Project Management Case Study - 2000
Globalization of The International Project Management Association
Professor Rodney Turner of Erasmus University Rotterdam
recently provided a global project management forum (GPMF 8) insight into
the aims, objectives and activities of the International Project Management
Association. The IPMA was described as Global Federation of some 30 National
Project Management Associations mainly in Europe but having associated National
project management organizations in the Middle East, India and China . New
Regions are proposed for East Asia and the Pacific. IPMA sponsors Regional
Networks with anew Network proposed for Central Europe which will be similar
in collegial association to that of the current NORDNET of the Scandinavian
countries.
Of particular interest to global project management practitioners is the IPMA four tier Project Management Career Development currently being applied in the National project management associated organizations. This certification schema begins with a "New Start" then moves through validated certification levels of Team Member, Leader, Junior PM, Project Manager, Senior PM to the certification of a Project Director responsible for the management of projects in several countries.
The globalization strategy of the IPMA is to encourage the development of National PM organizations "so national associations in an economic area of the world
- can provide mutual support to each other
- aid in the development of new national associations in that area
- help each other in implementing PM certification and standards.
For more on the "Globalization of the International Project Management Association"
[ click here for the slides used by Professor Turner during his presentation ].
The USGenWeb Project
The USGenWeb Project consists of a group of volunteers working together to provide Internet websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. The Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free access for everyone.
Organization is by county and state, and this website provides you with links to all the state websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Project also sponsors important Special Projects at the national level and this website provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well.
Although the basic unit of organization for The USGenWeb Project is at the county level, State Websites include very important information as well, including such resources for postings of unknown county queries, family reunion bulletin boards, state histories, and maps showing the changing county boundaries, among others. Many states also have ongoing projects as diverse as the transcription of Civil War regiments or the reuniting of families with lost photos and bibles.
Each page of the the state and county websites each page or database is the creation, property and responsibility of an individual volunteer. But, you will also find that all of the counties will provide links for you to post queries, access the state's home page and access the archives.
RESEARCH PROJECT THE PROJECT-ORIENTED SOCIETY
The "Project-Oriented Society" (POS) Project is an IPMA initiative under the leadership of Prof. Roland Gareis of Vienna (Austria). It is based on the belief that project management is not just a micro-economic but also a macro-economic concern : the more competence a society has to manage projects, programmes and project-portfolios, the more competitive it is. This research project is made of 2 elements :
- a POS Conception Project (5/99 - 3/00), which objectives are :
- to construct the POS model
- to describe the processes of the POS
- to develop metrics to measure competences of the POS
- to develop questionnaires for assessing and benchmarking POS
- to identify ongoing initiatives for the further development of POS
- a POS Benchmarking Project (3/00 - 2/01), which objectives are :
- to assess competencies of different POS
- to analyze commonalities and differences of competences of different POS
- to benchmark the competences of different POS
- to analyze pm-initiatives in different POS
- to define strategies for the further development of competences of POS
- to define measures for the implementation of these strategies in POS
More detailed information on the results of the Conception Project and on how to participate to the Benchmarking project can be obtained from Roland Gareis (email: pmg@wu-wien.ac.at) or the Web Site.
COMPUTERWORLD
"Turning Around the Project From Hell - An IT Case Study"
The December 1999 issue of COMPUTERWORLD magazine features an IT case study that has some basic lessons learned for the Project Manager. The COMPUTERWORLD article called "Turning Around the Project From Hell " lists the following lessons:
- Do your homework
- Resist the lure of leading-edge technology
- Take a modular approach
- Integrate the modules immediately
- Keep the overall project deadline
- Revise the plan where mandatory
Other project management papers of interest to project management practitioners in this issue of COMPTUTERWORLD are:
- Born to Lead Projects
- There are Projects and There are Internet Projects
Click here to reach the COMPUTERWORLD web site. Use the COMPUTERWORLD web site search engine and try a "project management" string.
More project management case studies
Yogi
Shulz of Corvelle Management Consultants (http://www.corvelle.com)
has provided the following interesting project management on-line case studies
Yogi says "Here's the URL's to two cases of web projects that haven't gone
well with useful analysis of pitfalls"
-
H&R Block Gets All Snarled Up in the Web
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_16/b3677125.htm
-
Wineshoppers http://www.businessweek.com/cgi-bin/ebiz/ebiz_frame.pl?url=/ebiz/0005/ec0523.htm
CHCS II Project
The Composite Heath Care System III ( CHCS II) is the basis for the United States Department of Defense Computer-based Patient Record System (CPR).CHCS II is quoted as a "system of systems" offering the same functionalities as 60 clinical application information systems developed by the US Armed Services over the past 20 years.
CHCS II is to be incrementally developed and deployed with the first version of a world-wide deployable version in March 00,with the activation of the operational test sites in May 00 and world-wide deployment decision in the first quarter of FY01.
The High Flyer - US Navy F-14
In an article of the August 2000 Govexec web magazine Wayne Abba, a former senior program analyst for contract performance management at the US Defense Department, says that by adopting improved management, particularly at the depot-level maintenance and emergency maintenance, the F-14 team proved that legacy systems can be more efficient.
He says " They have brought the entire process out of virtual chaos into a well-managed process. It has become a model for the rest of naval aviation."
[ Read the full GovExec magazine article by clicking here. ]
Project Oriented Society Benchmarking Project (POS)
The POS Benchmarking Project is the successor project to the POS Conception Project, which was carried out by the International Project Management Association (IPMA) from May 1999 to January 2000. Its main aim was to construct a model of the Project-oriented society (POS) and to develop metrics to measure the project management-competences of a society.
Based on the results of the POS-Conception Project, which were presented a the 15th IPMA World Congress on Project Management in May 2000 the POS Benchmarking Project pursues the following objectives:
- Self-Assessment of the competences of different POSs
- Benchmarking POSs, to further develop the analyses of commonalities and differences
- Analysis of PM-initiatives in different POSs to further developthe competences
- Definition of strategies for further development of competences of POSs
- Further development of the model of the POS
Performance of the POS Benchmarking Project
- The POS Benchmarking Project is performed as a cooperation of different national Project Management Associations and project-oriented organizations representing POSs.Each POS nominates a POS-Assessment Team with representatives of the PM-association,of project-oriented companies, PMI researchers and PM students. Based on a questionnaire with approximately 30 questions the institutional provisions of each POS ( PM Education, PM Research, PM Marketing, PM Standardization) are assessed. Documents that describe these PM-institutions are provided. The assessment of "PM-institutions" is supported by interviews.
- The assessment of the "PM-practices of each POS is performed by an expert panel in workshop form, considering the practices in project management, programme management and project portfolio management. This assessment is also questionairre based. National Project Management Associations, as well as Project-oriented Organisations are invited to cooperate in the POS Benchmarking Project. For further information visit www.wu-wien.ac.at/project/pmg/pos or email to roland.gareis@wu-wien.ac.at.
Project Management Research Project Quantifying Project Management's Value
The University of California at Berkeley's Project Management Group has undertaken, with partial funding from the Project Management Institute, a study to quantify the value of project management. There are many qualitative studies on the value of project management but recently CEO's and Executive Corporate Management have demanded substantive proof of project management's value.
The goal of the research headed by Professor William Ibbs Ph.D .P.E. Professor of project management at the University of California at Berkeley is to:
"provide credible and comprehensive on the subject of value of project management"
This project will expand Professor Ibbs previous research by:
- Increasing the number of companies and industries that participate in the investigation
- Including Project Integration Management a PMBOK® Guide Knowledge area.
- Explore whether project management maturity is correlated with repeatability of project success.
- Include project success measures such as customer satisfaction and quality.
- Provide structure on the question of how much project management really costs.
The Study will conclude in October 2001. To participate, companies should
contact Professor William Ibbs by calling +510-558-3475 or by visiting the
web site of the University of California at Berkeley's Project Management
Group at:
http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/pmroi
The E-conomy Project
The E-conomy Project™ is a collaborative academic undertaking that is intended to "fuse research agendas with the knowlege, concerns of industry leaders and policy-makers, creating an intellectual resource to focus on the profound transformation being wrought by new digital technologies. .."
The project aims to develop new metrics, historical analogs and business models, and more effective policies, legal frameworks and corporate strategies.
For more on the E-conomy Project click [ About E-conomy ]
Learning
from the Year 2000 Transition Project
A Program Lessons Learned Report
The year 200 trasition was a unique event that posed a significant challeng to the traditional work of the Canadian Federal Government. The Year 2000 bug was initially seen as a technology problem was quickly seen to have broad implications to the work of the Federal Government and for every level of Canadian Business.The Chief Information Officer of the Canadian Government has prepared a comprehensive "lessons learned " report. Called the Year 2000 Post Implementation Assessment - Final Report highlights the many issues, process and organizational issues in the successful conduct of a multi departmental program that
"encouraged the development of a broad, horizontal approach to management that involved all levels of governance and left a lasting legacy in the operation of government"
A copy of this significant program report (17) pages is online from the Canadian Federal Government Treasury Board's Web Site. The Content of the Report includes the following:
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