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MS Project User Guide Copyright Tim Tuohy, 2011 This User Guide is specifically focused on usage of the MS Project tool and the function of a Project Manager/Lead in the Project Management Office. It is not designed to replace methodology but rather as an implementation of methodology.
Understanding the MSProject Template Format Microsoft Project templates have been created that meet the standards of the SDLC established by the Methodology team. The one shown above, is established from the Project Initiation Template in the SDLC documents and complies with the SDLC PI. The objective of the template is to limit the amount of time being spent building project plans, while maintaining their relative accuracy.
Notes about the Title Bar. The first column represents the information column. A 'Calendar ICON' like the one shown in line one beneath the arrow denotes a constraint has been set. Constraints are typically 'start no later than' or 'finish no later than'. A yellow pad indicates an imbedded note. Double click on the task and go to the 'notes' tab to read the note. A check mark indicates the task has been marked as complete. The second column represents the project template task number. This is important if you cut and paste the text portion of a plan into an Excel spreadsheet. When you copy the project plan out of the MSProject software it does not maintain its hierarchy, or font characteristics. The third column represents the project task name assigned. Bold Red characters are assigned to PROJECT NAME. Bold Green characters are assigned to PROJECT PHASES. Bold Black characters are assigned to PROJECT TASKS. Plain black characters are assigned to sub-tasks (of all levels). Bold Blue characters are assigned to milestones. The forth column contains the project number assigned. This is automatically populated by MSProject. (See the section on saving your project.) Consistency in this field will result in easier reporting of project progress in future developments of management reports. The fifth column contains the NEC#. This is usually going to reflect the NEC for personnel costs. This will be used to produce budget reports annually based on the actual work time within a project. The sixth column contains the actual methodology task name. This makes it easier to track where you are in the methodology and to assure that we are all on the same page in the methodological process of developments at Norfolk Southern Railroad. The seventh column contains the methodology task number associated with the task name. It is a sub-section of column six. It is important not to move these numbers around arbitrarily and to add due diligence if additional tasks are required that are not already included in the methodology. The eighth column is the manager priority or Mgr Prty of the project and/or project tasks. To understand categorizations of projects see the manager priorities section. This section ties the importance and impact of the projects together in an understandable context.
The ninth column is the expected duration of the task. This is rolled up to the task by an automated process within MSProject, that totals the projected duration of the sub-tasks. The MSProject default is shown in days however, our templates are setup to default to 4 hours per task. You will need to alter the duration to show the number of hours you expect to spend on a given task. The tenth column is the start date. See the constraints section before entering or changing this field. The eleventh column is the end date. See the constraints section before entering or changing this field. The twelfth column is the predecessors to understand this column refer to the relationships section of this User’s Guide. The thirteenth column is the resources column. Add resources by entering their MEMOID in this field. See the section on resources to learn how resources are defined, reported and controlled by MSProject. Constraints Project Constraints The schedule either begins a fixed project start date or is calculated to end on a fixed finish date. You set this when you open your project by choosing Project, Project Information to open the Project Information dialog box. Task Constraints Within the project individual tasks can also have constraints. These have a big impact on the process of the project as well as how the MSProject software calculates the end of the project. - Tip: Do not set start and stop dates on individual tasks. Let the MSProject software do it. Projects are wide objectives, like rewriting an application or moving a data center. In order to organize the project effectively, you must break it down into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks. You enter and organize these tasks. When you enter these tasks you also enter the time it will take to complete the tasks, this is called duration. To assist in development of these task lists an SDLC Methodology has been developed and Project Templates created for your convenience. However, if when you opened your project, you specified the project start date in the Project Information dialog box, MSProject schedules the new task to start on the day you specified. If, when you opened your project, you specified the project finish date in the Project Information dialog box, MSProject schedules the new task to finish on the date you specified. Since most of us think in terms of duration of work, the templates are set to default to work being calculated in terms of duration. This means that MSProject will calculate more resources assigned to a task as more work being done. See the table below for calculations used by MSProject to calculate work done. Work is equal to duration multiplied by the number of resources (and their percentage of availability).
These affect the calculation of a project and are affected by the other task constraints. Task constraints force MSProject to calculate the project you are creating within the limitations you are defining. Therefore, if you set a task with a ‘start no earlier than’ constraint, MSProject will not schedule that task until the date you specified. If you have done this because you think this is the date it should start, but there is no business reason for it to be delayed, the plan is skewed to a perception that may not be valid. The default set in the templates is 'as soon as possible’, this is the same as having no constraint and allows MSProject to set a start date based on availability of resources. Review the following table of task constraints and their associated results.
- Tip: If you need to remove a constraint that you set earlier, click on As Soon As Possible. Although it is in the constraint list, it is the same as having no constraint. Parents, Children, Grand Children and Orphans Parent/Child Definition from the Computer Dictionary: adj. 1. Pertaining to or constituting a relationship between processes in a multitasking environment in which the parent process calls the child process and most often suspends its own operation until the child process aborts or is completed. 2. Pertaining to or constituting a relationship between nodes in a tree data structure in which the parent is one step closer to the root (that is, one level higher) than the child. The concept of parents and children is not new. After careful review of the process used for projects at Norfolk Southern, it was determined that this was a valid description of the relationships between many of our projects. In the PMO database Parents are allowed to have many children but a child may have only one parent. A child project may however be a parent and have as many children as are necessary. This is a management constraint designed to allow for more accurate reporting of progress among projects, to make the projects controllable, and the relative reports more meaningful. A child project must complete successfully in order for a parent project to be a success. Children have also been termed as deliverables of master projects. This is an accurate characteristic of a child. However since there sometimes such dramatic and detailed activities relating to our projects, children are considered projects in themselves. Orphan File Definition from the Computer Dictionary: n. A file that remains on a system after it has ceased to be of use. For example, a file may be created to support a particular application but may remain after the application has been removed. In the context of Norfolk Southern's IT projects, an orphan is an independent project which is not a parent and if it is a child all other projects in the relational family are complete or otherwise no longer active. Such projects are rare since most projects are either parents or children or are characteristically related to another project. Characteristic relationships are more vague than family relationships. A character relationship refers to the project's having a characteristic of another project but does not directly affect the successful completion of a project. This concept has been developed so that we can generate relational reports. Such a report might be requested to explore how many hours of work have been exerted on clean up of old files in any project during a certain time frame. This relationship also allows managers the capability of tracking the progress of projects that have only cursory impact on their area of responsibility, thereby enabling better communication and understanding. Entering the Project Information
In the project initiation you will decide many things relating to your project. Among those is, if the project has a due date. If this requirement is known, you should begin your project by setting it in the Project Information Dialog Box. This applies to projects that must start on certain days as well. The relationship of the project file you are about to create with other projects should be known, if this is not a Parent Project or an Orphan Project, the default settings are acceptable. You will set due dates and start dates in the ‘Schedule from:’ section of the dialog box. - Tip: If you do not have a business reason why a project is due by a certain date, don’t use this constraint. MSProject will push all efforts backward from the due date when this constraint is set, and changing it afterward (particularly in complex projects) is sometimes more work than rebuilding a project from scratch. When you are satisfied the data in this box is correct, click OK. Call your project what ever you think is appropriate. This name should be the exact same name as you entered in the PMO database. After you have read the section on duration of work, you will have been prepared to estimate the duration of a task. The default in the template is 4 hours, if this is equal to your estimate you need not take any action. If you need to adjust it, simply click on the box and type the new duration in terms of hours. Every project is a learning experience. To make the most of your experience, create a baseline plan that represents your expectations for the project. Then, if you track actual progress in Microsoft Project, you can use the baseline to compare your original plan for the project with the actual course of the project. You can see which tasks started earlier or later than planned, exceeded their original budget, took longer than planned, and so on. You may be able to use this information to prevent problems on future projects and make better time and budget estimates. Once you have created a project and all the associated parties agree it is an accurate representation of the plan, you should save the project with a base line so that you can review to see if the project is progressing as planned. Ideally, you create a baseline by saving your project plan after you've polished it and just before you actually start work on the project. If you save a baseline and then find you need to make adjustments to it, you can easily add new tasks or make changes to existing tasks in the baseline. At any time, you can compare your baseline plan with actual progress to date by using the Tracking Gantt view. If you want to compare your original budget for the project with the actual costs of the project to date, use the Cost table in the Task Usage view. The utilization of resources is the most difficult task and needs to be handled with much thought. Though testing has shown it is functional to have multiple linked Resource Masters it is important to have one naming convention. Since MEMOID is the most widely used convention and it is compliant with the desire to make sure the templates are quick, easy and nearly painless to use, this is the resource standard.
Following is a graphic of the multiple
Resource Master
MSProject Resource Master Configuration Each director should create (or cause to be created) a Manager's Resource Master. The resources should be added as individuals by their MEMOID. These will them be hyperlinked back to the Director's Resource Master, allowing for Director level resource availability studies and resource loading. These Director Resource Masters can also be hyperlinked to allow IT level resource availability studies. You can group your resources together. However, many times this constrains the manager's work assignments. A resource group is a set of resources that shares some characteristic and is categorized by a group name. For example, you can categorize resources by job function and use group names such as programmers and designers. Or, you can categorize resources by employment status and use group names such as contractors and permanent employees. In either case one must be careful not to eliminate the ability of any of their resources to be assigned to any task while not being assigned simultaneously to another task because they are defined in a group. - Tip: Assign Resources (Tools menu, Resources submenu). Assigns resources to tasks. You can also use this command to replace or remove resource assignments. This assures you are not inadvertently creating new resources. Here's how you assign resources: Before you do this click here to read the section on using resources from the resource master.
- Tip: As your schedule changes, you'll probably need to replace assigned resources with others. Rather than removing the assigned resource and then assigning another resource, you can replace one resource with another. In the Resource Assignment dialog box, select the assigned resource you want to replace, and then click Replace. Select one or more resources to assign to the task, and then click OK. - Tip: If you want to assign resources as you complete other work on your schedule, you can continue to display the Resource Assignment dialog box while you work with the Gantt Chart and other Microsoft Project views. Using Your Director's Resources A project that has no tasks should be created for each manager in a director's group. Assign all that manager's human resources to that project. Then save that project as "AAARM001", where "AAA" is the manager's initials, "RM" designates the project as a resource master, and "001" is the number in the series of resources masters that have been created. The director's resource master has neither resources nor tasks. It is an empty project saved as "RIN#RM001" where "RIN#" is the director's RIN#, "RM" designates the project as a Resource Master, and "001" is the number in the series of resource masters that have been created. The director's Resource Master then hyperlinks to the Manager Resource Masters. Once these resource master files have been created, you are ready to share their resources. This is how you share resources:
The resources are now available in the active project file, and you can assign them just as you would assign any resources. If your project already had its own resources, the resources from both projects are combined. - Tip: The Resource Master must be open (read-only is OK) before you can select it in the "Use resources From:" box in the "Share Resources" dialog box. Inserting projects into a master will sufficiently identify the subproject as a part of the whole. Choices you made earlier as to which resources to use will not be changed. Your project can be part of a project and use the resources of a totally different project! You can create a consolidated project by inserting copies of individual projects at any outline level into a single project file. With a consolidated project, you can view, print, and change information for all the projects you're working with (and even those projects "owned" by other project managers) as though they were a single project. Create hierarchies You can also organize your inserted projects into a hierarchy to better see how the different parts fit together. Each project in the hierarchy contains links to the inserted projects below it and is connected as an inserted project to the one above it. This way, you can isolate and manage smaller chunks of your project with greater efficiency. Keep information up-to-date When the copies of individual projects within a consolidated project are linked to their original projects, any changes to the information in the consolidated project file are also made automatically in the corresponding original files. Likewise, if you change information in an original file, the corresponding information is changed in the consolidated file automatically. Make a consolidated project quickly for printing If you don't want changes to the consolidated project file to affect the source files, you can create and save a consolidated project file in which the copies of each project are not linked to their source files. You might want to do this, for example, if you're simply combining projects to generate a quick report. You can also unlink the source files after you create the consolidated project file or consolidate copies of the source files from the start.
Now comes the fun part! How do you tie this all into one package? Through Hyperlinks! In this picture you will note several items of interest. First let's look in the column with the indicators icon. An information icon is a blue circle with an " i " in it. In the example shown this column has a series of "Project" icons in the rows. This indicates that these are whole projects inserted into the High Availability master project. - Tip: Before you can hyperlink a project, insert it into another project. If you are simply using the resources of a project, you need not hyperlink to that project. If you are going to continually refer to a project or task within a project it would be best to use the hyperlink functionality. You can create a hyperlink for a task, resource, or assignment. Once created, the hyperlink icon will appear in the Indicators field. To Create a Hyperlink:
- Tip: If you want the hyperlink to jump to a specific location within the destination file, enter the location in the Named location in file (optional) box. - Tip: If you want a hyperlink to a directory to locate the linked file by using a path relative to the location where the project file that contains the hyperlink is saved, select the Use relative path for hyperlink check box. - Tip: If the destination file is on your computer or your network, click Browse to locate it. - Tip: If the destination file is on a web and it's a site you have visited recently, click the address in the Link to file or URL box. - Tip: If the destination file is on a web and it's a site you have not visited recently, start your web browser, go to the web site, and copy the address from the Address box. - Tip: You can paste the URL address by launching your web browser, bringing up the desired web site, and copying the URL from the address box. After switching back to Microsoft Project, you can paste the URL into the Link to file or URL box. - Tip: If you want a hyperlink to a directory to use the same address regardless of where you save the project file that contains the hyperlink, clear the Use relative path for hyperlink check box. - Tip: You can view and edit a hyperlink by applying the Hyperlink table or by clicking the Insert Hyperlink Icon. Leveling resources is weird science at its best. MSProject attempts to do this by resolving resource conflicts or over-allocations by delaying or splitting certain tasks. When MSProject levels a resource, the resource’s selected assignments are distributed and rescheduled according to the resource’s working capacity, assignment units, and calendar, as well as the task’s duration and constraints. If you have changed the default in the template to reflect You can have Microsoft Project automatically level your schedule or you can resolve resource over-allocations yourself. Resolving over-allocations yourself can be useful when automatic leveling doesn't result in the schedule adjustments you want. Using the Resource Allocation view, you can see which resources are over-allocated on which tasks. You can then go to each over-allocation and resolve the conflict in the way that best suits your needs. To automatically level resources: In Microsoft Project, you can automatically resolve resource over-allocations by leveling. Leveling simply delays or splits certain tasks or assignments in your schedule until the resources assigned to them are no longer over-allocated. Microsoft Project examines a task's predecessor dependencies, slack time, dates, priority, and task constraints to determine whether it should be delayed (or split).
- Tip: To prevent the finish date of your project from being moved out, select the Level only within available slack check box. - Tip: To have leveling adjust when a resource works on a task independent of other resources working on the same task, select the Leveling can adjust individual assignments on a task check box. - Tip: If you want leveling to interrupt tasks by creating splits in the remaining work on tasks or resource assignments, select the Leveling can create splits in remaining work check box. - Tip: When the task's priority is set to Do Not Level, Microsoft Project will skip the task. - Tip: If you're scheduling from a finish date, you can still level your project. Leveling tasks in projects scheduled from a finish date will have negative delay values applied to them. This will cause a task or resource assignment’s finish date to occur earlier because the delay will be applied from the finish of the task or assignment. - Tip: To immediately undo the effects of leveling, click Undo Leveling on the Edit menu. - Tip: To remove the effects of the last leveling operation, click Clear Leveling in the Resource Leveling dialog box. - Tip: Use the Leveling Gantt view to see bars that represent the before and after effects of leveling, as well as a task's leveling delay and slack values. On the View Bar, click More Views , click Leveling Gantt in the Views list, and then click Apply. - Tip: You can control the sensitivity of leveling so that over-allocations of just 1 day are not leveled. If you click Week-by-Week in the Look for over-allocations on a basis box, then leveling will occur only if the resource is scheduled to do more work than available during the week as a whole. Changing this setting can make your schedule better reflect typical work schedules and problems. To manually fix resource levels: On the View Bar, click More Views Icon.
- Tip: A task's slack is displayed as a bar to help you decide how much you can move a task before successor tasks or the end date of the project is affected. Slack is the amount of time a task can slip before it affects another task's dates or the project finish date. Free slack is the amount of time a task can slip before it delays another task. Total slack is the amount of time a task can slip before it delays the project finish date. When the total slack is negative, the task duration is too long for its successor to begin on the date required by a constraint.
Using the Keyboard in MSProject The following table lists the keys for moving around your project:
Saving Your Project Your project should be saved in the appropriate Director’s subdirectory of P:\projects\. Create an individual subdirectory for each project. The subdirectory you create should be named ‘nnnnn – project name’ (where nnnnn is the project number). After selecting the appropriate template it should be save in the directory you just created as the project number.
The Identification Phase is the first level of management involvement. The associated management will identify most projects or they will be the result of a management initiative. In this phase a full definition of the problem to be solved or the result to be accomplished is established. Each project must have objectives that are defined by management and achievable. The success of a project must also be measurable; the objectives must cover a limited number of activities. The Project Manager/Lead coordinates optimization of the combination of personnel, administration, technical and financial resources to achieve a definable goal within a calendar time period. In this phase a high level project is assembled, a 30,000 foot view. Also, in this phase a budget is defined for the project based on the highest level indicators. This phase also defines the management's expectations of the results and schedule for the project. For more information on this Item please review the SDLC User Documentation, Project Initiation, Chapter 1, Description. Although the Methodology does not specify a division between technical and business assessments of risk in this document we will look at both of these topics. In the project template they have been broken apart, however they fit into the same category of the Project Initiation Methodology. The Technical Assessment Phase of the model serves to determine the technical requirements of the project. It assumes there is a business need, sufficient capitalization, Management Approval and Technical Staff Availability. The objective of this phase is to establish a task level understanding of the project. At this phase the determination is made if we have the capability TECHNICALLY to accomplish the project. It also identifies the need for outside assistance and finds that need. A project must pass the tests of this phase, if not, there is no reason to consider it for continuation. The Business Assessment Phase of the model addresses the impact on the business. This phase addresses outages and slowdowns, changes and training requirements. This phase also deals with the allocation of the funds budgeted in the Identification Phase. The objective of the Business Assessment Phase is to determine if: In summary, the Business Assessment Phase sets aside the technology considerations, and focuses on the business aspects of the project. The end result is a full understanding of the business impacts, advantages and disadvantages. If there is not a sound business justification for the project it should be identified in this phase. Please note that the Methodology is very clear on these subjects and processes and can be reviewed in the SDLC User Documents, Project Initiation Guidelines. This proposal is not designed to rewrite or augmentation of the SDLC Documents, it is designed to propose an implementation of the guidelines set forth in the SDLC documents. The Management Approval Phase is the second management intervention in the project. Here the managers associated with the project and the Project Manager/Lead present the proposed solution to the Upper Management for a go/no go approval. At this phase the Technical Assessment phase has been performed and we know if we have the technical capability to accomplishing the tasks of the project. We have also completed a business assessment and are prepared to make informed recommendations to Management about this project. A proposal to Management is given in the form of the Project Initiation Report with our recommendation for continuing or not continuing or an explanation of the reasons why the project must not proceed or must proceed. This concludes the Project Initiation SDLC Methodology. Planning, Implementation and Control The following graphic depicts the logic tree of the Methodology as it applies to projects. There are number of considerations one must perform before starting off into the next phases of a project, whether it be a new development, an enhancement or a small enhancement. Manager Priority refers to the departmental prioritization.
For more information on standards for establishing Manager Priority see the section on Manager Priority in this proposal. Planning and Implementation of a Project New developments, enhancements and small enhancement SDLC documentation are covered in this section of the proposal. At the time it would be helpful for the reader to put this document aside and review the Roles document in the P:\SDLC User Documentation folder on the LAN. By so doing one will better understand the delineation that is being proposed in this document. The Detailed Planning Phase is often thought of (by people not familiar with Project Management) as the actual Project Plan. This is understandable because it is this phase where the Project Manager/Lead and Section Managers actually begin to flesh out the project and think through every single aspect of the tasks to be performed. Personnel are assigned to the project at the task level in this phase. The personnel that are allocated know what is expected of them for the project as well as how long they can expect to be assigned. Resources should be assigned by the MEMOID alias. See the section on using resources. Hardware and software necessary for the project are spec'd out at the detailed planning phase, change and implementation checklists are created and management establishes leads and accountabilities for the staff. The project technical leads work with the technical coordinators to establish valid detailed task lists of the project and assign duration estimates to them. It is the project technical coordinator’s responsibility to authenticate the tasks and times estimated. The project manager is not charged with having sufficient technical expertise to perform technical task assignments. Meetings are dedicated to establishing who does what, when; and vendors are trained in our expectations and processes. Accountability milestones are established for both direct employees and vendors. Reporting protocols are established and contact points are implemented. This is the phase where communications with other departments and vendors are established. The main focus of these discussions is "What are you going to do? When do you report or deliver it? How do we measure it?" All legal contracts fall under this Phase. The Installation and Test Phase is where the careful planning of the Detailed Planning Phase pays off. The task lists built in the Detailed Planning Stage are now converted to checklists. These checklists will be reviewed in the Reporting and Control Phase and the data collected in them will become the knowledge base for improvement in future similar projects. (Manager Priority 1 - Small Enhancement projects are sometimes exempt from the Detailed Planning Stage, therefore checklists and data collection is limited. Technical staff should therefore perform a thorough post-mortem with the Project Manager when the tasks are complete.) Note: Particular attention is given to prerequisites in the Scheduling Phase and the Detailed Planning Stage. If changes are deemed necessary by the technical staff in the Installation and Testing Phase it should be reviewed by the managers associated with the responsibility first. Apparent scheduling anomalies may have been planned for specific reasons. The Report and Control Phase is the least well-bounded phase of any project. Only the Manager Priority 1 Small Enhancement projects are exempt from its consistent review and intervention. The philosophy of the Report and Control Phase is based on the Systems Management Planning and Control Loop Shown below. The project management process previously described includes such loops. Objectives are set for specific projects. A plan is developed to meet these objectives. The plan is executed and the performance is measured relative to the initial objectives. Then management has the information required to control the effectiveness of the process. Every management system, if it is to be successful, must have these elements either explicitly or implicitly.
OBJECTIVES are defined in the Identification Phase. Project Management stresses setting measurable, attainable, time-targeted objectives to serve as the guidelines of the project as well as for management decisions. Without this structure it will be unclear if the results were the effect of management action or in spite of it. DETAILED PLANNING is constructed to identify the necessary actions to achieve the objectives. However, it is useless to set objectives then sit back and wait for them to happen. Therefore each project template has milestones built-in to trigger due dates from the technical staff. INSTALL AND TESTING is how the results are produced. If the plan is correct and executed properly, the objectives will be met. If the plan is good but the execution is faulty, the desired result will not be achieved. The next step (measure) is where the effectiveness of the plan and execution will be measured. MEASURE at the outset of the Detail Planning, a method of measurement is established. If effectiveness is not measured, it will be impossible to gauge whether the tasks established in the plan were useful or a waist of time and resources. It will also be impossible to gauge if the tasks are being executed properly. The questions being asked are:
CONTROL. The results are reviewed at this point. This review is conducted at various levels in the organization. It is a misconception that the Project Manager/Lead or upper management are the only ones who control the tasks of the project. The review focuses on the exceptions, with the intention of determining the underlying cause of any deviation and making changes to bring results inline with expectations. Possible changes as a result of this function could include; activities need closer supervision, plans require modification, or objectives need to be modified if experience shows they are unrealistic. The planning and Control Loop provides a structured methodology to ensure the desired results are achieved on a consistent basis. Suggestions for Standard Manager Priorities Manager Priority 5 - HIGH PRIORITY INITIATIVES
Manager Priority 4 - ENHANCEMENTS
Manager Priority 3 - ENHANCEMENTS
Manager Priority 2 - MAINTENANCE / SMALL ENHANCEMENTS
Manager Priority 1 - Low Priority Project / Maintenance & PSS Project Organization Structure Following is the SDLC Roles definition of the Project Manager/Lead’s role: The Project Manager/Lead is responsible for the day to day planning, management, and control of the project. This includes the successful completion of the stage products, on time, within budget and to the specified quality standards. This role leads the Project Team and reports project progress and issues to the Project Board. The Project Manager/Leader is typically from I.T., but may be recruited from any area concerned with the project, or could be from outside the immediate organization. The Project Organization technique allows for different people to take responsibility for the different stages of a project. The term Stage Manager is used to describe a Project Manager/Lead that is responsible for only part of a project. Although it is best to have only one Project Manager/Lead at a time, some organizations may have a business Stage Manager and a technical Stage Manager at the same time on a project. There may also be a separate Stage Manager for testing activities. Specific responsibilities:
This individual represents the project to the management, they are very important to the department. Project Manager/Lead roll includes acting in conjunction with the PMO. The PMO monitors all projects assigned to the IT organization. It assists management in coordinating resources and assists the efforts of a Project Manager/Leads and the departmental staffs. It works closely with and receives directives from the directors and executives. Although the Project Manager/Leads report to a manager or director within their respective area, they report the constraints, issues, concerns and statuses of their respective projects to the PMO. The directors and executives’ form a ‘Steering Committee’. The committee members oversee the priorities to determine which projects are to be selected. They also influence which resources are to be allocated to the projects, and have the final say as to the completion date required for each project. This committee follows the progress of all projects in process. Members of the committee have the right to change the priority and completion date expectations of projects under consideration and in process. They also have the authority to cancel projects. When priorities change, project slippage occurs or personnel availability for assignments shifts, the Project Managers/Leads and the PMO have to resolve the resulting problems with the big picture in mind. They have no power to create resources however and are limited to reporting the situations to the committee with recommendations for the potential solutions. The PMO uses MSProject and the PMO database to oversee the projects. It proposes standards to the committee for utilization of these tools. These tools work in sync with the SDLC that has been developed by the Methodology Committee. The PMO creates (or causes to be created) the MSProject templates that coincide with the SDLC Methodology. These templates allow the Project Manager/Leads to follow the SDLC simply and easily. Further, this methodology creates a standard process for creating Gantt charts, resource utilization charts, and management reports. While enabling future changes, that are scalable and upgrade-able. If people are needed to work on one project, the PMO may recommend reassignment or release (from a project) of the needed resources. Projects may require additional personnel. If this is the case, the PMO makes recommendations to the directors in the committee. While the PMO has no authority to negotiate contracts for consultants, it may recommend hiring consultants and contractors for projects. The PMO contributes to this justification but otherwise is not accountable for the process. The PMO will prepare a weekly status report for all projects assigned. These reports will be sent to the ‘Steering Committee’ and the CIO. Each project will be reported even if there is no activity. If there should have been activity but was none, the reason must be stated. Further, an annual report will be prepared for each fiscal year by the PMO that will provide a narrative of each project, including its successes and problems. The annual report will make recommendations for future projects for consideration, including resource acquisition. Following is the SDLC Roles definition of the Technical Coordinator role: This role helps ensure the TECHNICAL quality of the deliverables being produced. The TECHNICAL Coordinator assists in identifying all the technical tasks and standards that need to be followed. This role also can identify resources to facilitate the production of project deliverables. This is a supporting role to the Project Manager/Lead. Technical Coordinator qualities The success of a project depends on many factors, and this is one of them. These individuals need to be well-rounded people. Since they are "on loan" to a project, they are aware that it is a one-time thing and they will have vested interest in some other area. Selecting the Technical Coordinator is the job of the director and managers. Choosing requires knowledge of certain attributes that have been known to be universally successful. The only testimonial a person needs is a successful track record. New candidates should be considered based on their successful contributions to other projects. Keeping the position of Technical Coordinator temporary will allow for face saving reallocation if the individual proves incapable of performing the work. Further, it allows for the rotation of intellectual assets from one task or project to another allowing for more streamlining of the organization.
End of User Guide |
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