Project Management

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Project Tracking / Resource Management solution

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Anonymous
Does anyone have any thoughts on implementing an enterprise Project Tracking / Resource management solution.
Especially
- ABT's Result Management Suit
- Integration with MS Project 98
- Level of project management expertise needed to track time and resources in a meaningful way at the task level.
- Any experince with decoupling the scheduling tool from the project tracking and resource management tools. Resource are pulled out of the pool and put back in but not tracked while they are on a project via the plan in the PT and RM tools.

Thanks

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Anonymous
Has anyone had experience exporting/field-mapping from MS Project? I'm looking at trying to exchange info between it and AdVantage. Both are ODBC compliant, but I don't know the potential pitfalls ...
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Jan Schiller Partner and Chief Project Officer| Berkshire Consulting LLC Arizona, United States
George, I have experience with the following tools (of which ABT is not one):
**PlanView
**Artemis (ProjectView and TrackView)
**MSProject 4.1 and 8.0
**Visual Process (was SHL Transform)
**Pacific Edge's Project Office.

I agree with previous posts:
1) nothing good will come of the decoupling
2) while many 'other' software packages promise integration with MSProject, I haven't encountered one that does it seemlessly in the environments that I've worked
3) match your objectives and corresponding work plan with the level of understanding and commitment the organization is placing on project and resource management.
4) spend the time needed for a quality result. Identify the requirements driving the need for the tool.

From experience, I can offer one additional kernel of advice that doesn't seem to have been offered yet: prioritize process over the tool, and manage the project like the beast it is: a change (ie, people will have to end something they're already doing, and start doing something new). I say this because I firmly believe if people a) don't do work/WBS planning or b) do a lousy job at it, whatever tool you sit on top of that will reflect that.

If you have to implement both process and supporting tool, do both at once.

I recommend at all costs, do not implement the tool without the supporting processes that directly result the 'source data' that is represented in the tool. If the tool goes first, two things will have a strong probability of happening: you will have an organization of trackers (and not planners), and any experiences with the tool (good or bad) will also be associated with the project management processes that should be in place in your organization. And if the impressions aren't so good, it's a quick and usually lasting death to the good project management processes that need to be in place to provide quality data to manage.
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Frank Patrick Boonton, Nj, United States
A point of clarity, please.

Planning, scheduling, and track of project status are clearly closely linked. They also require a link to knowledge about resources. Other than supporting the ability to plan, schedule, and promise projects, what other purpose does the "resource management" process involve?

I fear that different things that might be included in that process beyond the aforementioned support of project delivery run the risk of adding unnecesary (at best) or conflicting (at worst) processes that consume management time and attention.

What do we really mean (and really need) when we say "resource managment?"

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