Volume IX - Issue XI - November 2007
PM Industry News
Hill International named Project Manager for $1.6 Billion Hill International, the worldwide construction consulting firm, announced on September 29 that it has been awarded a contract by Tameer Holdings Investment to provide project management services for the landmark Tameer Towers development in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The three-year contract is worth an estimated value of approximately AED 50.0 million ($13.6 million).  Tameer Towers, anticipated to cost a total of AED 6.0 billion ($1.6 billion), is located in the Centre Business District of the Shams Abu Dhabi project on Reem Island. Consisting of six towers, the development includes a state-of-the-art 300-meter-high office tower, 4 residential towers with heights varying from 30 to 50 floors, and a 7-star luxury hotel. Tameer Towers is intended to become an icon of Abu Dhabi, similar to the Petronas Towers of Kuala Lumpur, the Eiffel Tower of Paris, or the Burj Al Arab of Dubai. Construction began in September 2007 and is expected to be completed by November 2010.
 “Tameer is firmly committed to the delivery of high quality developments and with Hill International selected as project manager; we will ensure their vast expertise in high-end complex projects will be utilized optimally to deliver our landmark Tameer Towers,” said Dr. Abdallah Shaaban, Managing Director of Tameer Abu Dhabi. “We are thrilled to be a part of Tameer’s flagship project,” said Raouf S. Ghali, President of Hill’s Project Management Group (International). “It is an honor to have been selected to manage such a landmark development,” Ghali added. Hill International, with 1,500 employees in 70 offices worldwide, provides program management, project management, construction management, and construction claims services. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the 10th largest construction management firm in the United States. For more information on Hill, please visit our website at www.hillintl.com.
Journyx Releases Customer Cost Tracker as New Project-based Cost Management Tool for Consultants and Service Companies Journyx has announced the launch of Customer Cost Tracker, a new tool that allows consulting and other service-based organizations to understand the costs of servicing their customers. With little or no IT maintenance costs and a price tag of $5 per user per month, organizations of all sizes can sign up and begin tracking this critical information. The announcement was made in Atlanta from the PMI Global Congress 2007 – North America project management conference.  According to Journyx CEO Curt Finch (pictured), “The new Customer Cost Tracker product was designed for smaller firms with 20-100 employees. Of course it can be used by larger companies, or divisions of larger firms, but it is very inexpensive and flexible. We just turned off some features that smaller service companies don’t normally need. It should be especially useful for project management consultants to track their time and expenses against specific contracts, tasks and projects.” Customer Cost Tracker (www.customercost.com) provides an inexpensive, easy-to-use central repository for labor costs and expenses assigned to each customer. It offers an online solution for monitoring activities and project status that allows organizations to deliver on time and on budget. Additionally, data from Customer Cost Tracker gives insight into profitable bidding by understanding customer costs by:
“My business partner and I are working at break-neck speed to grow our management consulting firm. We implemented Customer Cost Tracker to accurately track our team’s hours on client projects. It works for us because it drives client billings and cash flow for our business,” said Brett Bachman, founder, Growth Acceleration Partners. “We configured Customer Cost Tracker in just 30 minutes and rolled it out to our entire team of 18 consultants with no training downtime. It provides insight into the costs of our customers that we never had before and helps us make smarter decisions.” Customer Cost Tracker includes a five minute setup guide for a “quick start” to tracking basic information immediately. It also provides a product upgrade option to expand process automation as it matures and grows in complexity. “The question that I pose to companies is, ‘Do you know how much money each of your customers is costing you? Are you sure?’” If a company answers ‘no’ or ‘I’m not sure’ – then how can they know what their costs and profitability are for each customer?” added Curt. “This information is critical, yet it is astounding how many companies do not have a way to capture this data. Customer Cost Tracker provides a centralized, easy-to-use solution to store detailed, accurate records of all your customer cost information. The result will be shortened billing cycles, smarter bidding and higher profitability.” Journyx is the first company to provide Web-based time-tracking and project accounting solutions that guide customers to per-person, per-project profitability. Customers include American Airlines, Bayer, AC Nielsen, L'Oreal and Symantec. For more information, go to www.journyx.com/company/about.html.
PMForum Tapped to Provide Project Management Services PMForum, Inc. announced on Friday, October 26, 2007 that the company has been awarded a contract to provide project management advisory services for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI). The GTRI, within the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is a major program financed by the US government to reduce and protect vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials located at civilian sites worldwide. The program directly addresses important recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.  According to David Pells, PMForum President and Managing Editor of PM World Today, “This is the kind of global initiative that we want to support. The scope of the program is very large, global in nature, and intended to improve global safety and security. PMForum is providing a team drawn from among the most experienced and qualified project management experts in the world to support this initiative, and we are thrilled that we were invited to participate.” PMForum advisors are participating on a technical review team, along with representatives from several U.S. National Laboratories, to review the integrated project management system being developed for this important program and other project management related issues as requested by the program management team. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.  Shepherd, Pells, Archibald, AbbaIn addition to Mr. Pells, the expert advisors on the PMForum team include Wayne Abba, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on earned value management (EVM) in both industry and government; Russ Archibald, PMI Fellow, APM (UK) Honorary Fellow, and a Global Advisor for PMForum, with nearly 50 years of experience in a wide range of projects and industries and one of the world’s leading authorities on modern project management; and Miles Shepherd, past president and chair of both the Association of Project Management (APM) in the UK and the International Project Management Association (IPMA), APM Fellow [Honorary], and also a leading and widely recognized figure in the global PM community. Mr. Shepherd is also an advisor and correspondent for PMForum in the UK. The GTRI mission is to reduce the threat of a terrorist acquiring the material for a crude nuclear weapon or a “dirty bomb”, by assisting foreign governments in improving cradle-to-grave security, control and disposition of non-military nuclear and radioactive materials. The goal of the GTRI program is to convert, secure, or remove a wide variety of at-risk special nuclear material or dangerous radiological materials that are widely used for medical, scientific, and industrial purposes. GTRI operates in the USA and more than 100 cooperating countries worldwide to address at-risk nuclear and radiological materials that pose, or could pose, a threat against the security of the USA and its allies and interests around the world. Additional information can be found at www.nnsa.doe.gov.
 Established in 1995, www.pmforum.org was the world’s first website devoted to professional project management and continues to be one of the world’s most popular sources of project management news and information. PMForum, Inc. is a company formed to operate and administer the pmforum.org website. PMForum also produces the monthly online PM World Today eJournal where articles, case studies, papers and viewpoints by leading PM authorities from around the world can be found; Free subscriptions are available at www.pmworldtoday.net. PMForum has a global network of advisors and correspondents that includes some of the leading figures in the world of project management. The company is prepared to offer independent advisory and oversight services for selected worthwhile programs and projects.
Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 opens in Seattle Microsoft and Partners launched the 3-day Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 with over 1,500 attendees in Seattle, Washington, USA on Monday, October 29. The event motto is “Learn, Connect, Grow.” The attendees welcomed Michael Angiulo, General Manager – Microsoft Project Business Unit, as the opening day keynote speaker. Michael wowed the audience with improvements to this year’s event and proved the value of the Project 2007 product line with 1st-hand testimonials from two corporate users!  Michael explained the following improvements: increased quantities of sessions for best practices and executive case studies. These two changes are the direct result from users’ feedback at the Project Conference 2006. Microsoft is truly listening to us users! This year’s event also includes 3 working labs for Hands-On experience with Project 2007 products, for the 2007 SP1 coming out soon, and a lab for 2007 certification. The Project 2007 product line is more than a better scheduling tool. The Project Portfolio Server 2007 enables the users to evolve into the emerging market of governance, enterprise collaboration, enterprise integration, for example with SAP and Siebel, and larger scalability from 10 to 40,000 users. Executive case studies were presented by QinetiQ and Cadbury Schwepps. Each covered how EPM has improved their corporate performance throughout their global enterprise. Several of many Microsoft EPM Partners were also identified, including Tata Consultancy Services, UMT Consulting, EPM Live, LMR and this year’s Partner of the Year recipient, Pcubed. This event has something for everyone. The sessions are organized into the following 6 tracks and a DVD of all sessions will be released to all attendees within 60 days. The track titles included Best Practices, Business Solution, Developer, System Administration, Executive Case Studies and 2007 Product Overview. With the high caliber of both speakers and attendees, one will experience several standing room only sessions. The demand for information and experience at this event is high, just like the demand in the marketplace. This event is proving to be all it can be!
 The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007; the second will be held in Madrid, Spain in early December. According to Microsoft, these conferences aim to enable individuals and organizations to develop a better understanding of the end-to end capabilities of the Microsoft 2007 family of products and to help further advance their Project Management Potential. Information about the Microsoft Project Conference 2007 in Seattle can be found at http://www.msprojectconference.com/indexUS.htm
Microsoft announces new vision and strategy for Microsoft has unveiled a new vision for its Microsoft Office Project line this week in conjunction with the opening of the Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 in Seattle. The two-day conference opened at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle, USA, on 29 October 2007 with over 1,500 in attendance. The new vision and several other significant announcements of interest to users of Microsoft Project were included in a press release issued by Microsoft this week.
The following points were also emphasized during his opening keynote speech at the Conference on Monday by Michael Angiulo, General Manager, Microsoft Project Business Unit. Microsoft Office Project Vision: Microsoft's vision for Project is to broaden the scope of Enterprise Project Management by bringing it to a broader set of people through the tools they use every day and continue to build on the innovations that are included in the current release, as well as continue to aim to deliver ‘best in class’ IT solutions to the enterprise. By building on those innovations, we're moving towards the vision of broadening Project's appeal to beyond just the Project Manager. By building on those innovations, Microsoft is moving towards that vision of broadening Office Project's appeal to beyond just the Project Manager. When looking ahead at the next version of Project, Microsoft plans on focusing on the following:
 Microsoft Office Project 2007 Momentum: Microsoft Office Project continues to see tremendous momentum in the industry, and is generating tremendous momentum among our customers and partners who have committed to building on the Office Project 2007 Platform Solution. The Microsoft Office Project family now has more than 20 million licenses sold, with a diverse customer base - from boutique firms to multinational corporations (roughly 80% of Project Server customers are organizations with more than 50,000 employees) - running into the thousands. More information on Office Project 2007 can be located at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/default.aspx. The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007; the second will be held in Madrid, Spain in early December. According to Microsoft, these conferences aim to enable individuals and organizations to develop a better understanding of the end-to end capabilities of the Microsoft 2007 family of products and to help further advance their Project Management Potential. Information about the Microsoft Project Conference 2007 in Seattle can be found at http://www.msprojectconference.com/indexUS.htm. Microsoft Partners and Sponsors showcased at Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 in Seattle Microsoft and Partners launched the 3-day Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 with over 1,500 attendees in Seattle, Washington, USA on Monday, October 29. The event motto is “Learn, Connect, Grow.” The 2007 conference was held at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle.  As in previous years, companies that have partnered with Microsoft to develop Microsoft Project-compatible products and services are major participants and highly visible at this year’s conference. The Microsoft Project Partner of the Year award recipient this year is Pcubed. The Sponsors this year included the following: Tata Consultancy Services (Platinum Sponsor), Microsoft Dynamics (Gold Sponsor), DecisionEdge (DVD Sponsor), Project Management Institute (Evening Event Sponsor), gantthead.com (Welcome reception sponsor), and EPM Live (Evening Event Sponsor). The conference includes a major Exhibition of project management-related products and services. Exhibitors this year include 6D Tech, ASG, Borland, Compulink, Computer Sciences Corporation, Corporate Project Solutions, Dekker Ltd., EPK Group, forProject Technology Inc, Friedrich Klatt & Associates, HMS Software, Impress Software, IIL, KIDASA Software Inc, Microsoft Visio, MindJet, MPA, MSProjectExperts, Pcubed, PM Resource Group, Project Hosts, Project Management Practice Inc, Project Solutions Group, Project Widgits, ProModel, Quantitative Software Management Inc, QuantumPM LLC, RMC Project Management, Robbins-Gioia, Safran North America LLC, The Project Group, UMT Consulting Group, Versatile, Visual Studio Team System, and WSG Systems Corporation.
The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007; the second will be held in Madrid, Spain in early December. According to Microsoft, these conferences aim to enable individuals and organizations to develop a better understanding of the end-to end capabilities of the Microsoft 2007 family of products and to help further advance their Project Management Potential. Information about the Microsoft Project Conference 2007 in Seattle can be found at http://www.msprojectconference.com/indexUS.htm
End of Day One entertainment at Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 in Seattle The Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 moved from classroom to evening entertainment at the end of day one on 29 October in Seattle. All work and no play can produce less than the best learning environment, so conference attendees gathered at the Space Needle, nibbled on Halloween goodies and danced. Here are some images from the evening’s activities.
The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007;
Sponsors & Exhibitors showcased this week at APM Project Management Conference in London  The APM 2007 Project Management Conference opened in London on Tuesday, 30 October, with the support and sponsorship of nearly two dozen leading project management companies whose presence was strongly evident. The 2007 APM National Conference - The Business of Projects – was held at The Brewery Conference Centre in London during 30-31 October 2007. The conference includes an exhibition of project management products and services offered by sponsors of the conference.  Exhibitors at the APM 2007 Project Management Conference included the following companies:
In addition to the exhibitors, the following companies are sponsoring the 2007 project management awards to be presented at the Awards Dinner on Tuesday evening:
According to APM chair Mike Nichols, “Our exhibitors and sponsors recognised the significance of our first national conference, and of the topics to be discussed. We are raising the visibility of some key national issues in the UK. These project management companies are helping us move project management onto the national agenda, and to reward some of the highest achievers this year in the project management field.”  The first such event for the association in its long history, the 2007 conference is focused on project management “issues of national importance” in the UK. The two day conference was formatted to include the plenary session, three main tracks of presentations and discussions, and a closing plenary. During the conference, the following project management topics of national interest in the UK were discussed: The Business of Projects; Project Management Governance; the Project Management Skills Gap; Learning from Mega Projects; and Project Management in a Sustainable Society. For more information, visit www.apm.org.uk/conference.asp.
 The Association for Project Management (APM) is the national body for professional project management in the United Kingdom (UK). With over 15,000 individual and 390 corporate members, APM is one of the largest organisations of its kind in Europe. The organisation develops and promotes project management across all sectors of industry and beyond. APM 's mission is: "To develop and promote the professional disciplines of project and programme management for the public benefit." At the heart of the association is the APM Body of Knowledge; containing fifty-two knowledge areas required to manage any successful project. APM promotes the use of the APM Body of Knowledge through qualifications, accredited training, research, publications and events. APM is the UK member of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). With headquarters in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, APM has twelve regional branches throughout the UK and one in Hong Kong. Additional information can be found at www.apm.org.uk. .
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer keynotes Day 2 at Microsoft Office Project Conference in Seattle  Day 2 of the Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 included a lively keynote address by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. His timely message rang true to today’s demanding marketplace: Project Management and People Ready Business. He articulated Microsoft’s broader vision for the future of Project and Portfolio Management, and how current investments in Project 2007 can help individuals and enterprises prepare for the next wave of innovation and business productivity. This vision included a world of work changing due to increasing competition as well as global, financial and economic risks, and enterprises in the future that need to manage their project portfolios very efficiently. Successfully organizations will evolve from pure project management thinking to ‘work management’ based scenarios that span organizational boundaries and maturity levels, enabling project managers and information workers to manage vast amounts of data, information, and work in meaningful ways. These organizations will also enable data entry for various management systems to be entered in the worker’s ‘home’ environment. For example, we saw how a developer working in Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) everyday continued in this ‘home’ environment to also enter time worked without switching to another application. The work environment, not the worker, moved the data from one application to the timesheet application!
 Steven A. Ballmer is Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of software for personal and business computing. Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 and was the first business manager hired by Bill Gates. During the past 20 years, Ballmer has headed several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. In July 1998, he was promoted to President, a role that gave him day-to-day responsibility for running Microsoft. He was named CEO in January 2000. Together with Bill Gates and the company’s other business and technical leaders, Ballmer is focused on continuing Microsoft’s innovation and leadership across the company’s seven businesses. Microsoft’s goal is to provide an integrated platform to enable a seamless experience across a wide range of computing and non-PC devices and services. The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007; the second will be held in Madrid, Spain in early December. According to Microsoft, these conferences aim to enable individuals and organizations to develop a better understanding of the end-to end capabilities of the Microsoft 2007 family of products and to help further advance their Project Management Potential. Information about the Microsoft Project Conference 2007 in Seattle can be found at http://www.msprojectconference.com/indexUS.htm
Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 in Seattle Offered Executive Case Studies and Access to Exhibitors After the lively keynote address by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, attendees saw several executive case studies and visited numerous EPM exhibitors. Many of the success stories included utilizing an EPM Microsoft Partners. Tuesday’s Executive Case Studies
Just a few of the Exhibitors
The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007; the second will be held in Madrid, Spain in early December. According to Microsoft, these conferences aim to enable individuals and organizations to develop a better understanding of the end-to end capabilities of the Microsoft 2007 family of products and to help further advance their Project Management Potential. Information about the Microsoft Project Conference 2007 in Seattle can be found at http://www.msprojectconference.com/indexUS.htm
PMForum interviews Mike Angiulo, General Manager The Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 opened at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle, USA, on 29 October 2007 with over 1,500 in attendance. The keynote speaker on Monday, Day one, was Michael Angiulo, General Manager – Microsoft Project Business Unit, who presented a broad new vision and strategy for Microsoft Project. After his speech, Mike agreed to meet with PMForum correspondent Matt Piazza. With some last minute schedule adjustments, Matt sat down with Mike to discuss the Microsoft Office Project evolution and the changing marketing demands from this evolution.  Mike hit the nail on the head with his understanding that clients’ project management information requirements are maturing through the years. Microsoft Office Project has to do more than keep track of tasks (scope), duration (time) and costs, the basic triple constraints of project management. These constraints were good enough for managing in the 1990’s, but not the 21st century. Keeping in synch with the knowledge areas identified by the Project Management Institute (PMI), Project has evolved by addressing project information requirements for project issues, risks and document management, all in the same application, Project Server 2003. According to Mike, “This technical achievement was good for 2003, but we are living in 2007 now. Corporate governance demands collection of all projects and more challenging, all work, in one application. Project has evolved into a family of integrated products including Project Portfolio Server 2007. Microsoft continues to lead the way in delivering time saving management application solutions.”
 As General Manager of the Microsoft Project Business Unit, Michael Angiulo is responsible for the product development and strategic direction of the Microsoft Project business. While building on the strong foundation of Project on the desktop, he is currently investing in the Enterprise Project Management solution, powered by Project Server and the recently acquired Project Portfolio Server. Prior to this role, Michael was the Group Product Planner for the Information Worker division, leading the worldwide research and strategy teams for the Office System and Real Time Communications groups. Michael has been with Microsoft for over twelve years and has previously held program management roles in Microsoft Research and on the Excel, FrontPage and core Office product teams. He has been awarded seven patents. He earned an undergraduate engineering degree from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle. The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007; the second will be held in Madrid, Spain in early December. According to Microsoft, these conferences aim to enable individuals and organizations to develop a better understanding of the end-to end capabilities of the Microsoft 2007 family of products and to help further advance their Project Management Potential. Information about the Microsoft Project Conference 2007 in Seattle can be found at http://www.msprojectconference.com/indexUS.htm.
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PM that did not use Microsoft Office Project 2007
Executive Prioritizing Projects without Microsoft Project Portfolio Server 2007
James Flavin with 
Keith Wilson of Project Management Practices Inc
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