Microsoft has published another article of mine on its TechNet site. “How To Cancel a Project Without Cancelling your Career” talks about the challenges we’ve seen with organizations who try to deploy Project Portfolio Management or Stage Gating.  If you can’t slow down, pause or cancel a project then the value of Stage Gating becomes quite questionable.  The article will be of interest to project and portfolio managers of course and those who are managing a Project Management Office but will also be of interest to timesheet managers and TimeControl Administrators as the data from how a project is actually progressing often comes from a project oriented timesheet system.

For many in the project management industry, the idea of cancelling a project is extremely difficult in part because the nature of Project Managers attracts personalities that don’t give up easily.  So finding out that there can be a positive impact on the organization by cancelling a project can be welcome news.

You can find the article on the Project Server 2010 0r Project Server 2013 pages of TechNet in the “From the Trenches” column or go to it directly at www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36430. I hope you enjoy it.

Microsoft has published another article of mine on its TechNet site.  This article will be of interest not only to project managers but also those deploying and configuring timesheet systems as it looks at how to determine how many charge codes to have and to what level of detail charge codes should be defined.

There is a temptation for many who are new to project or timesheet management to create as many possible definitions for work as they can think of but this is rarely productive.  For those deploying an enterprise project systems like Project Server there is an added complexity of having different perspectives of different project managers bringing projects at many different levels of resolution all at the same time.

This article will take a look at some of the criteria we use at HMS to decide how detailed to make our plans and how detailed to make tracking of hours in TimeControl.

You can find the article on the Project Server 2010 0r Project Server 2013 pages of TechNet in the “From the Trenches” column or go to it directly at www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36430.  I hope you enjoy it.

HMS Software has just released TimeControl 6.5 and it represents a major evolution of TimeControl since 6.4.  Aside from HMS Software’s ongoing work to migrate administrative functionality away from ActiveX controls and our improving TimeControl’s ability to allow Administrators to use multiple devices and browsers to access and administer the system, HMS has added a major new reporting-writing engine, a completely new link option for linking to our new alliance partner Hard Dollar’s HD project cost and estimating system and significant improvements in both performance and other functionality.

You can read all about the new features on the TimeControl Blog at: blog.timecontrol.com or in the What’s New in TimeControl 6.5 document.

If you are a TimeControl client with a current support and maintenance contract, you can download TimeControl 6.5 today at www.timecontrol.com/support/updates.  If you would like a demonstration of TimeControl 6.5 or to discuss the status of your support and maintenance contract, please contact info@hms.ca.

I’ll be speaking tonight at the Montreal chapter of the Microsoft Project Users Group. “The topic is Setting your Enterprise Project Management Requirements”

To download the presentation slides go to the Resources/Presentations page.

I haven’t written that headline in some time but it’s true.  After quite a good year in the business, HMS is expanding and we’re currently looking for a C# .Net programmer to join our TimeControl team.  It’s a great opportunity for someone to joing our dynamic technical team helping to advance one of the most popular timesheet systems in the world.  If you or someone you know could be the right candidate, then take a look at the job posting at: www.hmssoftware.ca/about/careers or contact Dorothy Dixon at dorothy.dixon@hms.ca.

I’m happy to include a guest post today from University Alliance and the Project Management Certification prep program at Villanova University.  I hope you enjoy it. – Chris

As most project managers know, assembling the best talent for a project can give the project a quick, successful start. Knowing how to build the best team can be a challenge though, as it requires evaluating talent and comparing it with the needs of the project before the first team meeting has even happened. Moreover, the project manager has to be ready and willing to make adjustments as the process moves forward.

Define the Needs
The first step in building a project “dream team” is to define exactly what the needs of the project are. Thinking through the key attributes that are required for success is a helpful exercise. Do team members need to have amazing communication skills, a specific technology background or a can-do attitude? Knowing this in advance will assist in finding the best fit for the team.

The same question turned upside down is also critical. What attributes will detract from the success of the project? Too much ego, a negative attitude or poor communication skills might get in the way of the rest of the team. However, know there is room for those who don’t quite match up to the list of key attributes, but do have other intangibles. If everyone else on the team is a great communicator, a more reserved team member might be positively influenced. The goal is to match up complementary skills and to allow for growth.

Working Together
The next step to effective team building is to determine if the group in consideration will work well together given their individual personalities and attitudes. This is the time to consider the old adage, “too many cooks spoil the soup.” If the entire team is made up of strong leaders, some may experience conflict. Additionally, check to see how individuals are at receiving feedback. Honest feedback, given carefully, can help move a project along at a strong pace.

Another area to investigate is how reliable each team member is according to their previous team leader. Most projects will face bumps in the road, so it is imperative to know that the team can reassess and adjust when problems arise. Think through whether the people on the team will put forth the extra effort to get the project done on time. That level of teamwork can make or break a project.

Adjusting Over Time
Once the evaluative process is complete and the team is running, check to see if there are any gaps in capacity. If there are, then the manager should quickly bring in new team members to fill them to prevent slowdowns in work or morale issues. During that time, tracking the performance of the team is the next challenge. While scope and personnel may change over time, the project still must have a beginning, middle and an end. There should be clear goals and deliverables that team members can understand as well as undertake. Rotating team members as needed and removing those who are under-performing will help keep the team streamlined. Adding new talent for particular phases can also help to increase the efficiency of the project.

Realistically, creating a successful team is much more than simply putting people into a room and asking them to complete a task. By carefully considering the talents of team members, their attitudes and aptitudes, it is possible to create a team that can handle any project.

Erin Palmer is a writer and editor for Bisk Education. She works with Villanova University’s project management certification courses, which prepare you for PMI certification.

We have many clients who use TimeControl with their Oracle-Primavera system.  Perhaps it’s no surprise.  TimeControl has integrated with Primavera since 1997 with P3 and we’ve maintained that link all the way up to the most recent P6r8 release even once Primavera was purchased by Oracle.  Primavera clients who need a single timesheet to update not only the task progress in Primavera but also Payroll, Billing, Finance, Job Costing or HR have looked to TimeControl to provide multi-purpose timesheet functionality that will allow a single point of timesheet entry and multiple back-end uses.
Our relationship with Primavera goes back to 1997 and our relationship with Oracle separately also goes back to 1997 when TimeControl was first able to store its data in either SQL Server or Oracle (We now also support MySQL which is coincidentally also owned by Oracle).  So the relationship has many facets and runs deep.
We’ve done a little work to remake our TimeControl and Primavera Solution Portal with a range of new materials that we hope you’ll find useful.  Aside from a remake of the portal itself, we’ve got new factsheets, slide presentations, white papers and an all-new on-demand webcast that shoes TimeControl 6 and Primavera’s P6 interacting back and forth.
The integration options between TimeControl and Primavera are extensive.  Not only can you bring into TimeControl Primavera tasks, resources, steps and assignments, you also have abilities on how to match employees to generic skills and Primavera codes to TimeControl user defined fields.  Updating your Primavera project data with TimeControl timesheets is incredibly flexible.  You can update hours and costs, Primavera Step progress, ETC, Financial periods and more.
The new and improved TimeControl / Primavera Solution Portal covers some of the benefits of integrating these two world-class tools including:

• Automated Business Validation Rules
• Extensive Rate Management
• Management of Vacation, Sick Leave, Personal time banks
• Management of Banked Overtime
• Included integration with P6 and other project systems
• TimeControl Mobile interface for tablets and smartphones
• Missing timesheet management
• The Matrix Approval Process for Labor Actuals™

Access to the portal and its resources is free.  Find out more at www.timecontrol.com/solutions/primavera.

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