Open Forum March/April 2005
Vol. 18 No. 6 & 7
Innovations in information resource management to support government
FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Colleague:
The initial five months of the 2004-2005 program year have been filled with a rich diversity of educational programs. The programs have been extremely well attended and our evaluation feedback is very positive. As you know, all of our program offerings are planned through The Forum's appropriate committees, oftentimes in conjunction with one or more partners. That formula is yielding excellent results as evidenced by the sessions in February that included a cyber security web cast, a two-day IT contract negotiation symposium and a two-day seminar on web content development and management. Those sessions included working with over 15 partner organizations representing the state, national and worldwide levels. Of particular note, the seminars held on February 24th and 25th marked the commencement of an ongoing relationship of The Forum with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW).
In the policy arena, the work of the IT Procurement Committee provided a forum for airing a number of procurement policy and legal issues in the context of the two-day symposium on February 14th and 18th. Beyond that, the IT Procurement Committee is also preparing to address specific issues inherent to IT Contract terms and conditions as a focus on responding to work now being done by both the Office of the State Comptroller and the Office of General Services. Several other committees, including the Webmaster's Guild, the IT Accessibility Committee, the Project Management Committee and MATRIX are dealing with issues specific to staffing, creation of state functional job titles and developing competency certification standards.
Sharing best practices continues to be a core activity for most of The Forum committees and most recently the Project Management Committee has joined the Government and Education Technology Portfolio Management Consortium (GETPMc) administered by the New York City Housing Authority. The Project Management Committee has also launched a virtual newsletter for its committee members.
In terms of fostering communications and engagement of IT professionals, The Forum's Executive Committee worked with the NYS CIO to create a forum in March that provided an open invitation to hear the New York State IT Strategic Plan presented by the Office of the NYS CIO and the priorities being pursued presented by the co-chairs of the CIO Council Committees.
The quantity, quality and diversity of initiatives pursued by only mid-year speaks to a highly committed team of committee leaders very much in touch with the IT professionals they serve and the issues they confront. We look forward to a similarly productive latter half of the program year.
Sincerely,
Gregory Benson
Executive Director
Project Management Committee Update
By Nancy Mulholland, PMP, Co-Chair, Deputy Executive Director, Workers' Compensation Board, and Joann Dunham, Co-Chair, Client Executive, Keane, Inc.
The Forum's Standing Committee on Project Management was created to support government entities and government project managers as they implement project management standards and practices, Project Management Offices (PMO'S), and project portfolio management (PPM) within their organizations. Co-chaired by Nancy Mulholland from the Workers' Compensation Board, and Joann Dunham from Keane, a Forum IT CorporateRoundtable member, the committee has created special interest workgroups in this effort.
The NYS PM Community of Practice (PM COP) was initiated several years ago by the NYS Office for Technology's Project Management Office. When resource constraints in that office prevented the continuation of support for the PM COP, The Forum took on that role. The NYS PM Community of Practice provides a forum for an interactive exchange of ideas, practices, lessons learned, etc. between project managers in New York government. The group meets on a quarterly basis and is open to all interested in learning more about PM topics. All meetings are posted on the Forum's Calendar of Events.
The PMO Roundtable was originally established by a handful of agencies as a grass roots effort to support each other in their Project Management implementation efforts. These efforts include Project Management Office implementation, Project Management Methodology implementation across a division/bureau/agency, as well as management of agency project portfolios. In the belief that implementation of Project Management disciplines will promote and sustain project success across the State, the PMO Roundtable has now been formally established, as a workgroup (Special Interest Group, "SIG") of the NYS PM Standing Committee. This group also meets quarterly, and anyone interested in joining the PMO Roundtable, may contact Joann Dunham at Joann_S_Dunham@Keane.com.
One priority identified for the PM Committee this year is to publicize the wealth of project management resources available within New York State government. Two prime examples of such resources are the New York State Project Management Guidebook and the Management's Guide to Project Success. These reference books, targeted to two different audiences, document a common Project Management methodology for use across the state. While The Guidebook provides guidance and advice to Project Managers throughout the life of a project, the Management's Guide provides a high-level look at the Project Management Lifecycle, and provides ExecutiveManagement with a guide to understanding and supporting project management in their organization. Both of these may be viewed online or downloaded in their entirety from the Office for Technology's public website at http://www.oft.state.ny.us/pmmp/ guidebook2/index.htm and http://www.oft.state.ny.us/pmmp/managementguide/index.htm, respectively. They are also available to be purchased in hardcopy. Ordering information is available on the website. These references represent many months of collaborative effort from State agencies that were willing to share their time and expertise to develop and enhance the Project Management Life Cycle as well as assist in the development of a System Development Life Cycle. They are extremely valuable resources for all NYS government agencies.
Another valuable resource is the Project Management Repository, developed and hosted by OFT and administered by The Forum will be made available to share assets across the State. This repository will provide members of the PM Community of Practice the ability to submit and search for PM artifacts, as well as provide access to a message board, PM calendar, FAQ's, and a place to post notes of relevant PM meetings. This repository is available at (http://www3.oft.state.ny.us/nysfirm/index.cfm). Access is controlled by the OFT's Directory Services, and a user ID/password is required. Any NYS government member is eligible for a Directory Services user ID. For more information contact pmo@oft.state.ny.us. The PM Repository shares agency examples of project management templates and documents. We invite everyone to share samples of their works by simply e-mailing them to pmo@oft.state.ny.us with a subject of "PM COP documents." These documents will then be posted to the website for others to use as examples. While numerous agencies are implementing the methodology documented in The Guidebook, some choose to customize various templates to better fit their specific needs. Completed documents for real projects as well as customized templates have proven very useful to others in understanding concepts and in applying the methodology to their own needs.
If you have project management resources which we can publicize via your own web link, or documents we can add to the information sharing website mentioned above, please let us know. In addition to the PM Repository, the Forum's Standing Committee on Project Management acknowledges several accomplishments over the past two years, and is in the middle of execution on its 2004-05 initiatives.
NYS Project Management Community of Practice
In September 2003, in conjunction with GTC, a session was held for the PM COP on the NYS Project Management Guidebook (Release 2) - with focus on the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC). NYS employs many different methodologies for system development projects, within the agencies. Many of the methodologies are driven by the application development tools, by the software architecture within which the application will operate, or by the "build versus buy" decision. There are standard phases and processes which all system development projects should follow, regardless of environment and tools. As a result, this presentation provided an overview of the standard phases and major processes of the New York State System Development Lifecycle (SDLC). The guest speaker was Jonathan Blake from Keane, Inc., and there were over 160 registrants for the session!
In December 2003, a session was held for the PM COP on Project Portfolio Management, a process which groups projects so they can be managed as a portfolio, much as an investor would manage his stocks, bonds and mutual funds. In the 1950s, University of Chicago economist Harry Markowitz wrote that a portfolio of diverse investments is more likely than individual investments to reduce risks and produce a higher rate of return. No surprise then that many organizations are looking to adopt this process in order to effectively execute to priorities while maximizing resource investments. According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), "Project Portfolio management refers to the selection and support of projects or program investments. These investments in projects and programs are guided by the organization's strategic plan and available resources." The session guest speakers were William Rosser from Gartner and Robert Weisman from CGI-AMS.
In September 2004, in conjunction with the Project Management Institute Upstate NY Chapter, an Executive Symposium Panel and Luncheon was held on the importance of the Project Management Office: A Necessity for Today's Complex Projects. In today's competitive environment, managing projects effectively is critical to the success of all organizations. Chief Executive, Operating, Financial and Information Officers and Agency Executives and Senior Managers are being held accountable to manage complex projects, bring them in "on time and on budget," and deliver repeatable successes. In order to meet these challenges, many organizations are establishing Project Management Offices (PMO). This session provided an overview of:
Dr. Ginger Levin, nationally known project management consultant and author of The Advanced Project Management Office: A Comprehensive Look at Function and Implementation, delivered the keynote, followed by a panel of area executives who shared their experiences establishing PMOs in their organizations.
In September 2004 in conjunction with GTC, a session was held on Estimating Techniques and Tools for Project Managers. The questions "How much?" and "How long?" must be answered during all phases of the project lifecycle. Imperfect as they are, estimates are needed and used to drive business decisions. But what are the pieces of information required to develop and refine an estimate? What techniques and tools are available to assist the process? The seminar provided an overview of the necessary components of an effective estimating approach, awareness of the many estimating techniques as well as the strengths, weaknesses, and best use of each, and an overview of available tools used for estimating. The guest speaker was Mike Labarge of Keane, Inc.
NYS PMO Roundtable
During 2003 and 2004 the PMO Roundtable SIG met monthly. Roundtable topics included: PM methodology implementation, PMO and PPM Governance, Project Portfolio Management - after the approval process, methods for dealing with resistance, how to identify and select PMs in your organization, how to achieve deliverable sign-off, just to name a few.
In addition, the Roundtable had guest speakers present to the group. One session was devoted to 'the Beads game' - an exercise designed to demonstrate the dangers of working on multiple projects with shared resources.
Two other sessions were devoted to walking through the steps for collecting project team member progress, updating the schedule and developing a customer status report.
The Roundtable also developed a Resource Matrix to identify subject matter experts in PM, PMO and PPM, as well as identifying those who are PMP certified, and those agencies who have developed PM related curriculum.
Two sessions of importance included a session on PMO Lessons Learned, where each agency contributed lessons learned, best practices and ideas for 2005. The resulting artifact from this session was a compendium of collected information from those agencies in various stages of maturity for implementing PM, PMOs and PPM. This artifact may be found in the PM Repository.
The second session of note was held just recently during the January Roundtable meeting. The NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) was the guest speaker and they presented on "Considerations in Selecting and Protecting your IT Investment." This session was very informative and demonstrated a different approach to managing internal agency projects. NYCHA has successfully implemented a partnership approach between the business and IT functional areas.
Special Projects
There have been many special projects initiated within the Standing Committee. The Forum's annual Strategic Planning Session identified the need for more proactive marketing and communications from all of its committees. In answer to this requirement, the PM Standing Committee has initiated a project to revamp the Project Management page on the Forum website, and to ensure information presented is consistent with the OFT PMO web page and mission. In addition, the PM Repository has and continues to be updated with important information for Project Managers, and with artifacts that have proven successful for an agency.
The committee also has plans to release a newsletter in early March, which will be available bi-monthly. This newsletter will summarize all the events and meetings scheduled, highlight topics of importance and provide other PM related tidbits. This newsletter will emulate the look and feel of the local UNY PMI chapter's newsletter - so that the PM community at large is provided with consistent, pertinent and up-to-date information on a regular basis. Stay tuned for this exciting newsflash!
Discussions are also underway to provide a booth at the GTC East for many of the Forum committees, and Project Management of course will be a contributor to that marketing effort. At the Forum's Annual Meeting in September, discussions were held to immerse PM into the criteria for award nominations. We hope these efforts will provide the PM COP with important and up-to-date communications, through many different vehicles.
Finally, our article would not be complete without discussion of the Peer Review process and checklist, and of the Business Case template artifact. In the spring and summer of 2004, the NY State CIO Council, in collaboration with The NY State Forum, developed a peer review process for IT investments proposed by NY State agencies. This initiative was called for in the statewide strategic plan for IT. Objectives included the following:
The design of the peer review process calls for the reviewers to complete a checklist composed of questions about the proposed project's design, justification, management and support provisions. The checklist is composed of a coversheet with 13 summary questions and a detailed 30-question checklist dealing with project origination documentation. The coversheet summary items deal with agency processes: project evaluation and selection, project portfolio management, and overall project management. The remaining 30 questions cover the Intent to Purchase statement (ITP), business need, proposed solution, and project benefits, costs, value, and risks. A final section provides for an overall rating and recommendations. Answers to questions require a check indicating either go, caution, or stop, plus space for comments.
This process and checklist were developed by, the standing committee and the CIO Council leadership committee (chaired by Brian Scott, Department of Health, and Michael Nevins, formerly with Department of Labor). A pilot of this review was just conducted successfully, and as a result the committee is now refining the process and checklist for the next review.
In support of the Peer Review process, the committee developed a template for agency use, (if approved), for a Business Case. This template was developed based on examples currently in use at nine state agencies and incorporates components that will provide the most accurate business case, as agencies decide which projects to move forward with, or not. This project was done in collaboration with the CIO Council Fiscal committee.
These worthwhile projects have spawned additional initiatives, most importantly, the development of the Peer Review process and checklist for projects 'in-flight.' This will be extremely helpful to agencies in assessing the health of a project and will allow for course correction if needed, sooner rather than later. This will also allow the peer process to occur and for the sharing of experiences and lessons learned.
The PM Standing Committee appreciates this opportunity to share with you all of the great initiatives and progress that has been made in forging a united PM Community of Practice. We are very excited to continue on with our 2005 projects and look forward to assisting NYS achieve successful project success!
For additional information about our committee, visit us on the web at: www.nysfirm.org and click on "Project Management."
...the PM Repository has and continues to be updated with important information for Project Managers, and with artifacts that have proven successful for an agency.
February Cyber Security Webcast Engages Hundreds of Participants
On February 9th the webcast entitled "Adware/Spyware: How to Protect Youself from Today's Most Dangerous Spyware Threats" co-developed by The NYS Forum and the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination was offered by the Department of Homeland Security and the Multi-State Information Sharing Analysis Center. Roger Thompson, Director, Malicious Content Research at Computer Associates was the featured presenter. Information and specifics related to his presentation are available on the NYS Forum's website at http://www.nysfirm.org/.
This webcast was the forth in a continuing series and attracted nearly 2,000 participants. Future cyber security webcast offerings are being scheduled for March, May and July 2005. Watch The Forum's website for announcements of these webcasts.
This webcast series has proven to be an exemplary initiative which has grown from the work of the Business Continuity Planning/Security Committee. The Forum had not used webcasting prior to last year. However, since that time the value of this delivery medium has been underscored by the support being provided by federal program offices and by the significant growth in the number of webcast participants. The Forum is exploring the webcast environment for other offerings, particularly those related to local governments that otherwise require participants to travel to Albany.
IT Contracts Focus of Two-Day Symposium
The Symposium entitled Negotiating IT Contracts was held on Monday, February 14th and Friday, February 19th. The two-day Symposum opened with a keynote by James T. Dillon, NYS Chief Information Officer. The program was co-hosted by The NYS Forum and the NYS Office for Technology (OFT) with the assistance of the NYS Office of General Services (OGS), the NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination (CSCIC), the NYS Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) and the NYS Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
The Forum's IT Procurement Committee co-chairs, Bill Branch of BearingPoint and Susan Zeronda, of OFT, were instrumental in putting together the two-day program. Of particular note was the participation of members of The Forum's IT Corporate Roundtable on panels over the two-day symposium. The Roundtable members brought practical experience and the corporate perspective on contractual issues to the table. They also reviewed the implications of new financial reporting requirements for publicly traded corporations such as the SEC Revenue Recognition Guidelines and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Other sessions focused on issues related to bankruptcy, data security, intellectual property, patents and a wide range of topics addressing the specifics of the IT contracting procedure in New York State and the session. The Symposium was CLE accredited for NYS Attorneys.
Forum and World Organization of Webmasters Partner to Enhance Web Developer Training Opportunities and Create the NYS WOW Chapter
On February 24th and 25th The Forum, in partnership with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and with generous support of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations (GOER), the Public Employees Federation (PEF), and the Office for Technology (OFT), the first offering of a new Forum/WOW partnership was launched. Each one-day seminar addressed web content development and management and were attended by nearly 400 professional staff responsible for developing New York's websites.
The public face of government and the ability to directly transact business with government organizations is increasingly represented on the Internet and the web sites being developed by New York state and local government organizations. The Forum's IT Accessibility Committee and Webmaster's Guild have been untiring in their efforts to forge standards, afford educational opportunities and highlight best practices. In recent months their work has brought to light the need for a greater emphasis on developing and offering educational opportunities, for better defining the appropriate job functions and competencies and for sharing best practices across and from outside the New York enterprise. As a first step, a survey of web developers was undertaken and the results of that survey are on The Forum's website.
With critical and welcome support from appropriate employee organizations, the two days in February marked the beginning of what promises to be a productive relationship with WOW. Indeed, a partnership that moves our collective efforts to a higher, more productive level for all involved. As a start, participation in one or both of the two days included membership in the NY State Chapter of WOW as well as the ability to avail oneself of the certification exams offered by WOW. We view that as just the beginning. The Forum is committed to working well beyond the two days in February to afford New York's web developers with a continuum of educational opportunities, perhaps some offered through webcasting. We are also committed to continue The Forum's current initiatives to better understand the work and the context of public website development. In so doing, and in partnership with WOW, we will influence generally accepted standards and certifications - areas where WOW has achieved considerable progress on an international scale.
The Forum urges that all involved in web development become a member of The Forum and now the NYS Chapter of WOW. Your participations will help shape future programs and ensure that they are fully responsive to needs, facilitate career development and enable the best of what can be contributed to making government fully accessible and responsive to New York's constituency.
You may become involved in both The Forum's IT Accessibility Committee and the Webmaster's Guild. Both of these groups and their work are described on The Forum's website at http://www.nysfirm.org/. Contact information for leadership of those groups is also provided. Please feel free to contact the co-chairs directly, or contact The Forum at info@nysfirm.org or by calling 518/ 443-5001.
Executive Committee
Officers
Chair, Joanne Riddett, Thruway Authority
Vice-Chair, Cecelia Hamblin, Dept. of Labor
Sec./Treas. Leigh Favitta, Dormitory Authority
Members
James Bell, NYS Senate
Walter Bikowitz, OGS
Thomas R. Bodden, Assoc. of Towns of NYS
JoAnn P. Bomeisl, Insurance Dept.
Terri Daly, OFT
Sharon Dawes, CTG
F. Michael Donovan, CIO
Stanley France, Schoharie County
Robert Freeman, Dept. of State
Jeffrey S. Grunfeld, OSC
Christine Haile, SUNY at Albany
Roman Hedges, NYS Assembly
Karl Kelly, DMNA
Robert G. Kelly, DHCR
Kim S. McKinney, NYSLGITDA
Janice Morris, Dept. of Civil Service
Nancy Mulholland, Workers' Comp. Board
Eugene Pezdek, DEC
Franklin Slade, Dept. of Civil Service
Timothy Spencer, DOB
Victor Stucchi, HESC
David Walsh, SED
Staff
Gregory M. Benson, Executive Director
Rebecca J. Buchner, Executive Assistant
Milena Ivanova, Technical Coordinator
Design & Production
Michael Cooper
Rockefeller Institute of Government
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