NYS Forum PM Steering Committee

Meeting Minutes

Held: November 17, 2009, 8:30 - 9:30 AM, at Keane offices
Next Meeting: December 14, 2009, 8:30 - 9:30 AM, at Keane offices

Attendees (members attending in person highlighted in bold, attending via phone in bold italic)

PM Committee Members
Brenda Breslin, State Co-Chair (DOH),
Vivian Conboy, State Co-Chair (NYS Tax),
Chris Foster, CRT Co-chair, (CGI) (1),
Jon Haverly, CRT Co-chair, PM COP Lead, (Keane),
Connie Benton (NYS OSC),
Jonathan Blake (Keane),
Girk Cakmak (Bowne),
Natalie Cole (NY State Police) (4),
Jason DiGianni, Repository Lead, (NYS DOB) (2),
Susan Mardon (NYS DOT),
Melissa Morgan, Newsletter Lead, (TEK Systems) (1),
Ellen Peil (NYS DEC),
Bob Pennacchia (NYS DOH),
Diana Pinto (NYS Thruway),
Drew Prescott (NYS OFT) (2),
Kelly Smith-Lawless (NYS DMV),

Forum Announcements

It was announced that the MATRIX Work Group has been renamed to the IT Skills Development Workgroup to better reflect their activities.

It was also announced that the WebEx conferencing is now available to the Forum Work Groups. Additional details will be passed along as they become available.

Additional Topics and Action Items

It was discussed that going forward we should plan at least 6 weeks between events (PM COP, PMO Roundtable and joint events). Jon will develop a draft schedule for 2010 sessions and newsletter releases and will distribute to the group for review.

2009 Initiatives

The following initiatives were generated from the Forum strategic planning session on Friday, July 10, 2009. They will serve as the initiatives for this program year.

Updates to the SDLC - Girk Cakmak:

Background: Several work groups (Security, Business Continuity, and Web Group) would like to work with the PM work group to update the PM Guidebook. There is also a desire to add the agile process as well as best practices from the work groups into the guidebook.

The updates to the guidebook will be a huge undertaking. The Security and Business Continuity work groups would like to add touch points to the PM Guidebook elaborating on best practices. Deb Snyder is reaching out to OFT to seek approval to make updates. These two workgroups will share with us their revisions and seek our insight. No updates have been received from Security or Business Continuity. Girk will continue to communicate with Deb regarding the status of this initiative.

GOER Training - Natalie Cole:

Background: There is an interest to assist GOER with the PM training (PM Fundamentals as well as more advanced PM training) they provide.

Kelly provided the update that there will be a GOER meeting next week to review the updated curriculum. The training will be a two-day introduction course and GOER is looking at a train the trainer approach. Kelly mentioned to GOER our interest in providing support. Natalie will reach out to Allen Ross from GOER to determine how the PM work group can be of assistance with content updates or training facilitation.

BA Coordination with MATRIX - Connie Benton:

Background: The MATRIX group would like to continue the BA sessions that were kicked off with the PM COP on May 12th.

A date of December 15 in the morning in ESP Room 3 has been set. The topic will be "Becoming a Successful Business Analyst" and a call for presenters was sent out and an agenda has been competed. MATRIX will serve as the point of contact on this with our work group providing assistance.

Repository/Social Networking - Jason DiGianni:

Background: Based on feedback from the strategic planning session there looks to be a larger initiative to create an online repository for Forum work groups. Tied into this will be an initiative to create an acceptable networking option for the work group. Discussion at the strategic planning session included the possibility of leveraging something like LinkedIn.

Jon provided an update since Jason was not able to attend. A summary of the Nig pilot was sent to the Steering Team. In addition, Brenda provided a summary of the working session held with state employees on September 17th. Jason was planning to meet with Greg Benson and CIO/OFT to discuss the repository.

PMO Roundtable Meeting (PMO RT)
 
Q4 2009 Round Robin of Agency PM/PMO Accomplishments, Challenges, and Plans
Owner(s): Ellen Peil
Action Plan: (Action - Assigned to - Status):
  • Compile slides for event - Ellen - Open
  • Send reminder emails to attendees - Ellen - Open
 
Consider the following topics for future meetings:
  • How to communicate PM/PMO value to Agency Executives (strategies, briefing books...) *new topic*
  • Working session on Knowledge Repository requirements
  • How to manage project budgets and contracts
  • How to maintain the PM momentum/Marketing strategies for a PMO
  • PMO strategic planning and outreach
  • Portfolio Management and how to leverage software tools
 
PM Community of Practice Meeting (PM COP)
Q4 2009 Spotlight on Projects (DOT Website Redesign, DOH/OFT NYSIIS)
Q1 2009 Topic: To Be Determined
Owner(s): Jon Haverly
Action Plan: (Action - Assigned to - Status):
  • Determine date and time (December 8, 2009; 2:30 to 4 pm) - Jon - Done
  • Reserve room (ESP, Room 7) - Jon - Done
  • Order a/v equipment - Jon - Done
  • Create outline for speakers - Jon - Done
  • Identify and secure speakers - Jon - Done
  • Provide materials to Mike - Jon - Open
  • Work with Mike to send out email notice to all Forum committees for sign up. - Jon - Open
 
 
Consider the following topics for future meetings:
  • 2010 Q1 - look into OSC Retirement System Phase 2 Project
  • 2010 Q2 - FOCAS/FMS joint governance possibly. POCs are Chris Gorka from OSC, Susan from DOB, and Melodie from OFT.

Attendees discussed the desire to hold a half day session for executives that spoke to the merits of project management. There is a tie in to the annual technology plans and portfolio management. All agreed there was a need for buy in from the Office of Tax Accountability and DOB. At this time it was decided to table the executive session until after the 2010 elections.

Joint Events
Event - Responsible - Status
  • None planned - TBD - N/A

The October 21st joint session had 50 attendees which is far below the typical number for a monthly UNY PMI Chapter meeting. Alternatives to future joint events with the UNY PMI Chapter will need to be evaluated.

PM Committee Newsletter
4th Quarter Newsletter
Distribution Date: Tentatively set for late December, 2009
Owner(s): Melissa Morgan & Diana Pinto
Actions (Section - Assigned to - Status):
  • PMO Roundtable Recap - Ellen
  • PM COP Recap - Jon
  • Joint Event with PMI Chapter - Chris
  • SDLC Initiative Update - Girk
  • BA Session with Matrix recap - Barb
  • Repository/Social Networking Update - Jason

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 8:30 am.