BMC Software a couple of weeks ago announced it had acquired for an undisclosed sum ITM Software, a maker of products that help manage the business side of IT that fall into the technology arena of project and portfolio management. 

ITM, based in Santa Clara, delivers products and services that help those in IT make better decisions around investments by incorporating information regarding IT finance, vendors, people, assets, projects and compliance. Coupling those tools with BMC's ideally will help customers get a single view into "project and service portfolios, financials, operations, resources, vendors, compliance and IT demand," according to BMC.

PPM technologies help IT maximize the return on their money and time investments and enable them to make better decisions going forward.

"By providing visibility and control across [six critical management dimensions: strategy, demand, supply, people, money and risk], IT executives can make better decisions, provide a foundation for continuous improvement and measure the value IT delivers to the business," wrote Dennis Gaughan, research director at AMR Research in a report released earlier this year.

This acquisition is another in a string of buys BMC has completed in the past year or so that are helping the vendor fill gaps in its product suites. BMC picked up ProactiveNet, RealOps and BladeLogic -- all of which add to the vendor's IT management technology portfolio. 

Recent talk from industry watchers suggests the acquisition could provide BMC entry into the PPM market in which some of its competitors already play. Donna Scott, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst, last week delivered a keynote address to attendees of the research firm's Infrastructure, Operations and Management Summit 2008. During the address she mentioned that one gap in BMC's product suite was in the area of business management, for instance, managing IT finances, assets, contracts and projects.

"[IT operations management] hopes to achieve the elusive business alignment and foster a greater partnership between business and IT," Scott told conference attendees.

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.