Journyx Project Management Blog

Generally, the project manager or requirements analyst gathers initial requirements from the client. He or she then starts developing the architecture/design etc. and creates a framework so that, the development team can start working. The important thing is that, it is essential that, requirements are checked with the client on a regular basis.

The requirements analyst / PM should keep on asking the client at each stage, if there are any changes in the requirements. What happens is that, when requirements changes, the client is not aware in advance. Hence, when the client comprehends that requirements are changing, he rushes to the contractor with a new sets of requirements.

This can also be towards the conclusion stage of the project and then, it becomes extremely difficult to complete the project on time. Then, there is no schedule or planning it just becomes fire fighting. Of course, the new requirements are fulfilled but with all kind of pain, delays and sacrifices by the team. In the end, all are happy but nobody thinks that there could have been a better way. Everybody thinks that, it was the fault of somebody else!

Read more at:
http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_effective_pm.php

When hosted software providers came on the scene several years ago, traditional software vendors scoffed, doubting these upstart “software as a service” vendors could make a dent in their market share. They didn’t buy the concept of software offered on demand over the Internet on a monthly basis. As it turned out, they were wrong.

The number of businesses embracing hosted software has grown steadily, especially in the last couple of years, with small businesses leading the charge. According to the Yankee Group, the applications that SMBs are most often implementing via a hosted provider are marketing, project management, time and billing, accounting/financial, CRM, merchant services, inventory management, messaging and payroll.

But before an SMB decides to select a hosted application, it should have a sense of its benefits and limitations. Yes, there are limitations. But, if the model is used correctly, the limitations will not outweigh the benefits.

Read more at:
http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/smartbiz-saas.html

• Update - How can I set the Expense Entry screen as the “start” screen for my users?
• Update - In Timesheet, what is the procedure for handling an employee who is leaving my company?

Get these great tips and more at:
http://www.journyx.com/rss/support/tips/

If necessity is the mother of invention, then a skunk works is her creative big sister. And if you follow the logic of that family tree, necessity is also the mother of skunk works.

James Dallas, former CIO at Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corp., recalls becoming a skunk works devotee after seeing too many promising projects labeled failures before the development team had a chance to get all of the kinks out. “Within a large corporation, whenever you do something, the spotlight is on it,” he says. “When it’s not successful, people can be too quick to cancel it. With skunk works, you can get the lessons learned in a real roll-up-your-sleeves, hands-on manner that is away from the spotlight.”

Skunk works are small research and development groups formed to produce a technology or product. While the goal of a traditional skunk works is to develop a commercial product or technology, the aim of an IT skunk works is to solve an internal business problem.

Catch a whiff at:
http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/cworld-skunk.html

There’s a lot of talk in the wilderness that is the internet about Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), aka ASP or Hosted software. Journyx has always been at the forefront of the SaaS approach to delivering Timesheet. We were the first to market with a hosted solution and we remain the largest provider of SaaS time and expense tracking solutions, with hundreds of active SaaS Timesheet customers, including American Airlines and Symantec.

Beyond simply offering Timesheet SaaS, though, Journyx is among the thought leaders in SaaS. So much so, in fact, that our founder and CEO, Curt Finch, who first brought you Timesheet SaaS back in 1999, has recently written articles on SaaS for leading industry publications including Computerworld, SmartBiz and WebProNews.

So the next time you hear someone trumpeting that they offer a timesheet application on an ASP or Hosted basis, don’t be fooled into thinking they’re ahead of the game. Odds are they’re just playing catchup with the company that’s been on the SaaS ball since before the turn of the century - your pals at Journyx.

Find out more about Timesheet SaaS at:
http://www.journyx.com/rss/products/timesheet/saas.html

Read Curt’s most recent SaaS article at:
http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/smartbiz-clfasp.html

The Sinclair Group - a consulting company that improves operating performance for its manufacturing clients using unique methodology and the exceptional expertise of their consultants - is using Journyx Timesheet software to efficiently collect time and expense data on several hundred projects, and provide the company’s worldwide project managers with real-time project information. The Sinclair Group chose Journyx Timesheet because it needed a Web-based system that a small business could afford. Since implementing Timesheet, the company has cut its invoicing time by more than half, resulting in improved cash flow.

Read the whole press release at:
http://www.journyx.com/rss/press/pr20060327.html

Listening to end users describe how they do their jobs and then watching them at work has led to some eye-opening moments for Franz Fruehwald, CIO for the Catholic Human Services unit within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Instead of just making untargeted, wholesale changes to systems, Fruehwald and his staff have learned lessons from archdiocese employees and worked with them to determine how to best meet their business needs.

“In the past, innovation has been heavily technology-driven, with IT being the primary driver,” Fruehwald said last week. But that approach “had mixed results, with some users feeling that IT has forced certain projects and technologies on them,” he added. “Today, we are more collaborative.”

That mind-set was largely echoed by several other IT managers who, like Frueh-wald, plan to attend Computerworld’s seventh annual Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference, which starts today in Palm Desert, Calif. Beyond Flashy Hardware

Read more at:
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/project/story/0,10801,109232,00.html

Business cases for IT investments are now the norm rather than the exception. However, projects are still considered individually as discrete investments. Likewise, there is often a segmentation between new application spending, the realm of project portfolio management (PPM), existing application maintenance, the realm of application portfolio management (APM), and infrastructure investment. As of yet, few, if any, organizations are looking holistically at the entire IT budget as a unified suite of investments. IT organizations can apply many of the same tools the financial community uses to build and manage financial portfolios to maximize benefits, mitigate risks, and better meet the needs of its constituent customers. Although the science of IT portfolio management is in its infancy, understanding the concepts and laying the groundwork now will allow for quicker adoption later as the tools and tenets become better defined over the coming years. The ultimate goal is delivering to the organization predictable and higher returns at the appropriate level of risk. Following, Forrester lays out the basic concepts and definition of IT portfolio management, its relationship to other management processes, and Forrester’s research agenda for coverage of these areas.

Download the PDF at:
http://www.itpapers.com/research.aspx?&cname=Project+Management&docid=134224

Gillian is at the end of her wits! They only have less than three months to finish the project and yet all things seem to be going wrong. And to top it all, there’s little financial resources left to finish all things that needed completion before d-day!

To an expert’s eye, Gillian’s problem all boils down to improper project management. She may have started the project without evaluating all her resources and whether or not these resources will be enough to meet all the requirements of the project. She has also failed to make a doable timetable for the project, the reason why she is on a panic stage.

Project management is the process of applying one’s know-how or knowledge in overseeing and managing a project of whatever magnitude. Do not think that project management is required only by big projects. Small projects can also benefit from an effective project management. Knowing how to use and apply the knowledge you have acquired in all areas will be helpful in the implementation and accomplishment of any project.

Read more at:
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/4653.php

Hadrian’s Wall stands as a monument to the battle between process and freedom. Built by the Romans in northern Britain between 122 and 130 A.D., the 74-mile barrier marked the final frontier of the vast and powerful Roman Empire. On one side stood law and order. On the other, men painted themselves blue, screamed like banshees and went all but berserk in their fight to remain free.

Likewise, process- and quality- focused methods like the Capability Maturity Model and ISO 9000 impose law and order within an organization. Studies have shown that the consistent use of processes increases repeatability, productivity and quality while decreasing project delivery time. But these same processes can appear as a wall to the business people who are pressured to get their ideas to market. The project team ends up on the battle line between the program management office (PMO) enforcing the procedures and the business people seeking to retain their freedom.

I have seen project managers burn out striving to please both groups. Here are some practical ideas to keep process from driving everyone berserk…

Read more at:
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/project/story/0,10801,108316,00.html