1. Info-Tech Research Group1 Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns. © 1997-2012 Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Focus on Project Management Essentials For successful projects, focus on the essentials. Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997 - 2012 Info-Tech Research Group

2. Info-Tech Research Group2 Effective project management is critical to ensure that the results meet stakeholder expectations, yet organizations resist project management due to the perception that it must be complex and require excessive effort and expense. Introduction Understand the Project Management Essentials. Implement the essentials to improve project success rate. Provide tools and templates for successful project planning, monitoring, and communication. This Research Will Help You: Clear success criteria, strong soft skills, a focus on resource planning, and an active approach to project management are more important than formalized frameworks, certified project managers, or complex software.

3. Info-Tech Research Group3 Executive Summary Projects can be managed effectively by following these basic guidelines: Establish specific success criteria to meet stakeholder expectations, control project scope, and identify clear testing objectives. Assign project management to an individual with the qualities needed to drive the project: commitment to success, strong interpersonal skills, and ability to influence. Also, clarify authority and escalation path to enable timely decision making. Focus the project plan on major activities and resource requirements to ensure a manageable plan with clear timelines. Actively manage the project to detect and resolve problems early, maintain commitment to meeting dates, and manage resources effectively. For complex projects, more robust resource and scheduling tools, and a full-time project manager may be required, but the above basic guidelines still apply. Review the project upon completion to evaluate project success and lessons learned for future projects.

4. Info-Tech Research Group4 Most projects have low success rates. Info-Tech research reveals that project management is a struggle for most organizations Most projects fail to meet management and stakeholder expectations. The low success rate in adherence to scope implies that scope creep occurs frequently in projects. Less than 15% of organizations were successful at executing projects on time, on budget and on scope simultaneously over the last two years. * Importance measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that the given metric was important. ** Success measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that they were successful at the given metric.

5. Info-Tech Research Group5 Project Management The essentials: Establish Success Criteria Manage Progress Identify: Stakeholder expectations Scope boundaries Testing objectives Look for: Commitment to success Communication and soft skills Ability to influence Focus on: Major activities Resource requirements Clear timelines Promote: Commitment to key target dates Early problem detection and resolution Better resource management Assign Project Manager Role Develop the Plan

6. Info-Tech Research Group6 A Project Example The accounting department has requested that the IT department deploy an application called Trackit. Trackit is intended to allow management to understand how much staff time is spent on a number of specific accounting activities such as purchasing, invoice payment, billing, budgeting and so on. Management wants to begin time tracking in Q2 to facilitate resource reallocation at the end of Q3. This report uses the following example to illustrate project management essentials:

7. Info-Tech Research Group7 Establish Success Criteria Establish Success Criteria Manage Progress Identify: Stakeholder expectations Scope boundaries Testing objectives Assign Project Manager Role Develop the Plan

8. Info-Tech Research Group8 Establish concrete success criteria to keep the project focused Less than 40% of projects satisfy both management and stakeholders. Improve the chances for success by getting agreement on measurable success criteria. GoalRequired ActionTrackit Example Meet All Stakeholder Expectations Identify required functionality, timing and cost parameters. Managers of Procurement, Billing and Budgeting agree on data to be recorded. Report content identified. Implement by June 1st. Control Scope Expansion Establish features needed for requested functionality, and exclude all others. Ability to edit timesheet included in scope. Request for additional reports moved to a future project. Establish Testing Objectives Determine performance, capacity, and functionality requirements. Support up to 100 staff at the main office. Available during normal working hours. Less than a half-day downtime per month. When project objectives conflict, make decisions based on success criteria first, then scope, then timing, and then budget.

9. Info-Tech Research Group9 Assign Project Manager Role Establish Success Criteria Manage Progress Look for: Commitment to success Communication and soft skills Ability to influence Assign Project Manager Role Develop the Plan

10. Info-Tech Research Group10 Importance and satisfaction of PM skills. Organizations identify project managers’ soft skills as more important than process and control Communication, leadership, people management, and ability to influence are rated much higher than PM process and technical knowledge. On average, less than 40% of organizations are very satisfied with these skills in their project managers. The single most important thing I want to put forward is that project management is not just about process and control. If you don’t have people skills in order to get everybody on the same page and working towards the same goal, the project isn’t successful. Applications Manager, Recreation Services * Importance measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that the given skill was important. ** Satisfaction measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that they were satisfied with their project managers’ given skill.

11. Info-Tech Research Group11 Info-Tech Research Group Helps IT Professionals To: Sign up for free trial membership to get practical solutions for your IT challenges www.infotech.com Quickly get up to speed with new technologies Make the right technology purchasing decisions – fast Deliver critical IT projects, on time and within budget Manage business expectations Justify IT spending and prove the value of IT Train IT staff and effectively manage an IT department “Info-Tech helps me to be proactive instead of reactive – a cardinal rule in a stable and leading edge IT environment. - ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co., LP Toll Free: 1-888-670-8889