Software - MS Proj, Niku, Primavera, Artemis?
Need some help on presenting project plans better than in Powerpoint. I'm working on a large corporate program and we have 5 seperate workstreams each with its own PM, all using Powerpoint to layout their "visual" project plans for the next 2 years...they also have outdated MS Project plans as feedback from execs was they find it difficult to read MS Proj plans (too busy) ..do you know of any other package to allow me to pull all these 5 workstreams into anything other than Powerpoint? but easy enough to layout like MS Proj? Tough question but need help - Jim
 Replies: 1 | Views: 1425 |  Author: Neville Turbit |  Last Post: Last Post: September 6, 2010
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Job Board
Will IAPPM be setting up a job board with contract, part-time, temporary, and/or full-time opportunities will be listed for PMs with special expertise?
Replies: 1 | Views: 1300 | Author: Jason | Last Post: Last Post: September 6, 2010
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Leading the PMO
Leading the PMO requires a balancing act par excellence. The PMO provides leadership up, down, sideways and out--to executives, managers, project teams, customers and suppliers. This channel explores the leadership challenge
Replies: 2 | Views: 1243 | Author: David Pope | Last Post: Last Post: September 6, 2010
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Pros and Cons
Well I can think of more Pro's than Cons. In my experience a Portfolio Manager is imperative to establishing the link to desiminate Corporate objectives and strategies down to the Program and Project level. It is critical to any business that each project team is pulling towards the overall corporate objectives. It is the Portfolio Managers job to ensure that Corporate risk is also desiminated to the project level.
I often think of the Portfolio or Program Manager as a drover mustering a heard of cattle. The cattle are the individual projects and the gate at the other end of the paddock is the corporate objective or Mission Statement. Now it is the responsibility of the Portfolio/Program Manager to guide the project towards the gate and if one project strays away from the objective, then he must be carfefully guided back to the main heard and finally through the gate.
Replies: 1 | Views: 1374 | Author: CEO & Founder | Last Post: Last Post: September 6, 2010
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Integrated Master Project Plans
Why do so many service / consulting organizations still continue to utilize just the stand-alone Project client applications on their laptops when working global projects? Ive found companies get themselves into a mess each time when rolling up schedules
you have vendor plans, functional teams, PMO, governance, communications, etc and they all lack the ability to truly develop a single integrated master project plans. What does Microsoft Project Server 2007 and IAPPM say about all of this?
Replies: 1 | Views: 1318 | Author: CEO & Founder | Last Post: Last Post: September 6, 2010
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12 steps to building a project schedule **it Works**
Here's my tried & tested method to creating a 12 step winning project :
1. plan/schedule
2. project setup
3. enter task details
4. enter durations against tasks
5. outline the plan
6. link tasks - create dependencies
7. check and adjust
8. define resource pool
9. assign resource to tasks
10. resolve resource allocations
11. baseline the plan
12. publish the plan to a server
13. manage/track progress
Your thoughts
Replies: 1 | Views: 1318 | Author: CEO & Founder | Last Post: Topic is empty
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Project Time Keeping
What time systems do you recommend for keeping track of PM time (both employees and PM contractors)? I was leaning towards MS Project 2003+ and a time-capture plug-in on a daily/weekly basis to incorporate time capture, project accounting and project management. Please let me know if anyone else uses something else that works.
Replies: 1 | Views: 1478 | Author: Rohit Singla | Last Post: Last Post: September 6, 2010
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projects in Japan
I have met many great PM's in Japan, and it is incredible to see the level of planning and quality that goes into their projects. Speaking to some members was that a point of difference in what constitutes a 'high flyer' in Japan is that individual achievement is somewhat de-emphasized. While individual accomplishment is respected, and a requirement, rewards and recognition rarely get applied below the team level to just 1 PM. Most times, the basic unit that succeeds or fails in any task is the project team. It is rare for one individual to be singled out for censure if a task fails. The project team usually embrace the team spirit more than here in the US for example. Thoughts?
Replies: 2 | Views: 1018 | Author: Admin | Last Post: Last Post: September 6, 2010
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Microsoft Products
Bill Gates announced this morning at the SharePoint Conference a new online offering for SharePoint, following our Online strategy (Software + Services) :
http://www.microsoft.com/online/sharepoint-online.mspx
Microsoft SharePoint Online provides a highly secure, central location where employees can efficiently collaborate with team members, find organizational resources, manage content and workflow, and gain the business insight to make better-informed decisions. Based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, this Microsoft-hosted solution helps employees create and manage custom team and project-focused intranet sites for collaboration and document sharing. Users get the flexibility and customization they need to truly work efficiently across teams with tools like wikis, blogs, surveys, shared workspaces, and process workflows. And as a seamless extension of the Microsoft Office system, SharePoint Online is familiar and easy to use, and it enables collaboration within the applications your users already know.
Replies: 2 | Views: 1018 | Author: Admin | Last Post: Topic is empty
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Community Driven Development Project
Community Driven Development Project
Here are common steps in the process of SDLC, which may vary according to the size of the project.
Definition
Requirements
Client supplies a project requirements document, which states:
the purpose
goals
major features
compatibility issues
human interface issues
maintenance and support
documentation and training
terms and conditions for the project
Depending on the completeness of this document, vendor(s) involved in the proposal process may need to make inquiries and revisions to it before it becomes an adequate basis for a bid.
Analysis Proposal
If required, the out-sourcing vendor supplies this. It should include:
the scope of the project
cost and time estimates
a basic project plan
a definition of deliverables
acceptance criteria
any terms and conditions required
any assumptions used to make the proposal
This document may not be required if the project is fairly small or if the client has already created a technical specification that is adequate to make a Development proposal on.
Executed contract
Frequently, the client requests revisions to the proposal. Once those are agreed upon and the proposal is accepted, the contract is drawn up and executed. This document should include:
delivery date
deliverables
terms and conditions concerning non-disclosure
Intellectual Property Rights
a clear description of each partys responsibilities
functional specification provided by client
the price
payment terms
Pricing is usually on either a fixed-price or time-and-materials basis. The vendor meets milestones upon final acceptance by the client.
Payment terms for time-and-materials contracts are variable with weekly to monthly invoicing and terms of net 10 to net 30.
Preliminary Project Plan
The project plan is created by whoever is managing the project. It should include:
a work breakdown
the sequence of events (usually a PERT chart)
a project schedule
Both the client and the vendor should sign off this document.
Analysis
Functional Specification
Through interaction with the client, the vendor creates this document. It should contain:
an overview of the system/application
major objectives and any special system requirements
a description of all components and deliverables
a method for negotiating specification changes
acceptance criteria
client-vendor communications interfaces
responsibilities of both parties, and any terms, conditions and assumptions
Both parties should sign off the Functional Specification.
Preliminary Design
The Preliminary Design should include:
a high-level design of the system/application as a whole
a description of user-interaction, data-flow, and data storage
Project Plan revised
Update project plan to reflect the information in the functional specification and changes in available resources and technology.
Development Proposal
Final versions of analysis proposal
Executed contract
See Executed contract, above.
Design
Design Specification
Once a set of alternate top-level designs is devised by the vendors, the vendors should take the clients through a walk-through. Once this walk-through is complete, the vendor should complete the design process and create a Design specification.
This specification should include:
an overview
system requirements
design priorities
diagrams and naming conventions
parameter passing and database conventions
error handling
programming tools
descriptions of data records and storage
The specification should include all of the functionality stated in the Functional Specification.
Quality Assurance Test Plan
This test plan should include:
Alpha entry criteria
Beta entry criteria
Final Code Submission criteria
Acceptance criteria.
It can include more than one Alpha or Beta cycle and other intermediate cycles such as Gamma.
Project Plan revised
Update project plan to reflect the information in the design specification and acceptance plan.
Development
Alpha entry
Criteria for alpha entry should be agreed upon by client and vendor.
Quality Assurance for Alpha submission
QA is usually supplied by the vendor
Quality Assurance engineers follow the Acceptance test plan and report bugs to the development engineers
Bug fixes and minor feature enhancements
Development engineers fix bugs reported by QA and by the client. Minor feature enhancements, as agreed upon by client and vendor are incorporated.
Beta entry
Criteria for beta entry should be agreed upon by client and vendor.
Quality Assurance and Beta site testing
QA is usually supplied by the vendor
Quality Assurance engineers follow the Acceptance test plan and report bugs to the development engineers
QA engineers also do regression testing to insure previously reported bugs are fixed
Bug fixes and minor feature enhancements
Development engineers fix bugs reported by QA and by the client. Minor feature enhancements, as agreed upon by client and vendor are incorporated.
Final code submission
Criteria for final code submission should be agreed upon by client and vendor.
Acceptance
Acceptance testing
Acceptance testing as specified in the QA test plan is performed by the client, possibly with the vendor present.
Operation
Warranty-period technical support
Vendors should offer to fix problems caused by vendor free of charge for a certain period of time. The warranty period depends on the size of the project; however, 90 days is common.
Maintenance
This is usually a separate contract, detailing any maintenance requirements including:
adding features
fixing bugs
giving technical support to the client
Project post-mortem
Client and vendor should get together to discuss the project. Topics usually include:
a statement of original objectives and proposed solutions
project method and organization
a comparison of estimates with actual results
successful aspects of the project
problems encountered and how to avoid them in the future
Replies: 2 | Views: 1018 | Author: Admin | Last Post: Topic is empty
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Introducing myself !
This is just a word of appreciation for being here with you and I look forward to connect with other members of the community here for future communications, cooperation and collaboration on common areas of professional interests.
My name is Mohammed Thiab and I am a 27+ years experienced professional living and working in the middle-east region.
Project/Program Management is one of my current focus areas and that's why I also established a special group for "Advanced Project Management Topics" in linkedin under my own profile.
APMT group currently has 1600+ members and provides a neutral platform for discussing and exploring new frontiers/challenges/ambitions in the project and program management world.
Looking forward to know you all and to be able to participate in your activities and discussions here.
Thanks
Mohammed Thiab
Replies: 2 | Views: 1018 | Author: Admin | Last Post: Topic is empty
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