Enterprise Project Management - Assignment Example

Lecturer: Enterprise Project Management Q1. Answer When using the portfolio management system for a company, a well articulated decision making process about a collection of investments is made, considering investment policies, strategic and tactical asset allocations, security, implementation and performance as well as risk measurement is carried out. For a company that does not use such a system and has some projects behind schedule, the IT PMO charter could assist such a company in various ways. Meeting project completion datelines with the right resources. First and foremost, PMO shall work with the company management to come up with quantified criteria (RIO-based) for the selection of the project against the overall business objectives regarding Return on Investment (Mahnic, & Zabkar, 2012). To establish a performance focused environment, a regular monitoring and performance determination system using the Earned Value (EV) method is set in place. The project team is taken through a mentoring process in all phases of the project from project definition to rollout. All the company management stakeholders are trained in a full range of project management topics each to understand their role in making the project success. The IT PMO keeps the company management team and project management well informed by giving various reports at relevant times. It can also serve the company authority on project management methods and practices by setting the company’s IT methodology and standards, strongly advocate for better project management practices in the company, select a competent management tool and serve as the official source of project templates and other project aids. By IT PMO charter collaborating, the company’s IT directors in managing IT project portfolio helps in the development and articulation of the company’s technology strategy (Mahnic, & Zabkar, 2012). A master IT project plan is successfully selected is also maintained and published. Project resource management as a key tool is handled and further warning the company’s IT organ over any project at risk and providing recommendations. The charter also performs capacity planning with the company’s IT Directors for the company to make optimal use of its resources. It also works closely with the company’s project manager and project sponsor to make adjustments to under-performing projects. The charter can also manage all company IT projects either directly or indirectly. In the event the IT PMO directly manages projects on request; sponsors make their request to the PMO that collaborates with other stakeholders to decide where resources should be allocated, the charter provides the project management services for the project, and it also takes the accountability for the successful project delivery (Mahnic, & Zabkar, 2012). In the event of the sponsor, PMO deals directly with him for efficiency and finally, PMO enforces its project management methodology and standards on the project(s). If the PMO indirectly manages the project on request, sponsors make their request to the PMO which collaborate with other stakeholders to decide where PMO resources should be allocated. The department responsibly provides the project manager for the project who report on dotted line to PMO for duration of the project. PMO then provides guidance to the project manager but under normal circumstances would not provide direct project management services. PMO deals directly with the sponsor and project manager and enforces its project management methodology and standards on the project(s). In addition, the PMO on request performs quality and risk audits and provides business analysis services. For a given project, PMO establishes SMART targets against which to evaluate performance quarterly and keeping its (SMART target) competence up to date through annual evaluations renewal. Projects are completed within budget. "We are also concerned that the longer the full implementation takes ….” By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY advertisement on FBI behind schedule, over budget on computer system. From this it is quite evident that a project that goes beyond the stipulated plan bracket ends up by being costly. To implement the completion of the project within the budget bracket, PMO executes the project(s) through four phases where in the initial stages, the PMO team is trained on the basic project management processes, standards to be followed when running the project (Mahnic, & Zabkar, 2012) . Proper project management tools are selected and implemented to assist with scheduling, resource and risk management and reporting mechanisms. During later stages, PMO works with senior management in strategic planning and managing business alignment for an effective plan. Project deliverables have passed quality control measures. PMO guards its project(s) against failure by ensuring that all projects have well-developed project plans that comply with stipulated commercial standards. A long-term plan is developed and implemented to improve its capability by service improvement through measuring effectiveness, change implementation to existing services where necessary and creatively adding new services. Satisfied customers. To satisfy customers; PMO supports the ITS Department in its mission to deliver successful IT projects. It also provides guidance, drive projects to success and deliver updates.PMO again do provide training and mentoring processes and last but not least, it works with ITS Directors in the company to create an environment conducive to project success. Q2. Answer The VistA system and the SENTINEL system were successful developed because in both the systems, a commercial software availability played a crucial role (Mahnic, & Zabkar, 2012). This facilitated greater interest in the involved groups to give shape to the two systems by their vigorous participation at different levels. Private sector expertise played a valuable role in both the cases. For instance, in the case of VistA, when the Three production systems were shut down by ODM&T mandate and subsequently removing more hospital computer systems, the DHCP developers responded by continuing development in facilities outside the immediate grasp of central control, something that lead to the “Underground Railroad” . Such a radical move was unstoppable. It compelled Robert Nimmo, the VA Administrator sign a policy that gave facility directors the authority to select and give priority to applications to be used at their facilities and ended up endorsing the applications created by the underground developers in the field. This can be seen from the SENTINEL system case when Chad Fulgham was recruited as private sector IT executive, to ensure it was complete. Agile development sets things straight. The formation of “Underground Railroad” is a clear proof that moving quickly and lightly makes stack processes can still work if an envisioned team can join dots to bring change as seen from the VistA system case. This can be demonstrated in the SENTIL system case when Fulgham made the big shift is strategy by deciding in September 2010 to fight for project control from Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor and to accelerate software deliverables by the use of agile development. In both cases groups were formulated to further derive benefits of field participation. Beginning in the early days of the “Underground Railway”, local developers and clinicians did collaborated to envision, develop, and support VistA applications and as for the SENTINEL applications Fulgham believes in high point of performance from a user who is hard to please base by having a system test of 300 agents Q3 Answer The IT PMO does help the execution of an agile methodology that is based on SCRUM but allows for project managers as well as product owners, the teams and the scrum masters. From my point of view, I wish to understand the term SCRUM in this context as a fare ground created for two teams to play when the ball is freely thrown between them that they may compete for the possession (Mahnic, & Zabkar, 2012). In this context, as seen from the IT PMO charter, we observe, “ In 2006, the FBI endowed the innovative contract for the system of case management to Lockheed Martin, but in September 2010, an  Fulgham who was not patient, hired in 2008 to get the project running, choose to present it in house. Later on, the agency has used agile development to drive the many projects that are delayed in accomplishment. The FBI team of agile makes software after each 2 weeks, and the system of pre-launch is now operating on Build 33. Consequently, we see the working of agency on Build 36, which included mostly of structures that were not original RFP part. Fulgham claims this software is basically done.” Additionally, “…the FBI purchased 3 potent appliances of Oracle Exadata --one for testing, another for production, and a third for development and backup. According to Fulgham, in a stress system test of 5,000-user, only 1 tenth of 1% of its processing capacity was consumed by Sentinel. So moving on, will not affect the firm performance, as he spoke” Having said these are shows that any team with a vision, a good business plan, and well managed resources and with commitment is capable to deliver on its goals. From the IT PMO charter portfolio, it is quite convincing that if the IT PMO competes and wins for the ball possession simply by having project managers as well as product owners, the teams and the scrum masters on its side, then by deploying its core objectives in support of its mission in the implementation of this project, the following key areas of weakness vehemently observed during the execution of this project can be handled. Based on the aspect that “Agile development helps to accomplish tasks.” John Foley, lesson 1, evidently affirm that such approach ca not effectively deliver the given project because the  inheritance of Martin, Fulghams thinking sounds to be a quick fix something which lead FBI to miss its aim of finishing date of the work. This can be interpreted as failure to deliver the project successfully. Various factors could have lead to this. One of could be, lack of a proper business plan management. This leads to a poor foundation for a consistent project management leading to delayed timeframe, consequently working beyond the set budget. To overcome this, IT PMO charter provides proper Project Management services and oversight for selected (IT) projects for timely delivery. It ensures the organization’s project team is well mentored, trained, and guided to build professionalism among the staff. It also provides a variety of regular updates on the organization’s progress to keep the project management team well informed. Last but not the least, PMO sets the standard, provides and be the resident advocate and model for good project management practice Q4: The important aspects of the Agile method that were responsible for the success on the FBI Sentinel System are as follows. 4a) Customer prioritization. The agile approach aimed high to satisfy the customer through early and continuous release of valuable software, welcoming and responding to their feedback even in final stages of development. 4b) Higher quality production oriented. The high quality production is achieved through vigorous documentation for the set deliverables throughout the laid down project lifecycle in parallel to the development of the rest of the solution. This complimented by a systematical continuous system integration and development, whereby the solution is tested while undergoing integration in incorporate changes made to its definition. 4c) Agile planning For an agile planed project development, the release schedule is divided into a series of fixed-length development iteration of at least shorter periods, during which the work to be done is scheduled and the individual’s work items is assigned to members of the team. Such a plan and any valuable information is made accessible to everyone on the team. Subsequent burndown reports are continually made to truck the number of points accomplished and for monitoring every single looping, releases and the entire project block. 4d) Valuable private sector expertise. Many a times a project can come to a halt simply by lack of an expert on board. In this case Chad Fulgham as a domain expert who has a deep business understanding beyond that Mueller. Jeff Johnson is also broad on board as a technical expert and/or an integrator to facilitate the team achieve the set goals. Work Cited Mahnic & Zabkar. Measuring Progress of Scrum-based Software Projects. Electronics & Electrical Engineering, 18(8). 2012. Print. John Foley. InformationWeek. August 03, 2012 Online M.T. Ivers. End user application development-observations in VA medical centers. Proceedings of the fifth annual Symposium on Computer applications in Medical Care, 1981: p.53-55 Read More