Project Management: A Critical Skill for Princeton Presented by Hetty Baiz Princeton Project Office OIT, Princeton University

Background Multiple Projects Cross-functional Mutually Interdependent Success and failure is no longer within the total control of that project.

What’s A Project?

What’s A Project? A “project” Will deliver Business and/or technical objectives Is made up of Defined processes & tasks Will run for Set period of time Has a budget Resources and $’s

What is Project Success?

What is Project Success? Project success occurs when we have: I A delighted client (expectations met) Delivered the agreed objectives Met an agreed budget - $, resources etc. Within an agreed time frame Objectives Time Cost Project Success The 'Golden Triangle' of and I Done it all professionally & without killing the team

Why Do Projects Fail? Changing scope Insufficient planning No risk or issues management Poor communication Lack of commitment and responsibility by stakeholders

Who Are Stakeholders? Steering Committee Senior Mgmt Clients & Users Project Interdependent Projects Academic & Business Units Outside Groups (Vendors) Information Technology Team Members

Project Management A Maturity Model best practice best practice competent Success rate better than 75% aware aware aware e Success rate of 45 to 75% seat seat of the of pants pants Success rate of 30 to 45% Success rate less than 30%

Seat of Pants Projects happen without correct initiation Success rate less than 30% Projects happen without correct initiation Planning is insufficient Benefits are unknown There is often inadequate buy-in Communication is poor Interdependencies are not managed Standards, if any, are poorly defined or unenforced.

Aware aware Success rate of 30 To 40% Projects are formally initiated & plans endorsed but with varying standards and few disciplines Methodology has been introduced Stakeholders support projects overall The number of projects is rationalized Projects are explicitly associated with business planning

Competent Methodology and standards are well established and supported Success rate of 45 To 75% competent Methodology and standards are well established and supported Stakeholders understand and accept roles Discrete measures support good management Projects are set up and managed end-to-end Risks are clearly defined and controlled

Best Practice Improvement programs are formal Success rate better than 75% Improvement programs are formal Good measurement enables optimization Level of confidence sees organization taking on high risk projects successfully Respect and support of projects and project managers

Why Should We Care? To Increase the likelihood that projects will : be done on time and within budget meet people’s expectations be done well

Project Office Mission To enable the successful implementation of OIT initiatives in a way that establishes a project management culture so that we deliver projects on time, within budget and with expected results.

How? Define a Princeton Project Management Methodology (PPMM) Support and Mentor Offer Training Facilitation, Audit, Review

P2K Project Office Methodology Continuous Improvement Consulting/Mentoring Education/Training

Project Management Process Tracking & Control Planning Initiation Complete & Assess Reporting Review Initiation Plan Detailed Plan Status Report Post Project Review Report

Management Techniques To increase the likelihood of project success you must manage: Stakeholders Risks Issues Change

How to Manage Stakeholders A stakeholder is any person or group who, if their support were to be withdrawn, could cause the project to fail. - Get them involved - Keep them informed - Gain their endorsement

How to Manage Stakeholders Identify stakeholders Involve in planning Establish expectations / accountabilities Formal communication Gain sign-off Change and issues resolution Project reviews Define project completion

Risk Management What is “risk”? Any factor capable of causing the project to go off track. Develop and monitor a Risk Plan

Issues Management Unresolved issues will drive a project towards failure and consume a significant part of a project manager’s time. Stakeholders play key role in issues management and resolution - Establish Issues log, review, escalation process

Change Management Uncontrolled changes to a project will probably account for up to 30% of a project’s total effort. If these changes are not managed, the project will be viewed to be over time and over budget. - Establish a Change management process

PPMM Summary Overview The Process Initiation Planning - Track/Control - Report - Review Completion and Assessment Management Techniques Stakeholder Management Risk Management Issues Management Change Management

PPMM Deliverables Project Plans Status Reports Audit & Review Report

PPMM Tools Office 2000 Word Excel Access MS Project 2000

For more information…... Call the Princeton Project Office at 8-6335 Send e-mail to hetty@princeton.edu Visit our web site at… www.princeton.edu/ppo

Recommended Best Practices Project Planning and Management Follow proven methodologies Active Executive/Project Sponsor Identify / revisit “critical success” factors Document assumptions Business process change vs. customization What has worked at Princeton over the past 1 1/2 years according to our project managers? It is essential to follow a proven methodology in managing projects. A strong executive sponsor is critical. It was Ray Clark who, as the Ex. Sponsor on the Coeus project, was able to get stakeholder buy in and consensus on the project. Active Project Sponsor -- it was Van Williams acting as the STRipes project sponsor who played a key role as the project champion. He attended team meetings and sent email congratulating the team for completing milestones as the project unfolded.

Recommended Best Practices Project Planning and Management Have technical staff in place at start-up Plan for backfill Involve Steering Committee early Plan production support in central offices Plan for applying fixes Plan for “end of project” Plan for vacation/sick time Technical staff in place -- UFINSI was interviewing for 3 technical positions when the project had already begun. Have people hired and in place ready to go when project officially starts. Backfill -- may not be able to backfill certain positions by hiring new person (since they won’t know how University works). May have to give pieces of job to a group of individuals and hire clerical person to pick up pieces. Be creative when backfilling. Plan for space where individuals backfilling can work. Production support -- have adequate resources trained and taking the lead in central offices. This should be individuals, such as Assistant Directors or Managers, who will be project champions and can make certain that new processes and work procedures are in place to accommodate the new system. Plan for a strategy of applying fixes. There can be a lot of them. Plan for redesign and “production mock up” -- When testing try to have the environment simulate the production environment as realistically as possible (data, security, customizations, schedules).

Recommended Best Practices Scheduling, Tracking and Control Break large projects into phases (no > 18 - 24 months total) Control phase “bleed over” Post phase assessments “Go/No Go” decision points Sponsor sign-off Review Scope periodically At the beginning (Initiation Plan) its difficult to know effort required on project. Won’t really understand until complete scoping (what are our business processes;what are our priorities/prototyping (how does this fit with PeopleSoft) how long project will take. Give date ranges up front. Get understanding from sponsor that critical milestone dates can be adjusted once complete prototyping. Control phase bleed over by holding post phase assessment at end of each phase. Isolate, analyze, monitor and control tasks that are bleeding over. Review scope periodically -- do at least quarterly to make sure staying on track and that there isn’t scope creep (UFINSI wrote once and never revisited).

Recommended Best Practices Scheduling, Tracking and Control Building learning curve into plans Weekly team meetings Detail planning in 1-2 month segments Define and manage to “critical path” What’s important Prioritize Who, what, when UFINSI and STRIPES hold weekly team meetings to keep project on track UFINSI found detail planning in two month segments worked well and was manageable UFINSI used consultants to help keep project on track since they had good people management skills Oral status reports were ofen more efficient for project manager to put together and worked effectively with sponsor Stripes & UFINSI recommends looking at critical milestones and then analyzing what is absolutely essential to do, prioritize those tasks, and determine who does what when.

Recommended Best Practices Reporting Establish monthly status reporting Hold monthly status reviews with key stakeholders Oral status reports are effective Keep users of system (middle managers) informed UFINSI and STRIPES hold weekly team meetings to keep project on track UFINSI found detail planning in two month segments worked well and was manageable UFINSI used consultants to help keep project on track since they had good people management skills Oral status reports were ofen more efficient for project manager to put together and worked effectively with sponsor Stripes & UFINSI recommends looking at critical milestones and then analyzing what is absolutely essential to do, prioritize those tasks, and determine who does what when.

Recommended Best Practices Resourcing Resource Plan Cross functional teams work Co-locate teams Projects are full time job Complete training before prototyping Have full team train together Leverage investment Build team spirit Team building -- take team on retreat if they haven’t worked together before (Kim is doing this with Student project); build memories (pictures in scrap book, mugs, t-shirts) Stripes team had lots of parties -- pizza parties, cakes celebrating milestones, orange and black stripes halloween party, to build team spirit. Other suggestions: Build team memories (t shirts

Recommended Best Practices Managing Expectations Communication Plan Make major policy decisions up front Don’t make promises to users up front Monthly status report and review Monthly / bi-monthly presentations Articles, web pages, newsletters Special communications from sponsor Focus groups, demos, town meetings

Recommended Best Practices Promoting the System Focus Groups during gap analysis Demos for every user after first release Active Executive Committee showed support Town meetings to endorse system Major presentation to users “Pretzel stick” advertisement

Recommended Best Practices Methodology Follow proven methodologies Consolidate methodology ( pre-kick off ) Functional reps go to all prototyping Use standard report formats Co-locate developer with tester (short term)

Recommended Best Practices Managing the Consulting Partner Selection criteria should include Ability to transfer knowledge Help organize team Follow proven methodology Provide good implementation tools Ability to form good working partnership Higher Education experience Work locally (near by or on-site)

Recommended Best Practices Managing the Consulting Partner Take time to define contract Terms and conditions / Statement of work (metrics) Review by Legal, tech., bus., purchasing Veto power to select / reject resources Fixed price gives University more control Tie payments to acceptance of deliverables Review quality plans State that the University has methodology

Recommended Best Practices Managing the Consulting Partner Form partnership - make part of team Have single point of contact Build one project plan Consultant defines phase objectives Build in reviews with decision points Meet expectations / Go-no go decision Plan for early transition of knowledge Implementation done by Princeton

Recommended Best Practices Managing the Vendor Have single point of contact Include RFP responses / bind vendor to meet Cap maintenance fees (post impl. Phase) Don’t presume product works from day 1 Fixes required? Review Quality Plans

Recommended Best Practices Managing the Vendor Know package after prototyping (not sales) Include vendor milestones in project plan Build “decision points” into plan where tight vendor dependencies Have contingency plans in place

For more information…... Visit our Web site at… www.princeton.edu/ppo