RolloutExpert.com

Part 2 in a 3-part series

Goals and Objectives:
Staff members involved in IT projects often complain about unclear goals and objectives. In projects like software rollouts, project managers must develop and communicate clear objectives, while also minding the number of goals the projects might have. Although goals are a good thing, too many may ultimately confuse and distract a staff from the project at hand. It is also important to limit unexpected changes in user expectations and requirements as a project progresses. Changing expectations without clear communication will no doubt dissatisfy your customer, frustrate your employees, and add unnecessary costs.

Time estimates:
Time is of the essence – especially for project managers. When planning a project, a well calculated time frame is imperative to an accurate budget. Project managers make the common mistake of assuming the total time needed for a project’s completion is equal to the time on task. However, this does not account for interruptions. Project managers need to focus on the total duration of time needed (which includes interruptions), rather than the time on task.

More to come in the next and final post on this topic… in the meantime, BigWave can help eliminate many of the causes of IT project failure. Contact BigWave today for more information.

Part 1 in a 3 part series

As the demand and size of a company grows, the role of the project manager becomes increasingly important. In an ever increasing technology-based world, multi-site project management is becoming the norm, and thus our project managers find themselves carrying much of the weight of a company’s success on their backs. Despite the fact that technology clearly improves productivity by streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency and effectiveness, many IT projects are failing. Why? There are several causes for failure. In this three-part series I will provide advice on how you might avoid them. They include:
• Poor planning
• Unclear goals and objectives
• Changing objectives during the project
• Unrealistic time estimates
• Lack of executive support and user involvement
• Failure to communicate and act as a team
• Inappropriate skills

Planning:
Project managers often plan poorly for IT projects, especially in multi-site rollouts. Unfortunately for them, they are not often given enough time to plan, or worse, the project is already on its way before it is defined. Taking a step back and planning multi-site rollouts, even if it has already started will save time and money in the long run. It is important to define a critical path, as many activities can only start once another activity is complete. Risk calculations must also be completed and taken into account.

More to come in the next post… in the meantime, BigWave can help eliminate many of the causes of IT project failure. Contact BigWave today for more information.

Continued from my previous post…

MS Project 07 employs a complex matrix to license their product through a mixture of CALs, existing MS Office licenses and Project Server licenses. MS Project Server requires licenses to many other MS products including MS SQL Server, MS Windows Server, Sharepoint, etc.

BigWave Software provides state of the art, web-based project portals to manage multi-site project rollouts and installations. BigWave technologies integrate project communication, reporting, and management, service/work-order management and vendor management into one easy-to-use application.

A bold, new structured way to run your multi-site rollouts, BigWave is like a spreadsheet on steroids. It streamlines the project and reduces costs while saving time, and this plug-n-play system can be up and helping you run your projects in just one week.

The benefits of BigWave’s customer-centric solutions are so solid for a very simple reason – it was built by a consortium of Project Managers. It was designed by people who know how essential it is to collaborate and communicate quickly, efficiently, and effectively both on and off site – and know the toll it can take on a project and team when the chaos of spreadsheets and other internally developed tools combine with the fear and frustration caused by a lack of communication.

So are you ready to start communicating more efficiently in your multi-site projects? Contact BigWave today.

Keeping with the building renovation analogy, MS Project requires a patchwork of products the same way some General Contractors need a lot of subcontractors. (And a full-time person is needed to administer MS Project Server EPM, Windows Sharepoint Services and EPK Suite.)

But BigWave can do it all – right out of the box – giving an organization unlimited access to the product with an easy-to-understand framework and implementation process.

The mission of BigWave Software is to help Project Managers be successful, by allowing them to focus on managing the project rather than administrative and coordinating tasks. The advanced technology and exceptional support of BigWave helps PM’s to eliminate the chaos and streamline multi-site project management.

MS Project, which focuses mostly on scheduling, is cumbersome to use for multi-site projects. So MS Project Server was created – seemingly as an afterthought to fill the gap.

While BigWave can handle scheduling, its focus is on maximizing communication to foster collaboration (which is what most project managers really require) throughout the implementation process of multi-site projects.

More to come in my next post…

What is the price that organizations – and their projects – pay for poor communication? It can be significant. An analogy to something that all of us have heard stories about might help illustrate the situation - we have all heard about landlords and property managers. Their situations can be very similar to multi-site project managers, tasked with successful implementation of multi-site rollouts.

Imagine you’re a landlord (Project Manager) that owns an apartment building with old, inefficient appliances (software). You have plenty of tenants (project team members), but at times some of the apartments are empty (not optimized).

It seems like you (and your team) are always being called upon to fix something, and despite the vacancies and repair expenses, your tenants seem happy and you’re in the black every month.

But you know that updating the appliances (software) and renovating all of the apartments (multi-site rollout) will result in greater efficiency and increased economy.

As with the renovation of an apartment building, the key to successful multi-site project management depends upon a commitment to strong communication from the outset.

Ask your tenants to find another place to live while the building is being renovated, and perhaps they’ll never come back. Share your plans and goals with your project team and cooperation and true collaboration are more likely. Keep them in the dark and the uncertainty created just might stick around for the entire life of the project.

Just as in the example of an apartment’s renovation, when a landlord (Project Manager) upgrades the accommodations (software), once the construction (software rollout) is complete costs are likely to increase. But if life is improved and other expenses are offset by increased efficiencies, then the tenants (project team members) should be on board.

Open communication from the outset means that more people will be on board sooner – and that’s good news for the Project Manager AND the project.

BigWave can help you not only manage your multi-site projects, but also provide efficient, solid communications to all constituencies involved. Contact us today for more information, and start saving money today!

The internal dynamics, organizational chart, culture, succession planning, overall objective, and of course office politics are all considerations when determining the role of a PMO. These internal dynamics are more likely to have an impact on the structure and function of the PMO than external business factors.

PMOs are often stand-alone, and are frequently closed and/or restructured. They can also take up to 24 months to implement. The questions I would pose:

• Is there duplication of staff and duties when you create an office so highly specialized, such as administrative support?
• How do you determine value added to the organization versus more traditional org charts?
• Since change is always difficult to manage and communicate, what impact does implementing or restructuring a PMO have on the organizational climate and overall attitude?
• With so many roles and functions to consider adding to the mandate of a PMO how much decision-making power, authority and autonomy will the PMO have?
• To whom will the office ultimately report?

There is currently no clear consensus among the industry what constitutes a PMO, and what their role is within an organization. The bottom line though is that they are ultimately managing projects, and could benefit from a project portal like BigWave with their multi-site rollouts.

A project management office (PMO) generally defines and maintains the standards related to project management within the organization, looking to add the efficiencies and cost savings associated with repetitive processes.

Basing principles on industry standards and methodologies, the PMO is typically the source of documentation, guidance and measurement on the practice and execution of project management. Regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley have mandated standardizing practices in organizations. PMOs are also often called upon to continually improve the organization, both in terms of processes and structures.

PMOs have become an important feature of project management, and can be quite complex with varying values, organizational context, structure, roles and functions. The value of PMOs varies and is difficult to measure. While one PMO may be a great resource and of significant value to a company, the next may be structured differently such that the expenditure outweighs the value added.

Organizations establish their PMO to meet different needs. Some companies may put all of their project managers within the PMO, or they may sprinkle a few throughout the rest of the organization. PMOs may cover all projects within an organization, or only those dealing with a particular business area.

Certainly for those organizations dealing with multi-site projects, a PMO can help centralize information. BigWave can also help in the information storing and disseminating process; you can learn more at www.Deep6Spreadsheets.com.

Today we release a new way to manage your document uploads. This functionality is incorporated into releases 3.2.017 and later.

Some highlights of the new functionality…

• Multiple files may be uploaded at a time.
• Zipped files can be unzipped on the server creating multiple attachments in a single and compressed upload (10 files max per zip file).
• Should you make a mistake, files uploaded in the last 10 minutes may be deleted with a single click. This helps if you upload a zipped file with the wrong files in it. Typically you will realize this as soon as the upload is complete and a bunch of new files are attached.

We love to hear your feedback on all of our upgrades to your BigWave portal!

– John