Due dates, never set
A date mentioned in a meeting becomes, for the business, a promised date. No one wrote it down, no one decided on it, and the delay is discovered the day it has passed.
Solutions Internal project management: when one team delivers for another
Internal project management has a feature that is often forgotten: there is indeed a client and a supplier, but they work in the same company. An IT department delivers to the business units, an engineering team embedded in production, a technical service to the sites. No contract, no penalty, and yet dates that the client team considers due. pylotik steers these projects like those of an external client, with the same milestones, the same committees and the same record.
The observation
Without a contract, the commitment does not disappear. It becomes blurred.
Between two teams of the same company, nothing requires writing down what was promised. That is precisely what makes the promise fragile.
One team for several clients
The same team serves several departments, which do not know what the others are asking of it. Priorities are fought over in the corridors, and the real workload stays invisible to those who commission the work.
Reporting redone for each department
Each department wants its own progress update, in its own format. The supplier team spends its Fridays copying the same information into different presentations.
Who is concerned
Internal suppliers, internal clients.
As soon as a team's job is to deliver for others, the relationship takes the shape of a client and supplier relationship.
The teams that deliver
- IT departments and digital departments Application projects, infrastructure, deployments for the business.
- In-house engineering teams Studies and drawings for production, works or subsidiaries.
- Technical and maintenance services New works, refurbishments, maintenance of sites and equipment.
- Shared service centers and product teams A common team that delivers to several entities of the group.
The teams that commission
- Business departments They express the need, expect a date and judge the result.
- Subsidiaries and sites They receive a deployment, a study, a worksite.
- Executive management It decides between requests and wants a reliable overall view.
- Another project team It depends on a deliverable to move forward on its own.
How it works
An internal project in pylotik.
The project links two teams of your organization: the one that commissions and the one that delivers. The rest works as with an external client.
Two teams, named leads
Each side appoints its leads from the company's accounts: a sponsor, a project director, a project manager. Everyone knows who decides for the business and who answers for the team that delivers.
Milestones and committees
Milestones are set and dated, committees meet at their own rhythm. The minutes are submitted to the client team, which approves them, rejects them giving its reason, or asks for a correction. The promised date becomes a written date.
Days, no invoice
An internal project is billed to no one. It is steered on its budget in days, with its reserves for contingencies, and it closes when its milestones are reached.
A shared workload plan
Internal projects and projects for external clients occupy the same people. They appear on the same workload plan, which makes priority conflicts visible before they cost a date.
Contracts for an internal team
A maintenance contract can have an internal team as its client, with its volume, its catalog and its committee. With the Interventions module, the acceptance of an intervention is signed by an account of the client team.
The portfolio, with no re-copying
Internal projects are read in the portfolio with their milestones and status. Each department's progress update comes from the same data, instead of one more presentation.
An internal client is a client
The same drift mechanics, with no contract to catch them.
Scope drift, slipping dates, an overloaded team: an internal project drifts like a sold project. The difference is that no contract comes to fix what was due. Only a commitment made explicit, dated and approved by both teams protects the relationship. This is what we call operational commitment management, and it holds inside a company as between two companies.
The limits
What pylotik does not do internally.
- No internal re-invoicing An internal project has neither a billing schedule nor an invoice. Re-invoicing between entities stays in your management tools.
- No incident ticketing Requests and incidents handled as they come belong to an incident ticketing tool. pylotik steers what has a path: milestones, committees, a date.
- No free access for the client team The business people are accounts of your organization. Each occupies the seat of their role, as explained on the pricing page. Free client access applies to external client organizations.
- Connectors on request No synchronization is delivered by default with your ERP, your HRIS or your incident ticketing: connectors are optional and are built according to your needs (see the roadmap).
Frequently asked questions
What we are asked about internal projects.
Is it reserved for IT departments?
No. Any team that delivers dated projects for other teams is concerned: engineering team, technical service, product team, shared service center. The IT department is the most common example, detailed on the page devoted to IT departments.
How are the business people counted?
They are accounts of your organization: each occupies the seat that matches their role, Pilot or Contributor. Free client access, for its part, is reserved for external client organizations.
Can internal projects be mixed with projects for external clients?
Yes. The same team can deliver internal projects and sold projects: they share the workload plan and the portfolio, each with its own client.
Does a contract need to be formalized between the teams?
No. An internal project is billed to no one: milestones, a budget in days, named leads and committees are enough for the commitment to be written down and tracked.
Can an internal service track maintenance contracts?
Yes. The maintenance contract can have an internal team as its client, with its volume, its catalog and its committee. The scheduling and signed acceptance of interventions fall under the Interventions module.
Next
Going further.
- Project management in an IT department: reporting to the business on what was promised.
- Internal clients and suppliers: where operational commitment management is relevant, mode by mode.
- The client portal: what an external client organization sees and approves.
- The product tour and the pricing.