Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 1 The realities of a Project-Specific PMO Microsoft Project User Group Quarterly Meeting December 2 nd, 2004 Celine Gullace, PMP

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 2 The Project The client is a large university, with over 40,000 students. The project is a PeopleSoft Financials integration/implementation for the University, the Medical Center, and the Research Foundation (2,000 end users). The project will cost about $30M, and will span about 2.5 years. The Project Team has 270 team members (about 200 at one time).

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 3 The Project (cont.)

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 4 What kind of Project Office (POF)? Clerical or strategic? –Directors struggled with the POF mandate. –PM goals, tool (MS Project 2000/Project Central), some basic methodology. –Immediate needs for assistance with technical support, planning, and plan maintenance. Pre-conceptions & different skills.

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 5 The “Big 5” type? –Manager assistant/delegate –Knows & participate in day to day business. –Minimal PM tool work. …Or… The “Tool Type” –More clerical/junior –Minimal business interaction –Makes beautiful plans! What kind of POF? (cont.)

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 6 Getting buy-in from the managers –Balancing management and project management –Showing added value –Go the extra mile …and respect! –Being a MS Project Guru doesn’t mean you’re useless at everything else –Importance of hiring properly What kind of POF? (cont.)

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 7 An ultimate wish: Communication Czar –Lessons learned from Project Director –Be able to fill-in for the manager you are paired with –Know the business inside out –Maintain good plans (good knowledge of the tool) –Report good data –Be the main information repository for the project What kind of POF? (cont.)

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 8 What kind of POF? (cont.) POF Staff duties: –Pair up with a manager (e.g. GL/Budgets) and assist with planning in MS Project –Maintain the plan when the phase is underway (track actuals, push/delete un-used work, re-level weekly) –Issues analysis: anticipate delays, over-allocations, propose solutions –Reporting on late tasks, actual vs. baseline work, budget tracking –Keep the technical architecture and the methodology sound and consistent –Write users manuals, train new users

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 9 Technical Architecture for the Plans Plan shells for every team: –For each team, one plan per phase –Standard sub-phases: Plan, Execute, Control, Close –Track tasks and “buckets” (e.g. meetings) Sharing data using a database

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 10 Technical Architecture (cont.) Consistency across plans: –To report on the same type of data across all plans –Each task has to be “tagged” with codes.

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 11 Technical Architecture (cont.) Weekly EAC variance by work category Phase status

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 12 New team, new skills Minimal MS Project training No formal Project Management training (e.g. PMI) except for a few directors Relies exclusively on Excel Distrust of MS Project Very little time for sound planning and scheduling Hired for their technical expertise, asked to make room for sound project management

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 13 Learning from experience Level of detail –In the beginning, very detailed + low tool maturity = discontent (back to Excel? Buckets?) –Eventually reached a balance Interdependencies –Eventually a balance was reached: critical links remained, the rest of the tasks were Start-constrained Planning for the next phase –To be completed under pressure while trying to close the current phase on time – a real challenge.

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 14 Learning from experience Meta plan: a more high-level view, focused on critical interdependencies. Tracking “Give/Gets” between plans.

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 15 Learning from experience “The tool broke my plan” “My Excel spreadsheet tells me I’m OK” Reporting: too much or too little? QA of data: too much or too little?

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 16 Anticipating issues –Using the project plan… (The work is planned for the next couple weeks only) –…and by being the eyes and ears of the Manager Know the business Attend meetings Understand the issues High Low

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 17 Lessons Learned Be prepared for the POF role to evolve Support of the Project Management tools, while asking all parties to reach common ground. Anticipate staffing issues, bottlenecks and critical dependencies with strong plans The team acquires Project Management skills for a lifetime (and think they had them all along) Strong sponsorship & flexibility are critical Get buy-in for good plan maintenance Conduct Lessons Learned after each phase (also a good way for the POF be recognized)

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 18 Lessons Learned (cont.)

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 19 Lessons Learned (cont.)

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 20 Lessons Learned (cont.) Project Management & Planning was consistently under-estimated The need for Knowledge Transfer activities was over-estimated throughout the project. (*) System Test and Post Prod. Data not available

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 21 Lessons Learned (cont.) Troubleshooting and Issues Management were underestimated All teams had trouble estimating the time required for Meetings and General Administration. (*) System Test and Post Prod. Data not available

Pcubed MPUG 12/2/04 Presentation 22 Questions? Thank you