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April 2013: Volume 3, Number 4
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In This Issue
 Finding the Right Project Server SME
Michael Wharton, Project MVP, MBA, PMP, MCT, MCITP, MCST, MCSE+I, MCDBA, MCSD
Implementation of Project Server in a PMO requires a vision, upper management support, leadership and a good team of driven players. Experienced consultants are often used to fill in the gaps and ensure the options are fully explained. The right Subject Matter Expert (SME) can make the PMO planning and execution successful. When listening to the vendor salesman, their story is their successful track record and team, but when the Project Server SME arrives the client sometimes are given inexperienced experts or perhaps lacking in many of the skills that had been sold.
Another scenario is, the day comes, when Project Server is implemented and the consultants leave. The PMO staff is left standing with a void. How to find the "Right Project Server SME" that can continue to support your PMO's Project Server and keep the PMO cycles running smoothly. All your preparation was based on everybody doing things correctly and then someone "Rejects" a timesheet line item. Who is going to support the PMO now?
Finding the right Project Server SME either before or after the implementation requires careful thought. The Project Server SME's skills and experience must be weighed against many different skills across many different candidates and at the right price. My SME evaluation is based on ten knowledge categories that a SME should be familiar with. The more areas in which the candidate has experience, the higher the score. I use a ten point system for each category. The total score is summed. The best candidate will have the highest score.
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SME Experience
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Candidate A
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Candidate B
| Consultant
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1 - Formal Project Education
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10
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10
| 10
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2 - PMO or 5+ years of project manager experience
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10
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10
| 10
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3 - Uses "Dynamic Scheduling" when managing schedules
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10
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10
| 10
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4 - Past experience with PWA and Project Server
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10
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10
| 10
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5 - On team implementing project server in a PMO
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10
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10
| 10
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6 - Configured Project Server settings
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0
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10
| 10
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7 - Installed and configure Project Server Services
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0
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7
| 7
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8 - Installed and configured SharePoint Server Services
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0
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4
| 7
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9 - Installed and Configure SQL Server
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0
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0
| 7
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10 - Installed and configured Windows Server
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0
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0
| 7
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Total Points
| 50 | 71 | 88
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If you really want to get fancy, you could multiply the weight average against the candidates expected salary. I have also found this a useful framework when doing a technical interview.
One final point; the same system can be used for weighing your vendor candidate.
More details on the scaling system can be found on my blog at: http://MyProjectExpert.com (http://myprojectexpert.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=46)
Michael Wharton is President of Wharton Consulting a BeMo Consulting and Training partner.
You can reach Michael at MWharton@whartoncomputer.com
BeMo and Systemethod become partners
Joel Lachance, VP of Business Development at BeMo and Nah Wee Yang, CEO of Systemethod announced on April 4, 2013 that they were joining forces. Systemethod Pte Ltd - www.systemethod.com/about - is a leading Microsoft Partner specializing in Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) based in Singapore and Malaysia.
Joel Lachance commented "We handpicked Systemethod as our partner in Asia based on their Microsoft PPM competency and also based on their alliance with other BeMo partners including Nintex, TPG The Project Group and UMT. We strongly believe that our partnership will be pivotal to raise our Project Server footprint in South East Asia and beyond."
Nah Wee Yang stated "The benefits of productivity improvement and project clarity brought about by Microsoft's EPM solution presents a strong business case for our customers to invest in the solution. And this opens a market opportunity for us to help customers to implement, deploy and accelerate the EPM solution adoption in their organizations. Our partnership with BeMo broadens our Microsoft EPM solutions offering to customers, allowing us to recommend the 'best-fit' solution according to our customers' needs and ownership model. We chose to partner with BeMo because of their domain expertise, responsiveness to requests, and sound business model."
BeMo and Digital Concepts join forces to market hosted Project Server via the GSA
BeMo has recognized for some time that we need to address the marketing of hosted Project Server to the US Federal Gov't via a GSA schedule. To make this a reality we reached out to one of our consulting partners Digital Concepts Inc. - http://www.dci-america.com/ Digital Concepts (DCI)has been supporting both commercial clients, Gov't clients, as well as the Air Force for 30 years . BeMo is actively working with DCI, to add hosted Project Server 2010 and 2013 (also SharePoint Enterprise 2010 and 2013) as offering through DCI's GSA Schedule 70 Contract # GS35F078H.
A future issue of the News will have more details on the DCI - BeMo offerings available via the GSA.
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BeMo 2013 or 2010 Content Packs same low price of $59 per month for either
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The BeMo 2010 and 2013 Content Packs were developed to provide hands-on capability for the training of project managers, PWA users, PMO staff, anyone who will be working with Project Professional 2010 or Project Professional 2013 or Project Pro for Office 365 connected to Project Server 2010 or 2013 in an enterprise-wide project management environment. It can also be used as a demonstration framework to illustrate the features and functions of Project Server 20130 or 2010.
Each image has a 120 + Enterprise Resource Pool, over 20 projects and proposals, including a two comprehensive programs, all with customized Project Sites. A comprehensive cost-based Portfolio Analysis strategy. It also includes customized BI (Business Intelligence).
Most importantly the BeMo Content Packs can be accessed using your IE and your own copy of Project Professional 2010 / 2013 / Project Pro for Office 365 there is no virtualization software or special hardware required.
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For more information visit www.bemopro.com
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TPG The Project Group - Featured Add-on Partner for Project Server
TPG  The Project Group is an international full-service provider of consulting, products, hosting and training for project management as well as solutions based on Microsoft technologies. Especially well-known is TPG's PSLink®, the world's leading SAP certified product for integrating Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint with SAP and Dynamics AX. The TPG range of software products and services is complemented by public seminars on Microsoft Project and on project management methodologies like the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) from the PMI. TPG increases the maturity level of your project management, making a significant contribution to your business success. TPG's customers are large and medium-sized companies in all industry sectors. TPG has offices in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, UK, USA, Canada and South Africa as well as an international network of authorized TPG partners, all TPG products and services are available on all continents. BeMo offers its customers three (3) TPG add-ons. Specifically:
TPG MTA Client is a Milestone Trend Analysis installed on the project manager's PC and is seamlessly integrated into Microsoft Project. The MTA data is stored in a local file. As a result, you may send the data to other users of the TPG MTA Client and they can access it immediately.
Features of TPG MTA Client:
> Seamless integration into Microsoft Project
> Data is stored within the project file with no need for a separate file
> Configurable graphic output is easy to print out
> Can be used with projects on the Project Server and also mpp files
> Configurable profiles for views with specific milestones
> Works with multiple projects and can import MTA data from TPG MTA Server
> Works with Microsoft Project Professional 2007/2010/2013.
 TPG MTA Server is integrated as a web part into Project Server's Project Web App (PWA), where it can form part of a management dashboard. Managers can select any project in the portfolio in accordance with their access permissions. In combination with the TPG MTA Client, the data is also available offline
Features of TPG MTA Server
> Seamless integration into Microsoft Project Web App (PWA)
> Freely configurable settings for periodic saving of the data pool
> Filter capability across milestones
> Deadlines can be displayed for every milestone
> Graphics can be formatted and copied into Microsoft Office documents
> Configurable permissions system based on Project Server
> Works with Project Server 2007/2010/2013
TPG PortfolioPlanner supports optimal resource utilization with mouse-based portfolio planning. When a great idea finally turns into a real, approved project, the first question is usually: when will the resource situation let us get started? TPG PortfolioPlanner can help. It lets you aggregate the data from new and current projects on the project level and show each one as a task in Microsoft Project. This gives you a comprehensive yet easy to read overview of all projects in a single bar chart.
In the sample chart on the left, a dialog box displays several resource histograms summarized by department together with a line representing maximum capacity. Current and new projects are shown in different colors. All you need to do is drag and drop the project bars in Microsoft Project until the resource peaks are below the over allocated level. This enables you to test simulations quickly and save the results of different variants.
Features of TPG PortfolioPlanner:
> Simultaneous display of consolidated project schedules (one bar per project) along with several consolidated histograms
> Variable portfolio resource summaries - by department, by subsidiary, etc.
> Highly configurable graphics (bars and lines)
> Data for new projects can be taken from any SQL-based source and information about current projects comes from Project Server
> Different simulation results can be saved
> Works with Project Server 2007/2010/2013
For more information on the TPG products click here.
Next Issue
The next BeMo News will feature details on two of our product partners - Matan MasterLink and Nintex Workflow plus an very interesting article by
Eoghan Young, EPM Consulting Lead with Storm Technology.
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BeMo Corp
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