I was an instructor for Summit D and prepared the section on systems requirement definition. Summit was a name selected to indicate the top of the line and "D" was for delivery. I hope this clears things up. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Ahhh history. It's fun to be OLD!
Actually C&L bought Summit from a small vendor - I was there when we thought it was the greatest / best idea around! I can't remember the vendor any more - but it was a small / botique PM software tool vendor.
IT was Summit - PM then.
The summit was really just a logo - It matched the stylized mountain peak on the screen background.
IBM bought Summit - D from C&L. I think to just bury the tool. They were buying Rational at that time too (yep I was at IBM then!).
It's main use (by us at C&L) was to help construct a MPP lifecycle based on solution framework components and then to estimate a project - based on function points with "adjustment" factors. It was pretty slick for the 80s.
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Andy SmithSenior Consultant| Medley Business SolutionsWinchester, United Kingdom
Apologies, Tim, but I'm going to have to correct you...
C&L didn't buy SUMMIT from anybody. As I said in my earlier post, I helped to write the original SUMMIT-D methodology, which was published as a set of paper manuals. SUMMIT-S was written by a parallel team at the same time.
A few years after the methodoloogy was launched we began to look at process management tools. Two attempts were made to launch something based on someone else's platform: after the second attempt foundered a decision was made to build the next generation in-house. The SUMMIT-PM tool that actually saw the light of day was specified and built by the CoE team in Princeton: I did some work on testing it and drafted a user manual which I don't think was ever released (the tool was changing too quickly).
I continued to deliver SUMMIT-D training courses - using SUMMIT-PM as part of the course - up until about 2002, by which time I had left PwC and was working as an independent.
IBM didn't buy SUMMIT as such - they bought the whole consultancy division from PwC in about 2003, and acquired SUMMIT as part of the deal. For some years it was still offered with a Rational badge on top...
Someone in the small consultancy for whom I now work left a set of original SUMMIT-S manuals in the office a week or two back - it was a 'blast from the past' to see them sitting on the desk!
It's good to know there's still a little interest in this stuff... Saving Changes...
I was trained in Summid_D by Coopers & Lybrand trainers in the late 1990s. C & L supplied a pretty robust tool for generation of initial project plans based on the type of technology we were employing, whether it was out of the box or developed applications, the size of the application, and other selection criteria. C & L additionally supplied links to white papers and samples of work papers and how-to's from project initation through post installation review as well problem solving tool links. Don't know how much of it was built in-house or out-house by C&L but as implementation technologies, it was the best I've seen. Saving Changes...
Mats BeemSENIOR VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION| PHILIPSNetherlands
I lost my SUMMIT-S manual (the summary book), can someone help me get a copy? Saving Changes...
Bernard GorePortfolio, Programme & Project Professional| NZ PoliceWellington, New Zealand
I'd completely forgotten about Summit_D, thanks for the reminder! What a simpler world it was back then.... Saving Changes...
WOW! I had no idea people still asked questions about SUMMIT. I was the person who managed the tooling and production that took place from 1993 (C&L) to 2005 (IBM). I was IBM's sole support for the product beyond that. I am retiring from IBM at the end of 2013. If anyone has any genuine interest in a modernized version of the content or training, please let me know. I will also answer any modest questions. My email is [email protected]. Saving Changes...
Russell JonesSenior Project Manager, Assistant Vice President| Sun National Bank and OceanFirst BankWilliamstown, Nj, United States
Ah, Summit-PM, Summit-D and all of its fore runners (i.e. SDM/70).
I first learned SDM/70 in a training class in Philadelphia, from Atlantic Software (1980). I started using it in what was then Blue Cross of Greater Philadelphia. I later became a consultant for AGS Information Systems (1986-1992) which had a division called AGSMS. The MS stood for Management Systems which was located in King of Prussia, PA. Their specialty was methodologies utilizing SDM/70, PC/70 and a number of other PC tools derived from SDM/70. I became a Project Manager there, utilizing and trying to sell the methodology as software and using it on projects I managed.
I later worked for what was Core States Bank where I implemented a PMO based on what had become SUMMIT-S and SUMMIT-D and implemented them with the help of PwC as our consultants. I taught 200 people the SUMMIT methodology there. Then we were purchased by First Union Bank (later: Wachovia/Wells Fargo) who eliminated the PMO and along with it SUMMIT.
At this time SUMMIT was an online server based system. All of the documentation from SDM/70 was wholly embedded within SUMMIT. Today I still use SUMMIT's principals but do not have the online capabilities (i.e. walking you through the Q&A to select the type of project, building your project task list, exporting the Project Task List directly to MS-Project). I still have some of the early three ring binders (the forms days) I got from AGS. I do have a Project Mangers Guide (Developed at AGS), which I helped develop.
However, I had also heard that IBM had purchased SUMMIT. This I agree with. I compared ten (10) methodologies to be used in my PMO and SUMMIT won out-right. IBM's various methods was among those that did not win against SUMMIT. I knew for sure that IBM was very upset at not winning the contract. And I thought they bought SUMMIT and took it off the market to only be utilized with their Rational tools.
I started off saying, ah SUMMIT. I have never come across another product that was as all inclusive as SUMMIT (from initial concept of strategic planning down to the last detail of post-implementation ongoing maintenance). There will never be another SUMMIT.
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Russell JonesSenior Project Manager, Assistant Vice President| Sun National Bank and OceanFirst BankWilliamstown, Nj, United States
Russell Jones
I am also available at [email protected]. Saving Changes...
