Defining an Effective Process

An effective process is a process that helps organizations move rapidly through their activities, reducing risk and forming a common standardized approach for all to follow. Table 8.2 lists some of the key factors of an effective process, which creates a stream of advantages for companies.

Table 8.2: Key factors for defining processes

Provides guidelines for efficient development of quality systems and solutions.

Reduces risk and increases predictability.

Captures and presents best practices.

Promotes a common vision and culture for the organization.

Provides a roadmap for applying tools and techniques.

Easy to understand and simple to use.

Demystifying Some Crucial Questions

The project or development manager, at this stage of defining processes, should ensure that the following questions have been answered before starting a project:

Have I determined which processes will be used on my project?

Have I appointed team members to develop those processes?

How long will it take to complete?

What templates do I need to create for these processes?

Do any steering committees or teams need to be established?

Team LiB

Observations From the Titans

Exasperated by multimillion-dollar cost overruns and delays measured in years, a growing number of large corporations are taking an innovative approach to systems development. Sometimes the opportunities that exist mean that you need to reconfigure the existing business model.

In the past two years, American Express Financial Advisors, Inc., United Air Lines, and Ryder Systems, Inc., have all established project management offices because they must manage their methodologies on a regular basis. These offices have the sole mandate and authority to authorize changes in systems development deadlines and budgets. They act as the security check for catching any projects in the red. This is the way effective companies work.

Nynex Corp., meanwhile, requires all outside vendors working on Nynex IS projects to comply with the telecommunications companys project management methodology. Tracking a projects progress against its initial goals not only helps keep a development project on track, but also helps IS measure and document productivity, according to Richard V. Mulcahy (2001), staff director of IS at the company. He said:

When processes were manual, it was easy to measure IS productivity. If you automated payroll, youd lose 30 clerks. So it was easy to prove ISs worth. Now that weve squeezed out most of the fat from the organization, we need to move to improved project management efficiency.

When American Express Financial Advisors set up its project office, budget overruns of as high as 500 percent were not uncommon at the Minneapolis-based company, according to Warren G. Herreid (2001), a former lieutenant in the military and the offices senior director. Most increases resulted from changes in project requirements and/or development tools. Two years ago, for example, a mid-project switch from Windows operating system to OS/2 caused a 200 percent overrun and more than a one-year delay on a general ledger application. Now, all project change requests with a price tag of more than $250,000 must be approved by a technology council and Herreids office, which supports more than 70 active projects and a 750-person IS organization. This is a methodology in place that works.

Productivity has increased 40 percent since United Air Lines created its four-person, San Francisco-based IS project office, according to Richard L. Gleason (2001), project office manager. Currently, the office supports 17 major development projects. It also maintains an online electronic library containing all project deliverables, schedules, and documentation. Gleason said:

Before the project office, the planning that got done had the depth of a back-lot facade you see at Universal Studios. Now we have a very standardized way of planning projects with a financial aspect tied in to track how we are doing against those plans. (p. 2)

Case No. 1: Norigen Communications Inc.

Its been a year since Norigen Communications Inc. of Toronto arrived on the scene as a competitive local exchange