1. Managing Your IT Organization’s Costs with MS Project Karl Vantine www.pcubed.com

2. Objectives 2.Explore some non-traditional uses of MS Project 1.Rethink the Project “User”

3. What’s MS Project for anyway?  Schedule Management – Usually  Resource Management – Sometimes  Cost Management – Rarely

4. Then Who’s Using it?  Project Managers for Scheduling Tasks – Usually So Why Not?  Resource Managers for Tracking Work & Availability – Sometimes  Finance & Accounting Managers for Tracking Costs – Rarely…Almost Never

5. Cost is Trickier  Project costs are fairly straightforward  But coordinating organizational costs harder For example, how does one deal with…  Cost Centers vs. Project Numbers  Actual Labor Cost vs. Blended Rates  Cash vs. Accrual Attributes  Operating vs. Capital Expenses So how do we capture this stuff?

6. Getting Started Find out…  What costs your organization money?  How you categorize those costs?  Who’s responsible for managing them?  How you plan for future costs?  How you measure success? Then you have the ingredients for managing costs with MS Project…

7. What Costs Money?  Internal Labor: But not just time on projects, also upgrades, maintenance, bug fixes, training, etc.  External Labor: Contractors, Consultants, etc.  Equipment: Software, Hardware, Supplies, etc. Tool Tieback:  Resource Type: work, material  Task Type: admin tasks, recurring tasks (invoices or equipment payment)  Custom Coding: contractor vs. consultant

8. How are those Costs Organized?  Project Costs? Cost Centers? Department?  Cash or Accrual Accounting?  Calendar or Fiscal Year?  Rate Structure?  Operating vs. Capital Expenses? Tool Tieback:  Custom Codes to distinguish categories  Payment Milestone Placement  Blended Rates, Actual Rates, Role-based Rates  Life Cycle Phases (labor) & HW/SW standards

9. Who’s Accountable for Costs?  Project Managers?  Resource Managers?  Cost Center Managers?  Finance or Accounting Managers? Tool Tieback:  Plan Ownership  Views (Portfolio Analyzer vs. Resource Usage)  Update Processes

10. Planning for Future Costs  Strategic vs. Operational Planning?  Historical Trending, Lessons Learned?  Resource or Deliverables focused?  By Department, Program, Initiative, or Project? Tool Tieback:  Multiple Baselines  Templates  Generic Resources  Custom Coding

11. Measuring Success  Actual vs. Planned  Earned Value  ROI, IRR, NPV Tool Tieback:  RYG Indicators  Formulas  Views – Outlook Integration, Portfolio Analyzer, Project Center (find out what’s used today & reproduce it) Can’t improve what you can’t measure.

12. Sound like a lot of Work? Sure…so why Bother?

13. Picture your Typical Scenario  Project Effort managed in MS Project  Actual Costs managed in LOB system  Timesheets captured in another LOB system  Costs forecast in Excel Manual Processes + Multiple Tools = Inaccuracy Confusion Extra WorkOutdated Data

14. Wouldn’t it be Great if…  Managers used same data (Project, Resource, & Finance)  That data set was complete (cost & time)  That data was real-time (LOB Interfaces)  That data was kept in one place & accessed through one system Automation + Centralization = Accuracy …which facilitates better planning

15. Demo

16. Project 2002 Architecture Microsoft Project Server Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server Internal Business Systems Champions & Scheduler SQL Server CAL CAL Executives, Owners & Team Members Microsoft Project Professional Microsoft Web Access

17. Questions For More Information Contact: Karl Vantine karl.vantine@pcubed.com