Effective project management into low cost

TeamLab is a Latvia-based firm with a recently launched Enterprise 2.0 smart project management suite that is now available via Amazon's cloud. You can also run it on TeamLab's service or download, run and modify your own version. We covered the open source collaboration suite back in the summer which was released as open source and is now available via Amazon.

Deploying TeamLab via a cloud image with Amazon EC2 takes only 15 minutes . All you need is an Amazon account. With an account, you can start a corporate portal, and launch the TeamLab cloud image.

Amazon offers 99.99% up-time in addition to the usual benefits of control Project Management and flexibility. TeamLab reckons the hosting costs with Amazon would be around US$ 60 a month, much cheaper than getting your own server. If your company needs more space or power you have the option to rent more of both from Amazon.

The Asian Development Bank would soon open its Project Management Unit Shimla and Kangra

The Asian Development Bank would soon open its Project Management Unit Shimla and Kangra, for expeditious execution of Rs 428.22 crore Mega Tourism Infrastructure Development Project in the State in next four years.
Chief minister P K Dhumal disclosed this after his meeting with Asian Development Bank Mission headed by Atsesushi Kaneko, Senior Urban Development Specialist, Vivek Vishal, Assistant Project Analyst and other heads of various units, here today.The Chief Minister said that the ADB assistance was bound to add new dimensions to tourism promotion activities and help in attracting more tourists to the state.The setting up of Project Management Unit at Shimla and Project Implementation Unit at Kangra would mark starting of execution of the project and the agreement with the ADB, Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India and State Government would be executed in the near future, after observing all codal formalities.
detailed discussions were being held at different stages to give final shape to execution of the and informed that ADB had drawn a plan to provide loan of USD 95.16 million (Rs 428.22 crore) during the period 2010-2014.the implementation of the ADB Project, quality infrastructural facilities would be added to the existing tourism infrastructure in the state.Detailed the components of the proposed project and said that ADB was keen to start the execution process on priority since all required codal formalities were nearing completion at different level.

project management is getting more than lip service at many companies.

The practice of enterprise project management is finally getting broad respect, not just lip service. Seven out of 10 companies use formal project management methodologies, our new InformationWeek Analytics survey finds. Pay for project managers was on the rise last year, even as pay for most IT pros was flat. Sixty-one percent of the managers we surveyed see the Project Management Institute's project management professional--PMP--certification as important to their companies.

These numbers matter, but more important is the recognition of the project management office's broad role--well beyond being the keeper of the almighty Gantt chart and a budget bludgeon. The PMO is most valued, our research finds, for helping companies prioritize good projects over bad, getting the right people on the job, airing out progress and problems, and executing consistently using the company's standard practices.

"Project management is finally evolving to become more focused on being collaborative, leading and inspiring teams, and ensuring the people angle is taken into account to ensure quicker adoption of changes," says Lynn Batara, director of the enterprise project and portfolio office at Franklin Templeton Investments. However, Batara does see a need for more emphasis on the strategic side of project management, like portfolio management to prioritize projects, and doing a better job of aligning projects with company strategy, minimizing risk, and measuring the benefits.

Asked for the top reasons to create a PMO, 64% of survey respondents say to prioritize projects and 55% say to standardize on an approach--by far the most cited reasons. The next biggest PMO priority is to provide project visibility to leadership teams (34%). Less than a fourth of respondents see tracking project status and project costs as a top reason.

Most companies have some project management methodology in place, and that's part of the problem--if you're not actively questioning your approach, looking for weak spots, and comparing it with other options, it'll creep along in whatever direction it's already headed.

Whether or not you have a formally defined PMO--a single point of responsibility within the scope of business governance--you owe it to yourself to consider how to structure or restructure PMO activities. Each company should consider a number of factors when doing this, including:

How do you track small projects? Companies tend to have a decent handle on large, expensive projects, but they fall short on the smaller ones. Yet those add up to a significant chunk of resources and can put a big dent in IT's reputation and credibility. Complexity and cost, not risk or regulatory compliance, tend to drive whether a PMO is involved in a project, our survey finds.

What tools do you need for project management? Excel dominates, with 82% of companies using it to manage projects. But almost two-thirds use project-specific software as well.

Do you need one PMO office for the whole company? It might seem like the easy answer, but 53% of companies have multiple PMOs. Culture and organizational structure play a big part in what's right for your company.

Does your PMO set priorities or just drive projects home? This is the crossover between portfolio management and project management. You need to apply good project management principles to individual projects whether or not you're doing overall portfolio management. It doesn't have to be the same team, but the groups must talk early and often.

Does your PMO process fit your industry? A lot of project management best practices were born in defense, engineering, pharmaceuticals, and construction. Companies in other industries may need to modify some of those mature disciplines to get buy-in.

Are you communicating the project management office's value? Colleagues shouldn't be left to wonder "What's in it for me?" when it comes to working with the PMO, so keep executives in the loop with project status dashboards and share best practices across project teams.

Rich Carney, who implemented a PMO for a large retailer, warns against adding too much bureaucracy. He's convinced that better processes improve the bottom line, but IT leaders must convince individuals and departments of the upside.

plan in project managment

Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific (and usually) one-time objective, for example, construct a building or implement a major new computer system. Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes defining and confirming the project goals and objectives, identifying tasks and how goals will be achieved, quantifying the resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines for completion. It also includes managing the implementation of the project plan, along with operating regular 'controls' to ensure that there is accurate and objective information on 'performance' relative to the plan, and the mechanisms to implement recovery actions where necessary. Projects usually follow major phases or stages (with various titles for these), including feasibility, definition, project planning, implementation, evaluation and support/maintenance. (Program planning is usually of a broader scope than project planning, but not always - note: the terms program and programme have significant variations in their meaning in different geographical areas, e.g. Europe and USA.)

What is Traditional Project Management?

When explaining anything, it is always a good idea to start with a few definitions. The Project Management Body of Knowledge or "PMBOK" (yes, there is such a thing, but more on it later) defines Traditional Project Management (TPM) as "a set of tools and techniques which can be applied to temporary endeavors that seek to create a unique product, service, or result", aka projects.

Wikipedia (for whatever that's worth) defines Project Management as this: Project management is the discipline of planning, organising, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. (I wouldn't rely on them as my ultimate information source, but they DO make things simpler, don't they?)

Karen White, in her article "Dancing With Projects" calls it "a method focused on centralized decision-making and control within a hierarchical organizational structure. TPM has been proven to be successful when projects have solutions that can be pretty well defined, scoped and estimated (both time and cost), such as most construction projects."

That's a lot of words and a lot of definitions, though. So let me give you an example to maybe solidify what we're talking about here.

Let's say that your company wants to introduce an OS upgrade to all of the computers in your company. Even if you are only one office, that can be a large undertaking-but think if you have multiple offices-10, 50, even hundreds! It can be overwhelming to look out at a project like that and think "I don't have time to get this done" or "All of my employees are critical to the company right now. I can't spare their time to get them to do this for me". Or maybe you're even in the boat of not really knowing HOW to start getting all the computers switched over and the employees trained.

That's ok! Look into hiring a Project Manager who knows about Traditional Project Management, and maybe even Agile Project Management. They can help you implement the right processes to get your project running smoothly.

Key Principles of Project Management

If you're looking for guidance to help you manage your project with added confidence, then this article will help you. Below I discuss seven key principles, based upon the PRINCE2 project management framework, designed to improve the likelihood of your project succeeding.

1. Business justification: every project should lead to a worthwhile return on investment. In other words, we need to understand the benefits that a particular project will bring, before committing ourselves to any significant expenditure. During the lifecycle of a project, however, circumstances can change quickly. If at any point it becomes clear that a return on investment is no longer feasible, then the project should be scrapped and no more money wasted.

2. Defined roles and responsibilities: everybody working on the project needs to understand the nature of their involvement: for what is each person responsible, and to whom are they accountable? Without clear roles and responsibilities, nobody will know precisely what he or she is supposed to be doing (and everybody will pass the buck at the first sign of trouble). In such a chaotic environment, the progress of the project will be seriously jeopardised.

3. Manage by exception: project sponsors should avoid getting too bogged down in the day-to-day running of projects and instead allow the project manager to concentrate on this area. Micro-management by a sponsor is a hindrance, not a help. Project sponsors should set clear boundaries for cost and time, with which the manager should work. If he/she cannot provide the agreed deliverables within these constraints, concerns must be escalated to the sponsor for a decision.

4. Manage by stages: break the project up into smaller chunks, or stages. Each stage marks a point at which the project sponsor will make key decisions. For example, is the project still worthwhile? Are the risks still acceptable? Dividing a project into stages, and only committing to one stage at a time, is a low risk approach that enables the sponsor to manage by exception.

5. Focus on products: it is vital that clients and customers think carefully about the products, or deliverables, they require, before the project begins. The clearer they can be about their requirements, the more realistic and achievable the plans that can be produced. This makes managing the project much easier and less risky.

6. Learn from experience: don't risk making the same mistakes on every project; consider why certain aspects went well or badly, then incorporate the lessons learned into your approach to your next project. Humans have an amazing capacity to learn, but when it comes to repeating errors made during previous projects, we all too often fail to learn the lessons.

7. Tailor to suit the environment: whatever project management methodology or framework you favour, it must be tailored to suit the needs of your project. Rather than blindly following a methodology, the project manager must be able to adapt procedures to meet the demands of the work in hand. How you plan on a two-week project is likely to be very different from how you plan on a two-year project

In summary, the project management principles discussed here can be applied universally, irrespective of language, geography or culture. These principles have been proven in practice over many years; adhere to them, rather than struggle on without a coherent strategy, and you will have a greater chance of project success.