PMFORUM Breaking News
Breaking News in the Project Management World
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Raju Rao named International Correspondent in India for PMForum.org
Mr. Raju Narsing Rao, PMP, SCPM, has joined PMForum.org as an International Correspondent in Chennai, India. Mr. Rao is also owner and principal consultant for Xtraplus Solutions, a project management (PM) consulting and training company based in Chennai. Mr. Rao is a senior project management consultant, educator and trainer; is involved in development of PM standards with the Project Management Institute (PMI®) in the USA; and is keenly involved in promoting professional PM in India.
Mr. Rao has a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from the Regional Engineering College Tiruchirapalli , University of Madras, India (1973); a Diploma in Management from the University of Bombay (1979); an Advanced Project Management certificate in Program and Portfolio Management from Stanford University in the USA (2005); and a certificate in the International Program for development of Management Perspective from IIM Calcutta (2005). He has a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from PMI and is a Stanford Certified Project Manager (SCPM). He has attended Lead Assessor course – ISO 9001 - 2001 – DNV, and is a PMI Certified OPM3® Assessor.
Mr. Rao has extensive experience in industrial process and project management. During 1997 – 2001, he was a Project Control Engineer with Mannesmann Dematic AG Of Dubai, UAE where he worked on such major projects as the Baggage handling system for Dubai International Airport and a Sewage Treatment plant for the Dubai Municipality. His responsibilities included project planning, scheduling and control using Primavera P3 and Microsoft Project; commissioning and coordination support for major baggage handling and flight information software systems; invoicing using Earned Value; and for project change control, claims management, materials control, and submittal control.
From 1992 – 1997, he was a project manager for R J Associates Bombay (Engineers) Pvt. Ltd. of Mumbai, India. Projects were related to the production of Polyester resins, Formaldehyde, polymers, and dyes, and for utilities. Responsibilities included coordination between clients, vendor/contractors and EPC departments; project planning and scheduling; cost estimation; procurement liaison; accounts receivable administration; and claims management. During 1974 – 1997, he held a series of positions as chemical engineer for Dalal Consultants & Engineers Pvt. Ltd of Bombay; project engineer for Patel Brothers of Bombay; marketing engineer for Hindustan Dorr Oliver Ltd of Bombay; project consultant for Industrial Project Services in Gujarat, India; and managing partner for Polycon Industries in Gujarat, India, an industrial molded components and FRP molding company.
Since 2002, he has consulted for companies in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai in India, and in the USA. His firm offers courses and workshops on project management, PMP certification training for professionals and organizations, seminars in program and project portfolio management, and workshops in the use of PMI’s OPM3®. He provides consulting for instituting PM processes and methodology, and implementing them, as well as assessments and improvement of business processes in organizations. Since 2005, he has also been a visiting professor at the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, India.
Since 2003, Mr. Rao has been a speaker at major Project Management Conferences in Hong Kong; Bangkok, Thailand; New Delhi, India; Toronto, Canada; Hyderabad, India; Singapore; and in Dubai, UAE. He won a Best of Congress Paper award at PMI Bangkok in Feb 2006 for his paper entitled The role of Project management in transforming a developing nation to developed status - the case of India Vision 2020.
Raju Rao has been an active member of PMI for the last few years. He is currently a Core Team member for PMI’s OPM3 2008 Update project. He was part of the Core Team for writing Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of PMI’s Program Management Standard, and a Team member on PMI’s Program and Portfolio Management Standard development team. He was a contributor for PMI’s Earned Value Management Standard, Sub-team Lead on the Integration Team for PMI’s OPM3 Project, and a contributor for PMI’s PMBOK 2004 (3rd Edition) Standard. He was a founding member and vice president for the PMI Chennai Chapter during 2002 – 2005. A member of the PMI Pharmaceutical SIG, Raju is also a member and Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the South India chapter of AACE International. He is also founder of the Indian Project Management Forum.
Raju Rao lives in Chennai, India and can be contacted at rao.raju@gmail.com. We at PMForum.org want to welcome Raju to the PMF Global Correspondents Network.
According to Wikipedia, Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is India's fourth largest metropolitan city. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. With an estimated population of 6.91 million (2006), the 368-year-old city is the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world. Chennai is the third largest commercial and industrial centre in India, and is known for its cultural heritage and temple architecture. It is also a hub for south Indian classical music and dance performances. Chennai is also considered the automobile capital of India, with a major percentage of the Indian automobile industry having a base there and a major portion of the nation's vehicles being produced there. This has led to Chennai being referred to as the Detroit of South Asia. It has also become a major centre for outsourced jobs from the West.
Chennai has a diversified economic base. The main industries are automobile, software services, hardware manufacturing and financial services. Other important industries include petrochemicals, textiles and apparels. The Chennai Port and Ennore Port contribute greatly to its importance. The city has a fully computerised stock exchange called the Madras Stock Exchange. Chennai has the fourth largest Gross Metropolitan Product in India. Since the late 1990s, software development, business process outsourcing and, more recently, manufacturing have emerged as major areas in the city's economy. Chennai has been rated as the most attractive Indian city for offshoring services according to A T Kearney's Indian City Services Attractiveness Index 2005. Software services giants like Infosys, TCS, Wipro,Cognizant Technology Solutions, Satyam, HCL, IBM, Accenture, Sun Microsystems, HP, EDS, CSC,and Verizon have development centres in the city. The city is now the second largest exporter of IT and IT enabled Services in the country behind Bangalore.
The Republic of India, commonly known as India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world. India has a coastline of over seven thousand kilometres, bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east. India borders Pakistan to the west; People's Republic of China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east.
Home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped India's variegated culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early 18th century and colonised by Great Britain from the mid-19th century, India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for independence marked by widespread use of nonviolent resistance as a means of social protest.
With the world's fourth largest economy in purchasing power and the second fastest growing large economy, India has made rapid progress in the last decade, especially in information technology. Although India's standard of living is projected to rise sharply in the next half-century, it currently battles high levels of poverty, persistent malnutrition, and environmental degradation. A multi-lingual, multi-ethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
On August 9, 2006, PMForum.org announced the formation of a global network of International Correspondents to provide more timely and varied news and information from around the world of project management. More information about this program and about other international correspondents can be found at www.pmforum.org. Correspondents also provide pmforum.org with local representation, and provide news and articles for publication in the PM World Today eJournal. Other experienced PM professional leaders around the world who may be interested in becoming an international correspondent for PMForum.org are encouraged to contact editor@pmforum.org.
Established in 1995 by the late David Curling, PMI Fellow and globally recognized professional leader based in Canada, www.pmforum.org is one of the most popular and widely known websites in the world of project management. PMForum.org is the world’s leading source of project management news and information. It also produces the monthly online PM World Today where articles, case studies, papers and viewpoints by leading PM authorities and experts from around the world can be found. Free subscriptions are available at www.pmworldtoday.net.
Mr. Rao has extensive experience in industrial process and project management. During 1997 – 2001, he was a Project Control Engineer with Mannesmann Dematic AG Of Dubai, UAE where he worked on such major projects as the Baggage handling system for Dubai International Airport and a Sewage Treatment plant for the Dubai Municipality. His responsibilities included project planning, scheduling and control using Primavera P3 and Microsoft Project; commissioning and coordination support for major baggage handling and flight information software systems; invoicing using Earned Value; and for project change control, claims management, materials control, and submittal control.
From 1992 – 1997, he was a project manager for R J Associates Bombay (Engineers) Pvt. Ltd. of Mumbai, India. Projects were related to the production of Polyester resins, Formaldehyde, polymers, and dyes, and for utilities. Responsibilities included coordination between clients, vendor/contractors and EPC departments; project planning and scheduling; cost estimation; procurement liaison; accounts receivable administration; and claims management. During 1974 – 1997, he held a series of positions as chemical engineer for Dalal Consultants & Engineers Pvt. Ltd of Bombay; project engineer for Patel Brothers of Bombay; marketing engineer for Hindustan Dorr Oliver Ltd of Bombay; project consultant for Industrial Project Services in Gujarat, India; and managing partner for Polycon Industries in Gujarat, India, an industrial molded components and FRP molding company.
Since 2002, he has consulted for companies in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai in India, and in the USA. His firm offers courses and workshops on project management, PMP certification training for professionals and organizations, seminars in program and project portfolio management, and workshops in the use of PMI’s OPM3®. He provides consulting for instituting PM processes and methodology, and implementing them, as well as assessments and improvement of business processes in organizations. Since 2005, he has also been a visiting professor at the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, India.
Since 2003, Mr. Rao has been a speaker at major Project Management Conferences in Hong Kong; Bangkok, Thailand; New Delhi, India; Toronto, Canada; Hyderabad, India; Singapore; and in Dubai, UAE. He won a Best of Congress Paper award at PMI Bangkok in Feb 2006 for his paper entitled The role of Project management in transforming a developing nation to developed status - the case of India Vision 2020.
Raju Rao has been an active member of PMI for the last few years. He is currently a Core Team member for PMI’s OPM3 2008 Update project. He was part of the Core Team for writing Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of PMI’s Program Management Standard, and a Team member on PMI’s Program and Portfolio Management Standard development team. He was a contributor for PMI’s Earned Value Management Standard, Sub-team Lead on the Integration Team for PMI’s OPM3 Project, and a contributor for PMI’s PMBOK 2004 (3rd Edition) Standard. He was a founding member and vice president for the PMI Chennai Chapter during 2002 – 2005. A member of the PMI Pharmaceutical SIG, Raju is also a member and Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the South India chapter of AACE International. He is also founder of the Indian Project Management Forum.
Raju Rao lives in Chennai, India and can be contacted at rao.raju@gmail.com. We at PMForum.org want to welcome Raju to the PMF Global Correspondents Network.
Chennai has a diversified economic base. The main industries are automobile, software services, hardware manufacturing and financial services. Other important industries include petrochemicals, textiles and apparels. The Chennai Port and Ennore Port contribute greatly to its importance. The city has a fully computerised stock exchange called the Madras Stock Exchange. Chennai has the fourth largest Gross Metropolitan Product in India. Since the late 1990s, software development, business process outsourcing and, more recently, manufacturing have emerged as major areas in the city's economy. Chennai has been rated as the most attractive Indian city for offshoring services according to A T Kearney's Indian City Services Attractiveness Index 2005. Software services giants like Infosys, TCS, Wipro,Cognizant Technology Solutions, Satyam, HCL, IBM, Accenture, Sun Microsystems, HP, EDS, CSC,and Verizon have development centres in the city. The city is now the second largest exporter of IT and IT enabled Services in the country behind Bangalore.
With the world's fourth largest economy in purchasing power and the second fastest growing large economy, India has made rapid progress in the last decade, especially in information technology. Although India's standard of living is projected to rise sharply in the next half-century, it currently battles high levels of poverty, persistent malnutrition, and environmental degradation. A multi-lingual, multi-ethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
On August 9, 2006, PMForum.org announced the formation of a global network of International Correspondents to provide more timely and varied news and information from around the world of project management. More information about this program and about other international correspondents can be found at www.pmforum.org. Correspondents also provide pmforum.org with local representation, and provide news and articles for publication in the PM World Today eJournal. Other experienced PM professional leaders around the world who may be interested in becoming an international correspondent for PMForum.org are encouraged to contact editor@pmforum.org.
Established in 1995 by the late David Curling, PMI Fellow and globally recognized professional leader based in Canada, www.pmforum.org is one of the most popular and widely known websites in the world of project management. PMForum.org is the world’s leading source of project management news and information. It also produces the monthly online PM World Today where articles, case studies, papers and viewpoints by leading PM authorities and experts from around the world can be found. Free subscriptions are available at www.pmworldtoday.net.
