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[Note: An earlier version of this article was produced for Microsoft TechNet] In project management circles we tend to talk often about a matrix management environment. Matrix management isn’t anything new. It has become the de facto standard for management in virtually all high-tech organizations. The idea of matrix management came out of management thinking in the early 70s. J.R. Galbraith gives us one of the first published works on the subject in 1971 talking…

If you’re wondering why posts have been a bit slow on EPMGuidance, it’s because of the sheer volume of content that is being reviewed to be posted.  You’ll be happy to know that starting in September we are queuing a much more frequent series of posts that will include articles, updates of white papers and articles, videos and other content that we hope will be of use to those interested in Enterprise Timesheets and Enterprise…

With the advent of TimeControl version 6.9, Administrators can now configure TimeControl to have timesheets other than a 7 day week.  Of course exports from TimeControl could already be of different intervals.  It has been common for years to have a weekly integration with the project management system but a bi-weekly link to payroll. Timesheets could now be 14 days long (bi-weekly) or bi-monthly or monthly or quarterly or custom length.  But with all that…

HMS received a great letter recently from Sandoz, a world leading pharmaceutical firm.  Six years ago, one of Sandoz’s divisions in Canada deployed TimeControl to help with R&D tax credit tracking.  Marianne Raiche of Sandoz tells the story in this letter which you can read it for yourself at: www.timecontrol.com/why-timecontrol/testimonials/sandoz.  A list of other testimonials is available on the new testimonial and case study area of the TimeControl website at: www.timecontrol.com/why-timecontrol/testimonials. We’ve got the best…

It’s been a busy time in the development department here at HMS since last summer.  Last week we released TimeControl 6.9 which marks a major change in how TimeControl timesheets can be configured. Here are more details on the new and enhanced features available in this version: Variable Length Timesheet This is a major evolution in how timesheets are defined in TimeControl. Now, you can select from a number of different lengths of timesheet to…

TechNet has my latest “From the Trenches” article.  Well, I say TechNet but in fact, Microsoft are hosting these articles on their main support.office.com site.  The article is called “We sell holes, not drills” and talks about one of my favorite subjects; making sure we deliver the solution not just the tool.  Is the tool delivered?  So what?  Is the problem fixed?  Great. You can read the article on Microsoft’s Office.com.

Well, it was a long time coming but we’ve finally completed a major overhaul of HMS Software’s web environment. Our websites are among the oldest in the world.  The company, HMS, has been around for 31 years and the original HMS Software website was established in the mid 1990’s just aver the release of the original Netscape browser. (remember Netscape?!)  There’s a picture of the website from 1998 or so (thanks to the Wayback machine).…

Over the last few months, I’ve been working with a web design firm and my own marketing people to change our web environment.  It’s been no casual decision.  HMS Software has one of the oldest web environments in the world.  We first started the site in the late 1980s when websites were just new to allowing graphics images.  Our first version had about 7 images including the logo and a half dozen menu buttons.  We…