What is Project Management Office?

A project management office (PMO) is a team or department that sets and maintains standards for project management throughout an organization. The PMO is in charge of creating procedures and best practices that will help operations:

• Go smoothly
• Complete on time
• Result in quality deliverables

What is Project Management Office in Smartsheet?

Project Office Management in Smartsheet is an accelerator tool that is particularly useful for IT-PMO. It gives IT executives visibility and helps align everything to your organisations key objectives.

Why approach us about Project Management Office?

At Smarter Business Processes we can help you identify and document your PMO Processes and help you in other ways too. For example Project Management Office can help you to create an IT solution which supports your project and organisational processes. 

Whether by using Smartsheet templates to jumpstart the design, or by careful planning and design by our expert consultants, we can build the solution tailored to your requirements. 

Once the solution is built and delivered, why not use SBP to help you educate your users? We can provide training on the best way of sharing and using the solution, and ensure a quick buy in from your work force.

Auto updates in Project Management Office

Do you need your Project Management Office solution to auto update and include all new projects?  Do you need those projects to follow your processes consistently, and provide clear repeatable statistics?  Then you need to consider Control Center. 

Control Center from Smartsheet

Control Center is a Premium App from Smartsheet which provides you with a repeatable process to create project workspaces and roll up all project data to portfolio dashboards. 

Control Center also provides you with reporting and global updating capabilities as well as archiving routines, all bundled into a complete control package. Contact us for a demonstration of Control Center.  

Affordable alternatives to consider

If you don’t have the budget for Control Center but would like to automate & control your project assets to a degree, then seek out a demonstration from us on our SmarterControls4sheets.

As Smartsheet Ambassadors, we pride ourselves on our ability to help our clients get the most from their Smartsheet licenses. We have listened to client feedback to create our own enhancement apps to provide you with effective automations to compliment your core product.

If you don’t know where to start, Smartsheet Solution Center (found by using the + in your left hand navigator bar) has a large selection of templates ready to jumpstart your design. 

Find out how we can assist your Project Management Office and management of Smartsheet items. Get in touch today!

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The Challenge

The engineers at European Electronique predominantly work on site, providing engineering tech support to schools and colleges. With different engineers working on different sites, visibility of availability was poor and project planning was a challenge. The team needed a central hub to improve communication and track resources across the team.  After Initial licence purchase, the client found they needed a little assistance in configuring both areas to provide a well structured PMO solution that integrated with the Resource Management module.

Our Solution

We worked collaboratively with the client to help build and set up a Project Management Solution in Smartsheet.  We then helped configure a Resource Management module to integrate with the PMO. 

Once this was up and running we then provided training across the team on how to use it. 

The Benefits 

• Increased visibility across multiple projects
• Single source of data shared among the team 
• Reduction in duplication of work
• Effective resource management 
• Streamlined the management of the projects

Testimonial

“From the start the support I have received from Debbie and the team has been great. It can be quite demanding sometimes when you have users that want to run before they can walk and I am no exception. Idea generation and training have been provided throughout and also with a friendly smile, it is always nice to be valued, and the team certainly made me feel that way – thank you.”

Richard Howes- Head of Project Management Office- European Electronique

The post European Electronique Takes PMO Solution To The Next Level appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

The Challenge

The team at SIP Build UK have been using a purpose built tool for their pre sale process, which is effective and efficient for their needs. However, they were experiencing problems once the orders came through to the Design and Manufacturing departments. 

The orders were being tracked and maintained in silos with multiple MS Excel sheets, which were being manually updated across the departments. The need to duplicate data was time consuming, and date changes in one department weren’t showing the cascading effect they have across other areas of the business. Ultimately there was a lack of visibility across the organisation on the status of all the jobs.  

SBP were asked to provide a project tracking solution where;

1. Visibility of all projects was possible across the relevant teams.
2. The impact of date changes showed immediately.
3. Dates were planned from the Estimated Project Date but then superseded by the actual dates of tasks.

The Solution

SBP created a project tracking solution with an intake sheet and multiple job sheets. The way the jobs needed to plan and report dates meant that inbuilt dependencies were unable to be used, therefore with extensive formulae the cascading required for date data flow was created.  Separate manufacturing sheets monitoring build elements were linked through to the job sheets too.  This was delivered with a detailed portfolio dashboard, tailored specifically for their requirements.  

SBP also streamlined the intake → job sheet creation process using an API program.

Testimonial

Smartsheet has revolutionised our operational processes.  We have up to date information and notifications that tell the relevant team when action is required.  The information is at your finger tips and the time taken waiting for individuals to respond has reduced dramatically.  The development work was both responsive and knowledgeable – so much so we have already been back for another system to add in!!! Thank you SBP for helping us achieve vision and transparency.

Chris Duckworth – Managing Director – SIP Build UK

The post Smartsheet Project Tracking Solution helps streamline SIP Build appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

We’re pretty excited that Gartner Inc., one of the most prominent technology research companies in the world, decided to name Smartsheet as a “Cool Vendor” for 2015.

How cool is that?

Each year, Gartner selects companies in critical technology areas and publishes a series of reports detailing why these products and services were chosen. Or, essentially, why they’re pretty cool.

Cool Vendors are selected because they are innovative, unique, and have a real market impact. Smartsheet was one of just four Software as a Service (SaaS) companies included in the 2015 Program and Portfolio report.

Click here to download the Report

So, What Makes Smartsheet So Cool?

• It helps anyone get more work done.
• It provides transparency and visibility into projects.
• It combines the most powerful features of Excel, Dropbox, Microsoft Project, and email.

Boost Productivity and Drive Results With Smartsheet

If you’re using Smartsheet, you know we have a familiar spreadsheet interface and an abundance of intuitive collaboration features to help people, teams, departments, and entire companies coordinate anything.

We’re fortunate to help industry-leading organizations like Cisco, Google, Bayer, Groupon, HomeAway, DHL, and others get work done, easily, and more efficiently. With six million users worldwide, we help companies boost productivity, streamline communication, and drive results.

Now, that’s cool.

Read the Cool Vendor Report by Gartner to learn more.

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When you’re managing a complex project and working with different departments, external collaborators, and hundreds of details, mistakes are bound to happen.

Smaller mishaps, like a missed deadline or misunderstanding between teams, can be resolved and usually don’t derail the entire project.

The #1 Thing That Kills a Project

Thankfully, there are experts we can learn from. So, to help you keep your project intact and avoid those mishaps, we asked six project management experts to share the number one thing that kills a project.

Here’s what they had to say:

1. “The biggest thing that derails a project is poor communication.”

“It affects everything from the perception of success to team morale to getting action on project risks. Good communication is possible when the team trusts each other and has the tools they need to actually communicate – both in terms of technology-mediated communication and the soft skills that give them the confidence and abilities to have difficult conversations when necessary.”

Elizabeth Harrin, A Girl’s Guide to Project Management 
Twitter: @pm4girls

2. “It’s lack of clarity.”

“When people work on the same project but have different notions for what the goals are, what their roles are, and how or why to help each other when things go wrong, it creates the friction that makes projects fail.”

Scott Berkun, best-selling author and popular speaker on philosophy, culture, business, and more.
Twitter: @berkun 

3. “The biggest ‘project killer’ I believe is a lack of expectation management.”

“I describe the early part of any project as the ‘journey of expectation management’ as all of the project representatives and stakeholders come to learn about each other and understand what the project truly aims to deliver. The critical message being that nobody understands everything at the start of the project. The biggest ‘project killer’ I believe is a combination of lack of expectation management at this key point accompanied with a rush to action.”

Peter Taylor, The Lazy Project Manager 
Twitter: @thelazypm 

4. “The silent project killer, and in my experience the thing that kills more projects, is multitasking.”

“When people lose focus, they create defects. They don’t test everything. Everyone feels as if they are always running to catch up—and they are. The person you need to ask a question of is working on something else. Even though that person was supposed to be on your project. If you want to give your project a fighting chance, make sure your project has all the right people assigned, and that they are not trying to split their focus.”

Johanna Rothman, management consultant for software leaders.
Twitter: @johannarothman 

5. “The single largest project killer is uncontrolled scope creep and churn.”

“Changes happen and are to be expected. However as changes are identified and added to the requirements or to the backlog, they need to be prioritized based on value. Chronically saying “yes” to everything without evaluating the value of the change and the impact to other components of the project is a killer!”

Thomas Cagley, process improvement consultant and blogger.
Twitter: @TCagley

6. “The biggest thing that kills a project is not assigning roles and responsibilities.”

“If you put everyone in charge, you are putting no one in charge. Team member may assume that someone else is taking care of an important detail – and in the end the ball gets dropped and the project suffers. In your project plan, define who is going to do what and stick to it –  holding people accountable for the delivery.”

Steven Baker, oil and gas project manager.
Twitter: @StevePMP 

 How to Avoid These Threats to Your Project

The key to a successful project starts with a strong foundation. Make sure you include the right people on your team and help them stay on track. There’s no point in trying to consolidate team members to just a couple people if they’ll be drowning in work and forced to multitask. You’re better off including more people on your team who will be able to contribute in clear, specific ways and stay on track.

To Peter Taylor’s point, set expectations at the beginning of the project. Take the time to understand the companies, external collaborators and vendors involved, and establish realistic outcomes.

Then, find a management tool that will improve team communication, provide visibility into the project, and define clear roles and accountability. Keep all your project information in one central spot, so everyone stays on the same page and has access to all the key details.

Don’t let one seemingly small mishap turn into a silent project killer. 

The post 6 Experts Share the #1 Thing That Derails a Project appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

Smartsheet’s most requested features are coming soon.

Our customers continually help shape Smartsheet, and many have been asking for the more robust project management features of duration in hours and critical path. We’ve heard your feedback and have appreciated your patience.

Duration in minutes, hours and weeks, as well as critical path, brings Smartsheet to the next level in terms of project management and team collaboration. These new features give project managers and owners more control to coordinate even bigger, more complex projects quickly and efficiently.

Here’s more information about the new features:

Specify Duration in Minutes, Hours, or Weeks

You will soon have a new level of granular control over project schedules by specifying duration of project tasks in not just days, but in minutes (‘m’), hours (‘h’), partial days (0.5), or weeks (‘w’). You will even be able to mix and match units, like 3d 4h or 2d 30m.

Specify duration of tasks in hours, minutes, days, weeks – even seconds – to manage with greater control

These new duration options also mean that milestones won’t be a full day anymore — you will have the ability to add zero-day milestones to your project schedules. You’ll also be able to set the hours in a working day.

And, the task duration features will support localization for our international users. For example, French speakers can add “2j” for two days, and Smartsheet will recognize that the “j” stands for the French word for days (jours).

Automatically Calculate Critical Path

In any given project, you may have hundreds of tasks and multiple dependencies. And it can be almost impossible to decipher which tasks are the ones that, if missed, will impact your completion date. In other words, the ones you really need to worry about to make sure you meet your deadline. With critical path, you can automatically identify these critical tasks.

Automatically identify the tasks that are critical to meeting completion dates

All you’ll have to do is click the new critical path icon to automatically highlight the tasks that are critical to your project plan, shown in a Gantt chart. The critical path will change in real time, reflecting any changes in live data. And it will work with any color settings in your sheet. Stay tuned for more information on this forthcoming release.

Smartsheet Training

For Smartsheet users wishing to fully benefit from these improvements and who wish to convert their existing projects, see details of our forthcoming Smartsheet training courses and online support sessions

Talk to us about Managing the Changes within your organisation and about application integration set-up and training.  We’d love to hear from you.  

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