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Volume IX - Issue V - May 2007

Featured Papers

 

Managing Programs to Success:
Key Program Management Processes
(Part 5 of a Series)

By Russ Martinelli and Jim Waddell

Introduction

A frequent comment we receive from company representatives is that they believe their firm does an excellent job of planning, but once programs and projects are approved and in execution, results do not materialize as planned.  This is characteristic of a major breakdown between planning and execution and is one of the key strengths of the program management model, that of successfully linking planning with the execution of programs and projects in order to achieve the intended business results.

Once a firm transitions to the program management model for developing its products, services or infrastructure capabilities, attention and resources should be focused on the development and implementation of key processes to make program management practices more consistent and repeatable.  Fundamentally, there is not a lot of difference between the process steps used to manage a program from those used to manage a project.  The difference comes in how they are applied.

In this paper we provide a summary-level explanation of four primary processes needed to effectively manage and execute a program to success – schedule management, financial management, risk management, and change management.  Other processes such as life cycle, stakeholder and business management are covered in detail in our book titled ­Program Management for Improved Business Results.

Read complete paper in English

 

Read earlier papers in the series.

Program Management: It's About the Business! (Part 1 in the series)

Conquering Complexity with Program Management (Part 2 in the series)

The Program Management Maturity Model TM: A Framework for Change (Part 3 in the series)

Power, Politics and Program Management (Part 4 in the series)

 

About the Authors:


Russ Martinelli

Russ Martinelli is the Manager of Program Management Methods within the Corporate Platform Office at Intel Corporation, where he focuses on the definition and implementation of program management practices across Intel.  Additionally, Russ is the chairman of Intel’s global Program Management Community of Practice, an adjunct professor at the University of Phoenix, and co-founder of the Program Management Academy.  Russ has held a variety of positions at Intel and Lockheed Martin in the areas of systems engineering, general management, operations management, and project and program management. Contact Russ at:  mailto:russ.martinelli@programmanagement-academy.com



Jim Waddell

Jim Waddell is an independent consultant specializing in program management and mergers and acquisitions.  He is the former Director of Program Management for Tektronix Inc. where he established and led Tektronix’s first worldwide Program Management Office.  Additionally, Jim is an adjunct professor at the Oregon Graduate Institute, a founding member of the Program Management Forum in Portland, and the co-founder of the Program Management Academy.  Jim has held a wide range of managerial and operational roles ranging across engineering, marketing, systems and manufacturing in the high tech and energy industries. Contact Jim at:  mailto:jim.waddell@programmanagement-academy.com

 

 

 

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Activity Based Costing (ABC) -
The Other Side of the Earned Value Coin?

By Paul Giammalvo

Forget CMMI®, http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/ OPM3® www.pmi.org and other “Capability Maturity Models”. Want to save yourself and your organization time and money? Then apply this very simple test to see how mature your organization is in using project management “Best Practices”. Do you use Earned Value Management and does your accounting system support Activity Based Costing and are you using it?

If you aren’t using Earned Value Management and its alter ego, Activity Based Costing, then you are probably not getting the full benefits project management methodologies offer as effectively as you can or should. Worst case, failure to apply Activity Based Costing may well be causing you to outsource work which in reality is a “core competency” (Those activities you do better than others and make money at) and keep in-house work which you are actually losing money on.

Read complete paper in English

 

About the Author:

Paul Giammalvo
Paul Giammalvo

Paul D. Giammalvo, CDT, PMP, CCE, MScPM, is Senior Technical Advisor to PT Mitratata Citragraha www.getpmcertified.com and Adjunct Professor of Project/Program Management, Lille Graduate School of Management, Paris, FRANCE. www.esc-lille.com. For over 14 years, he has been providing Project Management training and consulting throughout SE Asia, Middle East and Europe. He is active in the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International, (AACE), www.aacei.org and the Construction Management Association of America, (CMAA), www.cmaanet.org. More recently, he has been elected to the Board of Directors, Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards, (GAPPS) www.global-mstandards.org. Paul is based in Jakarta, Indonesia and can be reached at pauldg@indo.net.id.

 

 

 

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Overcoming Common Pitfalls in EPM Systems
Implementations - Beyond the Technical Execution

By Francis D. Wega

With the advent and popularity of Enterprise Project Management (EPM) systems in recent years, it has been very common to come across EPM implementations originally considered successful, yet much underutilized, demonstrating a lack of adoption, and rapidly becoming a wasted investment.

The issue appears to be deeply rooted in the misconstrued definition and understanding of an EPM system and its ramifications. An EPM system has often been restricted to its technological components in such a way that the success of an EPM implementation is synonymous to the success in designing and assembling those components. This narrow view leads to a potentially fatal ignorance of the real organizational and behavioral ramifications of such an implementation.

Read complete paper in English

 

About the Author:


Francis D. Wega

Francis D. Wega, MPM, PMP is a Senior Project Management Consultant and Engagement Manager with Project Assistants, Inc. a project management consulting firm based in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. For more than ten years, he has provided project management solutions for dozens of companies in multiple industries (Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical, IT, Manufacturing, State and Federal Government, Financial, Construction, Non-profit). Francis has led numerous project management maturity assessments and health-checks, and has developed strategic and tactical plans for capacity improvement. He also led the development and institutionalization of Project Management Offices (PMO) for multiple organizations, and helped develop and deploy project management processes and methodologies. He led multiple Enterprise Project Management (EPM) systems planning, implementation and training, and provided Project Management training, mentorship and coaching to project practitioners. Francis is also specialized in issues concerning project management for developing countries in Africa.  Francis Wega has been a PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP) since 2001 and holds a Masters degree in Project Management with honor from Devry University, Keller Graduate School of Management in the USA. As the sponsor of the PMI Grand Centre Cameroon potential chapter, Francis has been a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) since 1998, a member of the American Society for the Advancement of Project management (ASAPM), and member of the Microsoft Project Association (MPA – since 1998). Francis can be reached at francisdw@msn.com.

 

 

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