Professional Services

VERTEL’S PROGRAM MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY

Industry Issues:

53% of all IT projects finish over budget, over time, and with fewer features and functions
31% of all projects fail
Only 16% of all projects are delivered on time, and within budget
65% of all technology projects are at risk of having schedule pressure
65% of the projects are at risk for having inadequate cost estimating
80% of the projects are at risk of having scope creep

To ensure our customer engagements are delivered on time, on budget, and on functionality, Vertel Corporation has developed and standardized on a formal project management methodology used by its Professional Services staff worldwide. (3)PMSM, Precision/Predictable/Program Management, defines the policies and procedures used by Vertel project managers in successfully completing customer engagements. These policies and procedures, together with a series of standard document templates, cover the entire project life cycle from beginning to end:

During the course of any customer engagement, it is critical that certain controls are put in place to ensure that, at a minimum, changes are adequately documented, communications channels are established, schedules are developed, baselined, and tracked, and sufficient status is provided to enable quick verification of a project’s progress.

The (3)PM^SM templates provide the Vertel project team with standardized tools that utilize best practices for program management activities, including:

(3)PM^SM’s effectiveness is constantly monitored by Vertel’s Program Management Office to make sure it remains up-to-date, and undergoes improvement when warranted based upon both Vertel and customer feedback.

The five major components of the (3)PM^SM methodology are broken down into several phases:

Project Initiation

The Project Initiation phase assists the Vertel Sales and Professional Services teams in managing the initial customer interaction from engagement, through qualification to the point of execution.

Project Definition

In the Project Definition phase, the Statement of Work is executed, and Vertel’s Professional Services’ group organizes the project delivery team, ensures the engagement deliverables are clearly defined, completes the work plan and schedule, and formally commences the project.

Project Delivery – Elaboration

Once the project is officially underway, the Project Delivery phase commences. This includes Project - Elaboration, Construction and Transition. During the Elaboration phase, further detail is developed for business and technical requirements and training and testing plans, and the initial solution design activities are begun.

Project Delivery – Construction

As the Project Delivery moves into the Construction phase, the solution design is finalized, built and tested, initial training is conducted, and the plan to transition the solution into production is finalized.

Project Delivery – Transition

Project Delivery is now at its Transition phase. User acceptance testing occurs, final documentation is assembled and the complete solution is turned over to production.

Project Completion

The final component of an engagement is Project Completion. During this phase, the customer formally accepts the solution, and the joint project teams assess the overall success of the work performed on both sides. The project is closed and feedback provided to Vertel’s Program Management Office.

Quality Assurance

Throughout the course of the project’s life cycle, several quality assurance steps are taken to ensure adequate and timely information is communicated to both Vertel and the customer. These are defined by the Quality Assurance process. Issues, changes and risks are captured, tracked and formally identified. Procedures are established to regulate how changes affecting the project’s schedule, cost and scope are to be documented and approved. The overall health of the project is regularly assessed to enable proactive measures to be taken when the need arises.

Keeping Promises

Vertel’s ultimate goal is customer satisfaction. In short, it’s about keeping our promises to deliver our solutions on time, on budget, and on functionality. We firmly believe our (3)PM^SM methodology is an essential component to our continuing efforts to keep these promises. Furthermore, we are confident our engagement approach provides the right balance of management rigor and flexibility as we meet the diverse requirements of our customers.

Downloads
		Download Documents