1st Edition

The Hands-On Project Office Guaranteeing ROI and On-Time Delivery

By Richard M. Kesner Copyright 2003
    368 Pages 41 B/W Illustrations
    by Auerbach Publications

    Economic pressures have forced IT executives to demonstrate the immediate and calculable ROI of new technology deployments. Unfortunately, existing IT service delivery often drifts without serious thought as to how process improvements could lead to higher performance and customer satisfaction.

    The Hands-On Project Office: Guaranteeing ROI and On-Time Delivery offers the proven processes, techniques, and tools that IT managers can use to immediately improve the delivery of IT products and services. This compendium of best practices and practical recommendations details simple, deployable frameworks, practical tools, and time-tested best practices for successful IT service and project delivery management.

    Recognizing how your tech staff can do more with less, this practitioner's handbook describes how you can better coordinate work efforts, hold project teams accountable, and communicate and demonstrate the importance of IT services to your company as a whole. By explaining how to streamline the functions that capture and report information about IT delivery, this volume clarifies roles, responsibilities, customer expectations, and performance measures, resulting in improved service and efficiency.

    Emphasizing the establishment of processes that result in repeatable success, the book provides quickly implementable solutions for IT personnel faced with the daily management of large, complex systems.

    THE THREE PILLARS OF IT DELIVERY - PROBLEM RESOLUTION, SERVICE REQUESTS, AND PROJECTS
    Introduction
    The Business Context
    The Internal Economy for Investing in IT Services and Projects
    The Three Pillars of IT Delivery
    Managing Service Delivery
    Managing Project Commitments
    IT Metrics and Reporting Tools

    THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE BUSINESS MODEL
    Introduction: Revisiting the IT Organization
    IT Service and Project Delivery Roles
    The Role of the Project Management Office: Measuring its ROI
    The PMO Value Proposition: An Initial ROI Estimate

    ALIGNMENT AND PLANNING - DOING THE RIGHT THINGS
    Introduction
    Getting the Business to Set IT Priorities
    Getting to "Yes" in Setting IT Priorities: An Approach to Business
    and IT Alignment
    Documenting and Accounting for IT Priorities: The Action Planning Process

    MODELING AND MANAGING SERVICE DELIVERY
    Introduction
    Modeling Service Delivery Management
    The Service Delivery Agreement
    Basic SLA Terms and Definitions
    Roles and Responsibilities of Process Participants
    Representing IT Assets and Costs
    Problem Resolution and Service Delivery Workflows
    Reporting on Results
    Closing Comments

    PROJECT DELIVERY AND THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT LIFE CYCLE
    Introduction
    What Is an IT Project? What Is Project Management? Why Bother?
    The IT Project Management Life Cycle - A Brief Overview
    The Commitment Process
    Project Delivery - Measurement and Reporting
    The Role of the Project Management Office in Project
    Management Services

    COLLECTING AND CAPTURING BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS
    FOR IT PROJECTS
    Introduction
    Preparing for Business Requirements Gathering
    Business Process Mapping
    Process Decomposition
    The Roles and Responsibilities Matrix
    Process Rules
    Performance Metrics
    Process Templates and Tools
    Building a Final Picture of the IT Solution for the Customer
    Closing Comments

    MANAGING LESSONS LEARNED - THE REUSE AND REPURPOSING OF IT ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE: A CASE STUDY
    Introduction
    The Whats, Whys, and Wherefores of KM
    Getting Started: Introducing the Case Study
    Business and Technical Requirements: Analysis and Design
    The Development Process: Constructing Content
    and Service Components
    Certification, Launch, and Release
    Ongoing Operations
    Lessons Learned

    ARCHITECTING SUCCESS - THE ROLE OF SENSIBLE IT T
    ARCHITECTURE MANAGEMENT IN SUCCESSFUL SERVICE DELIVERY:
    A CASE STUDY
    Introduction
    Framing the IT Architecture Planning and Management Process
    Introducing the Case Study
    The Underlying Assumptions of an Enterprise's IT Strategy
    and Architecture
    The Process of Building and Maintaining an IT Architecture
    Putting the Architecture Process to Work - IT Planning
    and Procurement
    Conclusions and Lessons Learned

    CONCLUSIONS - THE ROI OF THE PMO
    Introduction
    The ROI Discussion
    Executive Support Services
    Supporting Service Delivery
    Supporting Project Delivery
    Leveraging Technical Knowledge
    Staff Support and IT Organization Culture
    One Last Look at the PMO

    Appendices
    KEY TEMPLATES FROM THE PMO TOOL BOX
    Appendix A: IT Project Justification Template
    Appendix B: IT Annual Plan Template
    Appendix C: PMO Value Calculation-Model and
    Template
    Appendix D: Service Level Agreement Template
    Appendix E: Project Management Life-Cycle Framework
    Appendix F: Project Leadership Questionnaire
    for Change Management Projects
    Appendix G: IT Project Risk Management Matrix
    Appendix H: Commitment Document Template
    Appendix I: Master Project Schedule Template
    Appendix J: Glossary
    Appendix K: Selected Readings
    Index

    Biography

    Kesner\, Richard M.

    "[This book] contains a lot of valuable information including links to an electronic library of the tools, templates, and examples cited in the text. … Additionally, it also serves as a handy compendium of best practices and practical recommendations. … It focuses on simple changes in organizational process that can lead to higher customer satisfaction. … [R]eaders are taken on a journey of exploration and an examination of one's own business context."
    - Software Quality Professional