Project Management Support
YCG will implement our proven methodology via a Project Management Plan (PMP) template and an Project Management Portal.
A major component of our approach is our industry tested Project Management Plan (PMP) template that we’ll tailor to each engagement. The PMP will include the schedule listing all tasks, milestones and deliverables; Identification of each process step required for completing the work; The time needed to accomplish each step; Description of the staffing resources allocated to each task; and the Rationale for resource allocations. The PMP will be used to assess the adequacy of the resources proposed and managed by iSystems to accomplish the requirements of the SOW. Upon PMP approval the PMP is integrated, or ‘baked-in’ to the architecture of the AUS Portal. Our formal change control process will resubmit the PMP for COR approval whenever any proposed changes that result in a schedule impact of more than ten (10) business days.
We developed the portal to manage projects with respect to contract and task requirements, develop formalized milestones, resource development, goals, objectives and schedules. The Portal is the vehicle used to implement our PM methodology directly to each engagement through the client's SharePoint environment. The portal will provide a “one stop shop” for integrated project plans, document repositories, automated workflows and request forms, and status dashboards tailored specifically for each project's specific requirements.
Figure 3 YCG Project Portal
Our Project Portfolio Portal includes our Project Intake feature, with forms and workflows; an Integrated Project Center that provides access to the project plans and team sites in the portfolio; and a preconfigured Business Intelligence Center with auto populated dashboards. It facilitates project prioritization and strategic alignment, compliance with policies and standards, as well as optimal resource management. The Portal brings together a modern SharePoint site collection with conversations and calendars from Outlook, tasks from Planner and Project, and a shared OneNote notebook into a single collaboration space. It also comes with an autogenerated Office 365 Group; Any users added to the portal are automatically added to the Office 365 Group. This means that there's no need to create and manage a separate distribution list or a SharePoint group.
Project Initiation and/or Intake: For every new task identified, YCG will use the formal intake process to facilitate collaboration with the stakeholders to define the requirements, scope and level of effort (LOE). This will also eliminate the “drive by” requests that sometimes occur when stakeholders work directly with iSystems and not working through the proper approval process. Requests kick off an automated approval workflow to ensure all new projects are properly reviewed, vetted, prioritized, and approved. Once the project is approved the next step in the workflow is that it’s automatically added to the project center; a seamless switch from the KSN workflow to MS Project imbedded in our Portal.
The Project Center: The project center will list all the projects in the AUS portfolio and provide a snapshot of each. The left navigation pane has features and quick links to portfolio risks, resources, and reports. This enables the Portfolio Manager to manage resources, risks, and issues across the portfolio. The iSystems Project Center links includes an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS), built in Microsoft Project, and maintained for the duration of this engagement. The IMS will be accessible, for all stakeholders to view. All stakeholders will always know every activity, project the scope, LOE, funding and schedule.
Business Intelligence/Dashboards Center
All projects in the Project Center will be linked to preconfigured dashboards in the Business Intelligence center. The center has 13 preconfigured reports including; a portfolio overview, timeline, costs, milestones, risks, issues, and resources. Although there are ‘out of the box’ (OOB) report functionality built into MSFT Project, we’ve built on the OOB features to create a robust Business Intelligence Center.
Figure 4 YCG Project Portal elements