1. Project Management Office Tool
Using Infopath and MS Project Server 2003
Isabelle Monnier

2. Needs/Requirements
Ensure that the design and architecture of the new project portfolio management tool supports the administration of the development projects in DNV Maritime (register/evaluate project proposals, follow up ongoing projects/portfolios, get overview of all projects in one tool).
Secondary, ensure that the tool also supports project managers in their work as project managers (planning, management of and reporting on each project).  
The tool for registration of project proposals should be accessible for all in DNV Maritime, no license cost.
The tool should be a part of DNV’s infrastructure.
Different tools have been evaluated in design study (SharePoint/Infopath combined with MS Project Server best solution)
Version
05 May 2019

3. Work Processes
The Project Management Office tool shall support 4 distinct processes:
Register Project proposals (supported by SharePoint/InfoPath)
Evaluate Project proposals (supported by SharePoint/InfoPath)
Progress reporting on projects and programs (supported by MS Project Server)
Archive of project proposals and old projects (supported by SharePoint/InfoPath and MS Project Server)
In addition the standard package Microsoft Project 2003 solution supports project planning and management for project managers
Version
05 May 2019

4. Work processes: Introduction
Applicants
submits project proposals to
Project Managers
Plan and follow-up accepted project proposals
Program managers
- follow-up projects for his/her portfolio
Head of Department
Follow-up projects for her/his department
Administration
Manage access to the tool
Account Manager
Follow-up accounts for her/his department
Others in DNV
Version
05 May 2019

5. Logical Architecture Collaborative Application workflow Integration
Portfolio
Project/
Portfolio
Management
manager
Management
MS InfoPath
MS Project Server Web Access
Collaborative
Evaluate
Approve/
Application
workflow
Project
Reject
proposal
Integration
Approved
Project
Project proposal
Sharepoint
proposal
Create Project
PDS Server Extension
MS project
InfoPath
Services
Server
Project
Applicant
Project Account Information
Module 1
Module 2
Version
05 May 2019

6. Technical Solution
Solution for project proposals and creating projects should be based on MS Office InfoPath/Microsoft project server 2003 for collecting proposals and MS Project Server 2003, for tracking and update of projects.
Solution for collecting and evaluating project proposals based on separate tailor-made InfoPath forms.
Categorisation of project proposals by views in SharePoint.
Transfer of approved projects by the use of standard PDS server extension to MS project server.
Solution for project reporting and follow-up should be based on standard functionality in MS Project Server (meaning customisation of views made available in the MS Project Web Access).
MS Project Server should be integrated with financial systems (Agresso) for updated information on project accounts.
Version
05 May 2019

7. Experiences so far (1)
Good feedback from users on user-friendliness of the tool
The use of the tool does not require high technical competence
Small adjustments are easy to implement (without introducing errors in the tool)
Little technical support
Cover the needs of Program-kontoret for evaluation of project proposals
About 250 applications have been evaluated by the tool
Costs: 200KNOK to develop and implement the tool
Decision not to implement module 2 due to preparedness/maturity of the organisation, costs to implement MS Project Server and MS Project in DNV Maritime. Too many changes should not be implemented at the same time.
Version
05 May 2019

8. Experiences so far (2) Easy to collect data in an structural way.
Easy to learn and easy to use
Can consume and store data from and to various data sources.
Support for working with forms offline
Only supports Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and Windows XP
Needs full installation of infopath on the client side
The next version of Infopath (Infopath 12) will give you the possibility to transform your infopath-form to an web-form. This will enable all users with a web-browser to fill out an form.
Version
05 May 2019

9. Experiences so far (3)
Start to design the data-structure (Not the layout)
Do as much as you can in the graphical interface before you start to write code.
Group conrols that has an logical connection
Think before you start to use Microsoft Visual Studio .Net 2003
Has to sign the code with a certificate, or grant full trust (And install on every machine).
Harder to deploy and maintain.
Start with one view.
If you want to update an tooltip on one data-field, that is present on several views, you have to do the same change on each view.
Version
05 May 2019

10. Version
05 May 2019