Achieving Solution Implementation and Services Excellence in Healthcare Business

Royal Philips (New York Stock Exchange: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care.⁴ Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips’ health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of EUR 16.8 billion, and the company employs approximately 70,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.

The Business Group Patient Care & Monitoring Solutions (BG PCMS) provides enterprise-wide patient monitoring solutions, from value solutions to sophisticated connected solutions, for real-time clinical information at the patient’s bedside; patient analytics, patient monitoring and clinical decision support systems including diagnostic electrocardiography data management for improved quality of cardiac care; therapeutic care, including cardiac resuscitation, emergency care solutions, invasive and noninvasive ventilators for acute and subacute hospital environments, and respiratory monitoring devices; consumables across the patient monitoring and therapeutic care businesses; and customer service, including clinical, information technology (IT), technical, and remote customer propositions. BG PCMS Services supports and enables the delivery of innovative services and solutions to provide excellent customer experience and maximize customer and shareholder value.

Varying Customer Needs and Different Project Complexities

Implementing PCMS Solution Projects is a local activity performed in each hospital organization in each country, often in the local language. PCMS operates with both local and centralized resources. This global/local organizational design often leads to a virtual working environment with specific requirements to efficiently run the project implementation. The requirements and maturity levels in each country/market and in each hospital customer greatly varies. Each project in a hospital is unique and varies in duration (from weeks to years), in size (up to multimillion euros/dollars), and in complexity (from stand-alone solution for one clinician to regional distributed solution for thousands of users) (see Figure 12–1). The range of size and complexity for Solution Implementation Projects in healthcare is broad; it includes in the PCMS scope simpler products, highly configurable systems, software and services including clinical consulting. It is influenced by different customer situations and demand and existing and new technologies. As a consequence the needs for a project management framework vary a lot:

• From single-department to multihospital deployments across country borders
• From stand-alone solutions in group practices or small departments to complex solutions with different systems, software, services fully integrated in the hospital infrastructure across multiple departments
• From simple clinical processes to highly designed workflows
• From “greenfield” implementations across all modalities⁵ and applications to customized solutions in existing hospital environments

When delivering low-complexity, single-solution projects in one hospital department on a simple, stand-alone network, the project manager will implement basic tasks within the five PMI process groups such as stakeholder identification, plan development, performing installation, controlling scope and obtaining customer acceptance. Then, when a high complexity solution is delivered within a health system, with many stakeholders and a variety of PCMS solutions, the solution delivery model becomes much more detailed. The project manager will implement additional tasks from the five PMI process groups such as performing a customer expectation analysis, developing a stakeholder RACI matrix, performing a workflow analysis, performing solution integration testing, controlling risk, cost and labor budgets and conducting phased lessons learned reviews. Figure 12–2 illustrates the project complexity drivers.

Integrated Solutions and Services Offering along the Customer Life Cycle

2015 PCMS Services strategized to follow a fully integrated approach how to offer, implement and service solutions and services from a process and methodology perspective. This is getting more important as the PCMS portfolio transitions more and more into a solutions and services business. A more holistic approach is key for scoping and designing, delivering and servicing solutions to the customer along the whole customer life cycle.⁶

It starts with an intensive dialogue with the customer to have a complete situation analysis and fully understand the customer needs, followed by the solution design phase during presales, where reference architectures and design guidelines help to shape a strong customer solution. This phase is essential for following solution phases, builds the real foundation, and is documented into a statement of work (SOW). “Having a solid foundation is an essential element for delivering project excellence.”⁷ McKinsey emphasizes the importance of technical and commercial capabilities as follows: “Companies that invest in this capability are able to achieve win rates of 40 to 50 percent in new business and 80 to 90 percent in renewal business.”⁸ Afterward, a multiyear solution life Cycle plan is aligned with the customer before the solution delivery phase implements the solution initially, and additional services are provided over the life cycle to fully create customer value. Continuous customer engagement is key for full success and enabling the desired customer outcome (including continuous partnership and collaboration going forward).

Out of the entire customer life cycle shown in Figure 12–3, three key areas will be highlighted in this chapter:

1. Solution Design
   • Technically feasible and implementable
   • Supportable by Philips and the customer
   • Financially transparent and profitable
   • Aligned with customer expectations
2. Project Management
   • Successful implementation, in line with what was scoped
   • Enabling a lean and scalable project management approach
   • Provide the right tools to deliver an exceptional customer experience
   • Align way of working across all markets
3. Service Management
   • Focus on the service, not only the technology or products
   • Standardize the way we define and add value to support the customer experience
   • Have flexible and responsive processes to support value creation
   • Be service oriented internally and externally

Customer Life Cycle and Customer Experience

PCMS has an awareness that each organization leaves an imprint with the customer, an experience made up of rational and emotional aspects that determines what healthcare customers associate with the Philips brand, what Philips means to them. This is especially pronounced in a services business. Customer experience is at the heart of a relationship that translates into whether customers repeatedly rely on the organization’s capabilities and embrace it as a trusted advisor.⁹ Therefore, another important aspect is how the organization actively and holistically “designs” the customer experience end to end in terms of capabilities, tools, and processes. PCMS strives to apply this customer experience focused approach across the entire customer life cycle from the point in time the customers share their vision and mandate Philips with the realization, through solution design, delivery, and continuous engagement and improvement.

In this context, solutions implementation and services excellence are key strategic ingredients to ensure that PCMS reliably and repeatedly delivers the desired customer experience. Hence, building and sustaining project solution implementation and services excellence and reaching a high level of project management maturity with solution implementation projects is a definite goal of vital importance for both the customer and Philips.

According to PMI’s March 2012 Pulse of the Profession survey,¹⁰ only 73 percent of projects at organizations with high project management maturity meet their original business goals and intent. For Philips PCMS Services, the ambitions for successful solution project implementation are high and require high maturity in how solution projects are designed and delivered.

This ambition was the key strategic driver to implement a Global Solutions & Services Management Office (SSMO) that has broad scope from a methodology, process, and tool perspective around the implementation of solutions and services.

Solutions & Services Management Office

The establishment of a global SSMO was a clear strategic decision and had full support from top management to drive solutions implementation and services excellence strategically.¹¹ The SSMO is here seen as a next step to develop the PMO concept into a more holistic role around solution implementations and services. It is clear that the alignment of the SSMO scope and charter to the objectives of the organization is key to driving strategy.¹² The purpose of the SSMO is to create and deploy the PCMS Services strategy for solution architecture, project management, service management processes, tools, frameworks, and capabilities development.

PCMS services considers the following important aspects with regard to project solution implementation and services excellence:

• People. Well-educated, certified, skilled (hard, soft), and continuously trained solution architects, project managers and team, and services personnel with a professional mind-set, appearance, and behavior. This also includes recruiting the best talent.¹³
• Processes. Highly efficient, standardized, lean, repeatable, and well-documented processes that are continuously improved.
• Tools. Highly integrated and efficient tools, templates, and applications from the project acquisition until the end of the project.

Solutions implementation and services excellence is not seen as a static goal; the ambition is to continuously raise the bar for project implementation maturity as well as oversee overall competencies and project delivery capacity.

The SSMO enables the goal of solutions implementation and services excellence where the following aspects need to be highlighted:

• Solutions & Services Implementation Excellence matters. This is a key aspect to value and improving skills, processes, and tools.
• Change management. Identify, drive, and implement improvements and changes in the organization.
• Standardization. Enable standardized and lean practices and processes across product domains and regions.¹⁴
• Continuous learning. Train, review, and mentor as required.
• Facilitation of community of practice (CoP) for all the different professions. This is a key aspect to enable to share, learn, leverage, network, and communicate.¹⁵

In building of the global SSMO, these conditions were considered:

1. SSMO positioning. Senior experts in solution architecture, project management, and service management who guide the organization through changes toward solutions implementation and services excellence with strong change management. Organized along multiyear improvement programs managed by experienced program managers.
2. SSMO focus. The SSMO itself does not design, implement, or service customer-facing projects in hospitals itself but focuses on supporting all involved roles along the solutions life cycle including project and services teams.
3. SSMO consultants. Implementation of a dedicated senior SME role to provide consultancy for stakeholders in all countries. The aim of the SSMO consultant position is to advance the solution implementation and Services processes, tools, and methodologies to truly reflect the ambitions of solutions implementation and services excellence.
4. SSMO collaboration with all markets/countries and corporate functions. The Global SSMO is highly linked to the solutions implementation and services delivery organizations in the respective countries to enable close alignment. SSMO team members are located in various locations to allow for a truly global reach.

The SOLiD Framework

In close collaboration with the PCMS Services Community around the globe, the SSMO developed the SOLiD framework shown in Figure 12–4. The SOLiD framework is Patient Care and Monitoring Solution’s approach for designing, managing, and servicing customer-facing solution implementation projects and services. SOLiD is an abbreviation and stands for:

• Scalable, which allows flexibility to meet the demands of our low-, medium-, and high-complexity projects.
• Operationally agile, meaning it is the first iteration, and we will continue to build and improve via iterations over time.
• Lean, including only the tasks that would add value to the project and services team and, more important, to hospital customers.
• iT focused, including the structure, tools, and processes needed to successfully manage projects and services in an IT solutions environment. Last, SOLiD will help to
• Deliver consistent results and bring business value by providing a standard and lean way of working.

The underpinnings of this framework are the process groups of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing as defined in the PMBOK Guide (Project Management Body of Knowledge) by PMI.¹⁶ Each process group is then further broken down into more specific processes and procedures detailing how PCMS manages the implementation of solution projects and services.

Scalability in project implementations is key to allow the right, flexible, agile, and efficient approach per project, leveraging from a rich tool set. Solution projects are defined by their level of complexity. Typical factors when defining complexity are total cost of the project, number of team members involved, number and size of deliverables, complexity of deliverables and of the customer environment, and time frames involved.

PMI defines a project as being different from other ongoing operations in an organization, because unlike operations, projects have a definite beginning and an end—they have a limited duration and bring value to the organization.

The SOLiD framework is designed to help offer guidance based on three complexity levels:

1. Foundation. Designed for low-complexity projects with basic project management tasks required (e.g., basic testing and simple SoW.
2. Advanced. Incorporates the tasks in foundation with additional activities/processes to help better manage medium-complexity projects; includes solution design components.
3. Integrated. Incorporates both foundation and advanced frameworks with additional activities needed to manage more intricate, high-complexity projects; usually more technical integration and testing activities and different levels of risk and stakeholder management are needed.

The SOLiD framework supports project management activities throughout the customer life cycle. Figure 12–5 gives an overview with a focus on solution design and delivery.

The figure shows how processes are structured, how PMI process groups are mapped, and how the process frameworks overlap for smooth hand-offs between areas of responsibilities.

• Solution design. Tight teamwork between sales and project management is highly important in solution projects following a defined sales bid management process.
• Solution delivery. Following the solution design is implemented in line with what we had scoped and following a lean and scalable project management approach.
• Service management. Using components from the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)¹⁷ toolbox is an industry best practice to set up a highly efficient, state-of-the art IT services concept.
• Customer experience. To make current customer experience visible at different project milestones and during the entire customer life cycle, customers are invited at key touch points to share their feedback with the PCMS organization. The survey process continues beyond implementations and upgrades, with ongoing support and maintenance. Feedback received is evaluated under the aspect of congruence with the desired customer experience, identifying room for improvement and also learning about strengths with regard to solution implementation and services excellence. This closed-loop process is a key characteristic of a continuously learning and improving organization.

An important takeaway is that the different processes are all interrelated and thus break the traditional silo approach. Communication and teamwork are some of the key aspects that prevailed during the definitions of these processes. Especially in a global organization like Philips PCMS, it is important to implement, train, and improve harmonized, standardized, and lean processes. It is also important that everyone speaks the same project implementation and services “language” and uses the same terms. This is one of the reasons why PCMS project managers need to be CAPM^®/PMP^® certified and trained on the SOLiD framework.

PCMS Services Communities of Practice

Building CoPs around all the professions along the customer life cycle is key for solution implementation and services excellence and continuous improvement, but also to learn, share, and leverage. A CoP has these three characteristics:¹⁸

1. Shared domain of interest (e.g., project management)
2. Members are practitioners (e.g., project managers)
3. Engagement of the members in joint activities

The SSMO supports, designs, and facilitates the CoPs in close teamwork with the PCMS Services Leadership team. For each CoP, a core team is needed, which consists of volunteering practitioners from different geographic regions. The goal of the CoPs is to share, learn, leverage, network, and communicate among the professions along the solutions life cycle. Engagement in CoPs varies from very active contributing members to passive participation. In addition, the CoPs are one way to reach out to members to share information or ask for feedback and support.

The exchange in the CoP itself helps build individual and group competencies, resolve problems, and avoid reinventing the wheel. The CoP itself also provides a feedback mechanism to the SSMO to help enhance and develop its services and its future direction via various tools (e.g., using polling technology, the CoP can advise on preferences and priorities).

Activities include regular online meetings to exchange information on the key topics, support in the preparation of face-to-face training and conferences, and building new artifacts in the creation of new content for a specific product domain or solution implementation and Services processes. Online CoP meetings are a repeated success as well as regular webinars to teach and share about key aspects for solution implementation and services. It’s the best way to get the instant feedback from the community for the community.

Key Takeaways to Achieve Solution Implementation and Services Excellence

The key takeaways for achieving project implementation and service excellence with a Global SSMO could be summarized as follows:

• Scalable project implementation enables success for different project complexities.
• Holistic and fully integrated approach for the customer life cycle is needed is key for scoping and designing, delivering and servicing solutions for healthcare customers.
• Work intensively with CoPs and experts around the globe. A CoP for the different professions is a state-of-the art approach and a key and recognized best practice to share, learn, leverage, network, and communicate together.
• Process harmonization and standardization is highly important for the success of an organization operating globally and to reduce complexity. Tight integration in the upstream processes (e.g., sales, bid management) and downstream processes (e.g., entire life cycle) are very important too. This life cycle approach has to be supported by solid change management and training activities.
• Solution implementation and service excellence is not a static objective. It requires continuous improvement around people, processes and tools. Even though it is not an absolute objective per se, it is considered a proactive way to anticipate and fulfill the needs of customers with regard to solutions and services.
• The SSMO is a key enabler for solution implementation and services excellence, where a focus on specific roles and setup is very important for the success.

About NTT DATA

NTT DATA partners with clients to navigate and simplify the modern complexities of business and technology, delivering the insights, solutions and outcomes that matter most. We deliver tangible business results by combining deep industry expertise with applied innovations in digital, cloud and automation across a comprehensive portfolio of consulting, applications, infrastructure, and business process services.

NTT DATA is a top 10 global business and IT services provider with 100,000+ professionals in more than 50 countries and is part of NTT Group, a partner to 85 percent of the Fortune 100.²⁰

NTT DATA welcomed Dell Services into the family in 2016. Together, we offer one of the industry’s most comprehensive services portfolios, designed to modernize business and technology to deliver the outcomes that matter most to our clients.²¹

NTT DATA Services PM3 Framework Evolution

For over 29 years, NTT DATA Services has empowered countries, communities, clients, and people everywhere through IT services that drive tangible business results, whether that’s connecting better with clients, getting products and services to market faster, or finding easier ways to comply with regulations. It’s not about the technology, it’s about the end result: moving the enterprise forward.

NTT DATA Services focuses on outcomes and business benefit, combining deep expertise with proven best practice standards to deliver on time, on budget. We drive reliable, predictable, high-quality results through standardization on project management, and an overarching PMO framework while at the same time staying flexible and scalable to deliver the right results and to meet clients’ goals. This means staying invested in and evolving the people, processes, and tools aspects of the PM3, NTT DATA Services’ Global Project Delivery Framework. The “PM3” stands for Project Management, Program Management, and Portfolio Management. (See Figure 12–6.)

While the PM3 is centrally governed and is continuously improving, large-scale organizational change, such as a large acquisition, requires a dedicated program team to ensure unified seamless delivery for our clients. One such example, sponsored at the senior executive level, was the Enterprise Project Management Standardization (EPMS) Program in which the PM3 was originally established. Acknowledging the need to bring two organizations together and adapt while maintaining focus on results for our clients, the EPMS Program was launched to establish a minimum standard for project management practices to increase project management expertise, efficiency, and effectiveness across NTT DATA Services, ultimately increasing the success of global project delivery over time.

The EPMS rogram team started with the best-in-existence project management components already contributing to operational success across the organization. Through collaboration with representatives from all segments and delivery teams across the globe, the EPMS Program worked to establish one standard framework.

The patented PM3²² is the NTT DATA Services Global Project Delivery Framework, which encompasses the Project and Program Management Framework, the Project Management Office Framework, and the internal Project Delivery Governance standards and processes.

The PM3 Project/Program Management Framework

The PM3 Project/Program Management Framework:

1. Addresses the people, process and tool aspects of project, program and portfolio management.
2. Is flexible, scalable and applicable to any type of project.
3. Is completely aligned to industry-recognized best practices from the Project Management Institute’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide) as well as PMI’s^® Standard for Portfolio Management.
4. Uniquely packages and integrates the methodology assets online to help project management team members quickly and easily navigate the processes, templates and supporting toolkit, through a variety of user-friendly views.

The PM3 PMO Framework (see Figure 12–7):

• Focuses on portfolio-level standards, processes, tools, and templates, addressing six standard PMO functions. These tools and processes, when properly applied, increase project delivery quality and effectiveness through better governance, overall support, and leverage of best practices and lessons learned.
• Provides the standard processes, tools, and templates to execute a group of standard functions that support business success through:
  • Project Portfolio Governance
  • Project Portfolio Management
  • Portfolio Resource Management
  • Portfolio Quality Management
  • PMO Support for Project and Program Management
  • PMO Organizational Planning, Design, and Management
• Represents the portfolio management component of the PM3; it works within the PM3 Framework to provide a deeper organizational insight into all aspects of project execution both at the tactical and strategic levels. The PMO also helps to efficiently allocate the resources among the ongoing initiatives and governs the projects from a strategic viewpoint, helping to increase alignment of project delivery with the client’s strategic goals.
• The PMO . . .
  • Streamlines the project, program, and portfolio management effort and increases project delivery quality and effectiveness.
  • Provides data that can be applied to driving up project throughput, thus maximizing a client’s strategic gain for their investment.
  • Is designed to accelerate organizational change management.
  • Provides clear and efficient lines of project leadership and authority for issue escalation and resolution.

Overall, the PM3 Framework contributes to operational excellence for both NTT DATA Services and our clients by:

• Demonstrating unified, seamless delivery to our clients, standardizing project management across integrated, end-to-end, multi-service solutions.
• Increasing likelihood of successful delivery, with proven, repeatable industry-aligned best practices.
• Providing continuous project performance monitoring and reporting, using quantitative early warning metrics; proactively identifying and minimizing negative impacts, which ultimately contributes to clients loyalty.
• Enabling project managers to grow and thrive through flexible, cost-effective, industry-aligned training and certification, providing ongoing professional development and more clearly defined career paths.

Assuring Quality through Project Delivery Governance

Project delivery governance is the process and associated accountability framework to oversee, monitor, and control global project delivery performance as well as the compliance to the PM3 standards for project management.

The PM3 project delivery governance process:

• Is applicable to both internal and external projects and programs.
• Is scaled appropriately based on standardized project complexity categorization (PCC), which scores each project based on a common questionnaire of size, complexity, and risk factors.
• Includes responsibilities of the account PMO, business line/delivery team PMO, and/or governance leads as well as the Enterprise PMO. This standard also defines the role of the operations management in the governance of project delivery and how we all work together.
• Is accomplished through routine governance, reporting, quality assurance, and quality control activities.

This governance process improves visibility of project performance at the senior executive levels as well as defines standards for performance measurements and reporting. Information reported as part of the governance process provides early warning and, as part of quality control, triggers intervention and remediation processes for underperforming projects.

The scope of control for this governance process includes:

• Global project delivery performance
• Compliance with project management standards

PM3 project delivery dovernance benefits include:

• Improved visibility of project performance across NTT DATA Services.
• Continuous monitoring, early warning, identification and inspection of underperforming projects through timely, objective, quantitative performance reporting.
• Rapid response, proactive intervention, and remediation for underperforming projects and programs.
• Clearly defined and consistent, common standards for performance metrics and reporting.
• Ultimately contributes to reducing the negative impacts to the company’s financials and client satisfaction.
• Increased ability to replicate excellence in all of our projects.
• Consistency in execution, with reliable, predictable results.
• Standardized project management methodology and toolkit across NTT DATA Services supporting scalability and growth targets.

Enabling Success through Project Manager Development, Certification, and Leadership Skills

Developing and Maintaining Proficiency through the Internal PM3 Project Management Certification Program

• NTT DATA Services internal PM3 Project Management Certification Program: is the standard for aligning the right project manager, based on skills and experience, to the right project, based on size, complexity, and risk factors (or project complexity categorization—PCC level),
• Enables better allocation of project management resources to project complexity levels, to reduce risk and increase probability of project success, in the most cost-effective manner.
• Establishes a consistent standard across NTT DATA Services to enable career mobility and promote career growth, through a more clearly defined development path.
• Provides a consistent level of qualification and quality assurance of the PM population, which is critical in a leveraged resource model.
• Is a multi-tiered project management certification program that certifies project management resources according to skills, training, and, most important, successful project experience.
• Is a key differentiator and value-add to the client, demonstrating quality assurance and professional development for our project management team members, which increases the client confidence level with our project management resources.
• Is measured and driven by organizational priority and need.
• Is complementary to NTT DATA Services’ people strategy and PMI project management certifications.
• Formally recognizes project manager success, experience, and knowledge.
• Encourages and fosters a culture of mentoring.
• Promotes proficiency and consistency in project management standards and best practices.
• Ensures assignment of a well-rounded project manager, who has demonstrated effective application of the standards and proven success with like-sized/ complexity projects and programs.
• Aligns with and complements the PMI project management certifications.
• Provides more visibility into career opportunities for project managers.

Investing in Project Managers’ Development to Drive Quality and Success

At NTT DATA, our people are not only who we are today but are the future of our organization. We know our employees are our most important investment, and, with the right tools and environment, the potential to succeed is unlimited.

In addition to technical skills related to the specific project management processes and tools, or what is sometimes referred to as the “science” of project management, the NTT DATA Services Project Management Learning System emphasizes the importance of human performance skills, or the “art” part of project management. Excellent leadership skills and good judgment are critical to the success of any project manager.

The PM3 Project Management Certification Program and associated PM3 training are critical to long-term sustainability of the standards. The PM3 includes a comprehensive curriculum that provides project management team members the opportunity to build project management skills and understand the NTT DATA Services approach. These experiential courses are based on the PM3 and associated toolkit, with additional real-world examples and case studies built to address common project management challenges. The project management curriculum has been approved by the Project Management Institute (PMI), contributing to NTT DATA Services PMI^® Registered Education Provider (REP^®) status, which qualifies participants to earn PDUs toward their PMI^® Project Management Professional (PMP) or other PMI^® project management certification or recertification.

All of the PM3 training is web-based, offered online to provide easy access and navigation, in the most convenient and cost-effective manner for NTT DATA Services project management team members. A training homepage is available on the intranet to assist the user in navigating through all the available training resources, organized by:

• Latest highlights and shortcuts to newly released courses
• Important links to other related sites, team-specific training
• A direct link to the PM3 repository and PM3 Project Management (PM) Certification Program
• Training categorized by learning paths or programs, aligned to:
  • Role and PM3 PM certification level
  • Leadership competencies
  • Technical and functional competencies

Driving Long-Term Adoption and Sustainability through Organization Change Management Techniques

A critical success factor to the success of the EPMS program was in the approach and techniques used to drive and sustain major change over time.

The team found it most effective to leverage various Organizational Change Management techniques, beginning with:

Committed executive-level sponsors established from the beginning and maintained throughout, including as the program transitioned to steady-state governance operations.

Top-Down Communication from Sponsors

• Reinforcing priority and alignment to overall organizational strategy on a regular basis.
  • Minimum twice/year with a long-running program and especially after leadership changes and significant re-organizations
  • In conjunction with and after the strategy is communicated.

A “Change Readiness Assessment”—a standard element of organizational change management—leverages interviews and solicits input from a sample group of impacted stakeholders from all levels of the organization. This input was critical to the PM3 implementation, training, and communication plans. In addition, it supports buy-in because the program team took the time to include and value stakeholder involvement and input right from the start of the program.

Ensure Involvement from All Impacted Stakeholder Groups and Teams

• Global, services-wide involvement and collaboration with SME representatives from all teams with project delivery.
• Solicit and incorporate feedback through formal deliverables and routine weekly/biweekly meetings.
• Establish a “leadership steering committee” for the program, organization-wide representation at the level of leadership with authority to enforce standards, to remove obstacles, and to escalate/resolve issues.
• Be collaborative versus dictatorial; flexing to adapt to the business situation and level of maturity of the organization, without sacrificing quality or the intent of the standard. Focus on the intended outcome.

Establish and Maintain Credibility of the PMO and Program Team Across the Organization

• Lead by example; demonstrate the value through practical application versus theory.
• Communicate alignment with industry-recognized best practices.
• Ensure implementation and/or improvement plans demonstrate value to the business early, and regularly, in the rollout to maintain interest, momentum, and visibility to the value—with “quick wins,” “low-hanging fruit” aligned to the hottest business “pain points.”
• Be supportive and flexible, balancing risk with rigor, scaling and streamlining where appropriate without sacrificing quality.
• The PMO exists to serve the business, our clients, and the PM community; be supportive and accommodating, not intrusive or disruptive.
• Listen; continue to seek to understand the business and be sensitive to client’s priorities.
• Get involved with outside organizations, take advantage of opportunities to showcase your best practices to solicit outside industry recognition and validation; use these accomplishments, awards, and recognition in communications to establish and lend credibility to the standards and the PMO team driving the change.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate! Sustains visibility and momentum.

Step 1: Be Lean

Trying to introduce any type of structure or control in an organization or environment that has been absent of controls can present a significant challenge. Before a project management organization can address scope change control, it must implement a process to define scope. Getting organizational decision makers to accept the project management precepts is not overly difficult, but changing organizational behavior to leverage these principles is another matter altogether. The more change we attempt to introduce into an environment, the more difficulty that environment has in adapting to, accepting, and embracing that change. To avoid the natural resistance to excessive change, a logical approach is to limit the scope of change and focus on immediate needs. Focus on the foundation and basics. Why have a complex, highly mature process if you are not consistently performing the basics well?

Step 2: Define Preliminary Scope

The immediate need for an organization without processes for capturing the business objectives associated with project requests is to define a structured approach for documenting, evaluating, and approving the preliminary scope of work. Note that approving the scope of work involves more than shaking heads, shaking hands, or a causal agreement on broad, subjective criteria. Approvals, in project management, imply documented endorsements More simply, signatures that provide evidence of agreement and a foundation to build upon. It is important to emphasize to stakeholders and sponsors unfamiliar with our profession’s structured approach to managing projects that accepting a preliminary scope of work does not mean that you are locked in for the remainder of execution. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Instead, you are protecting their interests by beginning to set boundaries upon which effective planning can begin. In other words, you are increasing the probability (remember the research) that the project will be successful.

Step 3: Develop Understanding of What Final Acceptance Means to Project Sponsor or Sponsors

How do we know when we have arrived at a destination? When traveling, we know our trip is complete when we reach our intended destination. Likewise, we know that a project is complete when we have delivered on the business objectives identified in the project charter, right? Well, yes . . . and then some. The “and them some” is the focus of scope change control. How does your organization define final sponsor acceptance? The recommended approach is to define sponsor acceptance for stakeholders using plain language. Sponsor acceptance is the formal recognition that the objectives defined in the original agreed upon scope of work have been met, plus the objectives agreed upon in all of the formally approved change requests. This plain definition helps to avoid the differing perceptions around what was wanted versus what was documented.

Step 4: Define, Document, and Communicate a Structured Approach to Requesting, Evaluating, and Approving Change Requests

What is a change request? Some schools of thought suggest that changes are limited to requests for additional features, deliverables, or work. While this paper is focused on these types of change requests, or scope change requests, it is important to note that any change that has the potential to impact expectations should follow a formalized change request, approval, and communication process. Remember, aggressively managing expectations is our best opportunity to influence our stakeholder’s perception of value. Scope, budget, schedules, and risks are typically interdependent and directly influence our stakeholder perceptions. Also, remember that the most effective change control processes include risk assessments that evaluate the potential risks of either approving or disapproving a change request.

Keep in mind that too much bureaucracy, too much analysis, or too much unnecessary paperwork will give stakeholders an incentive to circumvent your process. If you want your stakeholders to avoid, ignore, or completely bypass your process, include a great deal of administrivia. Administrivia is the new word for “trivial administrative process.” (As the author, I reserve the right to add to the English language.) Remember, our profession’s focus is on delivery and business results, not just adherence to a predefined process. Taking a lean approach to scope change request documentation can help influence acceptance of this sometimes painful, but vital, process for capturing change.

Process tip: Determine early (either as an enterprise standard or for your specific project) what the tripwires and associated levels of authority are for approving a requested change. What level of change can be approved internally? For example, a change with an impact of less than one week schedule delay or budget impact of under $10,000 may be approved by the project manager. What needs to be escalated to the project sponsor, what needs to be reviewed by a change control board or governance council? Determining these decision points in advance can remove a great deal of the mystique around how to manage change.

Ensure that everyone understands the difference between the natural decomposition process and identifying new work that must be accomplished to deliver on a previously agreed upon business objective and work associated with new or modified deliverables. Remember that omissions and errors in planning may lead to schedule and budget changes, but are usually not scope changes.

Step 5: Document and Validate Full Scope of Work (Create Work Breakdown Structure)

A great approach for defining all of the work required to complete a project is to start with the desired end state and associated expected benefits. What work is required to provide those benefits? What work is required to reach the approved end state goals (or business objectives)? Plan to the level of detail necessary to effectively manage the work. Decomposing work packages beyond the level required for effective management is considered administrivia. Note that defining and communicating the processes for final sponsor acceptance and requesting changes both come before traditional decomposition. Why? Terrific question! The natural planning processes that we follow in breaking down business objectives into definable work packages can be a catalyst for change requests. We want to communicate up front that change is not free and that additional requests will need to be formally requested, documented, agreed upon, and approved before being included in the project scope of work.

Step 6: Manage Change

Your foundation is laid, you have documented the preliminary scope, you have defined processes for sponsor acceptance, you have defined and documented scope change request processes, and you have developed your work breakdown structure, now the only thing left is to manage according to your policies and plan. Almost forgot . . . you have to manage the change requests that are guaranteed to come too! Scope change control protects the project manager, and the performing organization, from scope creep and contributes to managing stakeholder expectations.

A question that frequently comes up among practitioners is “What do I do when my leadership does not allow me to define, document, and manage change?” This is a real, practical question that deserves a response. The instinctive approach is to communicate the necessity for a structured approach to documenting and managing scope. As our peers will confess, this is not always sufficient to get the support we need to set organizational policy. We can attempt to implement these processes without formalization, or just “do it anyway.” This can be an effective approach for demonstrating the value, but can also be perceived as a self-protective measure instead of a process used to increase the likelihood of project success. People can be leery of someone else documenting requests, justifications, etc. . .. for their needs. Ensure that you share the information and provide an explanation as to why this approach is designed to ensure you are managing to their expectations. In general, people have difficulty not accepting altruistic approaches to meeting their needs.

Learn from Other’s Lessons: A Real-World Application

Leveraging experience, best practices, and lessons learned, the Churchill Program Management Office began with the basics; they chartered their PMO. The threefold mission of the newly founded PMO was to establish, facilitate, and manage the project portfolio selection and funding process; create a foundation for consistent project success throughout the organization through development of a strong and pervasive project management discipline; and to guide key projects to a successful conclusion by providing project management leadership while improving the quality and repeatability of related processes. Sounds fairly standard, right? The mission was then broken down into specific objectives and successful completion of these objectives was tied to the PMO director’s compensation.

PMO Objectives:

1. Develop and implement standard processes for project requests, evaluation, and funding to ensure that approved projects were aligned with Churchill Downs Incorporated’s business goals and objectives.
2. Develop and implement a standardized project management methodology, to include policy, standards, guidelines, procedures, tools and templates.
3. Build project management professionalism by providing mentorship, training, and guidance to project teams as they learn and adopt project management processes and best practices.
4. Manage the Churchill Downs Incorporated project portfolio by ensuring required documentation is in place and that stakeholders are properly informed about the ongoing progress of the project portfolio through effective reporting of key performance indicators.
5. Direct project management for key strategic initiatives.
6. Ensure benefit realization by using processes for clearly defining business cases and the associated metrics for measuring project success. Facilitate post-implementation benefit measurement and reporting.

As related to change control, we wanted to ensure that the process was lean, that our stakeholders understood the importance of the process, and finally . . . arguably most important . . . communicated in a way that our stakeholders understood and could follow the change request processes. Here is a thought-provoking question for our practitioners: Why do we expect our stakeholders to learn and understand our vernacular? To aid in understanding and training, we developed visual tools documenting our overall project management processes in a language that they understood. For example, the project “race track” (see Figure 4–20 in chapter 4) demonstrated to our leadership and project team members what we, in our profession, take for granted as universally understood; that projects have a defined start, a defined finish, and require certain documentation throughout the planning and execution processes to ensure everyone understands expectations and that we will realize the intended benefit from the investment.

For Churchill Downs Incorporated, scope change control begins with the foundation of a completed investment request worksheet (or business case) and an agreed to scope of work as outlined in a signed charter. The work is then decomposed to a level of detail required to control the effort and complete the work necessary to deliver on the requested and approved objectives as detailed in that charter and approved scope change requests. A scope change request consists of a simple to understand, fill in the blank template, and the process is facilitated by the project manager. More important, the scope change request form is used to document the business objectives for a change request, the metrics needed to ensure the change’s benefits are realized, the impacts on schedule and costs, the funding source, and the necessary approvals required for including the request in the overall scope of work.

Some of the benefits that Churchill Downs Incorporated has realized to date from this structured approach to documenting and controlling scope include:

1. Retroactively documenting scope for legacy projects, which resulted in canceling projects that were plagued with uncontrolled change to the point that the final product would no longer deliver the benefits presented in the business case.
2. Denying scope change requests based on factual return on investment and impact analysis.
3. Ensuring that requested scope changes would contribute to the business objectives approved by the investment council.
4. Empowering project team members to say “no” to informal change requests that may or may not provide a quantifiable benefit.
5. Demonstrating that seemingly great ideas might not stand up to a structured impact analysis.

Some Recommendations—and a Health Warning!

Since the process of setting up and running Hydra sessions takes a nontrivial investment in time, some consideration should be given to when this would be appropriate. We have some suggestions for when (and when not) this may be an appropriate approach:

• This process would have a good return on investment where either the project has a very high level of perceived risk, or where the desire is to use it as an opportunity for mentoring (either the project manager is new on the job or the peers have an opportunity to learn from an “adept”).
• We would not recommend using this on very short-term projects (a few months’ duration) as this reduces the possibility of traction, or on projects with a low level of strategic importance as this will reduce the level of interest from the peers.
• It’s not a good idea to have project managers involved in multiple Hydra sessions—not just from point of view of the time required but also this would dilute the focus too much.

• Putting a Hydra approach in place on a project should come from project managers themselves; forcing it turns it into a chore or, worse still, indicates a lack of trust in the project manager.

  Some would say that this should be the domain of the PMO (where one exists), but here we would like to give a health warning: The PMO should of course be the person(s) that helps put it in place, sets it up, and supports the capturing of results—but the true value comes from having the peers really involved in the project under scrutiny. In the authors’ opinion, if the Hydra becomes the domain of the PMO, it has the risk of becoming the monster of Greek legend . . .

  This approach is not intended to become just another “monitoring and controlling” tool—the real benefit is the shared learning and the multiple perspectives on the day-to-day functioning of the project.

Award Criteria

The PMO of the Year Award is presented to the PMO that best illustrates—through an essay and other documentation—their project management improvement strategies, best practices, and lessons learned. Additional support documentation—such as charts, graphs, spreadsheets, brochures, and so on—cannot exceed five documents. While providing additional documentation is encouraged, each eligible PMO must clearly demonstrated its best practices and lessons learned in the awards essay. Judges review the essays to consider how the applicant’s PMO links project management to their organization’s business strategies and plays a role in developing an organizational project management culture. The essays are judged on validity, merit, accuracy, and consistency in addition to the applicant PMO’s contribution to project and organizational success.

Types of best practices judges look for include:

• Practices for integrating PMO strategies to manage projects successfully
• Improvements in project management processes, methodologies, or practices leading to more efficient and/or effective delivery of the organization’s projects
• Innovative approaches to improving the organization’s project management capability
• Practices that are distinctive, innovative, or original in the application of project management
• Practices that promote an enterprise-wide use of project management standards
• Practices that encourage the use of performance measurement results to aid decision making
• Practices that enhance the capability of project managers

Best practice outcomes include:

• Evidence of realized business benefits—customer satisfaction, productivity, budget performance, schedule performance, quality, ROI, employee satisfaction, portfolio performance, strategic alignment
• Effective use of resources
• Improved organizational project management maturity
• Executive commitment to a project management culture expressed in policies and other documentation
• A PMO that exhibits an organizational business results focus
• Effective use of project management knowledge and lessons learned
• Individual performance objectives and potential rewards linked to measurement of project success
• Project management functions applied consistently across the organization

The essay comprises three sections. Incomplete submissions are disqualified.

Completing the Essay

Section 1: Background of the PMO. In no more than 1,000 words, the applicants must describe their PMO, including background information on its scope, vision and mission, and organizational structure. In addition, they described:

• How long the PMO has been in place
• Their role within the PMO
• How the PMO’s operation is funded
• How the PMO is structured (staff, roles and responsibilities, enterprise-wide, departmental, etc.)
• How the PMO uses project management standards to optimize its practices

Section 2: PMO Innovations and Best Practices. In no more than 1,500 words, the applicants must address the challenges their organization encountered prior to implementing the new PMO practices and how they overcame those challenges. They should describe clearly and concisely the practices implemented and their effect on project and organizational success.

Section 3: Impact of the PMO and Future Plans. In no more than 500 words, the applicants must describe the overall impact of the PMO over a sustained period (e.g., customer satisfaction, productivity, reduced cycle time, growth, building or changing organizational culture, etc.). If available, the applicants should provide quantitative data to illustrate the areas in which the PMO had the greatest business impact. Finally, they briefly described their PMO’s plans for 2009 and how those plans will potentially impact their organization.

Two of the companies discussed in this book competed for the award: Rockwell Automation, which won the award of the 2009 PMO of the Year, and Alcatel-Lucent, which was recognized as one of the finalists for the award that same year. Both of their profiles are discussed below.

Rockwell Automation: 2009 PMO of the Year Winner

• Software Program Management Office
• Type of organization: manufacturing
• Headquarters: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
• Number of full-time employees (FTEs): 21,000+
• PMO FTEs: 30
• PMO annual operating budget: $3.2 million
• James C. Brown, Formerly Director, A&S Program Management Office
• Presenting challenge: Rolling out a consistent product and project management practice across 16 businesses
• Business benefits: Increased predictability and productivity; faster pace of innovation; delivery of a major release comprising 20+ projects on time and under cost for the first time in company history.
• Website: http://www.rockwellautomation.com

Rockwell Automation: From “Clean Slate” to Global Innovator in under Five Years

Rockwell Automation was formed by bringing two major automation companies, Allen-Bradley and Reliance Electric, together in the late 1980s. Over the years, Rockwell Automation has continued to acquire other leading automation suppliers as a growth strategy and also as a way to bring new advanced automation technologies into the company. In 2005, as Rockwell Automation was planning the rollout of a new SAP business system, the company recognized the need for a new, common product development (CPD) process that would be based on company best practices combined with industry best practices for product development. This effort resulted in a CPD process that allowed for enterprise-wide adoption. All 16 different product businesses ranging from high-volume component suppliers to complex continuous process control systems solution suppliers now use the same high-level process framework for their new product developments.

Since project managers are instrumental in the execution of a product development process, it was quickly realized that introducing an end-to-end process to a company built from many related but very different product businesses would require consistent application of project management across all the product lines. To complicate matters, each business segment was at a different maturity level relative to all aspects of product development. A formal project management organization, established in 2004, already existed and was capitalized upon to support this effort. Says PMO director James C. Brown, “If consistency, transparency, and risk mitigation are important to your business, and they are for us, then we believe that a formal well recognized and managed project management entity is paramount.”

Brown, hired in 2004 to help implement the PMO, called the project management environment “a clean slate,” other than those people who were already identified as project managers. The PMO is structured by function with program managers overseeing programs and project managers overseeing projects, assisted by an additional two resources supporting tools such as MSProject Server and Sharepoint.

Rockwell’s new PMO ramped up quickly, getting everyone PMP^® certified within two months, which caught the attention of the senior VP for the division. From there they began establishing processes and methodologies, establishing scorecards and metrics, and deploying tools in support of new product development and services. They moved from a waterfall approach in driving projects to an agile approach, driving processes from 20+ pages to fewer than five pages and moving them from notebook binders to electronic media. As Brown says, “We moved from reporting on everything to reporting on exceptions only.”

The PMO grew from 10 people to 30 over just four years, and its reach went from North American to global. The number of projects under its direction grew from 12 to 15 to over 50 concurrently. On the way, Rockwell Automation deployed a portfolio management process in their Architecture and Software Group. The goals and purpose of the process are to link investments to business strategy, maximize the value of the portfolio, achieve a desired balance (mix) of projects, and focus the organization’s efforts. The portfolio management process links to related processes, such as idea management, strategy development, program and project management, and the recently deployed CPD process, and has become an integral part of the planning process. Brown focuses on the human side of project portfolio management (PPM)’s benefits: “It’s about people reaching consensus using trusted data, and a common decision making framework.”

Of course, company culture is hard to change, so governance is critical; and that requires management commitment. The driving force behind management’s commitment to implement this new process was the vision of a common consistent methodology for new product development across the enterprise. This consistency was prioritized from the top (direct management involvement in stage gate reviews) down, in order to realize benefit as soon as possible.

All too often, businesses were forced to deny funding for strategic projects due to the never-ending incremental product improvements that just kept coming. By forcing business management to approve each project’s passage from one phase to the next, the new processes pushed the visibility of every project, every resource, and every dollar up to the decision makers who wrestled with trying to find dollars to fund the real game-changers.

This visibility also made it easier for the business owners to kill projects with questionable returns or to delay a project in order to free up critical resources. This contrasted with the old way of executing a project, where reviews were informal and haphazard. Teams were able to continue spending and even overspending without any real fear of cancellation. Under the new process, every dependent organization is represented at the appropriate review and given the chance to agree or disagree with the project manager that all deliverables are available. The intent is to have the go/no-go decision made by both the primary organization responsible for the deliverables during the previous phase and the primary organization responsible for the deliverables in the subsequent phase. Both these organizations are required at each stage gate review. In this way, the process helps Rockwell Automation avoid surprises during the later phases by ensuring transparency during the earlier phases.

All of this has been implemented with a light touch that has eased acceptance of the new processes. As Brown notes, “There is a fine line between rigor and burden, the trick is to push this line hard to insure rigorous implementation without slowing the progress of the project team down.”

The PMO has been instrumental in Rockwell Automation’s quest for increased predictability, productivity, and visibility. By delivering—for the first time in the company’s history—a major release that contained in excess of four programs and 20+ projects, on time and under budget, the organization has proven its business value.

Alcatel-Lucent: 2009 PMO of the Year Finalist²⁸

• Global Program Management Office
• Type of Organization: telecom
• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Number of full-time employees (FTEs): 70,000
• PMO FTEs: 10
• PMO annual operating budget: $4.5 million
• PMO senior manager: Rich Maltzman, PMP, Senior Manager, Learning and Professional Advancement
• Presenting challenge: Combining the project management improvement efforts of two companies into one supercharged initiative
• Business benefits: Improvements in a wide array of project metrics on projects that impact customer satisfaction

The Alcatel-Lucent Global Program Management Office (GPMO) combines the best project management practices of Alcatel and Lucent, both of which were already in the midst of major efforts to revitalize project management as a discipline at the time that Lucent merged with Alcatel in November 2006. Both organizations had already researched best practices in project management, and the discipline was given priority by the new company leadership. A core team was assigned to combining the project management efforts into one new initiative in late 2006. The initial focus of the enterprise-wide GPMO was on the 2000+ customer-facing project managers who oversee the turnover of new solutions to customers. The GPMO focused on two major “frameworks”—a project delivery framework and a project management development framework.

The project delivery framework, dedicated to the methodologies and tools that project managers use across the company, brings a new level of project management maturity by offering practice consistency across business units and geographical regions. At its core is a gate-based methodology called the contract implementation process (CIP). The CIP points to a collection of tools that can be used as appropriate by the customer-facing project managers on a region-by-region and unit-by-unit basis. Each CIP methodology is traceable to a PMBOK^® Guide process. The company is now in the process of integrating CIP into a large enterprise project management software system for its population.

The project manager development framework is a nine-piece integrated model that recognizes the interconnectedness between such key project manager development elements such as a competency model, a career path, project manager training, industry certification, internal accreditation and recognition, and project manager skills management. The GPMO has set stringent targets for PMP^® certification for its project managers over the next two years. Alcatel-Lucent was featured in PMI’s Leadership in Project Management annual for its work in this area. The company’s depth of commitment to providing a supportive environment for project managers is illustrated by a number of programs, including:

• Project Management Professional Accreditation. Alcatel-Lucent has its own program of accreditation, above and beyond the PMP^® certification, the General Project Manager Accreditation, which honors excellence in real-world deployment of external customer projects. It requires the completion of an extensive case-based set of advanced project management courseware and is subject to extremely strict criteria, including a formal jury board. This certification helps guarantee that project managers have not only the general project management wisdom needed for their work but also the particular experience and background in actual projects in the telecom field to support customers. Started with the project manager population (2,000 people), professional accreditation was so successful that it is now being rolled out to all of the contributors in the services organization—approximately 18,000 people.
• Competency Model. The heart of the project management development framework is a competency model that takes the best from the heritage of Alcatel and Lucent. This is a living model, updated every year to keep up with changes in the project management discipline as well as the fast-paced telecom business.

Alcatel-Lucent: Two Best-Practice Telecoms Unite Their PM Strengths

• RSMS. The resource and skills management system facilitates project managers’ ability to monitor their own progress in development, using their job profile as a basis in identifying skills gaps and suggesting development options to fill those gaps.
• Alcatel-Lucent University. As a PMI^® Registered Education Provider (REP), Alcatel-Lucent University provides access to a wide array of Web-based and instructor-led training, some of which is highly customized and case based to allow project managers to learn from real successful projects.
• PMP^® Study Groups. The GPMO, through the work of the PM-CERT team (see Chapter 8), has assembled PMP study groups, 8 to 12 individuals who pool their efforts in studying for the PMP^® exam. A PMP^® instructor guides the group, which meets at a frequency of their own choosing via teleconference, and completes the study using a recommended book and set of practice questions. The program also benefits the instructor, yielding valuable PDUs, as we have registered this program with PMI as part of Alcatel-Lucent University.
• International Project Management Day Symposium. The second annual International Project Management Day Symposium featured presentations from seven countries on project management topics, with speakers such as Dr. Harold Kerzner. This program is now in its seventh year. About 1,000 project managers participate annually in the symposium, which consistently receives excellent feedback scores.

Integration: A Best Practice in Itself

According to Rich Maltzman, PMP, leader, learning and professional advancement at Alcatel-Lucent (a role that focuses on the human side of project management, including the career path, training, internal recognition programs, and skills management), “We feel that the integrated nature of the PM Development Framework is a best practice. It forces the interaction between supporting elements of a successful Project Management career, and in turn a PM discipline that can best support customer projects and thus increase the company’s financial position.”

In addition, some of the primary best practice tools include:

• Project Delivery Framework. The CIP, the heart of the delivery framework, is the standardized process for managing the project life cycle in the company and is focused on the handoffs at key gates in that project life cycle. Recognizing that people make projects work, it provides responsibility matrices to show which role is responsible for which activities at each handoff point. The extensive number of tools and processes that it defines for project managers provides a uniform and effective means to manage projects. CIP in turn is now at the heart of a major program to add enterprise level software to the arsenal of PM tools at the company.
• Project Management Community Building. The GPMO web page provides news, executive messages, links to PMP exam preparation resources, CIP, and an increasingly popular Engage group centered on the PM Community. The GPMO also encourages project managers to provide “live” lessons learned rather than to rely on a static repository.
• Project Team of the Year Award. A dedicated program was established in January 2008 to recognize the most outstanding project teams in each region and in the entire company. The program was designed with peer project managers. Nominations for 32 teams were received and judged by a panel of project managers and executives. During the year, feature stories based on the nominations were placed on the GPMO and other key corporate websites. Nine finalists were chosen, and from that, a single winner was selected. All of the finalists will receive a team dinner, and the winning team sends a representative to Paris to receive a special award from the Alcatel-Lucent CEO. This program has continued at Alcatel-Lucent, and in 2013 remains one of its most popular recognition programs.
• Maturity Assessment and Improvement. In 2008, the GPMO began a deliberate measurement of project management maturity using a custom survey tool built from recommendations from the Software Engineering Institute (Carnegie Mellon University, Capability Maturity Measurement Integrated), and the Project Management Office Executive Council (part of the Corporate Executive Board). The number of questions was limited to 25, divided among areas such as governance, project performance, resource management, and financials. The response rate was very high (700 respondents) and the answers have yielded mathematical data as well as verbatim feedback that provide a way to map out improvements.

Tracking the Benefits

Enrollment in Resource and Skills Management System (RSMS) has increased in the months since it was introduced to the point where—despite significant turnover in the workforce—well over 90 percent have actively started managing their skills using the dedicated skills programs customized for the four project manager job profiles. Over 100 new PMP^® credential holders have been certified thanks to the establishments of targets and the use of the PMP^® study groups. In addition, 36 new general project manager accreditations were awarded in 2008 by various sources, an increase of almost 30 percent.

The GPMO spearheads the dissemination of project management thought leadership by Alcatel-Lucent via:

• Presentations at PMI world congresses
• Article in PMI’s Leadership in Project Management magazine feature
• Alcatel-Lucent presentations at the PMO Summit (Florida) and the PMO Symposium (Texas)
• Operations committee membership for the fourth edition of PMBOK^® Guide
• Contributions to the fifth edition of the PMBOK^® Guide

Finally, in terms of statistical results, all of the following measures demonstrated improvements over end-of-year 2007 or even within 2008:

• Baseline of projects under financial margin control is up 160 percent.
• Percentage of projects with (approved) upscope has nearly doubled.
• Percentage of projects with underruns has more than doubled.
• Percentage of projects covered by the enterprise project management system went up from 52 to 87 percent within the year 2008.
• Percentage of CFPMs with formal project management development plans has gone from 52 to over 80 percent.

Clearly, a dual focus on people and processes has served the company well and assisted the projects under the umbrella of the GPMO to sail through the merger period—a significant achievement in itself.