The Importance of People Processes and Procedures for

The Importance of People, Processes and Procedures for Project Success (for any project) Microsoft Consulting Services Thuy Le – Sr. EPM Consultant Bobby Huynh – EPM Consultant October 26, 2006

Roadmap Introductions Before a Project Contributions to a successful project? “Shift+B” During a Project After a Project Q&A

The Chaos Ten Recipe for project success User Involvement Executive Management Support Clear Business Objectives Experienced Project Manager Minimizing Scope and Requirements Iterative and Agile Process Skilled Resources Formal Methodology Financial Management Standard Tools and Infrastructure Firm Basic Requirements Reliable Estimates Other The Standish Group, 2005 2000 1 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 4 3 5 8 6 7 9 10

User Involvement Who are your users? Internal, external, customers? How often we solicit user involvement? In what capacity do you want them to participate? What is the most important document for users?

Executive Management Support How does this align with corporate vision? Who is your sponsor? Who is socializing your project? Where is the decision level? (cultural/technological)

Clear Business Objectives What is the goal of this project? Short, medium, long term What is success for this project? Quantify vs. Qualify

Experienced PM Process vs. technology vs. relationship? Navigating the channels? Supportive team? Certification? Education – formal vs. school of hard knocks

Minimizing Requirements and Scope When should we have firm requirements? Who is approving requirements? Functional specs? Conformance with vision? When and how should we alter requirements? Change control board

Iterative and agile PROCESS What is the process? How does the process change with the environment? What is too much agility? What is the feedback process?

Skilled Resources Technology resources? Process/culture resources? Additional training?

Formal Methodology What is the methodology? Who should know about it? Conform to it? What is too much formal methodology?

Financial Management What is the budget? What is the executive protection? How are finances managed?

Standard Tools and Infrastructure What toolset are we using? Training? Updating/feedback on the tool?

EPM Delivery What It Takes to Successfully Implement an EPM Solution

Preface (Why EPM? ) ABILITY RESULTS Align resources and activities with strategic business objectives In succeeding in today’s business climate Respond with greater agility Ability to meet the demands of a fast changing business environment Gain visibility, insight, and control of your portfolio of projects In increased productivity, reduction in cycle times, decreased costs, and improved quality Create standardized and repeatable processes Enables you to achieve accurate and reliable enterprise data

PEOPLE Having skilled resources that can use the tool effectively (training) Key stakeholder involvement; executive sponsorship Right blend of internal & external resources; Core team representing all audience levels Understand, internalize, and communicate value proposition (aka WIIFM)

PROCESS Consistent processes wrapped around EPM Solution encompassing 5 phases of project management Tool Processes: Project initiation/creation; Enterprise template usage; Add resource to project team; Resource management; Plan update and reporting cycle; Change control; Baseline usage; Plan QA process; Issue management; Risk management; Reporting; project closeout and archiving; End user communication; SLA’s on Project Server availability; Individual project plan restore from db backup; Administration roles and responsibilities Tool Administration: New resource creation/ modification; Resource deletion; Add/modify PWA and enterprise views/filters/tables/groups; Add/modify enterprise codes and fields; Delete projects; Rename projects; Security modifications

ORGANIZATION Transforming organizational culture for EPM readiness Planning mentality from being date driven to effort based Redefining the PM role to allow for more accountability and flexibility Requires experienced change agents, both internally and externally

TECHNOLOGY Technology is not the end all solution EPM Toolset is designed to be highly flexible and scalable Configuration factors & considerations IPECC #, size and types of projects, # and type of users Administrative considerations Enterprise Global Uses and groups – permissions Custom views and reports WSS

Bottom Line Doing it right the first time Careful not to bite more than you can chew; implement in phases Continue moving in the right direction; adding all the pieces Elevating project management maturity Implementing program management Resource planning & forecasting Enterprise staffing

The Chaos Ten Recipe for project success User Involvement Executive Management Support Clear Business Objectives Experienced Project Manager Minimizing Scope and Requirements Iterative and Agile Process Skilled Resources Formal Methodology Financial Management Standard Tools and Infrastructure Firm Basic Requirements Reliable Estimates Other The Standish Group, 2005 2000 1 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 4 3 5 8 6 7 9 10

Roadmap Introductions Before a Project Contributions to a successful project? “Shift+B” During a Project After a Project Q&A

Copyright © 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.