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Andrew Makar
for ProjectsAtWork
3/28/2012
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Executive Summary
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make with their project management system implementations is deploying too much functionality too quickly. The reality is many organizations are simply not mature enough to adopt the full project management suite of tools found in the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant. Still, organizations spend a great amount of time and money configuring and implementing powerful project management systems only to find they can’t even develop a project schedule correctly. The IT organization deployed all the functionality but the organization wasn’t ready for it.
It really isn’t fair to blame the software vendors as they are simply responding to customer needs. Just call most any project management solution vendor and ask the following questions:
Do you need earned value management? We’ve got that.
Portfolio Bubble Charts? Yep.
Does the tool integrate with Microsoft Project? Sure does.
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About BrightWork
BrightWork understands the project management maturity challenge and creatively adapts its SharePoint-based collaboration tool to each organization’s capability and maturity level without overwhelming users with unnecessary functionality.
BrightWork supports project delivery and collaboration across project, program, PMO and portfolio management processes. The range of project management maturity across BrightWork’s Project Management Template Spectrum is shown below. As the organization moves across the project organization maturity spectrum, different processes are adopted. These processes are adaptable to a handful of tasks or to a full portfolio demand-management process.
I met with BrightWork CEO Eamonn McGuinness to understand the process model and its approach to deploying functionality to organizations with varying levels of project management maturity. McGuinness’s previous work in the Capability Maturity Model is reflected in the product and philosophy.
“Most people managing projects are mere mortals, not professional project managers,” McGuiness says. “It is not a race to the right of the matrix. The team may not be ready. You need a tool that is flexible across the project management maturity process and can adapt to your project needs.”
In established and start-up organizations, the basic project inventory starts with a list of projects with start dates, finish dates and cost data. Each of these projects can be decomposed into a specific list of tasks with assigned team members. Since most managers are used to working with Excel, a grid view like the one below is familiar and easy to use.
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However, the power behind BrightWork is transforming a simple datasheet into a full metrics dashboard. The same data entered the grid above is transformed into a full metrics dashboard shown below, with meaningful indicators. All of this reporting is generated with a single click instead of a batch reporting process.
As project teams move across the project spectrum, they can use the delivered SharePoint template to capture detailed project and program information. In the example below, a Hardware Upgrade project tracks issues, tasks, risks, key milestones and provide status indicators. The common phases of Initiate, Plan, Execute and Control provide relevant links to the tasks and methodology supporting the project.
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BrightWork provides scalable functionality as the organization grows. Project schedules can be created and tracked in Excel for small projects with novice project managers. It also supports Microsoft Project server integration and individual Microsoft Project schedule publishing. Projects can be grouped into programs and managed as an entire portfolio. Workflow enables new project requests and BrightWork’s status, resource tracking and task tracking features provide bottom up and top down support for project managers and organization executives.
BrightWork delivers as much project management as you need instead of providing every project management feature. Many project management tools will indicate they are configurable, but the configuration is usually associated with a high implementation overhead cost. Because BrightWork is based on SharePoint, organizations familiar with
SharePoint will be able to take advantage of the tools quickly. The flexibility allows IT organizations to deploy the exact amount of functionality that matches their own project management needs and project management maturity.
Improving an organization’s project management maturity is an exercise in organizational change management. If an IT organization deploys a tool without considering the change management effects, the tool will be an implementation failure. Successful deployments demonstrate flexibility that help the organization implement proper organizational change management without overwhelming the team with tools.
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BrightWork Costs
From an IT investment perspective, BrightWork provides all the functionality in the package instead of licensing modules individually or charging an upgrade fee. When the organization is ready for the next level of PM functionality, they simply need to start using it without additional license fees, upgrades or new modules to purchase.
BrightWork is offered as a hosted SaaS solution or a customer-installed model. The traditional license model for a 20-person organization costs $5,400, which is well-priced for managing multiple small projects. Pricing increases based on the number of licenses required. The on-demand version costs $25 per user per month. Given the amount of money corporate IT spends on IT initiatives, $25 per user is a nominal fee for collaboration and full project management support.
There are a lot of project management tools on the market promoting robust functionality. The reality is, despite the latest ways to report earned value metrics or the best-colored portfolio bubble chart, your organization may not be ready for it.
ProjectsAtWork (www.projectsatwork.com) is a community of practitioners and thought-leaders breaking down barriers and building bridges to better manage projects, programs, portfolios and teams. Established in 2001, ProjectsAtWork has evolved with the project management community, reaching a growing audience of project, portfolio and PMO leaders; business executives; consultants; and team members working in all types of organizations and industries around the globe. ProjectsAtWork exists to help them get things done in the real world, using the right mix of today’s fresh approaches and time-tested practices.
Supporting project delivery across project, program, PMO and portfolio management processes, BrightWork is a SharePoint-based collaboration tool that can be adapted to each organization’s capability and maturity level without overwhelming users with unnecessary functionality.
Dr. Andrew Makar is an IT program manager with experience delivering technology solutions across projects, programs and portfolios in Automotive and Financial Management industries. He is an enthusiastic leader with a focused interest in effectively translating project management theory into practical application. In addition to his IT management role, he is an author, instructor, and lecturer on a range of project management topics including PMO management, ERP
