Case Histories PM Tools for NGOs

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Case HistoriesPM Tools for NGOs

• William Lester NPOKI
• PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUMMIT
• 22 Sept 2009

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Agenda

• Look at tools/solutions for PM in use by various
  charity organizations
• Look at some considerations for using PM tools
• Look at some case studies of organizations using
  custom or off-the-shelf PM tools
• Share stories, comments, questions around tools
  for PM

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Some Background

• People
• Process
• Environment

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People

• What are the skills needed to manage a program?
• Program management
• Operations management
• Finance management
• Resource management
• Project Management
• What skills have you used for managing a program?

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Process

• How do you map a business process?
• Why should you map a business process?
• What effect do technology tools have on business
  processes?
• Why do you need to understand what you are
  doing before you decide what tools youll use to
  manage the process?

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Environment

• What is the physical environment of the place(s)
  where you'll do your project?
• What is the cultural environment of your
  organization?
• What are the obstacles that might prevent success
  in your project?
• How can environmental factors can directly impact
  your choice of PM tools and solutions?

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Suggestion

• Before you consider using a technology tool or
  solution to improve your overall project
  management experience, carefully consider the
  people, process, and environment around your
  project, and how those elements might affect the
  success of a significant intervening variable
  like technology.

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Project Management Tools

• Software
• Hardware
• Collaboration/Communication
• Templates
• Custom or Off-the-shelf
• Proprietary or Open Source
• Solutions other processes, like paper, meetings,
  helping hand, etc.

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Project Management Software

• Definition Project management software is a term
  covering many types of software, including
  scheduling, cost control and budget management,
  resource allocation, collaboration software,
  communication, quality management and
  documentation or administration systems, which
  are used to deal with the complexity of large
  projects.
• - Wikipedia

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Software Examples
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Group Discussion

• Divide into groups
• Discuss the following two Questions (10 minutes
  total)
• From the discussion, pick two people to report
  back
• One to share a story re on Question 1
• One to share a story re on Question 2
• Speed Reporting 60 seconds to report your story!

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Question 1

• What template(s), tool(s), or solution(s) do you
  or your organization currently use to help manage
  a discrete project (limited in scope, time,
  resources)?
• What is the name of the tool?
• How long have you used it?
• What has been your experience with the tool?
• Please share any information that might help
  others.

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Question 2

• What are the challenges around using PM tools and
  solutions in low resource areas (places with
  little or no infrastructure, difficult geography,
  areas in conflict or crisis, poor skills, low
  literacy)?
• Can technology tools play a role in PM in low
  resource areas?
• Have you had success using a PM tool in a low
  resource area?
• Please share any information that might help
  others.

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Summary Questions

• What template(s), tool(s), or solution(s) do you
  or your organization currently use to help manage
  a discrete project?
• What are the challenges around using PM tools and
  solutions in low resource areas?
• DISCUSS!
  REPORT!

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Case History 1

• eIMS
• Daniel Messer
• Head of Knowledge Information Systems
• International Planned Parenthood Federation

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Case History 2

• Cohort
• Matt Kershnar
• Cohort Consultant
• NonProfit Organizations Knowledge Initiative

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The Deep End of the Pool
EngenderHealths False Start in Implementing an
Enterprise Project Management System

• Matt Kershnar NPOKI
• PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUMMIT
• 16 Sept 2009

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Cohort Project Management Softwarefor
International Development, Relief, and
Humanitarian Assistance Organizations
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Cohort Project Management Software

• Was created by managers of international
  development, humanitarian assistance, and relief
  projects
• Can be used to manage a specific project or an
  entire organizations portfolio
• Integrates all project-related information,
  including contracts and agreements, results and
  performance data, work plans, budgets, documents,
  reports , funding pools, new business
  opportunities, contact people, and contact
  organizations
• Utilizes a web-based, multi-lingual user
  interface for easy access from anywhere
• Supports off-line use when internet access is
  limited
• Integrates with existing fundraising and
  accounting software

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Cohort Benefits

• Removes information bottlenecks and promotes
  information sharing while ensuring data security
  and integrity
• Improves efficiency by significantly reducing the
  time required to produce analysis and reports
• Motivates project staff to input and update
  project and program data using a tool that
  notifies them of upcoming deadlines, activities,
  and deliverables, and increases their day-to-day
  productivity
• Centralizes all project-related data, making it
  easy to find the latest information

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Cohort Features

• Project Management
• Results Management for Monitoring Evaluation
• Work Plan Management
• Agreement Management
• Contact Management
• Document Management
• Fund Management
• Budget Management
• Opportunity Management
• Cohort Mobile Add-on for Low-resource
  Environments
• Ad hoc Query Reporting
• Multilingual Interface

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EngenderHealth Facts

• 700 Employees 500 consultants working in 40
  Countries
• Purchased Cohort Enterprise Version 5.0 in
  November 2008
• No Documentation or Training Materials
• No outside expertise
• EH Philosophy To learn to swim quickly, jump
  into the deep end of the pool

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Our Test Swimmers

• RESPOND, our largest global project, had designed
  an Excel-based PM system, and had used it for
  more than 6 years
• The Workplan with Objectives, Activities,
  Budgets, Indicators, and Deliverables
• Process was managed by Monitoring Evaluation
• One dedicated staff person to input all the data
  (not an ME person)

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Testing Implementation

• Gap Analysis document was ignored
• No setup of the system was done
• No understanding of the terms used by the
  software and within EH i.e. Organization,
  Headquarters, Office, Program, Project, Activity,
  Training, Summit, Workshop
• No expectation of compromise
• Just give me the username and password. Ill
  figure it out.

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Results

• By the end of the month, the entire test team
  declared the software unusable, because it didn't
  mirror their exact business process as defined in
  Excel. Staff people throughout the organization,
  who had never seen or used Cohort, were spreading
  the word about its "lack of functionality and
  flexibility". What a waste of money for that
  piece of rubbish!

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The Swimmers

• The dedicated staff person LOVED the software.
• The PMs in the field LOVED the software.
• The Operations Team LOVED the software.

The CIO LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the software.
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Next Steps

• Start again, this time with a Cohort consultant.
• Collaborate with sister organizations on the
  testing process.
• Analyze our existing business processes.
• Define our terms of reference.
• Manage expectations.
• Test before implementation, with several teams
  from Operations, Programs, Development, both at
  HQ and in the field.

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Lessons Learned?
29
The Deep End of the Pool
EngenderHealths False Start in Implementing a
Project Management System

• Matt Kershnar NPOKI
• PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUMMIT
• 16 Sept 2009

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Some Criticisms of PM Software

• May not be derived from a sound project
  management method.
• May be inconsistent with the type of project
  management method.
• Focuses primarily on the planning phase.
• Offers too many complicated features.
• Might shield the manager from important
  interpersonal contact
• Incurs a larger time-overhead than is worthwhile
  on smaller projects.

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Q A
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Resources

• Comparison of project management software
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_project
  _management_software
• NPOKI Resources Web Site
• http//www.npoki.org/resources/

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Case HistoriesPM Tools for NGOs

• William Lester NPOKI
• PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUMMIT
• 16 Sept 2009