Resource Management Example Using Microsoft Project Terri Hopkins

Resource Management Example Using Microsoft Project Terri Hopkins, PMP Highlights for Children 1

Resource Management Discussion Outline 1. Define roles & terms Ø Ø Ø 2. State how the current IS environment impacts HFC Projects (PMO Perspective) Ø Ø 3. 4. 5. 6. Portfolio & Portfolio Manager Program & Program Manager Project & Project Manager Give a Typical example of my world Challenges & Issues Tools to help you manage your work portfolio Demo export of MS Project data to Excel Review Excel reports & Templates Lessons Learned 2

What is my role at HFC? Program Manager, PMO n Responsible for multiple project managers n Responsible for the performance of Project Management by Project Managers reporting to me n n Ensure that project management is applied consistently and effectively across the projects managed by the PMO (typically large project; occasionally medium projects) Ensure all PMO managed projects come in on-time, onbudget and meet Customer Expectations. Management & Integration: Integration efforts across PMO project; continuously assess and refine approaches and plans, and ensures good communication (written & verbal). Corporate training on Project Management topics 3

Define Terms n Portfolio & Role of Portfolio Manager n Program & Role of Program Manager n Project & Role of Project Manager (Definitions are from PMI and from Wideman Comparative Glossary of Project Management Terms V 2. 1) 4

What is a Portfolio? A collection of projects and/or programs and other work that is grouped together to facilitate the effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. 5

Role of Portfolio Manager? n n n This person is typically a senior manager and… Needs an advanced understanding of Project/Program Management Plays a key role in project prioritization Makes sure there is a balance of components; Ø Ensuring that they align with strategic goals Ø Measures value to the organization through investment instruments, such as: n Return on Investment (ROI), n Net Present Value (NPV) and n payback period (PP), etc 6

What is a Program? n n A set of projects with a common strategic goal A group of related projects that is managed together Programs usually include an element of ongoing activity An endeavor of considerable scope encompassing a number of projects 7

What is the Role of Program Manager? The person responsible for a Program. This responsibility encompasses the following: n n n Planning, Funding, Scheduling, Prioritizing resources Timely completion of projects (on a priority basis with established constraints. ) 8

What is a Project? n n A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means that every project has a definite beginning and a definite ending. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all similar products and services. Projects are often critical components of the performing organizations’ business strategy. 9

What is the Role of Project Manager? The person with the overall responsibility for the project. The Project Manager needs to ensure: n tasks are scheduled, n allocated and n completed in accordance with Ø project schedules, budgets and quality requirements. 10

In order to truly appreciate the need for a tool like Project Server One would have had to experience, understand & execute the steps required, “the old fashion way” using a manual process. Let’s look at a simple analogy to this statement… 11

A simple analogy of ‘old school’ versus ‘new school’ would be like ‘going fishing’ you would need to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Buy your bait; Load your rods, tackle and bait in the boat; Gas up the boat; Select a body of water to fish in Launch your boat Bait your hook and cast your line – All of this …. JUST TO CATCH A FISH! With regard to Project Server: you can accomplish the same objective by merely ‘pushing a button’ and waiting for your fish to appear. 12

A wise person once said: “It’s the Journey, not the destination that causes one to appreciate the process” 13

Typical example of my world! n PMO is often pulled into projects at various stages in the Project Life Cycle n PMO could manage several critical projects at the same time (medium and large) n These critical projects share many of the same key resources & report to different (cross/functional) managers Continued………… 14

Typical Example Continued…. . n All of the critical projects have end dates that are dictated by the sponsor (often before project begins) n The projects are all budget constrained n n All three critical projects are managed by different Project Managers (separate project schedules, project plans, etc…. ) The real ‘gotcha’ of it all: Priorities differ, not only External to IS, but internal to IS as well! 15

Challenges…… Silo departments in IS Priorities differ across each of the departments n Medium & Large projects typically cross departments/functions n The same key resources are often committed on all critical projects as they alone are the knowledge experts. n Resources are often put in middle and expected to complete all work commitments (forcing some to work 50 -60+ hours week) n 16

Additional Challenge for Project Managers n Gateway System Timesheet reporting system used to feed chargeback reporting NOT a scheduling tool n Feeds workload planning sheets (manually) n Should be owned by Resource Managers n Dual entry by Project Managers (Gateway & MS Project) n 17

Challenges Continued ……. . n n Project schedules NOT Dynamic Ø Check lists Program Manager evaluates each schedule (cross project resource constraints) independently & manually summarize in order to present to senior management 18

ISSUES n n Sponsor’s dictates project end dates Resource commitments made by RM’s to PM’s – NO resource workload plan to evaluate availability Resources pulled by PM’s (squeaky wheel syndrome) IS Work demands continue to increase while Human resource capacity remains constant – forcing resources to work 50 -60+ hours week. 19

ISSUES Continued…. . n Estimates do not reflect new technology n NO historical estimates n Business Units contact resource managers directly – circumvent the IS work flow process (often no documentation noting the request or estimates exist) 20

Complaints of Resource Managers? n n n Silo mentality (direct challenge from senior management when managers complain) Lack of Executive focus/direction Lack of Corporate and Departmental Prioritization (squeaky wheel) Inability to say NO without it being viewed as a negative Cultural changes & resistance to change 21

In order to get Senior Management to realize that problems exist? n n n The Program manager was forced to analyze and summarize project data across all projects. This was a time consuming & tedious process If this had not been done the risk to the projects coming in “on-time” or “onbudget” would have been extremely high! 22

What did I do to get Executives to address Project Issues & Risks? n Provided Executives data in order to make needed decisions 23

What data (information) did I summarize for Executives? n How resources perform (Earned Value Analysis) Ø n n Evaluate each project separately & determine the potential impact on other projects that share the same resources Trends (e. g. performance compared to Estimates & Commitments) Planned vs Actuals (Resource workloads) Production support impacts? (Resource workloads) Project end-date impacts given resource constraints; performance and trends 24

Additional Challenges? n n Resource Manager owns the resources; NO workload management Project Manager makes project time and cost commitments to the sponsor based on resource estimates and commitments made by resource managers. 25

Should the Project/Program Manager assume the project is in trouble? 26

First things first…. . Is the project really in trouble? Sometimes a project has problems, but the problems are not significant enough for the project to be considered troubled. So, first validate that you actually have a problem by seeing whether the project is within acceptable tolerances. . ……. . 27

It is important to understand your tolerances… ……. . because the project may be trending over budget or past the deadline, but still may be in an acceptable range and not considered a troubled project and grounds for alarm. However, we can’t merely assume that everything will take care of itself. This is why it’s extremely important to continuously evaluate the project data, and note any impacts to other projects! 28

In order to analyze project impact With regard to resource constraints – it’s important to look at how well the resources are performing, based on their estimates…. . This is done by analyzing resource performance indicators – these indicators are available in MS Project once you setup the tool to evaluate them…. . (Earned Value Analysis) 29

Earned Value emphasis Address the following indicators for each Key resource on potentially troubled projects: SPI (Schedule Performance Indicator) – when < 1; indicates that the project is behind schedule n CPI (Cost Performance Indicator) – when < 1; indicates the project is over budget n EAC (Estimate at completion) – Prediction of the final cost given resource performance to date. n 30

What process do I follow in order to obtain the needed data? n Run projects by exporting MS Project Schedules (separately) into Excel spreadsheet. Ø Ø Ø This data is sorted; filtered, grouped; and summarized as needed Analyze data and determine level of reporting needed, based on the audience (e. g. Resource Mangers, Project Managers, Executives) Challenge: Extremely time consuming (weekly effort = several hours to pull data and format the reports prior to analyzing the data) 31

What was developed to assist me in this effort? n Formatted a Blank Excel report to use over -and-over (copy weekly with new name) n Created an Excel MAP – Resource data – use n Templates: over-and-over as needed n n n Individual workload planning sheets Resource Summary Plan Process to pull data & develop the needed reporting 32

Business Case (Example) n n 2 Critical Projects (Critical Project 1 & 2) Today’s date is: June 1, 2004 Ø Resources span 4 department (Application Services; Database Services; Project Management Services; Network Services) Ø Application Services has 2 Business Analysts (BA 1 & BA 2) n BA 1 is assigned to Critical Projects 1 (30%) & 2 (30%) n BA 2 is also assigned to Critical Projects 1 (30%) & 2 (30%) Ø BA 1 decides to work 60% on Critical project 1 (determined at the time of analysis), because his manager indicated that Critical Proj 1 is of greatest importance! He planned to work 60% on Critical project 2 upon completion of his work on Critical Project 1. Ø PM on Critical Project 1 is concerned because BA 1 has 80 hours that should have been finished; and noted that DBA 1 is waiting on info. from BA 1 before he can begin his planned work for critical project 1. This has put the DBA 1 resource behind already by 1 week. Ø The PM is struggling with resource priorities dictated by the Resource Manager of BA 1, and can’t convince the RM that he needs to work on Critical project 1. 33 Ø This is an example of when I would get involved……

Steps to Export MS Project data to Excel? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Open project schedule Change the save as type to Microsoft Excel Workbook (. XLS) (Optional: Change the name of the file being created by way of the Export) Export Wizard kicked off Click on data format (Select Data) -> Next Select Map n Check Type of Data n Check Assignments n Microsoft Office Excel Options: Ø Check Export include headers -> Finish 34

DEMO 35

Assess/discuss data on Excel Reports Sample reports included in packets 36

Review reports in packet n Resource Assignment Reports (examples used in n Individual Work Load Planning sheet presentation) Ø Look at trends; performance Ø Ø n Used for discussion with Resource Managers Look at commitments; resource workloads; priorities IS Department Summary Plan Ø Ø Used to communicate to executives Assess project risks and make resource prioritization decisions n Ø Review priorities across projects Review commitments across projects & timelines 37

Challenge for IS Executives? Educate the Business Units on the need for prioritization & help them understand why it’s necessary & vital to the success of their projects and to the Corporation as a whole. 38

Lessons Learned (Tips) Top 3 PMO Commandments: n Clearly define deliverables Ø Ø n Consistency in key-stakeholder reporting Ø n Measurable deliverables Ownership established on deliverables Provide status on: time; budget; issues; risks; keysuccess factors Determine the various levels and types of reporting needed to help executives make decisions Ø Key-stakeholder reporting with Earned Value information & create and maintain dynamic schedules 39