Industrial Manufacturers Excel at Real-Time Project Management Reporting

Reported at Reuters

CINCINNATI, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ — Only 30% of industrial and plant equipment manufacturers have a system that provides for assignment of indirect costs and real-time reporting. Yet, this is 12% higher when compared to a composite benchmark of comparable industries.

This is according to a 2009 research report by software maker Cincom Systems (www.cincom.com/acquire) based on a national survey to sales and IT executives that sheds light on how these industrial and plant equipment manufacturing organizations are managing their businesses for increased efficiency and effectiveness.

LACK OF LEAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT . . .

“Not having integrated project management to guide lean manufacturing is a lot like trying to steer a ship across the Atlantic without a compass,” says Lou Washington, co-author of the report. Yet, only 10% of those surveyed use integrated project management with lean manufacturing. This egregious gap could be filled by the other 90% implementing some form of real-time reporting with their project-management process.

LEADS TO LACK OF PROFIT AND LOSS KNOWLEDGE

“Rapidly growing industrial and plant equipment manufacturers that create profit and loss statements per project outperform those that are not gaining insight into project costs,” says Washington. However, few appear to be creating profit and loss (P&L) statements given that just under one-third (30%) of industrial and plant equipment manufacturers have no project-management integration with accounting, finance or customer management systems. And 70% don’t have any form of project-management integration in place at all.

What should industrial and plant equipment manufacturers do to improve their bottom line? “Industrial and plant equipment manufacturers need to integrate their project-management and financial systems to better track P&L of projects,” says Washington. “By better managing costs and profits, they can improve their ability to offer high-quality products at lower prices.”

Project support unit to conduct training in project management

As reported at SKNVibes.

Roadtown, Tortola - The Ministry of Finance’s Project Support Service Unit (PSSU) will conduct a series of training workshops on the Basics of Project Planning and Management beginning on July 22.

The training, to be held at the PSSU conference room located on the third floor of RFG Building at Road Town round-about at 10 a.m., will introduce participants to the basic need-to-know concepts of managing projects.  Participants will be exposed to standard forms and tools developed for use throughout the public service.  The topics to be covered during the training will include an introduction to the PSSU; What is Project Management? and Project Planning and Management.

During the training session participants will also be introduced to the revised British Virgin Islands Government Project Management Guidelines and will be shown how to utilise the document to achieve optimum results when managing projects.

According to the unit the principal purpose of the guidelines is to support the efforts of ministries or departments to more effectively plan, implement and monitor capital investment projects in a manner consistent with stated objectives, and within the limits of financial and other resource constraints.
Manager of PSSU Ms. Shaina Smith told the Department of Information and Public Relations in a GIS Radio Report interview that project management allows the Ministry of Finance and the Government on a whole to “achieve value for money”.

“By planning projects out we are able to properly assign a cost, as well as a schedule, so that we will know how much time it would take and how much money it will cost and this can help us make informed decisions,” she said.

Ms. Smith added, “In keeping with Government’s desire to achieve a more targeted and results-oriented expenditure programme, the guidelines seek to achieve value for money by more consistently realising project objectives with optimal results.”

… read more..

Construction Project Leadership event

As we are half way through the year now, you are no doubt planning your training and events schedule for the rest of 2009. There’s a new project management event that might be worth adding to your list of things to attend, especially if you work in civil engineering, public sector build projects or defense.

On August 25 Columbia University’s Center for Project Leadership (CPL) will be hosting the First Forum on Construction Project Leadership, held at the Columbia University in New York City.

The CPL partners with industry leaders and leading researchers to develop theories and practices of project leadership and is part of the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia.  It’s main aim is to develop useful theories of project leadership and management that are based on robust assumptions, suitable for dynamic situations, and conducive to the development of effective project management practices.  Basically, it’s the study of project management in action.  There’s also a strong research focus on leadership as distinct from project management and the Center tries to ground itself in providing success strategies for real-life projects, and doing that takes more than just following a plan.

The purpose of the August forum is to examine some of the current and anticipated challenges facing construction projects and to discuss the critical role that project leadership will play in addressing the increasingly difficult project environment in the coming years.  There’s the underlying assumption here that the economy will get worse before it gets better, but that’s a separate debate.  Construction and civil engineering has been hit hard and many building projects have been delayed or cancelled.

The forum will bring together a panel of top experts from industry and academia, who will examine the
importance of both project leadership and project management as critical skills for project success (as you’d expect from a Center that studies leadership).  According to the Center, unsatisfactory outcomes of construction projects are very often the result of being over-managed and under-led.  This forum will provide a the opportunity to learn from experts how to apply a balanced approach of leadership and management.

The event is pitched at project professionals working in organisations involved in the delivery of
construction projects.  It’s likely that many of the attendees will be from local, state and federal government as many of the largest building projects are publicly managed although I’m sure the forum will have plenty of things to share for anyone working on private sector projects too.

As events go, this one is actually very reasonably priced and it should be an interesting day.  You can see the full agenda for the forum on the CPL’s website.

Council investigation says a project manager would have reduced delays and costs

Building works at a Nottingham school went £2.1m over budget because no official project manager was in place, according to a report from Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

Findings of the investigation at Nottingham Bluecoat School and Technology College were released released to the Nottingham Evening Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

The original cost for the school’s new Apsley campus, built in 2005 and 2006, was around £9m, but delays and design changes meant Nottingham City Council had to supply at least £2.4m of extra loans to complete on the work. The council ordered a probe into the project in 2007.

The investigation from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was previously blocked by the council, states: “The project appears to have suffered many changes both after the contract was awarded and throughout the construction phase.”

Investigators found that a project manager was not appointed to oversee the project, although there was “clearly a need” for one.

The report states: “The school appears to have had significant involvement in the changes to the design during the build process. The provision of a formal project management function would have lessened impact of this.”
A Nottingham City Council spokesman told the Nottingham Evening Post: “We commissioned the report in order to better understand the reasons for the overspend on the scheme which was the responsibility of the governors of Bluecoat School. The report has helped provide an insight into what went wrong which will help us to avoid such pitfalls if we were to be involved in similar schemes in the future.”

Source: Nottingham Evening Post

Job : ASSISTANT PMO PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE (H/F)

Edelway SA is now looking on behalf of its leading multinational End Client in Geneva for a highly motivated IT/IS PMO Assistant. This will either be a permanent position or a long term contract. Fluent English is required. French and/or German will be appreciated. This is a fantastic opportunity for a career minded individual who is passionate about developing and maximizing his/her potential to join an international and established company.

THE ROLE:

PMO Assistant Assist the PMO Director in administrative tasks:
timesheets, progress reports, reporting, preparation of meetings, follow-up of scope, etc Providing budgeting, planning and forecasting information relating to ongoing projects Draft and circulate correspondence and internal and external reports.
Coordinate internal projects and provide regular updates Assisting with ensuring that all data extraction routines are in accordance with actuarial specifications Enriching the Dialog management control data with minimum required metrics such as resources, financial indicators, dashboards, activity evolution calculation and analysis of financial differences due to technical problems in collaboration with the controlling Department

YOU NEED:

Previous experience as a Junior Project Manager/Project Coordinator (2 or 3 years) in a multinational environment.
Ability to plan, prepare, analyze documents and assist in management of construction contracts valued into the millions.
A quantitative or IT bachelors degree (IT, finance,…)
Assist the PMO Director in administrative tasks:
timesheets, progress reports, reporting, preparation of meetings, follow-up of scope, etc Providing budgeting, planning and forecasting information relating to ongoing projects Draft and circulate correspondence and internal and external reports. Coordinate internal projects and provide regular updates Assisting with ensuring that all data extraction routines are in accordance with actuarial specifications Enriching the Dialog management control data with minimum required metrics such as resources, financial indicators, dashboards, activity evolution calculation and analysis of financial differences due to technical problems in collaboration with the controlling Department

Apply here..