A "Case Study" based on an actual MIS Program, implemented by one of the senior Consultants of Risk Services & Technology, Inc. prior to his joining the RST Team. The Consultant was contracted to develop the MIS Program Management methodology and reporting system. Despite having established "NEW" MIS Program Management guidelines, this Program actually followed the old methodologies and employed the traditional mindset encountered in typical MIS Programs.
The CSC Atemis Web declares that ... " CSC Artemis is the world's leading supplier of project management software and services.
The CSC Artemis Web has posted case studies on solutions to project management challenges that are interesting and value added reading for project management practitioners. These Case Studies are a good read for background to a number of cultural and environmental applications of project management.
The Atemis Web states..."Share the experiences of other companies that consider Artemis indispensable to managing their efforts
The Project Management Solutions include:
Coordinating 2,000 Engineers Launching New Products
GPT Public Networks Group, Britain's leading telecommunication supplier,
are using Artemis to plan and manage the introduction of new products and
services.
Moving Forward. On Time, On Budget
Implementing Artemis tools, project management processes, and methodologies,
USF&G delivers software development to the insurance industry, on time
and budget.
Keeping 1,500 Dispersed Employees on Track and on Time
Case Study: Groundwater Technology, Inc. Using Artemis ProjectView with
Microsoft Access
Tracking 450 Projects at London Underground
How Artemis helps London Underground save more than £9 million per
year and control an annual budget of over £1 billion.
New York State Department of Transport Runs On Time
How a government agency uses Artemis ProjectView to manage 3000 - 4000 projects
at any one time, to satisfy 20 million customers per year.
Establishing Project Management Procedures and Providing Training
at UK Prison Service
Making employees aware of Project Management principles helps them appreciate
why actions are taken and why key information is so important, allowing
them to their acheive goals.
Managing Costs of Oil Production in the North Sea
Changing markets & declining reserves are bringing major changes to
the offshore oil industry. By adapting to the changes, Wood Group Engineering
seizes the opportunity.
Artemis Makes a Flying Success in Japan
How Artemis forms a critical element to an overall Computer Integrated Manufacturing
(CIM) strategy at Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Konica Adds Color with Artemis
How Artemis is used to co-ordinate MRP schedules and provide Production
master schedules for Konica.
Managing Major Software Development with the Swiss PTT
Managing more than 1,000 IT staff and spending over SFr 146 million per
year, this is software development on a big scale.
British Telecom Leads the Way
British Telecom demonstrates how Rapid Application Development (RAD) improves
more than implementing CASE and development methodologies.
Managing Multiple IT Projects: Process Re-engineering
Re-engineering the business process and keeping projects on time and on
budget.
Turning Project Management Processes into Broader Business Opportunities.
AOC International doubled their business during recession and optimized
their resources.
Choice of Software Determines What Project Management Can Contribute
Case Study: John Brown Engineers & Constructors.
Building Repeatable Methodologies vs. Reinventing the Wheel
Case Study: McClellan Air Force Base consolidates its practices into a 'blue
book'.
PM Software and New Product Development
Case Study: How Cadbury Beverages uses PM software to make Canada Dry ginger
ale.
Outages that Cost $50,000 per Hour Deserve Planning!
Case Study: Arizona Public Service. Keeping 8,000-9,000 tasks under control.
Artemis client/server project management solutions provide a central repository through leading relational database systems - Oracle, Sybase, SQLServer, SQLBase, DB2 or Ingres. For more on Artemis and the Case Studies .
ReengineeringProject
A Project to reengineering and dramatically improve the way Carnegie Mellon University processes and manages financial information. The Web Site describes the:
The World Wide Web (WWW) site for the Financial Management Process (FMP) reengineering project
The Information Management and Control System (IMACS) is a NASA first attempt to formally organize and computerize various aspects of project management and control systems currently being implemented for the Instrument Programs Office, Code 701.1
The Information Management and Control System (IMACS) provides a direct interface for the implementation of various Project Management Tools currently required to track and manage project metrics. The Examples provided below are taken from Instrument projects at Goddard Space Flight Center in various stages of development. Several areas are password protected and will not permit access to the casual user. Any request for access to a restricted area can be made by contacting Mark Baratz (301) 286-4393.
The data base functions of the systems have been developed using the ORACLE 7 engine, WebServer 2.0 as the listening agent, all of which resides on a SPARC 20 Workstation. A central consideration in design was to provide a tool for both the project staff, and the general "Querying" public. The major components are:
ARC is unique and important to Canadian industry, since it is focused specifically on rural information needs and accessibility. ARC involves the development and commercialization of an integrated suite of products and services for rural communities. The overall objective of the project is the development of applications and products aimed at providing solutions to the needs of both service providers and end-users. The proposed products will be useful to both rural and urban communities, by enabling universal access to the benefits of advanced communications technologies.
The ARC project is organized into eight specific modules as follows:
Each module will be led by one of the consortium members and will be executed by a project team made up of members who are relevant to a specific module, augmented, where desirable, by consortium associates who bring strength to a particular task. For more on the ARC Project.
The Information Management and Control System (IMACS) is a NASA first attempt to formally organize and computerize various aspects of project management and control systems currently being implemented for the Instrument Programs Office, Code 701.1
The Information Management and Control System (IMACS) provides a direct interface for the implementation of various Project Management Tools currently required to track and manage project metrics. The Examples provided below are taken from Instrument projects at Goddard Space Flight Center in various stages of development. Several areas are password protected and will not permit access to the casual user. Any request for access to a restricted area can be made by contacting Mark Baratz (301) 286-4393.
The data base functions of the systems have been developed using the ORACLE 7 engine, WebServer 2.0 as the listening agent, all of which resides on a SPARC 20 Workstation. A central consideration in design was to provide a tool for both the project staff, and the general "Querying" public. The major components are:
Taking advantage of advances in environmental monitoring technology, a project funded by California Department of Pesticide Regulation through a grant received from US EPA, University of California, and the California agricultural industry proposes to provide an infrastructure to collect appropriate weather data, facilitate the research and validation of models of diseases, demonstrate their utility, and further local implementation efforts.
The USC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project will be based on proposals from industry and scientist participants, regional weather networks, monitoring air temperature, relative humidity, leaf wetness, and precipitation will be purchased and installed, and data will be gathered centrally, quality controlled, stored, and made available to users. The environmental data, along with field scouting reports, will be used in model development, validation, and correction.
California PestCast is a new project of the University of California Statewide IPM Project and the California Environmental Protection Agency Department of Pesticide Regulation. Its goal is to expand the use of computer-based crop disease forecasting in California through
Description of the California PestCast Project Its goals, personnel, and work plan.
The Web Book Project is an electronic book about the WWW authored by the Students of Course CSE 62204 Virginia Tech Computer Science Department. This graduate level course surveys what the World Wide Web is today, how it is evolving, and problems being tackled by current research and development.
The interesting aspect of this Course is that it is structured around the definition and development of student group (read team ) projects. Development steps, assignments, documentation specifications, abstracts and student presentations are carried out to complete a particular project. All Course instruction and information is posted to the Web.
In the Introduction to "Web Book - Beyond the Basics" the Editorial Board comments
| Having the class write an on line book about the course is a very novel approach to teaching. There were pedagogical and practical purposes for this. Dr.Abrams wanted to get away from traditional teaching methods and employ a constructivist approach in which students together construct the knowledge about a subject and the teacher serves as a guide. The students learned by discovering information, writing about it, and critiquing each other's work. |
The Web Book - Beyond the Basics is a project of this learning process. In addition to an stream of projects in a learning environment, which is of interest to project management practitioners, a copy of the book is available on line or downloaded as a zip file. The book is a good read for anyone involved in Web design, or wanting to learn about hyper text markup language and dynamic Page preparation.
The World's Largest EPC Project Research Laboratory
The 13 kilometer Confederation Bridge linking New Brunswick with Prince Edward Island in Canada was fraught with environmental peril and sustained by political and economic pressures since the days of Canadian Confederation. One of the major promises of the new Confederation Act signed in 1867 was that Prince Edward Island an original Province of Canada would be provided with a land link. That promise was met in June, 1997 with the opening of a bridge which had to stand up to notorious winds and unforgiving ice flows of the North Atlantic.
The Confederation Link was organized as a project undertaking, one of the first to adopt the concept of complete private funding for such a Canadian public good. Thanks to some long term project planning the completed bridge is more than an admirable product of EPC project management. It has become the "world's largest research laboratory " on the world's longest continuous-span bridge built over salt water. The science project started in the early bridge structure planning phase, so that sensors could be embedded right into its concrete and steel. The Confederation Bridge Project Web Site describes construction organization, phases with some interesting construction progress pictures.
Boston's
Central Artery/Tunnel Project
Sable Offshore Energy
Project
While legislators welcome the growing membership of Internet 2 because it makes it easier to justify spending millions of tax dollars on the high-speed computer network, some university participants are saying that the project's rapid expansion from 34 to 109 institutions in just six months puts it in danger of becoming technologically unwieldy and difficult to administer.
Internet 2 officials point out that the project is not simply a connection program, but rather a research project that focuses both on refining infrastructure and on developing new network applications. "This is a prototype project. You have to do that development work before you deploy nationally," says UNC-Chapel Hill's Bill Graves. Despite the size, Roberts adds that Internet 2's members are up to the challenge, and notes that the larger membership will make it an easier "sell" on Capitol Hill. (Chronicle of Higher Education 27 Jun 97)
AMS, a PM software vendor, has posted case studies called Real World Solutions . Each profile is a concise and interesting read relating to AMS's approach to the solution of particular project management issues. The wiring of the British House of Parliament is a insight on the circumstances and constraints surrounding the rewiring of Westminister.
This site, provided by Ohio Wesleyan University, is a collaborative effort between professors in six departments at the university and K-3 teachers in three Ohio counties to "produce hands-on activities for the teaching of science." Project Primary Web http://www.owu.edu/~mggrote/pp/
The impact of IT on an organization's competitive capability has nowhere been more marked than in the financial services sector. The ability to produce products has placed a major premium on companies abilities to develop the support systems to enable new products to be taken rapidly from design to market.
Standards from the Street is an interesting read on how the use of project management disciplines, aided by effective project management software, played a significant part in the successful launch of NatWest Life.
The book "The Soul of a New Machine" is a fascinating story about how a project team can triumph over all the odds. Despite suffering from a lack of resources, the project is successful and the computer eventually becomes one of Data General's most profitable projects.
Ian Stokes has prepared an article in the UK Project Today magazine on the impact of the Soul of a New Machine book on IT projects and the lessons to be learned. Ian is a consultant working in France and the UK. He has worked in the French Automotive, Electricity Generation and other industries. His company, Metanaction, has 100 activities & exercises for developing project skills. Contact Ian on +331 43 28 88 96. Or e-mail 76242.763@compuserve.com
The New Office Building United States Embassy Ottawa, Ontario, Canada incorporates offices for Embassy departments and tenant agencies of the U.S.Government currently located in a number of buildings in Ottawa. Located on the last site in the Parliament Hill zone the project management of the construction and commissioning of this building has had to respond to complex urban design contexts, security issues and levels-of-government approval processes.
This Embassy of the United States Construction Management Office Project was been a controversial political and urban development project in Canada's National Capital and required significant up front Nation to Nation negotiations and levels of government approvals. Building concept changes were brought about by Canadian National Heritage, Municipal authorities and international event driven security requirements. The Project is managed by the U.S Department of State's Project Manager George Rovder, P.E. Telephone: (613) 238-5335 ext. 426. An important aspect of early project start-up was the development of a Partnering Agreement with the Canadian Prime Contractor and major subcontractors.
Unsuccessful Information Technology Projects.
According to a KPMG study " What Went Wrong? Unsuccessful Information Technology Projects" as high failure rate has cost the Canadian economy. A survey of 100 projects was conducted over a broad spectrum of Canadian public and private sector organizations has revealed a hit failure rate. 30% exceeded schedule and more than 50% exceeded budget by a substantial margin.
The three most common reasons for project failure were:
The KPMG Web Site has an Executive Summary of the "What Went Wrong Report" and a complete version is available for download from a KPMG FTP Server.
Transport and the Environment is a web site developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to publicize their work on environmental research, in particular reconciling transport and environment objectives. At the site, visitors can obtain general information and background on OECD work on transport and environmental policies. The site also provides "detailed information on current and recent OECD projects dealing with Transport and Environmental Policy including the Project on Eco-Efficiency in Transport and the Project on Individual Travel Behavior." Various publications by the OECD, are available at the site as well. Some of the publications are available for download (Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format) while others have to be ordered from the OECD.