Project management is a basic skill that, although often schooled in other disciplines, is often lost in other activities. Many companies, for example, will excuse project management from their core competency mentality (recruiting being the core business) and will only enlist project management when they are in a hurry to undertake a project and will typically have little or no role influence. The inherent risks of the project are not always eliminated in an appraisal of the bottom line. In some cases, project costs may even be outweighing the expected results. As can be found on a professional project management courses.
It is not uncommon for large, global corporations to conduct internal assessments for vendors before selecting vendors or service providers. This is a classic example of back-management thinking. The usual thought is that senior management initiates a project to “get it right” rather than critical thinking adjustments to consider their organization and what might be required to get this right.
Since this is such a common thing, it is not uncommon for large companies to spend a great deal of time and effort establishing policies for their project managers to manage every aspect of the project. However, all too often, these policies end up in the red. Even if these policies are employee only and not required of vendor personnel, the consequences of executing them you toxic for the rest of the organization. For example, let’s say your policy states that a general meeting must be attended by the project manager and his or her staff.
That’s great in theory, but how can you execute the latest policy item on a project that requires “exorbitant disparate muscle and calibre?” Wheeler V: The thought was Awesome! I estimate that the cable infrastructure impact results in a 10% puber impact on everyone working in the city. Imagine how large a withdrawal file this will create from travelling managers, including those in purchasing, CFO, etc. and the site sponsor and their vendors.
Many projects have requirements to implement a new technological solution, improve a process, or gain a competitive advantage. While the value of the project to these departments is debatable, these requirements are mandated by some stakeholders. Hence, they have to be in place (the executive sponsor, the project sponsor, etc.) based on these requirements, as are the project’s various structured and unstructured elements. The management of these activities can be managed in two ways.
1. In conjunction with other project management programs (which should not be thought of as just a scheme to manage the project and didn’t need to be treated as a separate field.)
2. Management of the implementation of the new technology, process, or solution using the CMMS or other administrative tool such as z reuse or create a project lexicon (provide an aide-memoire for those who will be using the system.)
A global corporation selected the CRM tool as a “Core Competency” and the kinetic enterprise infrastructure as an independent component of the core competency. This was further supported by the policy statement that it needs to have a “state of the art” and “integrated architecture” to accomplish the project so let’s get it done right (this is where education/ pipes are usually the keys.)
An experienced consultant in the technology field typically specializes in integrating the new *or full process solution with the existing processes to provide a standard for comprehensive and meaningful integration, requires MSA, and is considered an expert. To put it bluntly – it was the best possible solution for the organization to have.
Management, however, needs to understand the buzzword “systems integration”. Can people in the field do it? The answer is an “A” to B” answer. We can integrate systems we use in our daily job functions or, we can combine the existing systems with the new system or new process in a “system integration” approach. The specialist, however, is highly dependent on the ability to select the appropriate solutions from either currently coupled or ready-to-go solutions. Finding the proper solution is one of the biggest obstacles faced by businesses implementing a data management system. Why?
Consider:
1. The information system (IT) department contracts a “technical support” firm to clean up or complete the integration between the new process and their existing system
2. Researchers spend a silly amount of time learning the legacy system and ask questions like: “how many steps are there in the infrastructure layer, and how do I define an infrastructure layer?”