| Problem |
Not knowing adequately enough the general situation of projects in an organization and thus no possibilities to manage the situation with several projects.
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| Initial Context |
An organization in project business having several ongoing projects. Projects having Schedule Baseline (KSP09) and Followed Progress (KSP25).
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| Roles |
Organization represented by a role Director of Projects (or alike) acting on behalf of the organization and collecting status information of projects and initiating organization level activities based on this information. A Project Manager reporting the status of a single project to the Director of Projects.
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| Forces |
To manage a project company, it is very important to know the status of projects in general and the main risks in detail. Existing projects compete for the same scarce resources in the organization and the resource pool should constantly be developed. In addition to managing single projects, it is also important to manage the multi-project situation. Adequate visibility is then required for the management into single projects to take required actions on the organizational level.
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Solution
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- Define basic metrics to be used. This does not need to be done at every cycle.
- Define reporting (how to be implemented, how often, etc.) This does not need to be done at every cycle.
- Initiate reporting. Communicate the reporting need and guidance. Ask for reporting.
- Collect required information. A Project Manager collects required metrics etc. information regarding to the project.
- Check risk status. A Project Manager checks, and updates, if required, project's risk status and especially topics that might need escalation or support from the other organization.
- Report. A Project Manager reports to the organization as defined.
- Receive reports from projects. Director of Projects collects the reports from all projects.
- Ask for further information and Give further information, if further information is required.
- Report status to top management. Director of Projects communicates the status in projects to the other management.
- Give feedback and receive feedback if any feedback has resulted from the discussions.
- Initiate required actions. Initiate possible required corrective and preventive actions (by the project or by the organization).
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| Resulting Context |
A project organization having good knowledge of existing projects and possibilities to plan and manage the multi-project situation. The projects' risk level is known and possible actions can be initiated at the organizational level.
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| Instances |
The reporting first to be implemented (more effort taken for defining the metrics and reporting) and then automatizing as much as possible for the organization's standard reporting cycle.
Potential pitfalls:
- Project Managers not wanting to report anything -> Motivation, asking less but more important information.
- A Project Manager becomes passive in own proactive reporting and misses sharing information early enough about big risks or problems. -> Highlighting the importance of direct communication in addition to the formal reporting.
- This reporting might become so automatic, that not even the results are studied carefully and no actions initiated when required. -> Evaluating the effectiveness of reporting and initiating actions based on that.
- • The reporting could work well even though the expected metrics would not serve the purpose. -> The usability and the effectiveness of the metrics and report questions shall be followed and improved.
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| Process Connection |
Multi Project Management at the organizational level.
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