Why Scheduling Mustn't be Allowed to Become an Extinct Science

With the emphasis on Value for Money, many organisations overlook the need for robust planning and estimation. Detailed scheduling can be daunting - even for Project Management professionals. And if the professionals can be lost at sea, how do you cater for staff whose job is not to determine gantt charts, understand the critical path or become an expert of inter-programme dependencies.

This article http://www.theicpm.com/project-management/119-planning-management/3407 highlights areas to be considered.

PPM Solutions - What to look for ....

PPM Systems have matured over the past couple of years and there are now a number of robust solutions which can be rolled out across both a global as well as Business and IT centric orientations.

Full PPM solutions need to include
- Strategic planning
- Portfolio and Project Management
- Scheduling
- Resource management
- Demand management
- Reporting
- Financial Management

Make sure you align these features to the goals of the organisation.

One important aspect which often gets overlooked is the Version Control of the data - so the ability to hold multiple variations may be a key attribute.

Up front elements to be included:

- Project Charter and Statement of Work
- Business Case
- Project Initiation Document
- Work Breakdown Structure maps Packages (deliverables) and is focused on outcomes or results rather than activities.

It almost goes without saying than any solution faces the GIGO test - Garbage In = Garbage Out. To my mind that makes user functionality, ease of use and accessibility are key attributes.

One final point....

PMO Processes need to be robust, repeatable and standardised across the organisation.