City of Surrey Project Server 2007

Implementation

Microsoft Municipal Executive Briefing - Dec 1-2, 2010

Eileen Iverson PMP

Spencer Reid PMP, MCSE. MCTS, MCITP, MCT

The Future Lives in

Surrey

• Surrey is the 2nd largest city in British Columbia, 12th largest city in Canada

• With the current population of 472,000, Surrey would rank as the 37th largest city in the United States

• The city has observed five consecutive years of record breaking construction value exceeding $1 billion in activity

• $14-$15 billion annually in trade across the Pacific Border

• Surrey has one of the healthiest balance sheets in the country with over $595 million in cash reserves

• Surrey School District 20% larger than Vancouver

• Surrey’s growth rate averages 1,000 new residents monthly

IT Challenges

• Lack of visibility into the allocation of

resources

• Inconsistent approach in the use of

project management tools and

methodologies across the organization

• Poor communication of project

information between team members, and

with other interested parties

• Difficulty in having an accurate view of

the current state of the project portfolio

(resource availability, cost, schedules)

Increasing demand of proposals/projects with

limited highly skilled resources and budgets.

Some of the challenges identified were:

COS Initial Maturity Score = 1.5

Working with a Partner

• Provide clear visibility into resource allocation

• Provide the information required to do accurate

capacity planning

• Provide accurate data so organizational decisions

can be based on facts

• Provide a real-time view of project budgets and

their associated costs

• Improve dissemination of project information

throughout the organization

Through consultation with Western

Principles the following business goals and

objectives were identified:

How can I tell

if my Resources are Over Allocated?

How can I tell

if my Resources are Under Allocated?

How can I tell if we have

the Resource Capacity to complete

new Proposals/Projects?

How were Resourcing

Processes changed at COS?

Resourcing – Process Changes

• Black Market for Resource Acquisition was eliminated

• Cake, cookies and chocolate are still accepted but they will not get buy you

any resource time!

• Resource Managers pro-actively prevent/monitor over allocations

• Project Managers request resource time from Resource Managers

• Resources are no longer bombarded by requests from Project Managers

• Resource conflicts are raised and addressed by all levels of the organization

• Project Managers use “generic resources” for capacity planning

What PM Tools

did COS Standardize on?

MS Project Professional

Project Web Access

Project Workspaces

How were PM

Methodologies changed at COS?

How is Project Information

Communicated?

What Processes changed

so that Project Information

could be collected?

Project Information – Process Changes

• Resources are required to fill in timesheets on a daily basis [carrot vs. stick]

• Resources rely on their MyTasks page to determine what they should be

working on

• WBS standards being set for PMO

• Management logs into the system to see customized views of projects and

resources [no more outdated files being sent via email]

• Standardize on Project Scheduling techniques (TEDCRAP) = Dynamic

Scheduling

How can I see the Current

state of my Project Portfolio?

What was the Impact

of the changes?

Impact of Changes

• Clear visibility into resource allocation

across the Enterprise

• Clear visibility into Projects overall

• Ability to forecast the availability of skills

for future projects. Now the IT

Organization can answer the question

“Do we have the resources to complete

these new initiatives?” with facts as

opposed to conjecture.

• Fast response to budget variances due to

the fact that project budgets are tracked

in “real-time” and displayed in a

dashboard.

• Fast response to schedule and cost

variances

Impact of Changes

• More value for each IT dollar spent due to the

implementation of standard, repeatable

processes across the organization

• The ability to continue to grow in Project

Management Maturity as a result of a system

that can adapt to their changing requirements.

• More time for strategic planning and pro-active

management due to the timely information

provided by Project Server.

• The PM Handbook and deliverables matrix are

two key process deliverables that have helped

streamline the overall project lifecycle.

• Ability to “Protect the Plan” to ensure that; the

business value is achieved, the critical

success factors are met, the team is focused

on the goal, and the stakeholders are properly

engaged.

COS Post Implementation Maturity Score = 3.0

Lessons Learned

• General Business Goals, Specific Business

Objectives, Stakeholders involved,

Assumptions are well understood before

engagement

• Business Processes need to be clearly

defined

• Significant Organizational change was

required and a plan to mitigate the effects of

that change is beneficial

• Technology is just an enabler. It’s important

to make it clear to the client that the

deployment is as much about people, process,

strategy and organizational change as it is

about Technology.

• Do not underestimate the value of the

Envisioning Process

There were a number of Lessons

Learned during the EPM Project:

Special Offer from

Western Principles

Questions