While the Project Health Check is one of our most popular services, I am still often asked what a “health check” is for and why an organisation might want to undertake one. I thought I would outline the main objectives and benefits of undertaking a health check as I find them extremely valuable as a tool for ensuring project success.

The key objectives of a Project Health Check include:

To determine the current state of the project and detect problems early enough so that the project team has the capacity to deal with them.

To identify factors that will enable or disable the potential of delivering the anticipated outcome and benefits of the project. Key areas under review include the following:

· Completion and clarity of Business Case / Benefits Realisation Plan

o Sufficiency of analysis and translation to definition of project outcomes

· Adequacy of Stakeholder Commitment & Support

· Adequacy of Project Initiation Process

· Adequacy of Scope Definition & Verification

· Adequacy of Requirements Definition & Verification

· Appropriateness of Project Approach

· Appropriateness of Project Organisation Structure & team

o Skills, knowledge and experience of Project Manager / Team Leaders

o Demonstrated competency of Project Manager / Team Leaders

o Skills, knowledge and experience of project team

· Adequate and timely risk identification, analysis , management and control

· Realism & Executablility of Project Plan (schedule) taking into account:

o Completeness of Project Plan

o Appropriate level of work decomposition

o Appropriate work steps such as:

§ Project Initiation / Problem Definition

§ Requirements Definition

§ Analysis /Design (System Performance, System Capacity, IT infrastructure)

§ System Development/Testing (Conversion, Application Security, Interfaces, Testing Co-ordination, Functional Testing, Business Acceptance Test Planning, Regression Test Processes, Integration Test Planning)

§ Process Development/Testing (internal controls in process design)

§ Change Management (Organisational Impacts, Communication and Training)

§ Implementation Planning including Support Planning

o Reference to appropriate IT standards, processes and methods

o Sequencing of tasks in a logical sequence to deliver desired outcomes instead of silos of work by functional area

o Dependency definition ( doing the right tasks at the right time)

o Appropriate sizing of work into manageable packets of work

o Accuracy of work effort and duration estimation

o Adequacy of resourcing levels and appropriateness of types of resources applied

o Sufficiency of contingency planning

o Inclusion of checkpoints linked to appropriate implementation of deliverable (document) review sign off and management

o Appropriateness of wording in plan to enable its use as a communication document and management document

o Ability to baseline project plan and manage variance to plan

· Communication Planning

o Thoroughness of Stakeholder needs assessment

o Appropriateness of Information distribution

· Adequacy of Project Monitoring and Control

o Accuracy, adequacy and timeliness of performance reporting, replanning and change management

o Implementation of appropriate inclusive project status and team meetings

o Implementation of appropriate Steering Committee

o Adequacy of Issue Management and appropriate scope change control

· Adequacy of resource procurement process vendor and contract management

· Adequacy of Financial Management including:

o Development of project budget and expenditure forecasts

o Implementation of adequate, accurate and timely processes to manage and report project cost

To analyse findings and present detailed recommendations addressing each of the issues identified.

Overall, this helps to ensure a shared understanding and commitment between the project team & the ultimate business stakeholders to a realistic and executable strategy to resolve issues as agreed.

I have recently been hearing the buzzword “RTI” a lot and quite frankly “Real-Time Infrastructure” just seemed like a lot of jargon, until I understood what it meant. I have taken the following information from one of the leading suppliers of RTI solutions (DataSynapse) and endeavoured to phrase it in relatively plain English.

What is RTI?

Real-Time Infrastructure (RTI) is software that allocates computing resources (i.e. server hardware) to software applications based on business demands and policies.

So how does RTI save me money?

Most companies have rooms (or indeed entire data-centers) full of expensive computer server hardware, much of which sits idle until needed for a specific business applications. Changing business demands on how this infrastructure should be allocated occurs at a much faster rate than IT departments can respond. As a result IT service delivery may lag behind business requirements and expensive investments in additional infrastructure are required to keep pace.

RTI software is used to create cross-platform, standardized and automated approaches to configuring, activating and scaling existing applications and hardware resources based on policies and business demand to meet the demands of constantly changing business conditions. This enables IT to effectively prioritize business critical applications and processes on a daily basis.

By creating a real-time infrastructure, IT departments are able to improve service levels that elevate business productivity, and deliver cost-savings across technology, resources and operations.

As you might have guessed from my previous posting regarding 29West’s Ultra Messaging software, I am very keen on this product!

29West provides the lowest latency, highest performance and most stable messaging infrastructure to the financial markets that I have found to date. In addition to the obvious competitive advantages low latency messaging delivers, their design can provide large costs savings as they are able to handle considerably more messaging traffic with less hardware.

Ultra Messaging®, 29West’s messaging product suite is high speed, low latency, IP-based communication between the large numbers of cooperating computers in today’s financial systems. The Ultra Messaging product suite includes Latency Busters® Messaging (LBM) and Ultra Messaging® for the Enterprise (UME).

LBM is a fast, efficient, and lightweight streaming messaging system targeted specifically at market data applications. Its many unique design features provide low latency, stability & control under heavy loads, integration flexibility make it particularly well-suited for applications with very high message rates. UME leverages the proven LBM API and with our breakthrough Parallel Persistence™ design, provides support for durable subscriptions, delivery confirmation and persistent messaging with latency as low as 70 microseconds. 29West’s messaging products eliminate the need for message daemons or message brokers resulting in a true application-to-application messaging system.

With these offerings, 29West provides the application developer the power needed to easily handle growing market data rates and the latency edge needed to be competitive, along with many other advantages.

If you have a need for high performance messaging I strongly recommend you seriously consider 29West!

Enjoy

Today’s real-time financial systems require robust, high-performance communication and market data distribution.

However, we have heard from many system designers that they have been frustrated by having to choose between traditional expensive daemon-based messaging products, low-performance JMS products, or writing their own messaging layer. We are excited to show you how 29West Ultra Messaging® Products provides a better choice. 29West provides a high-performance, low-latency, full-featured, highly-configurable messaging product with a proven track record in demanding financial applications.

• Are you envisioning writing your own messaging layer?
• Are you wondering how to consolidate distribution of real-time market data?
• Do you need robust, low-latency, high-performance, messaging?

If so, we are pleased to invite you to a 2-hour focus group presentation, including continental breakfast.

The seminar will be presented by Bob Van Valzah, Director of Integration and Consulting with 29West Inc. providers of high-performance messaging to the financial markets. Bob will share his hands-on experience in this field.

This seminar will look at architectures and APIs for persistent messaging systems, along with discussing the development of robust messaging applications.

We will review failure cases and learn about designs for resilience from simple applications to enterprise level solutions.

We present the architecture and explain the high-performance of 29West’s UME product and give concrete example applications for banks, hedge funds and exchanges.

• Date: Tues 18 March 08
• Place: Westin Hotel, 1 Martin Place, Sydney, Australia
• Time: 7.30am to 9.30am

Seating is limited, so book now to guarantee you place!Book now by ringing Christopher Young on 04 33 139 103 or email info@whitewater.com.au

I have recently formalized two of our most popular services and I have attached an outline of each as they may be of interest to you. 

The Project Health Check service is used to determine the current state of the project and detect problems early enough so that the project team has the capacity to deal with them. This is valuable for existing projects particularly if there are early signs of potential project slippage. 

The Project Management Support service provides hands on assistance to support the Project Manager or Project Director to ensure successful project initiation. This is especially valuable in the early stages of a project to ensure delivery and success.

I have recently discovered an exciting new risk management solution which I think might be of interest to you and I wanted to tell you about it so you can see if it fits your own organisation and requirements.

The R/V Platform is designed to provide a fully integrated, yet fully modular system platform for risk and valuation analyses and financial and corporate planning.

The thing that really impressed and excited me about this particular solution is that they have a single framework and infrastructure which can manage all relevant types of risk and it is also very highly scalable.

The following applications are available on the system:
1.        Extended Basel II Internal Models type one step market risk analysis.
2.        Extended general market risk analysis including one-step and path simulation analytics.
3.        Extended credit risk analysis with market and counterparty credit risk variables being simulated as time-paths, and with netting and credit risk mitigation enabled. The system supports Basel II Advanced Approaches for credit risk capital requirement calculations.
4.        Simulation based operational risk analysis. The system supports Basel II Internal Measurement approaches.
5.        Economic capital analysis with market risk, credit risk, operational risk and, where relevant, underwriting risk simultaneously included.
6.        Alpha testing of counterparty credit risk trading book derivatives positions.
7.        Cash flow analysis and NPV simulation based approach for advanced probability of default and rating migration forecasting and analysis.
8.        Cost at Risk analysis of government financing policies.
9.        IFRS 36 risk-adjusted discount rates for impairment testing.
10.      IFRS 39 validity testing for hedge accounting.
11.      Cash flow simulation based Enterprise Wide Risk, valuation and ALM analysis for strategic planning, M & A, investment and Value Based Management applications.
12.      Cash flow simulation based rating outlook analysis.
 
The product has been developed by CD Group (based in Helsinki) and you can find their website here: http://www.cdgroup.fi/rv.html 
 

Only three weeks left to book your place!

I am excited to be able to tell you about a wonderful event being hosted in Sydney by success coach Pip McKay who I recommend you see in action and who will be donating $20 out of every entry fee ($35) to the charity Whitelion which supports young people to build better lives for themselves and helps make our community a more inclusive and safer place.

What is the evening about? …

Did you know that there are 8 levels on the values hierarchy and that your position effects the way you think, relate to others and behave? The values levels also show you how to accelerate your personal evolution and more deeply understand others.

• Ever wanted to follow your passion but think you can’t make money from it?
• Ever wanted to get organized but get bored following systems?
• Ever felt burnt out and dreamt of giving it all in and living simply?
• Do you want to make lots of money but can’t face the rat-race?
• Do you like the security of being employed but don’t like people telling you what to do?

Each of these thoughts reflects different levels in the Values Hierarchy and the specific problems related to transitioning between the levels. Often we feel that the issues we see in our life are unique to us as individuals, when they may in fact reflect a stage in our development. When you know where you are now and what the next level is, it is easier to make progress rapidly and smoothly. This reduces stress and frustration and enhances your success and happiness.

The knowledge in this focus group also gives you a unique insight into understanding your clients, friends and family and what type of support is most effective. In sales and management this information assists you in knowing what someone really wants, what their hot-buttons are and what motivates them.

Pip’s informative and entertaining presentation style brings each Value’s Level to life so you can identify your own and others position, as well as, get clear on what to do to get to the next level. This is also a great way to meet like-minded people, network and see Pip in action.

To register ring 02 9949 9480 or email judy@evolvenow.com.au

Cost: $35 (inc GST) per person, with $20 from each ticket sold going to the charity WHITELION.

Special Offer: The first 10 people to reply get Pip’s CD, Clearing Negative Emotions, which normally retails at $40 for FREE!! Or you can get a signed copy of The Secrets of Great Success Coaches Exposed.

The term Best Practice is a commonly used buzzword particularly in the consulting community. I am often asked by clients to advise them on the best practice in a particular area of their IT operation and delivery, however there is rarely a clear understanding of what this actually entails.

My favourite definition is that a best practice is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result. An organisation which commits to using the best practices in any field is a committing to using all the available knowledge and technology to ensure success.

However, the challenges to using Best Practice are significant.

I recently posted an article which briefly discusses these challenges and some approaches to dealing with them What exactly is best practice .

I hope you find it useful!

One of the key tools in the Six Sigma “toolkit” is its problem solving methodology. DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. The key to the success of this methodology is its focus on using data-driven tools to identify what is to be changed and then to monitor the actual impact of changes in a feedback loop.

As IT managers we may feel that our existing project and development methodologies already provide the tools we require and that Six Sigma has nothing new to teach us. Experience with numerous IT projects and with leveraging Six Sigma into the IT project space has shown clearly that Six Sigma really does have something to offer!

I recently published this article which outlines how DMAIC can be leveraged to improve delivery of software development projects: http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-DMAIC-for-Improved-Software-Development&id=801449

Enjoy!

The second product which has impressed me recently is strangely named and initially it is somewhat difficult to work out what it actually does!

Informavores (apparently an informavore is one who consumes information) has developed a remarkably clever suite of products that enable business rules to be documented graphically (in the form of a decision tree called a “Spark“), directly linked to data sources, automatically used to generate web based forms and then delivered as web services …. all without the use of traditional programming tools or resources!

The Firefly software enables you to create interactive tools without programming by drawing the process or decision rules as a flow diagram or decision tree. This automatically generates a series of interactive screens to guide staff or customers through complex procedures, tasks and decisions in a user-friendly way.

Firebox takes this a step further, and enables the business or subject expert to create and manage powerful rules engines, online calculators or expert systems - without programming. Keeping the business rules or logic separate from the programming code in a software applications makes them easier to manage and speeds up development. Importantly, since the components the system generates are SOAP complaint web services they can be used from within existing applications and as the basis for new web based (.Net or Java) applications.

To find out more contact Selena Kilfoyle at selena.kilfoyle@informavores.com or take a look at their website http://www.informavores.com

After a few hours of experimenting I was thoroughly impressed with this software and I am convinced we will be hearing a lot more about Informavores and their products in the future.

These days it takes a pretty special product to grab my attention and recently I have found two worthy of note!

The first is TAPMAster, from AssetControl. TAPMaster is a reference and market data management solution which provides a fully populated relational data model ready to support business applications out-of-the-box. It also automates the acquisition of both external vendor data feeds and internal proprietary data sources.

If you have anything to do with managing financial markets reference or market data then this product is a beauty and the startup time and costs are much lower than other solutions I have seen in this space.

For more information contact Lonispace (http://www.lonispace.com.au/) at info@lonispace.com.au

I found an interesting article recently that you might find applies to some of your relationships with people at work (and in your private life!).

This article on “Stressful Relationships: The ‘Cardboard Image’ Effect“, explains how we create an image of another person and then can be surprised or upset when their behaviour doesn’t match our view of them.

It is a worthwhile reminder that we need to leave space for other people to grow and change.
 

I have begun publishing various articles that might be of interest especially to anyone involved in achieving better success and greater value from software development and project management efforts. If you are interested please take a look at my articles at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Chris_Young 

I have been receiving a lot of questions from clients regarding the topic of server virtualisation.

Virtualisation is a method of running multiple independent instances of an operating system on a single physical computer. It is an effective way of maximising the investment in your computer hardware and can provide opportunities to reduce complexity, improve service levels to the business and lower capital and operating costs to provide and maintain IT infrastructure.

For more detailed information I can recommend this site http://www.vmware.com/virtualization/

Before beginning a deployment, it is important that you assess your organisational and technical readiness as part of the due diligence for the business case for virtualisation. This assessment period typically takes a few weeks to a month, and can happen in parallel with other planning activities.

Meyerson’s book explains how individuals who act in ways consistent with their personal values and what they truly believe in can be powerful forces of positive change within organisations.

I found this book inspiring and believe it will speak to many of you who may find yourselves challenged by the organisational culture you work in.

We are regularly called in by clients to review projects which have overrun on time and budget. At best, these projects need to be restructured and new budgets and plans put in place. In the worst cases the projects may be cancelled, at the expense of significant amounts of time and money and the loss of valuable project deliverables.

Most of these potential problems can be avoided by simply following good project management practices. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) is a full body of knowledge of proven, traditional practices, which are widely applied. It also contains knowledge of innovative and more advanced practices. The PMBOK is published by the Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI®) which is a peak industry body for professional project managers.

For more information on project management best practice, governance and the PMBOK®, contact us at info@whitewater.com.au

I have recently finished reading an excellent book entitled, appropriately, “Market Data Explained”.

If you have ever dealt with the complexity of global capital markets data you will know how complicated and inconsistent it can be, so it was refreshing to discover this well thought out and clearly presented explanation.

Mark Alvarez uses the concept of a data model to provide a single, consistent view of capital markets information. He explains, in concise language, how the data relates and how it can be navigated.

Market Data Explained by Marc Alvarez is published by Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN-13: 978-0-7506-8055-4

Recently, a number of people have been asking me about “BPMN”. Since it is one of the more useful initiatives being progressed in the open standards field I thought it was worthwhile providing a brief explanation.

The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a graphical notation that depicts the steps in a business process. BPMN depicts the end to end flow of a business process. The notation has been specifically designed to coordinate the sequence of processes and the messages that flow between different process participants in a related set of activities.

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Six Sigma is a system of management designed to achieve lasting business performance. In our experience we have found that Six Sigma provides tools and techniques that can be leveraged to achieve reliable IT project delivery.

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Six Sigma is a system of management designed to achieve lasting business performance. Agile software development is a form of iterative software development encouraging rapid and flexible response to change. In our experience we have found that Six Sigma provides tools and techniques that can be leveraged to achieve more reliable Agile software development project delivery.

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