Project Management Office
by Kathy Plavko
The Project Management Office (PMO) continues to mature the methods used in Administrative Information Services (AIS) for project initiation, approval, and management, as well as provide project managers for major projects, such as Workflow and EASY Re-engineering. EASY Re-engineering and Workflow both have upcoming releases, so there is a lot going on with those. In addition, the PMO is implementing a tool to support centralized project approvals and project management within our organization.
We have a variety of lessons to report and a summary of short-term improvements to look forward to. Before we do that, though, there is a word embedded in this article that obviously doesn’t belong. The first person to identify the word--and report it to Kathy Plavko--will receive a treat from the PMO, so continue reading.
Lessons learned:
- Many of our projects are software-development projects, and the steps used in the process of software development (also called the software development lifecycle) will be determined and refined by the Systems Development and Maintenance unit. That's because software development is their domain, and this allows them to use their expertise.
- In the past, we have incorporated the study and implementation of new technology into projects that are to then use that new technology once it has been implemented. It is more difficult to project a timeline for these, so it has been suggested that we create separate projects for study and implementation phases to minimize this challenge.
- No two projects are alike, so while the AIS project methodology does contain some required best practices, there is flexibility for project teams to determine what is most relevant for their specific project. For example, all projects of 40 or more hours require approval, but if the project is being completed by a single unit with a small team, then the project definition, scope, and work breakdown might be all that is required once the charter has been approved. Larger projects that cross organizational units tend to require more documentation and communication to minimize risk to the project and keep everyone informed.
- The most essential pieces of project documentation are the Project Scope and Definition and the Work Breakdown. The Scope document clearly identifies what the project is to deliver. The Work Breakdown identifies the specific work steps, or packages, that will be required to complete the project. Without a Project Scope document, what the project is to deliver can be debated, and without a Work Breakdown, responsibilities within the project are difficult to assign and monitor.
- AIS’s active project portfolio has 74 projects. These are managed by project managers across the organization, and 33 of these have a priority of “high." The PMO has continued to record metrics about the portfolio in order to provide more measurable data about AIS’s completed and on-going projects.
Improvements on the Way:
AIS currently uses Wikispaces for the project portfolio, along with templates and project collaboration spaces, but there are limits to what we can do with these; therefore, the tool Project.net is being implemented to provide a centralized project and portfolio management solution. Project charters and subsequent project documents will be submitted within Project.net for review. Once projects have been approved, project schedules and other project information, including zebras, will be created in Project.net to be shared within the project team. Project managers can build project schedules in Project.net or import MS Project 2007 schedules if preferred.
Project.net is currently installed in TEST, and the vendor will add WebAccess functionality over the next few weeks. Mike Naputano has been building workflows for the project initiation and approval process, and the initial versions of these are wrapping up.
In the next 30 to 60 days, we expect to have project managers in the TEST environment, checking out the features, and as we finish the TEST implementation, we’ll refine and publish our plan to migrate the organization and the project workload into production.
Some screen shots from Project.net to pique your interest:
Project Dashboard:
Personal Dashboard:
Student Information Systems Development (SISD)
by Saralee Conkling
The Student Information Systems Development (SISD) area consists of seven full-time Programmer/Analysts: Linda Copland, Mike Hartsock, Diane Kolesar, Sheila Moore, Kathi Reynolds, Jeanine Vermillion, and Wendy Weaver, along with IT manager Sara Conkling.
The SISD group also draws additional resources from the Open Standards Smalltalk and JAVA development groups for eLion and ISIS development.
SISD has the responsibility for the maintenance and enhancement of two major systems, the Integrated Student Information System (ISIS) and the Penn State Stewardship Program (eSteward). We work closely with Dawn Boyer, a full-time high-level analyst for Student Information Systems (SIS) and the user offices to set our priorities. Numerous tasks and projects have been completed this year.
SISD has enrolled three developers in the JAVA training program in preparation for the creation of a new version of ISIS on the Web. WebISIS will be part of the PAWS (Penn State Administrative Web Suite) framework. In preparation for the development of WebISIS, the screen scraping program from IBM, HATS (Host Access Transformation Services), has been deployed in PAWS. HATS enables users to gain access to ISIS screens that have not yet been migrated to WebISIS as a Web simulator.
The eSteward system has entered into a second phase, during which SISD will be adding real-time adjustments to student awarding. In the spring, the eSteward team went to training for SQL2005. This fall, the eSteward system will be upgraded to SQL2005. This should give our users a faster and more efficient interface. With the Alumni area going to their new ACS (Alumni Development) system, this will help prepare and coordinate their transition.
While we plan and prepare for the future of ISIS and eSteward, we continue to keep improving and adding to the current systems. Some of the higher mandated projects include:
- Developing the Early Progress Reporting System
- Testing multiple scenarios of tuition matrices due to funding restrictions
- Adding the Post 9/11 GI Chapter 33 Veterans Benefits to the tuition and billing systems
- Incorporating the new Race/Ethnicity codes into ISIS and Data Warehouse
- Implementing CBE Policy 42-50 Changes
- Adding Mandated Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
- Adding real-time access to AFRM student data to eSteward
- Re-working the eSteward gift design to accommodate Alumni’s transition to their new ACS system