The project management hierarchy must ultimately be accountable to the Executive – this can be a challenge when projects are chartered as autonomous initiatives that tend to take on a life of their own. While we do not directly influence strategy from a project perspective, we do have the responsibility to implement the enabling technology that supports organizational transformation – the key to implementing new strategy. In order to manage that process we use SMART tools that identify major deliverables across many different projects, so that the Executive can see a composite picture that they use as input to the governance process. It also provides the mechanism for monitoring that targeted deliverables are being worked on and what the expected deliverable dates are based on what projects are able to complete with available resources.

It is important to acknowledge that strategy is not a one-time effort leading to chartering a project – it is a continuous process in response to internal and external opportunities and threats that are countered based on the company strengths and weaknesses relative to its competitors. It is important to consider the process by which changes in strategic plans are communicated to the workforce in order to achieve desired results.

A driving force in this methodology is “Commander’s Intent” that has the outcomes in focus, rather than the actual execution of projects. The purpose of this approach is to prioritize different potential initiatives that have strategic value to the organization, and it provides a vehicle for the continuous adjustment of what needs to be prioritized. We can provide gates (decision points) in the project methodology to make sure resource utilization remains consistent with possibly shifting intent – more details will be provided in the UPBEAT methodology – in a way that the project can reach a controlled state of interim completion (so that it may later be resumed and fully completed).

Intent establishes WHAT must be delivered by WHEN, but it leaves a lot of freedom for technical staff to work out HOW this will be achieved. This includes determining the cost/benefit for the undertaking based on a detailed implementation budget. The challenge is that we need a full picture across all contributing projects: we need to understand how the projects are related, what precedents are required before specific work can be undertaken. That is why the strategy must be managed with the right tools to match the needs with the appropriate ability to respond.

To achieve results it is not only critical that enabling projects deliver specified outcomes, but also that the organization is able to adapt and adopt new tools and techniques. Some companies may resort to the wholesale turnover of complete departments – the risk is that the staff hired to replace former workers might not fit the company and that can cause the initiative to fail. Other companies sense a need for training programs to upgrade workers that are expected to use new technology and systems, so the nature of transformation goes well beyond typical projects: this is usually a separate stream of work within an overall implementation strategy.

It is important to manage the big picture and to make sure that there is the necessary coordinating capability (or to hire that capability). This has to be a top-down decision – changing how people operate is a much more complicated effort than the development of enabling technology, and failing to accommodate that adaptation can lead to project failure. There is a tendency to narrowly focus on implementing technology that gets all the attention, which can turn out to be a costly mistake.

Programs involve a larger number of concurrent and/or successive projects to implement the functionality of a product (or process, etc.) in stages and/or across a broader environment. The program provides you with an integrating control mechanism without losing the flexibility of a project environment. It enables us to keep track of overall progress and how well projects in progress represent the current strategic priorities, without losing track over the long haul, even with interruptions to work in progress. This ensures that when priorities change again to favour the work put on hold we will be able to continue the work effort.

Projects are a unique undertaking that is time limited and budgeted but outside the realm of typical business operations. Projects deliver the best control over the individual components within a program or overall transformation initiative. Within the SCOPE context projects are broken into stage “gates” that represent interim completion levels, so that work can be suspended and restarted in a controlled fashion in order to focus resources on the most important initiatives first (a designation which can change in time depending on strategic decisions). Projects can also be classified or prioritized within the scope of a program.

Learning Formats       PMAP_SCO

This course is currently available in a classroom setting (public or company private) with approximately 6 contact hours (1 day).

PDF – Certificate Of Completion

Each course offers a certificate of completion that identifies the course, the student, and a brief description of the course. To receive a certificate the student must have attended at least 80% of the course sessions. This personalized certificate is forwarded to the student by Email.

PDF – Course Notebook

Each course includes a notebook in PDF format that provides the minimum knowledge the student must master in order to obtain the certificate. In the notebook you will find references to other study materials. Students receive the notebook by Email when their registration is confirmed.

PDF – Program Overview

An overview of this study program can be downloaded from the website by right-clicking on the program link on the enquiry page.

PDF – Current Training Schedule

A list of upcoming training sessions can be downloaded from the website by right-clicking on the schedule link on the enquiry page.

Registration – Service Providers

To register for any training course please look on the enquiry link page of your service provider (from where you accessed this website). On the page you will find a registration request form where you can order the course that you are interested in. The availability dates will be provided to you, along with payment instructions if you decide to go ahead.