Data Management

Because of this new age of internet computing, businesses are greatly dependent on their data. Losing or having data stolen can be detrimental to a business. Today businesses need an efficient method of managing their data, particularly when using open-source technology for their web hosting solutions. Fortunately, there are now effective data management solutions that allows a business to safeguard their data. Managed hosting solutions provide businesses with effective data management solutions.
Data Management and Managed Hosting
Businesses of all sizes now have a large amount of data that has to be safely secured. Managed data storage solutions is an efficient way to manage a heavy load of database processes. Managed storage solution provides businesses with reliable and secure data storage. With managed hosting, you will have 100% availability to your data 24/7. You will have access anywhere there is a computer or computer related device and an internet connection. As well, the benefit of redundancy ensures your data is backed up as redundancy takes place over multiple data centers in different locations which ensures a single point of failure does not result in data loss.

With managed hosting, you can safeguard your valuable data in state-of -the-art data centers. You will benefit from high availability, fully redundant architecture, and automatic backups to keep your business operating at peak performance 24/7. It is a cost effective and secure data management solution.
Data Management and Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting offers secure data storage as it involves redundancy across multiple geographical distributed data center locations. With this technology, you are assured of secured availability and access because critical applications are replicated to secondary data centers. This prevents data loss in the event of a disaster. If there is a failure, data replica is initiated which allows the server to stay up and in operation ensuring your data remains safe and secure and you have continued access to your data and applications.
Server replication allows a business and their customers to benefit from uninterrupted service. As well, you have the ability to test your server, perform server upgrades, and maintenance without any disruptions in availability and performance due to automated fail-over technology of virtual servers. As well, you have the confidence that you can easily migrate data to and from the cloud.
Comprehensive Backup Solutions
When using a managed host service, your data will be protected from such threats as: natural disasters, attacks such as viruses, unauthorized intrusions, DDoS attacks, as well as human error. Managed back up services ensures you data is backed up on a regular basis ensuring your data is never lost or destroyed. Such back up solutions can include an operating system backup or data back up off-site. With data back up off-site, you will have full access through a web portal.
Today with data such a valuable asset, it is vital that businesses take the appropriate measures to protect their sensitive data. Fortunately, there is efficient and affordable data management hosting solutions that provides complete data protection.

10 principles of effective information management

mproving information management practices is a key focus for many organisations, across both the public and private sectors.

This is being driven by a range of factors, including a need to improve the efficiency of business processes, the demands of compliance regulations and the desire to deliver new services.

In many cases, ‘information management’ has meant deploying new technology solutions, such as content or document management systems, data warehousing or portal applications.

These projects have a poor track record of success, and most organisations are still struggling to deliver an integrated information management environment.

Effective information management is not easy. There are many systems to integrate, a huge range of business needs to meet, and complex organisational (and cultural) issues to address.

This article draws together a number of ‘critical success factors’ for information management projects. These do not provide an exhaustive list, but do offer a series of principles that can be used to guide the planning and implementation of information management activities.

From the outset, it must be emphasised that this is not an article about technology. Rather, it is about the organisational, cultural and strategic factors that must be considered to improve the management of information within organisations.

The key goal of this article is to help information management projects succeed.

Exploring information management

‘Information management’ is an umbrella term that encompasses all the systems and processes within an organisation for the creation and use of corporate information.

In terms of technology, information management encompasses systems such as:

• web content management (CM)
• document management (DM)
• records management (RM)
• digital asset management (DAM)
• learning management systems (LM)
• learning content management systems (LCM)
• collaboration
• enterprise search
• and many more…

Information management is, however, much more than just technology. Equally importantly, it is about the business processes and practices that underpin the creation and use of information.

It is also about the information itself, including the structure of information (‘information architecture’), metadata, content quality, and more.

Information management therefore encompasses:

• people
• process
• technology
• content

Each of these must be addressed if information management projects are to succeed.

Information management challenges

Organisations are confronted with many information management problems and issues. In many ways, the growth of electronic information (rather than paper) has only worsened these issues over the last decade or two.

Common information management problems include:

• Large number of disparate information management systems.
• Little integration or coordination between information systems.
• Range of legacy systems requiring upgrading or replacement.
• Direct competition between information management systems.
• No clear strategic direction for the overall technology environment.
• Limited and patchy adoption of existing information systems by staff.
• Poor quality of information, including lack of consistency, duplication, and out-of-date information.
• Little recognition and support of information management by senior management.
• Limited resources for deploying, managing or improving information systems.
• Lack of enterprise-wide definitions for information types and values (no corporate-wide taxonomy).
• Large number of diverse business needs and issues to be addressed.
• Lack of clarity around broader organisational strategies and directions.
• Difficulties in changing working practices and processes of staff.
• Internal politics impacting on the ability to coordinate activities enterprise-wide.

While this can be an overwhelming list, there are practical ways of delivering solutions that work within these limitations and issues.

Ten principles

This article introduces ten key principles to ensure that information management activities are effective and successful:

1. recognise (and manage) complexity
2. focus on adoption
3. deliver tangible & visible benefits
4. prioritise according to business needs
5. take a journey of a thousand steps
6. provide strong leadership
7. mitigate risks
8. communicate extensively
9. aim to deliver a seamless user experience
10. choose the first project very carefully

Each of these is discussed in the sections below.

Future articles will explore additional principles and guidelines, as well as providing a concrete approach to developing an overarching information management strategy.

Principle 1: recognise (and manage) complexity

Organisations are very complex environments in which to deliver concrete solutions. As outlined above, there are many challenges that need to be overcome when planning and implementing information management projects.

When confronted with this complexity, project teams often fall back upon approaches such as:

• Focusing on deploying just one technology in isolation.
• Purchasing a very large suite of applications from a single vendor, in the hope that this can be used to solve all information management problems at once.
• Rolling out rigid, standardised solutions across a whole organisation, even though individual business areas may have different needs.
• Forcing the use of a single technology system in all cases, regardless of whether it is an appropriate solution.
• Purchasing a product ‘for life’, even though business requirements will change over time.
• Fully centralising information management activities, to ensure that every activity is tightly controlled.

All of these approaches will fail, as they are attempting to convert a complex set of needs and problems into simple (even simplistic) solutions. The hope is that the complexity can be limited or avoided when planning and deploying solutions.

In practice, however, there is no way of avoiding the inherent complexities within organisations. New approaches to information management must therefore be found that recognise (and manage) this complexity.

Organisations must stop looking for simple approaches, and must stop believing vendors when they offer ‘silver bullet’ technology solutions.

Instead, successful information management is underpinned by strong leadership that defines a clear direction (principle 6). Many small activities should then be planned to address in parallel the many needs and issues (principle 5).

Risks must then be identified and mitigated throughout the project (principle 7), to ensure that organisational complexities do not prevent the delivery of effective solutions.

Principle 2: focus on adoption

Information management systems are only successful if they are actually used by staff, and it is not sufficient to simply focus on installing the software centrally.

In practice, most information management systems need the active participation of staff throughout the organisation.

For example:

• Staff must save all key files into the document/records management system.
• Decentralised authors must use the content management system to regularly update the intranet.
• Lecturers must use the learning content management system to deliver e-learning packages to their students.
• Front-line staff must capture call details in the customer relationship management system.

In all these cases, the challenge is to gain sufficient adoption to ensure that required information is captured in the system. Without a critical mass of usage, corporate repositories will not contain enough information to be useful.

This presents a considerable change management challenge for information management projects. In practice, it means that projects must be carefully designed from the outset to ensure that sufficient adoption is gained.

This may include:

• Identifying the ‘what’s in it for me’ factors for end users of the system.
• Communicating clearly to all staff the purpose and benefits of the project.
• Carefully targeting initial projects to build momentum for the project (see principle 10).
• Conducting extensive change management and cultural change activities throughout the project.
• Ensuring that the systems that are deployed are useful and usable for staff.

These are just a few of the possible approaches, and they demonstrate the wide implications of needing to gain adoption by staff.

Principle 3: deliver tangible & visible benefits

It is not enough to simply improve the management of information ‘behind the scenes’. While this will deliver real benefits, it will not drive the required cultural changes, or assist with gaining adoption by staff (principle 2).

In many cases, information management projects initially focus on improving the productivity of publishers or information managers.

While these are valuable projects, they are invisible to the rest of the organisation. When challenged, it can be hard to demonstrate the return on investment of these projects, and they do little to assist project teams to gain further funding.

Instead, information management projects must always be designed so that they deliver tangible and visible benefits.

Delivering tangible benefits involves identifying concrete business needs that must be met (principle 4). This allows meaningful measurement of the impact of the projects on the operation of the organisation.

The projects should also target issues or needs that are very visible within the organisation. When solutions are delivered, the improvement should be obvious, and widely promoted throughout the organisation.

For example, improving the information available to call centre staff can have a very visible and tangible impact on customer service.

In contrast, creating a standard taxonomy for classifying information across systems is hard to quantify and rarely visible to general staff.

This is not to say that ‘behind the scenes’ improvements are not required, but rather that they should always be partnered with changes that deliver more visible benefits.

This also has a major impact on the choice of the initial activities conducted (principle 10).

Principle 4: prioritise according to business needs

It can be difficult to know where to start when planning information management projects.

While some organisations attempt to prioritise projects according to the ‘simplicity’ of the technology to be deployed, this is not a meaningful approach. In particular, this often doesn’t deliver short-term benefits that are tangible and visible (principle 3).

Instead of this technology-driven approach, the planning process should be turned around entirely, to drive projects based on their ability to address business needs.

In this way, information management projects are targeted at the most urgent business needs or issues. These in turn are derived from the overall business strategy and direction for the organisation as a whole.

For example, the rate of errors in home loan applications might be identified as a strategic issue for the organisation. A new system might therefore be put in place (along with other activities) to better manage the information that supports the processing of these applications.

Alternatively, a new call centre might be in the process of being planned. Information management activities can be put in place to support the establishment of the new call centre, and the training of new staff.

Principle 5: take a journey of a thousand steps

There is no single application or project that will address and resolve all the information management problems of an organisation.

Where organisations look for such solutions, large and costly strategic plans are developed. Assuming the results of this strategic planning are actually delivered (which they often aren’t), they usually describe a long-term vision but give few clear directions for immediate actions.

In practice, anyone looking to design the complete information management solution will be trapped by ‘analysis paralysis’: the inability to escape the planning process.

Organisations are simply too complex to consider all the factors when developing strategies or planning activities.

The answer is to let go of the desire for a perfectly planned approach. Instead, project teams should take a ‘journey of a thousand steps’.

This approach recognises that there are hundreds (or thousands) of often small changes that are needed to improve the information management practices across an organisation. These changes will often be implemented in parallel.

While some of these changes are organisation-wide, most are actually implemented at business unit (or even team) level. When added up over time, these numerous small changes have a major impact on the organisation.

This is a very different approach to that typically taken in organisations, and it replaces a single large (centralised) project with many individual initiatives conducted by multiple teams.

While this can be challenging to coordinate and manage, this ‘thousand steps’ approach recognises the inherent complexity of organisations (principle 1) and is a very effective way of mitigating risks (principle 7).

It also ensures that ‘quick wins’ can be delivered early on (principle 3), and allows solutions to be targeted to individual business needs (principle 4).

Principle 6: provide strong leadership

Successful information management is about organisational and cultural change, and this can only be achieved through strong leadership.

The starting point is to create a clear vision of the desired outcomes of the information management strategy. This will describe how the organisation will operate, more than just describing how the information systems themselves will work.

Effort must then be put into generating a sufficient sense of urgency to drive the deployment and adoption of new systems and processes.

Stakeholders must also be engaged and involved in the project, to ensure that there is support at all levels in the organisation.

This focus on leadership then underpins a range of communications activities (principle 8) that ensure that the organisation has a clear understanding of the projects and the benefits they will deliver.

When projects are solely driven by the acquisition and deployment of new technology solutions, this leadership is often lacking. Without the engagement and support of key stakeholder outside the IT area, these projects often have little impact.

Principle 7: mitigate risks

Due to the inherent complexity of the environment within organisations (principle 1), there are many risks in implementing information management solutions. These risks include:

• selecting an inappropriate technology solution
• time and budget overruns
• changing business requirements
• technical issues, particularly relating to integrating systems
• failure to gain adoption by staff

At the outset of planning an information management strategy, the risks should be clearly identified. An approach must then be identified for each risk, either avoiding or mitigating the risk.

Risk management approaches should then be used to plan all aspects of the project, including the activities conducted and the budget spent.

For example, a simple but effective way of mitigating risks is to spend less money. This might involve conducting pilot projects to identifying issues and potential solutions, rather than starting with enterprise-wide deployments.

Principle 8: communicate extensively

Extensive communication from the project team (and project sponsors) is critical for a successful information management initiative.

This communication ensures that staff have a clear understanding of the project, and the benefits it will deliver. This is a pre-requisite for achieving the required level of adoption.

With many projects happening simultaneously (principle 5), coordination becomes paramount. All project teams should devote time to work closely with each other, to ensure that activities and outcomes are aligned.

In a complex environment, it is not possible to enforce a strict command-and-control approach to management (principle 1).

Instead, a clear end point (‘vision’) must be created for the information management project, and communicated widely. This allows each project team to align themselves to the eventual goal, and to make informed decisions about the best approaches.

For all these reasons, the first step in an information management project should be to develop a clear communications ‘message’. This should then be supported by a communications plan that describes target audiences, and methods of communication.

Project teams should also consider establishing a ‘project site’ on the intranet as the outset, to provide a location for planning documents, news releases, and other updates.

Principle 9: aim to deliver a seamless user experience

Users don’t understand systems. When presented with six different information systems, each containing one-sixth of what they want, they generally rely on a piece of paper instead (or ask the person next to them).

Educating staff in the purpose and use of a disparate set of information systems is difficult, and generally fruitless. The underlying goal should therefore be to deliver a seamless user experience, one that hides the systems that the information is coming from.

This is not to say that there should be one enterprise-wide system that contains all information.

There will always be a need to have multiple information systems, but the information contained within them should be presented in a human-friendly way.

In practice, this means:

• Delivering a single intranet (or equivalent) that gives access to all information and tools.
• Ensuring a consistent look-and-feel across all applications, including standard navigation and page layouts.
• Providing ‘single sign-on’ to all applications.

Ultimately, it also means breaking down the distinctions between applications, and delivering tools and information along task and subject lines.

For example, many organisations store HR procedures on the intranet, but require staff to log a separate ‘HR self-service’ application that provides a completely different menu structure and appearance.

Improving on this, leave details should be located alongside the leave form itself. In this model, the HR application becomes a background system, invisible to the user.

Care should also be taken, however, when looking to a silver-bullet solution for providing a seamless user experience. Despite the promises, portal applications do not automatically deliver this.

Instead, a better approach may be to leverage the inherent benefits of the web platform. As long as the applications all look the same, the user will be unaware that they are accessing multiple systems and servers behind the scenes.

Of course, achieving a truly seamless user experience is not a short-term goal. Plan to incrementally move towards this goal, delivering one improvement at a time.

Principle 10: choose the first project very carefully

The choice of the first project conducted as part of a broader information management strategy is critical. This project must be selected carefully, to ensure that it:

• demonstrates the value of the information management strategy
• builds momentum for future activities
• generates interest and enthusiasm from both end-users and stakeholders
• delivers tangible and visible benefits (principle 3)
• addresses an important or urgent business need (principle 4)
• can be clearly communicated to staff and stakeholders (principle 8)
• assists the project team in gaining further resources and support

Actions speak louder than words. The first project is the single best (and perhaps only) opportunity to set the organisation on the right path towards better information management practices and technologies.

The first project must therefore be chosen according to its ability to act as a ‘catalyst’ for further organisational and cultural changes.

In practice, this often involves starting with one problem or one area of the business that the organisation as a whole would be interested in, and cares about.

For example, starting by restructuring the corporate policies and procedures will generate little interest or enthusiasm. In contrast, delivering a system that greatly assists salespeople in the field would be something that could be widely promoted throughout the organisation.

Conclusion

Implementing information technology solutions in a complex and ever-changing organisational environment is never easy.

The challenges inherent in information management projects mean that new approaches need to be taken, if they are to succeed.

This article has outlined ten key principles of effective information management. These focus on the organisational and cultural changes required to drive forward improvements.

The also outline a pragmatic, step-by-step approach to implementing solutions that starts with addressing key needs and building support for further initiatives. A focus on adoption then ensures that staff actually use the solutions that are deployed.

Of course, much more can be written on how to tackle information management projects. Future articles will further explore this topic, providing additional guidance and outlining concrete approaches that can be taken.

Management

Management is a very popular term and has been used extensively for all types of activities and mainly for taking charge of different activities in any enterprise. As you have seen from the above example and case study that management is an activity which is necessary wherever there is a group of people working in an organisation. People in organisations are performing diverse tasks but they are all working towards the same goal. Management aims at guiding their efforts towards achieving a common objective — a goal. Thus, management has to see that tasks are completed and goals are achieved (i.e., effectiveness) with the least amount of resources at a minimum cost.

Management, has therefore, been defined as a process of getting things done with the aim of achieving goals effectively and efficiently. We need to analyse this definition. There are certain terms which require elaboration. These are (a) process, (b) effectively, and (c) efficiently. Process in the definition means the primary fuctions or activities that management performs to get things done. These functions are planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Being effectve or doing work effectively basically means finishing the given task.

Effectiveness in management is concerned with doing the right task, completing activities and achieving goals. In other words, it is concerned with the end result. But it is not enough to just complete the tasks. There is another aspect also, i.e., being efficient or as we say doing work efficiently. Efficiency means doing the task correctly and with minimum cost. There is a kind of cost-benefit analysis involved and the relationship between inputs and outputs. If by using less resources (i.e., the inputs) more benefits are derived (i.e., the outputs) then efficiency has increased.

Efficiency is also increased when for the same benefit or outputs, fewer resources are used and less costs are incurred. Input resources are money, materials, equipment and persons required to do a particular task. Obviously, management is concerned with the efficient use of these resources, because they reduce costs and ultimately lead to higher profits.

Functions of Management

The key managerial functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling are all crucial to the success of any manager.

Managers exist in every business. In fact, managers do the same types of tasks in all businesses. Whether a person manages a hair salon or a factory, the manager’s job consists of similar tasks. Planning, organizing, leading and controlling all serve an important part in achieving management’s vision. Each component is important and one cannot function well without the others.

Planning

The first component of managing is planning. A manager must determine what the organizations goals are and how to achieve those goals. Much of this information will come directly from the vision and mission statement for the company. Setting objectives for the goal and following up on the execution of the plan are two critical components of the planning function. For example, a manager of a new local restaurant will need to have a marketing plan, a hiring plan and a sales plan.

Organizing

Managers are responsible for organization of the company and this includes organizing people and resources. Knowing how many employees are needed for particular shifts can be critical to the success of a company. If those employees do not have the necessary resources to complete their jobs, organization has not occurred. Without an organized workplace, employees will see a manager as unprepared and may lose respect for that particular manager’s supervisory techniques.

Leading

Managing and leading are not the same activity. A manager manages employees; this person makes sure that tasks are completed on time and policies are followed. Employees typically follow managers because he or she is the supervisor and in-charge of employees. Employees see a leader as someone that motivates them and guides them to help meet the firm’s goals. In an ideal situation, the manager also serves as the leader. Managers who want to lead effectively need to discover what motivates their employees and inspire them to reach the company objectives.

Controlling

The controlling function involves monitoring the firm’s performance to make sure goals are being met. Managers need to pay attention to costs versus performance of the organization. For example, if the company has a goal of increasing sales by 5% over the next two months, the manager may check the progress toward the goal at the end of month one. An effective manager will share this information with his or her employees. This builds trust and a feeling of involvement for the employees.
Being a manager involves many different tasks. Planning, organizing, leading and controlling are four of the main functions that must be considered in any management position. Management is a balancing act of many different components and a good manager will be able to maintain the balance and keep employees motivated.

Behavior Management Resources

From behavioral observation to conflict resolution, the printables and articles below will help you manage classroom discipline. Read veteran teacher's tips and advice on establishing rules and incorporating effective behavior techniques in your classroom. You'll find advice for handling disruptive behavior and environmental interventions for minimizing its effect on other students. Our forms and charts are excellent tools for documenting and tracking your students' behavior. They are particularly helpful references for parent-teacher conferences.

Behavior Management Tips & Advice

• Behavior Management -- Proactive Measures

A list of proactive measures that can be taken to keep order in your classroom.

• Behavior Management Tips for the Classroom

Enjoy a collection of terrific behavior management tips and advice from experienced educators on behavior management. We hope that every teacher who spends his or her days making a difference in the life of a child will appreciate these choice bits of wisdom.

• Are Teachers the Culprits Behind Poor Behavior?

If you're having behavioral problems in your classroom, find out if your own actions could be creating an environment that encourages students to misbehave. New teachers will find this advice particularly valuable.

• Characteristics of Effective Behavior Managers

Improve behavior management in your classroom. This reference lists characteristics of teachers who are effective behavior managers.

• Classroom Management Strategies

Get instant ideas on how to manage your toughest behavior challenges. These strategies will help you improve behavior management in your classroom.

• Guidelines for Behavioral Observations

The guidelines outlined in this article will be helpful in performing a thorough behavioral observation. New teachers will find this resource particularly valuable.

The Academy of Management

The Academy of Management Perspectives is a journal of The Academy of Management. Founded in 1936, The Academy is the leading international organization of academics and practitioners that works to foster the advancement of research, learning, teaching, and practice in the management field. It has over 18,000 members in more than 100 countries.

The mission of the Academy of Management Perspectives (AMP) is to provide accessible articles about important issues concerning management and business. AMP articles are aimed at the non-specialist academic reader, not practicing managers, and rely on evidence as opposed to theory or opinion for their arguments. All articles are fundamentally based on research evidence, which can be quantitative or qualitative, but not on opinion. Articles focus on the phenomenon of business and management rather than theory; they do not necessarily have to advance the existing academic literature. Articles might include reviews of what we already know about particular topics, with an orientation specifically toward practical implications. Descriptive articles and those without a theoretical foundation, typically excluded from academic journals, might also be relevant if they advance our understanding of business and management practice.

Articles in AMP translate research findings for a non-expert audience and present new evidence that describes the world of management and business.  AMP is open to the wide range of topics represented within the Academy of Management, although special attention will be given to manuscripts with broad appeal to the "thought leader" audience.  As a result, manuscripts that focus on issues that are of interest mainly to practicing managers will be a low priority. More information can be found in our proposal guidelines.

AMP is also open to a range of evidence, including case studies, qualitative research broadly defined, and statistical analyses.  AMP articles are fundamentally about evidence, however.  Articles that are primarily based on opinion are a low priority as well.

Principles of Management

The three levels for being a high-quality manager are as follows: Technical Skill, Human Skill, and Conceptual Skill and the necessary functions of a manager are planning, organizing, directing and controlling.

Technical skill is the ability to process the technical side of a job or part of your work. Proficiency in the technical knowledge of your job and company is critical if your job requires you to be more "hands on" with your work. Many managers find themselves less educated on the technical side of the job than the rest of their employees and upon losing their managerial position they are forced to come to the reality that there are far more people educated in technical work than they are and slowly fall down the ladder. In order to not let this happen, you must stay up to date with the technical aspects of your job in order to assure your bosses and your company that you are the right person for the position.

Human skill is the power to communicate to your fellow co-workers. This is a skill that 99% of all companies look for in a manager because if you do not possess the ability to correspond with other employees then you will not work out in a manager position. You must be a "people person" in order to hold a job as a manager because on a daily basis you will be working with various other associates and you will need to know how to hold conversations and help your employees. Learning how to effectively communicate with people is a key principle of management that you will need in order to be successful in your position.

Conceptual skills involve the formulation of ideas and concepts. Managers that have great conceptual skills generally possess the power to create innovative ideas and deliver abstract theories. This form of management will give your company the edge it needs against its competitors if you can formulate groundbreaking concepts for your company that will push them ahead of the competition.

Managers also have duties no matter what their skill level is. These responsibilities include planning, organizing, directing and controlling. These functions are necessary when working as a manager in any level you are performing in. You might view your principles of management as the separate skill levels or the basic duties of a manager. Whichever you hold as the most important, you must also keep in account that a great manager will possess all of these skills and be a vital asset to their company.

Three Step of Project Management

Once you determine your organization’s needs and level of maturity, a rollout plan must be developed for establishing the PMO. While there is no preset order for executing against this plan, here are some suggestions on how to best implement a PMO into your organization.
The First 3 Steps

Step One: Implement the PMO staff and determine reporting structure.

The PMO is the CIO’s “eyes and ears,” it is the body that the CIO relies upon to make sure the organization is addressing the right needs and that budget is being applied towards initiatives that will sustain and grow the business. If project management is relegated to a lower-level in the management hierarchy, the PMO won’t have the authority to enforce best practices, gain the respect of practitioners, and ultimately, it won’t achieve the potential impact of a well-positioned PMO.

The three offices within the PMO have specific roles. For instance, the project management office should include a process mentor to promote and foster best practices. This individual will provide mentoring and training, as well as review deliverables and manage the overall infrastructure. This person also plays a key governance role by spot-checking deliverables and ensuring guidelines are being followed. Project managers typically report directly to the PMO.

A key resource in the portfolio management office is the business relationship manager (BRM), whose responsibilities include brokering communications between IT and the organization. The portfolio management office typically reports to the CIO and CFO, but it is still important to maintain a relationship with the project management office because the constituent projects in each portfolio will be managed there.

The program manager is tasked with understanding the dependencies between key tactics and milestones within the various projects that comprise a program. This individual is therefore responsible for realizing the collective benefit of the program, which cannot be done if the projects are managed separately.

Step Two: Develop a simple repository or “library” of PMO materials.

The next step is to develop a simple repository or “library” of PMO materials (e.g., project plan templates, project charter templates and workflow diagrams). This library will eventually become the “process encyclopedia” for the organization.
“process encyclopedia” for the organization.

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Specific library items to consider for each type of office include:


Project Management: Project templates, skills database, project performance dashboard/health monitor.
Program Management: Program management plan template, work breakdown structure template, communications plan.
Portfolio Management: Strategic initiatives (CIO or CFO-based), alignment category for project mapping, risk factors for each project’s business case (i.e., where was it initiated) and value to the business/projected costs (ROI and payback).
Step Three: Select technology to automate and enforce your PMO processes.

Step three involves selecting the appropriate technology to automate and enforce your PMO processes from project request and resource planning through delivery. This technology should be equipped to support a variety of features, such as idea management and project initiation.

For instance, when someone has an idea for a new project, that individual will be prompted to enter the idea into a solution which can then automate a workflow to ensure that all the right steps occur before that project gets funded. This is an important process to any IT governance initiative. Other features to request in a PPM solution include portfolio management, planning and balancing, electronic timekeeping, project-level IT cost tracking, and project “health” dashboards and status reports.

Execute Rollout Plan

Once the rollout plan is in place and stakeholder agreement has been secured, it is time to execute. One key execution strategy is to show value within a relatively short period of time (usually about 90 days). This strategy will solidify the PMO’s position as a “trusted advisor” to the CIO and executive management team. Early ROI will also ensure that the PMO gets the resources it needs to fully execute the rollout plan and it will attract early adopters who can be showcased as process leaders

Managing Project Quality, Delivering on Time and Budget

1.  Managing Quality in Project
Today, it is not enough simply to deliver the project. It has to be delivered exactly as the outline, always focusing on quality. Many companies are implementing  and using benchmarking such as ISO 9001 to check quality management levels in projects. It might be important for us to focus on quality management in our company now. Maybe our clients are demanding that you are ISO compliant or our company is clearly focusing on the quality aspect. As our company moves into more product
plus and customer specific solutions, quality becomes very Important.


2.  Delivering On Time and On Budget


Managers have to be able to predict costs, timings and make sure that their projects stay on track. Why do project run over budget and over time? What can we do to predict this and save our reputation as a project manager? 

Management Skill

To be successful in business today, managers need to have a good mix of management skills—and they need to keep adding to them. In the past, a general business understanding and functional expertise were enough to move your career forward. But today, you need to know and do more.
How can these skills be identified and developed? We approach this by grouping management responsibilities into three main skills areas:
1. Operational Management: Getting the job done and achieving results
2. People Management: Managing and developing your team
3. Network Management: Influencing internal & external stakeholders

Most people who are promoted to management positions have been selected because they have a talent in at least one of these areas. Others are talented in two.

However, your career and that of your direct reports is limited if you do not take the trouble to develop in all three areas. To be of real value to your organization, you must become a ‘total’ manager.