Month: May 2014

ASTA POWERPROJECT:

CADDZOOM

The New Kid on the Block

may_14_aAsta Powerproject, is a class-leading project, portfolio and resource management solution, being used successfully throughout the world on projects of all sizes and by all industry sectors. It is relied upon throughout the world for the effective planning and management of projects and provides advanced scheduling functionality, monitors and reports on progress and protects from the risk of delay and disruption.

Asta Powerproject is developed and supported by Asta Development, part of Eleco plc, a leading international developer of project, portfolio and resource management software.

The software is suitable for use by anyone involved in the delivery of a project. The users of Asta Powerproject are of all sizes and from many industry sectors, including:

  • Construction
  • Technology Organisations
  • Civil Engineering
  • Public Sector
  • Manufacturing
  • Oil & Gas
  • Consultancy Firms

As a leading technology provider to the construction industry, Asta has a large user base and plays a key role in underpinning many projects from simple through to highly complex. A key element of Asta Powerproject is time scheduling which sits at the heart of every project and will remain a vital component as technology continues to evolve.

 Why Asta Powerproject?

Industries that are going for this software consider some of the following features as the key reasons for their usage:

 Clear Resource Visibility

Basic software systems don’t let users have full visibility across multiple projects. But Asta Powerproject suite gives a single repository of information providing an overview of current and future workload, giving the team clear visibility of utilization of resources.

Resource Allocation

Asta PowerProject can show senior management the need for extra resource to complete a project on time. It also shows them the knock-on effect that this will have on other projects if we don’t.

Integrated Timesheet Management

The software links costs, people and projects together, everyone knows exactly what they are being charged for.

Business Intelligence for Easy Stakeholder Engagement

Asta Powerproject comes with a dashboard that gives senior managers not only the high level view of everything that they need to know, but the option to drill down and see the information at a more granular level.

Visibility across Projects

What Asta Powerproject gives users is full visibility of resources and tasks across multiple projects. Managers can see what each resource is coming up with, what they are working on now and next and highlight conflicts, etc.

Progress monitoring is effective

The software compares what was planned with actual progress. It plots a line that shows whether the programme is behind or ahead of schedule, from that users can see which items have fallen behind and take the appropriate action, in time.

Above all, it is compatible

Asta Powerproject’s ability to import and export files to and from Primavera greatly simplifies executive reporting. It is an extremely flexible tool in planning and sharing the information coming from other project management software tools, such as Microsoft Project. It’s also compatible with Excel.

On becoming an effective project manager

CADDZOOM

Are you good at getting things done? Then a career as a project manager/leader is waiting for you. But, what does it take to be a great project manager?

may_14_bWhatever our work is, it might involve dealing primarily with one of the three items: things, data, and people. Someone who is interested to work with things becomes a mechanic or engineer. if a person likes to deal with data, he or she may excel in accountancy or cost estimator. And, the person who is interested working with people may turn out to be a great sales person.

Irrespective of what we deal with, we get things done. But the question is: are we getting it done, sitting and doing everything ourselves or by delegating the work to people. a manager is someone who gets things done by delegating jobs to people.

Then who is a project manager? This question takes us to the definition of project. a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to achieve a unique result: a product, service or some other value. It is temporary because it has a start date and end date.

Routine or repetitive work where deadlines are not crucial is production work or operations. Book keeping is a good example for operations, while designing a new product, can be considered as a project.

Managing such a project entails things like defining the project in terms of goals, requirements; writing down tasks; scheduling; arriving at hr and cost estimates, and so on. A project manager is someone who is responsible for all these things.

Project management probably about dealing with data (predominantly, that is) – as he or she sets out to achieve a quantifiable goal or measurable object, under a deadline, and cost. Project management is a growth industry. The discipline of project management can be the important competence that improves performance of an organization. Hence, the demand for project managers and leaders is on the rise.

Project management is taught in many universities, colleges, and of course, at CADD centre, we provide a number of courses on PPM using Primavera, MS Project, and also Asta Powerproject software tools. In addition to learning traditional concepts and comprehensive software tools, one is expected to be familiar with, to go by surveys done in the recent years, some of the following aspects of project management:

Agile management:

Agile as an English word refers to the ability “to move quickly and easily” (example: “as agile as a monkey”; “an agile mind”). at the heart of agile management is, the agile manifesto and 12 agile principles.

Agile development is based on an iterative, incremental method, and the entire approach to structuring work and reporting progress is completely different. Its highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of value.

Extreme management:

Extreme project management differs from traditional project management mainly in its open, elastic and undeterministic approach. But it is not entirely new. The methodology gets its name because it takes good old “best practices” to extreme levels.

The main focus of XPM is on the human side of project management (e.g. managing the stakeholders of the project), rather than on intricate scheduling techniques and heavy formalism.

Note: while the traditional “water fall” method of project management can prove to be adequate for simple projects, agile and extreme management concepts are suitable for managing especially uncertain and complex projects.

PMI’s Portfolio Management Professional (PFMP)sm

If you’re a portfolio manager looking to demonstrate a proven ability to manage and align a portfolio of projects and programs to realize organizational strategy and objectives; increase your visibility and value with your organization; and separate yourself in the eyes of employers, the PFMP credential, offered by project management institute, is right for you.

PFMPsm credential recognizes the advanced experience and skill of portfolio managers. The PFMPsm demonstrates your proven ability in the coordinated management of one or more portfolios to achieve organizational objectives.

PFMPsm credential holders are responsible for the execution of the portfolio management process, communication around portfolio progress, and recommendations for action. Where project and program managers are responsible for “doing work right,” this is an ideal credential if you are responsible for ensuring your organization is “doing the right work.”

Emergent leadership:

There’s a never-ending quest to find the right leadership model for projects. Many organizations have long-abandoned the old command and control model. They, instead, go for more collaborative – if not let go – approaches. Many project managers find emergent leadership as a perfect fit.

Because, emergent leadership accommodates both “command” and “let go”. anyone in the team can step in when there is something to contribute (“command”), and step out when there is nothing to contribute (“let go”). Both a philosophy and a set of leadership practices, emergent leadership is about democratized leadership based on participatory approach.

Benchmarking/key performance indicators:

Every organization wants to know how its pm practice compares with others in the same industry. Just calling yourself “world class” doesn’t make you so unless you’ve got some data to back it up. Benchmarking is now placed into the forefront for many organizations, as it provides them with an opportunity to see just how really “good” they are.

Study Your Way to be a Scrum Master

CADDZOOM

Scrum is an agile approach for developing innovative products and services. With an agile approach, you begin by creating a product backlog – a prioritized list of the features and other capabilities needed to develop a successful product. Guided by the product backlog, you always work on the most important or highest priority items first. When you run out of resources (such as time), any work that did not get completed will naturally be of lower priority than the completed work (because you would have worked first on high priority work only!)

A key principle of scrum is its recognition that during a project the customers can change their minds about what they want and need (often called requirements churn), and that unpredicted challenges cannot be easily addressed in a traditional predictive or planned manner. As such, scrum adopts an empirical approach—accepting that the problem cannot be fully understood or defined, focusing instead on maximizing the team’s ability to deliver quickly and respond to emerging requirements.

may_14_ap

Several organizations around the globe are accepting scrum as a primary project management framework for their projects, especially when they operate in a dynamic business environment. Growing popularity and acceptability of scrum has created a great demand for scrum-certified professionals in the job market. Grab the opportunity and join this growing community.

Scrum developer certified is an entry level certification for scrum team members and those who interact with any scrum team. The objective of this certification is to ensure that scrum team members know enough about scrum to effectively contribute to a scrum project.

Though there is no mandatory prerequisite for most of the Scrumstudy certifications, it is always better to understand the hierarchy structure. The diagram below shows what the preferred as well as optional certification to move to a next level is: