle: tight timelines, optimizing utilization of limited resources & unique skillsets, and having strong portfolio visibility that’s both agile and adaptive.
With our help, they leveraged Project PPM to rapidly surface and create project & portfolio clarity—vastly improving their project delivery.
Business Situation
The Gates Foundation needed a better way to implement and manage their massive global projects and programs. They looked to ensure that the limited resources and skillsets they had internally were maximized, not over-stretched in a way that would impact time to market for key world-wide programs, systems, research, and projects.
Solution Delivered
Advisicon was part of a joint effort implementing a Project PPM system—helping the Gates Foundation to leverage strategic planning & portfolio management prioritization and connecting proposed projects with their existing project portfolio system of in-flight projects.
Benefits Received
The organization gained project visibility and risk mitigation capabilities. All the software solutions were connected to a single resource pool to allow visibility of current, future, and proposed work. This ensured that the Gates Foundation could identify skillset gaps and align them with rating, ranking prioritizing, and starting new projects.
The implementation provided real-time dashboards, reports, and visibility across projects. It allowed comparisons of proposed projects to the impact of existing work, allowing teams to plan, staff, and deliver projects faster. This greatly minimized inefficient project and resource management.
The Company Today
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the world, holding around $50 billion in assets. They’re guided by the belief that “every life has equal value.” Globally, they help to alleviate poverty, promote health, and reduce hunger. In the United States, they aim to help every student, especially the impoverished, realize his or her full potential. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the foundation committed $1.75 billion to speed development and help ensure fair distribution of treatments, tests, and vaccines.