Sciforma, previously named PSNext, is an enterprise Project and Portfolio Management (PPM)

software developed by Sciforma Corporation.[1] Sciforma Corporation is an American software

company based in San Jose, California. It is a Java web based cross-platform solution. It provides
integration of portfolio, project, resource and document management[2] and is completely
configurable.[3] The current software version is Sciforma 7.0.[4] This version adds Single sign-on and
an HTML5 interface enabling access from mobile devices or thin clients.[5]
It runs on a Tomcat, WAS, Weblogic or JBoss application server with a PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL
Server, DB2 or Oracle database.[6]
Sciforma has offices in France, Germany, UK, Australia and Japan and distributors in several other
countries. The software is available in 7 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese,
Hebrew and Polish.[7]
PSNext, first released in 2004, is the successor of Project Scheduler, developed by Sciforma since
1982.[8]
Clients from different industries use Sciforma such as Societe de Transport de
Montreal,[9] Netgear,[10] Boeing and Zodiac Aerospace.

Sciforma is an adaptable and easy to use enterprise PPM software that can help project
managers administer all aspects of project, resource, risk, and change management. Its
configured software solutions, offered as on-site, hosted or SaaS, can be tailored to fit a
company’s PPM environment and ensure that processes and methodologies are being
followed.

Portfolio Budgeting Controls

Unforeseen costs can cause budgets to skyrocket. Sciforma has developed features to give
users more insights into how their budgets are being affected by cost overruns, change
orders, and missed deadlines.
When you use Sciforma’s portfolio budgeting controls, you can oversee your organization’s
budgets and costs by comparing planned costs to actual costs. You can also identify and
manage changes in real-time.
Tracking Time
One of the ways that Sciforma enables organizations to stay updated on the progress of
large tasks is by having team members input their efforts directly into the platform’s time
tracking system.
Sciforma’s timesheets are designed to display all assigned tasks across multiple projects.
Team members can enter the actual hours they’ve worked for each assignment, along with
estimates of how many hours they have remaining before their tasks are complete.
IT Governance

IT governance is a framework that guides the structures and business processes that an
organization uses. When used successfully, IT governance ensures that an organization’s IT
is supporting and enabling its stated strategies and objectives.
Within Sciforma, you can formalize and enforce internal processes, manage knowledge
management, and maximize the return on investment (ROI) for your business. Regulatory
compliance features are also available within the area of IT governance.

Professional Services Administration

Professional services administration (PSA) providers traditionally include accountants,
appraisers, banks, brokerage firms, engineers, law firms, physicians, and retailers, among
many other organizations. Sciforma offers PSA tools that these users can rely on to make
informed decisions by matching the skills and availability of team members to a projects’
unique needs and goals.
By using Sciforma’s professional services administration features, you can reduce the time
and effort it takes to manually enter expenses and send invoices. You can also forecast
invoicing schedules and build custom reports on staff utilization, profitability and revenue.

New Product Development

Use this to bring a new product or service to market, a process which typically involves
coordination across many departments. New product development usually includes the
processes of idea generation, market research, marketing analysis, product design and detail
engineering. With Sciforma, you can create workflows that integrate with your “Phase Gate”
or “Phase Review” frameworks, manage relevant prioritization criteria, and estimate
feasibility. The Sciforma NPD Dashboard allows you to juggle both strategical and
operational projects, combine views and really just be able to balance different ongoing
projects.
USEFULNESS OF Sciforma:
You will get a complete set of tools for scheduling projects and managing portfolios along
with the unlimited data reporting and output capabilities that are offered. Consolidated
dashboards provide a detailed or summarized status of projects, portfolios and resources.
You can enjoy the ability to create unlimited user defined fields to adapt built-in structures to
your environment. The configuration possibilities go far beyond creating fields within a built-
in category; in fact users are able to create their own categories to describe any object they
would like to manage such as business cases, resources and project definitions, etc.
Configurable tailored user interfaces can be created for each step of the project management
process. User roles determine what workspaces are available to who and when. Within the
same Sciforma system it is possible to manage different business practices and rules, users
will not get lost as they will have the right user interface, data and help for the business action
they are performing.
Data entry screens such as spreadsheets and forms can be fully configured. Sciforma
administrators are provided with easy to use graphical tools to design their own screens. The
utilization of forms includes Projects, Tasks, Resources, Documents, Issues, Portfolios and
Objectives with full design capabilities including embedded reports.
You can get help when and where it is needed. This contextual help is based on tooltip
controls available throughout the system as well as HTML based help for more detailed
information about a given topic. Both the tooltips and HTML content are configurable for
most areas of Sciforma, giving customers the opportunity to define help according to their
own practices.
It’s possible to create event driven conditional alerts and notifications to keep users up to
date. Email capabilities include projects, timesheets, calendars, cost items, documents and
issues. Emails can contain rich text content, project data and can be sent to groups and
individuals. When receiving a Sciforma email alert, users can click on a dynamic URL that will
lead them directly to the related screen within Sciforma that requires attention.
Any raised issue that needs to be resolved can be linked to a project or task. A due date and
a person responsible list ensure that the issue is followed up and resolved. Users can easily
consult the issues related to a project via reports.
Fast to implement: Sciforma is highly flexible and can meet any project and portfolio
management requirements. For example, small to medium companies can use Sciforma’s out-
of-the-box implementation and be up and running in no time. Larger companies can easily
configure Sciforma to fit even their most complex needs. If a company chooses the out-of-
the-box option they know they can grow with Sciforma.
All-in-one software: Sciforma is an end-to-end solution, covering all aspects of project
management including strategic, functional and execution features. Sciforma also supports
all the different project management methodologies including Agile, Waterfall, Critical Chain
and Phase Gate.
Sciforma customers are divided into four categories: IT Project, New Product Development,
Professional Services and the Public Sector.
Several implementation options: Sciforma is offered as SaaS, hosted, or on site. Its
customers choose how they want to implement Sciforma. Because Sciforma is web-based
and utilizes the HTML5 technology, its users don’t need to install anything. Sciforma is
available on any computer, tablets and phones using any browser.