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No Time for Project Tracking, I Have Too Much Work To Do!

No Time for Project Tracking, I Have Too Much Work To Do!. Mark Blankenship University of Texas at Austin. Tuesday, 3/2/2010, 10:00-10:50 Concurrent Session A, Brazos B. Agenda. Why do we need to track our work? How to implement project tools and processes. What we went through.

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No Time for Project Tracking, I Have Too Much Work To Do!

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  1. No Time for Project Tracking,I Have Too Much Work To Do! Mark BlankenshipUniversity of Texas at Austin Tuesday, 3/2/2010, 10:00-10:50 Concurrent Session A, Brazos B

  2. Agenda • Why do we need to track our work? • How to implement project tools and processes. • What we went through. • Using Sharepoint and MS Access.

  3. Why Not? • I don’t have enough time to update projects or tasks. • It’s just me, I know what I need to work on. • I work hard, no one needs to check up on me.

  4. Why? • What do I have to do? • What is my staff working on? • Who is over/under utilized? • When can we fit a new project in? • Do we need more staff? • How did we do it last year? • Did we answer this before?

  5. Methodology • Start at a high level. • Define needs vs. wants. • Select a product (may or may not have a choice). • Define first phase of implementation (maybe just the needs, no wants). • Keep an eye to the future.

  6. Start at a High Level • Describe what you actually do. • Respond to questions from customers. • Fulfill regulatory requirements/reports. • Provide data and/or analysis to administrators.

  7. Start at a High Level • Describe what you actually do. • Respond to questions from customers. • Fulfill regulatory requirements/reports. • Provide data and/or analysis to administrators. • Respond to surveys. • Committee support. • Develop and maintain applications. • Build internal and customer facing reports. • Produce statistical handbook and annual memos.

  8. What Do We Want To Track? • What do you NEED to know? • What is it? • When is it due? • Who is working on it? • < Keep it Simple >

  9. What Do We Want To Know? • What do you NEED to know? • What is it? • When is it due? • Who is working on it? • Who requested it? • Solution text. • Lifecycle status. • Group ownership. • Recurring projects. • Published to the calendar.

  10. Functionality • Multiple views of project lists. • Notify the assignee of new work. • Track recurring projects. • Searchable.

  11. Select a Tool - Considerations • Functionality match. • Scalability. • Import and export. • Presentation and access. • Cost. • Training.

  12. Select a Tool – Our Choices • On Time • Existing tool used to track tasks and requests. • MS Access • Has Project Tracking Template. • Flexible Queries and Reports. • Sharepoint • Has Project Tracking Template. • Native Web Access.

  13. Making a Decision • Don’t get trapped into thinking you have to figure it all out before you can move forward. • It’s good to keep an eye to the future, but don’t get stuck in the present. • Move forward with a solution, using real experience to define the next set of features.

  14. What We Had • On Time for ad-hoc requests. • A calendar for recurring projects. • Email questions and responses.

  15. What We Did • Put everything into a spreadsheet. • Transpose the calendar. • Ask staff to list what they were working on. • Review overall list with staff. • Update list. • Review overall list with staff. • Update list. • Review overall list with staff. • Update list.

  16. What We Did • Add a few columns • Who is responsible for the project. • Calendar Item. • Recurring project. • Due Date.

  17. What We Did • Import into MS Access. • Data is more flexible. • Easy ad-hoc queries. • Standard function to produce a spreadsheet. • Custom reports to represent teams, calendars, or date ranges. • Add a few more columns…

  18. What We Did • MS Access Project Tracking Template. • Move data from custom table into template project. • Pre-built forms and queries. • Tasks related to projects. • Learning opportunity.

  19. What We Did • Sharepoint integration. • MS Access can publish to and read from Sharepoint. • Central data access. • Standard user login and password. • Use MS Access for custom queries and reports. • Learning Opportunity.

  20. What We Did • Sharepoint Project Template. • Sharepoint has it’s own project tracking template. • Excellent learning opportunity. • Web front end. • Still use MS Access for custom queries and reports.

  21. Sharepoint Functionality • Application Templates. • Discussion threads. • File storage. • Receives email. • Custom ‘Workflows’. • Exports to MS Excel and Access. • ‘Integration’ with MS Outlook.

  22. Demo

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