|
Manhattan Project Management – The Most High-Impact Work Engine |
Tom Peters recognized the value of Project work in a small book he published in 1999. He discussed “the high impact project is the gem…the nugget…the fundamental atomic particle from which the new white collar world will be constructed and/or reconstructed.” This high impact project is important to the organization to deliver it efficiently and effectively to enable the business units expectations regarding delivery time, total cost of ownership and quality, as well as alignment with their strategic missions. It is important to the project manager to be able to meet these expectations in everything they do and it is also important for every team member to ensure their job on the project is completely successful. Therefore, Manhattan created the Project Management module to enable the High Impact Project with its implementation of the Web 2.0 product which allows easier customization at the business level (rather than the technical level) and collaboration capabilities. It includes PM applications for:
1. Planning, Design and Construction
Manhattan controls the initiation and start-up of a project, project communication, tasks, synchronous (immediate response to process command) and asynchronous (processes involving several people) workflow, budgets and resources against a project template, works package or sub-works package. These projects can begin with the Strategic Portfolio Plan which defines which new designs/renovations or capital works programs will be undertaken. The planning for new designs or moves begins with the creation of a Stack Plan determining which Business Units go on which floor, followed by a Block Plan at the floor level which, based on adjacency and space requirements determines the placement of each group on the floor. The detailed design plan is then created on the CAD system, along with the construction documents. The Project Management module is integrated with MS Project, as well as Budgeting/Forecasting, Help Desk and Work Order Processing.
2. Project Financial Management
One of the biggest challenges for project managers continues to be bringing in the project on budget. Manhattan provides in depth management of the project financials providing controls to prevent expenditure from taking place where funds have not been approved. The Bid Management process enables the project budget to be built up from the bids supplied by the contractors, with any adjustments needed and orders cannot be raised until the budget is approved. Full approval workflow is used to ensure that all parties are aware of the budgeting and associated funding. Change order management enables variations to be tracked and approved. Manhattan’s Procurement Modules provide the raising of orders, matching to the actual invoices so all costs are authorized in Manhattan by the project team. Alternatively project costs can be downloaded into Manhattan from the Corporate ERP system to show actual costs against the budget against each analysis category.
3. Scheduling Management
Manhattan enables tracking of the project schedule and management of the plan. This can be achieved through tracking the project milestones against the plan or using full workflow management of the schedule. The project closeout list provides a check list of ensure all activities have been done before closing out the project.
4. Project Documentation
Manhattan allows for project documents to be attached and shared with full version control, as well as incorporated in the workflow (including e-mail, circulation lists and automated approval processing).
|
Project Management