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The realities of a Project-Specific PMO

The realities of a Project-Specific PMO. Microsoft Project User Group Quarterly Meeting September 22 nd 2004 Celine Gullace, PMP. The Project. The client is a large university, with over 40,000 students.

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The realities of a Project-Specific PMO

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  1. The realities of a Project-Specific PMO Microsoft Project User Group Quarterly Meeting September 22nd 2004 Celine Gullace, PMP MPUG 9/22/04 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). MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

  3. The Project (cont.) MPUG 9/22/04 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. MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

  5. What kind of POF? (cont.) • 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! MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

  6. What kind of POF? (cont.) • 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 MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

  7. What kind of POF? (cont.) • 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 MPUG 9/22/04 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 MPUG 9/22/04 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 MPUG 9/22/04 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. MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

  11. Technical Architecture (cont.) • Weekly EAC variance by work category • Phase status MPUG 9/22/04 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 MPUG 9/22/04 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. MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

  14. Learning from experience • Meta plan: a more high-level view, focused on critical interdependencies. • Tracking “Give/Gets” between plans. MPUG 9/22/04 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? MPUG 9/22/04 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 Low High MPUG 9/22/04 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) MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

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  20. Questions? Thank you MPUG 9/22/04 Presentation

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