Software Search (Part 2)

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)  

Part I of this article addressed the project planning features and functionality of the "perfect" project planning and management (PPM) software. The goal of the project planning module of the PPM was defined as a comprehensive set of enterprise level initiative and project tools that allow organizations to quickly justify, plan, prioritize, resource and launch projects in a consistent manner across project managers.

In Part I, the need for extensive templates was identified to facilitate rapid project plan development. Additionally a complete plan was defined as containing:

Work Plans

• Tasks for deliverables, administration, approvals, reviews, etc.
• Resourced by best skill source available
• Time lined based on end dates
• Time gapped based on earliest availability date
• Budget impact
• Relative priority ranking

Communication Plans

• Which Stakeholders
• When
• Method
• Format

Change Management Plans

Diagnostics and Scenarios

• Resource conflicts & requirements
• Budgetary conflicts
• Timeline conflicts
• Priority conflicts
• Staffing utilization analysis
• What-if scenarios (changes to dates, resources, funding, etc.)

Part II of this article focuses on the project tracking, and management aspects of the "perfect" PPM software …

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