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Showing posts from October, 2009

Project Management Templates that Help Plan Ahead

- Offer the service, and have all projects use the service. In this approach, the PMO provides a centralized service to all projects, keeping all plans up to date. This can reduce cost, especially in an environment where the PMIS is not fully automated and integrated. The risk associated with this approach is that the project managers may not be as aware of project status as they would be if they had to prepare the plans themselves. This is all usually keeped up to date using Project Management Templates that can help you plan ahead. The PMO Manager should choose among these options based on these factors: - Degree of automation of the PMIS. In a mostly manual environment, the Update Plans service is better centralized in the PMO, reducing the workload on project managers. In a highly automated environment, most update functions occur automatically as project managers do planning, team leads record progress on deliverables, and workers enter their timesheet information. - Focus of the

The Role of a Project Management Templates Office

The Role of a Project Management Templates Office Have you ever worked in an organization that has loads of projects and no central department responsible for controlling them all? This is exactly the kind of problem that a Project Office can address. A Project Office is created to make sure that your organization has a neatly defined set of projects that are aligned with your corporate strategy and are all coordinated in a neat and logical fashion to help them deliver on time and under budget. The Role of a Project Office To learn more about what a Project Office does, read this newsletter... 1. What is a Project Office? A Project Office is a department responsible for improving project management within an organization. It’s a permanent department within an organization, not a temporary function. It’s there to coordinate projects and ensure they have the right tools, standards, methodologies and templates needed to boost their chances of success. 2. Are there different types? There

Updating Online Project Management Plans

Which Online Project Management PMOs should provide the Update Plans Service? Updating Online Project Management Plans All projects must have their plans updated weekly, but this work can be provided either by the project teams themselves, or by the PMO. This leaves three options for the PMO with regard to offering the Update Plans Service for project plans: - Do not offer the service, leave it to the project teams. This option has the advantage that it requires project managers, team leaders, and their teams to be very hands-on with a  project management methodology . If project managers are well-trained and focused on keeping information up-to-date, then they will be able to update plans themselves. If all projects are able to deliver updated plans weekly to the PMO reliably, this is an option. - Offer the service, but only to be used as needed. In this option, the norm is for project managers and their teams to keep plans up to date. But if a particular project manager is having tro

Online Project Management Update Plans Service

Define the Online Project Management Update Plans Service Follow the four steps shown in this diagram to define the key features of the Update Plans Service: 1. Decide to Offer 2. Define Key Features 3. Prepare Activity Matrix 4. Define Stakeholders, Processes, and Outputs - Decide to offer. Decide whether or not to offer this service, and when to launch it. - Define key features. Define the administrative information, key features, and benefits of the Update Plans Service. - Prepare activity matrix. Define the activities that each team member will perform and assign the work. - Define stakeholders, processes, and outputs. After key features are defined, continue to develop the service by completing the remaining sections of the Service Plan and additional project management templates.

Tips for Project Management Template Methodologies

Tips for Project Management Template Methodologies We’re often asked the question:”what is a methodology and how do I select and implement one”? To learn the answer, read these... Tips for Implementing Project Methodologies “What is a methodology”? A methodology is a step-by-step method for delivering projects. It describes every step in depth, so that you know what you have to do to deliver your project. By following the same steps for every project you undertake, you’ll save time and effort on projects. “How do I select a suitable methodology?” The first step is to define your requirements. You need to think about what it is that you want from your methodology, the type of content it should contain and the way in which you intend to use it. For instance, your requirements might be as follows: √ It needs to contain a complete Project Life Cycle √ Every step in the life cycle should be described in depth √ Each step should have practical templates and examples to help to complete the

Prepare Project Management Templates

To prepare all project management templates , checklists, schedules, and other forms for the Update Plans Service, refer to both the instructions in Providing Services, and also to the information and examples on this page. Prepare a copy of the Service Plan Template, the Service Evaluation Schedule, and the Service Improvement Schedule for the Update Plans Service. In addition, the following additional service-specific forms are included in MPOM Template section for the Update Plans Service: - Project Planning Procedures provides the procedures for re-baselining and updating online project management plans. - Program Planning Procedures provides the process for updating program plans. - Portfolio Planning Procedures provides the process for updating portfolio plans. Instructions for completing these items are on this page. All PMOs providing the Update Plans Service will use the Project Planning Procedures. If a PMO is also tasked with keeping program or portfolio information up to da

Update Project Management Methodology Plans Service

Provide the Update Project Management Methodology Plans Service Perform the five activities shown in this diagram to provide the Update Plans Service: 1.    Define the Update Plans Service 2.    Identify Stakeholders for the Update Plans Service 3.    Provide the Update Plans Service 4.    Evaluate the Update Plans Service 5.    Improve the Update Plans Service - Define the Update Plans Service. The PMO should update plans when project managers cannot do this reliably themselves, or when a centralized service reduces project cost. The PMO can update project, program, and portfolio plans. - Identify stakeholders for the Update Plans Service. Customers are project managers, team leads, and the PMO Report Status Service team. Other stakeholders include project management methodology teams, projects, and all those who receive status information from the Report Status Service. - Provide the Update Plans Service. Each project must have up-to-date plans each week, so this service is an ongoi

Using a Feasibility Study Project Management Template

Feasibility Study Project Management Template Is your project feasible? The best way to find out whether your project is feasible is to complete a Feasibility Study. This process helps you gain confidence that the solution you need to build can be implemented on time and under budget. So here’s how to do it in 5 simple steps... Completing a Feasibility Study A Feasibility Study needs to be completed as early in the Project Life Cycle as possible. The best time to complete it is when you have identified a range of different alternative solutions and you need to know which solution is the most feasible to implement. Here’s how to do it... Step 1: Research the Business Drivers In most cases, your project is being driven by a problem in the business. These problems are called “business drivers” and you need to have a clear understanding of what they are, as part of your Feasibility Study. For instance, the business driver might be that an IT system is outdated and is causing customer comp

Project Management Tools Guide Book

Some Reseller Questions: 1. The original project management tools guide book was branded with the AID (affiliate id). Can you do this with the new version? 2. Can we promote the Coupon Code and get a 10% 3. Do you have any other 'specials'? Here are the answers to your questions: 1. Yes you're right, the original online project management guide book version did. However the supplier went out of business a few years ago and we haven't been able to find a supplier who can brand eBooks dynamically since. If you come across someone, please let us know and we'll signup. 2. Yes that's fine. It's the best way to get a commission on sales. 3. Good question. We do have sales in our monthly newsletter from time to time, but nothing that is enduring. If you have any other ideas for maximizing affiliate revenue that we can help with, please let us know

Project Management Professional Reseller

Enquiry As I will also be purchasing MPMM Project Management Professional and Project Manager .com at the same time, I am interested to know whether there is any joint discount and also whether you have reduced the capability of MPMM Project Management Professional to develop and onward sell methodologies to clients in the light of the introduction of your enterprise version. Or has it remained the same? I note also that you are quoting a discount coupon on your sites. Will this not contradict the reseller Coupon Code as it provides the customer with your discount and the resellers and I guess they will chose yours at the last moment? I haven't been to the cart to see whether both coupons are available for entry but I suspect not? Answer Thanks for getting in touch. It's great that you're proceeding with purchasing both MPMM Project Management Professional and ProjcetManager.com as they work nicely alongside each other. As you're a reseller, you already get the maximum

Project Management Templates Reduce Stress

Project Management Templates reduce stress. Most project teams become stressed at some point. How you manage this stress will directly effect your ability to deliver the project on time. To help you out, in this newsletter we’ve offered 5 tips on... How to reduce project stress... We all know what stress is. It is the thing that makes your hair turn grey and your frowns appear more often then smiles. It is natural that projects attract a lot of stress, as you have a fixed set of deliverables to produce in a fixed timeframe and with fixed resources - and all with your project sponsor breathing down your neck! Positive stress can be generated in an environment which boosts productivity and focuses your team on the end goal. But negative stress  can demoralize staff, reduce efficiency and de-focus your team. In this type of environment, you need to turn negative stress into positive stress, and to do that, we have listed here some tips and hints to help: Step 1. Time-Out Positive stress

Different Project Management Methodology Users

Some MPMM Questions Asked by MPMM Trialists What is the limitation of the MPMM Project Methodology Software (upper ceiling project price) The upper ceiling price for the MPMM Project Methodology product is $4800 for an Enterprise license. However single user licenses are just $495 per user. The cost per user decreases as the number of users increases. Are all building construction processes and areas of knowledge included there in the MPMM Project Methodology? All of the processes included are relevant to the building industry. However there are no "specialized building processes" included. What is the level of detail adopted in the MPMM Project Management packages for the building construction domain? Approximately 20% of our customers are in the building industry, so the package suits the building domain perfectly. What is a budget? Why is cost and estimation important in project planning? A budget is an amount of money that is allocated to the project. Estimation is impor

Templates within Project Methodology

Customer Question - I am contemplating purchasing your Project Management Templates . Once purchased, would you say most organizations use your templates with instructions and all already incorporated in the document, as their final document to end users (examples etc). Also do we have complete rights to edit the templates (place our logo instead of yours) in an effort to cater it to our environment? Can we use the project methodology templates both internally (interdepartmental) and externally (vendors we hire). Support Team Answer - How it works is that anyone who fills-in the project methodology templates needs a license to use them. So say you have 5 Project Managers and all PM's would fill in the templates for their projects. In this case, you would need a 5 user license. - If you have people who would only read the document that is completed by the template, then they will not need a license. So for instance, if you have a customer who reads a Business Case document that w