Frequently Asked Questions about IS Applications Project Management
Frequently Asked Questions about IS Applications Project Management
1 - What tool do you use for Project Portfolio Management (PPM)?
We manage projects and resources in ASTA PowerProject http://www.astadev.com/ We capture actual project effort for IS Applications Divion Staff staff using the web based time recording tool provided with ASTA.
A complete time record is submitted by each person in IS Applications Division each week which includes their effort on projects, services, annual leave , absences and other activities. ASTA PowerProject is a specialist tool and most of our staff only access the too via the web based Time Recording interface. Our full ASTA users are Project Managers, Programme Managers, Portfolio Managers and Resource Managers within our various teams.
2 - What tool do you use for project/portfolio reporting? (in terms of metrics/trends)
We capture actual project staff effort in ASTA PowerProject http://www.astadev.com/. We export this data to Excel and our formal reports on projects, services and resources are all driven from the ASTA data.
3 - Do you have a repository for PM documentation? If so what do you use.
Our repository is the Drupal based web application at www.projects.ed.ac.uk we also use Confluence Wiki and SharePoint for sharing project information and managing Project Boards, User Groups etc.
4 - How do you measure the success of the PMO/Governance structure? And would you have any metrics you could share on this?
Currently our measurement is mainly around projects delivered - we need to do more with outcomes and benefits.
Our projects are grouped into programmes and portfolios. We have an annual planning process to identify projects see https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/planning/area/apps/15-16. The oucome of the annual planning process is an agreed set of projects to be delivered in the coming year. We know how many projects are expected to be completed in the year ahead for each programme and portfolio.As part of the planning process we set a budget for our staff effort on each project and can roll up this to set a budget for each programme and portfolio.We also capture start, planning, delivery and closure milestones for each project.
We use these measures to report metrics and KPIs including:
- No of projects delivered in period per programme and portfolio
- No of project days delivered period per programme and portfolio
- No of projects delivered in period/expected no of projects delivered in period as a % per programme and portfolio
- No of project days delivered in period/expected no of project days delivered in period as a % per programme and portfolio
- No of milestones (start, planning, delivery, closure) achieved in a period per programme and portfolio
- No of milestones (start, planning, delivery, closure) achieved in a period / expected no of milestones achieved in a period as % per programme and portfolio
As we have a budgeted effort for each project we can compare budgets with actuals on a project, programme, portfolio or overall basis. This is great - but be need to be wary of becoming overly fixated on costs rather than project outcomes.
We capture a RAG status for each project based on a very simple rule:
- GREEN – expected to deliver agreed scope on time and in budget
- AMBER – emerging risks or issues may not deliver agreed scope on time and in budget
- RED – will not deliver agreed scope on time and in budget (intervention required)
Our primary interest is in the RAG status for individual projects. For large programmes and portfolios we occassionally report counts and percentages of projects by RAG status
We publish annual reports for each portfolio which contain some of this data. You view reports of portfolio outcomes in 2013/14 at:
- https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/portfolio/csg
- https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/portfolio/isg
- https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/portfolio/usg
5 - Any thoughts on developing these metrics?
The thing we are all looking for is the correlation between successful outcomes and things which we can influence or control. We all want answers to questions such as:
- are we more/less successful with small projects (up to 50 days IS Apps effort +/- 20%) medium, (up to 100 days IS Apps effort +/- 20%), large (up to 200 days IS Apps effort +/- 20%) or x-large projects (>250 days IS Apps effort)?
- are we more/less successful on projects with shorter duration (elapsed time)?
- are we more/less successful on projects of different types (Software Development, IT Infrastructure, Package Implementation, Business Case/Options Appraisal and Procurement)?
This leads us to consider metrics such as average project size vs outcome, average project duration vs outcone and project outcomes by type as part of our continuous improvement processes.
References
The University of Edinburgh also contributes as a project organisation to the UCISA Project and Change Management Group https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/groups/pcmg.aspx. You can access UCISA best practice project and changement resources at:
- Major Project Governance Assessment Toolkit https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/publications/major_project_gov.aspx
- Effective Risk Management https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/publications/effect_risk.aspx
Mark Ritchie Deputy Director and Head of Project Services