Project Administrator

Project Perfect Pty Ltd

Project Administrator

Overview of Software


One View of a Project

A project can be viewed as a parcel of work. This work consists of two types:

• Planned Work

• Unplanned Work

Planned Work is work outlined in the Gantt

Chart

Unplanned Work is everything else. This includes Issues, Risk Management, Action Items, Benefit

Realization, Fixes, Scope changes etc.


Project Mgmt Software

• If you ask someone about PM Software, they invariably talk about scheduling software

• Microsoft Project dominates the market

• There are high end solutions such as PrimaVera and Artemis.

• There are few specific options that cater for the “unplanned work”


Action Items

• The unplanned work is managed by creating action items – either formally, or informally

• In other words, three things happen– Something (an action)– Is done by someone (person responsible)– By a certain date (action date)

An Action Item has three componentsThe Work

The Person ResponsibleA Completion Date


Common Action Items

Risks

Issues

Benefits

QA

Meetings

Reviews

Etc.Regardless of where they come from, a Project Manager needs to keep track of every action item

Who is doing what, and when is it due to be finished

Action Items

• We have talked about the schedule, and the Action Items. What else does a PM need software to manage.


Budget & Expenditure TimesheetsQuality Assurance Project Documents

Benefits Diary NotesProject Reviews Reference DocumentsScope Variations Phases

Risks Glossary

So what else?


How does a PM track these things now?

• Lists• Minutes• Post it notes• Spreadsheets• Home grown databases• Emails• Memos• Memory• Etc.


The problem is…

• The information is not integrated

• There are overlaps

• There are underlaps

• Information is not followed up

• The format of the information is different

• There are no measures in place


The SolutionProject Administrator• Combines all information into one database• Merges all action items into one pot• Streamlines recording• Has over 100 reports• Can be viewed at project, program or all

levels• Links to Microsoft Project• Simple to maintain as it uses Microsoft

Access


The SoftwareSelect the

level to view

Select one of four activities – for example Project

Overview


Project Setup

The Project Overview menu can then be used

to review the projectTo start using PA, all you need to do is set

up a project. Anything else is

optional


Set up a ProjectThe only absolutely necessary thing you need to do is give the project a

name

Everything else is optional

Many of the fields are picked from drop down

lists.

You can configure things like types of project to suit your organisation


Navigate using the menu

The main path you use is the Project Daily

Management

We can start by creating an Issue.


IssuesThe Issue screen has two tabs.

The screen you see now has the main information. The rest

is optional.You set up the types of issue to suit your

organisation

The Priority and Status is also configurable for your organisation. For example you might want priority 1,

2, 3 or A, B, C

For each issue, you can have one or more action

itemsIn this case there is 1

The action item consists of some work…

…a person who is responsible…

A date for the work to be completed

In this case, the action item has been completed


Reports

There are a number of standard reports that can

be produced showing action items

Note that some have an email button. These can

be sent provided you have a MAPI email system such as Microsoft Exchange or

Outlook.

The ones without an email button require another selection before they can be

emailed. For example you need to select the person


ReportsThese are just some of the available reports

You can also produce your own

reports


Risks

Action Items don’t only come from Issues. They

can also come from Risks


Benefits

Or from realisation of benefits


Quality Assurance

Or as the result of a QA Event


Assumptions

From Assumptions

Meetings


From Meetings


Action ItemsOr Action Items can be recorded without coming from issues, risks etc.


Budget & Expenditure

Some other things you can do with PA is to manage budgets and expenditure

Set up your own chart of accounts. Each account

can map back to your corporate GL for

reconciliation purposes


Expenditure

Expenditure can be either actual or accrued.


Budget Reports

There are a number of reports on the financial

status of the project.

In addition, the expenditure information

can be downloaded into a spreadsheet.


Scope Variations

Scope variations can be tracked. There is facility to

record the basic information plus additional detailsThe status of each change

is clearly visible

It is also clear where the variation is up to in terms

of approval.


Scope Variations

The additional information includes the justification

The costAnd the time

Reporting can give statistics such as the

cumulative cost and time of scope variations


Reference Documents

You can create a library of reference documents

You configure the types to suit your

organisation.

Each document is hyperlinked so you open it

from PA


Project DocumentsManage project documentation

through PA

Record versions

Documents are hyperlinked so you open

them directly from PA

The report can act as a cover page for each

document

Attach Documents


Wherever you see the pin button, you can attach documents

Attached Documents


In this case there are two documents

attached

Click to add additional

documents

Or click to open an attached document


Diary Notes

Record scraps of information that may not

seem important until some time in the future when you need to remember


Timesheets

People can enter their timesheets online.

If you want to gather more details, you can set up

work codes


Microsoft Project

PA is integrated with Microsoft Project.

Edit the project from within PA

Update PA and information regarding Tasks and

Milestones is available for reporting.


Status ReportsEnter a few comments and generate a weekly

report.

The report automatically gathers information about milestones completed and

due in the next week, issues outstanding, and

due in the next week, plus your comments as entered

here.


Glossary

Define terms and abbreviations

Decide if they are specific to this project, or should

be in a corporate glossary


Checklists

Create checklists so that the organisation becomes

more efficient in doing project related work.

In this example, it is a list of things to do if you are

running a workshopYou can group the

activities by Category

You can also add notes


Roles & Responsibilities

Define roles and responsibilities for each

project

Create master lists where you can drop in the

standard responsibilities and modify if required


Project Traffic LightsDepending on which parts of PA you are using, you can click on a button and

see the status at any point in time

The status is measured against six criteria

More information is available by

drilling down on each criteria


Project Meetings

Sort the items into the sequence you want

Create a list of Meeting items

Record the name, venue, invitees and time of the meeting

Print agendas and minutes

Record the outcome after the meeting

Record action items


Key things about PA

• Use as much, or little as you want

• Not every field has to be entered

• Use it to build you PM information base in terms of checklists, glossaries and reference documents

• Saves you collating information from numerous sources

• Saves you loosing information


Key Benefits

• Low cost - so little risk• Simple technology so few problems

configuring• Do not need to use everything. Pick the

bits you want to use• Highly configurable so can be made to suit

your environment• Will bring best practice to your Project

management.


More Information

Click here to visit our web site

Thank you for taking the time to review Project Administrator

http://www.projectperfect.com.au/pa.htm

Date post:	07-Jan-2016
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