Project management audio blog featuring monthly interviews with the most seasoned and recognized practitioners, thought leaders, project managers, and executives on industry-specific business problems to help C-level executives achieve success.
In this episode, Wayne Thompson sits down with Ross Kearns, the Director of IT and Finance at Marchese Health Care to discuss how his company created an accurate, actionable 360-degree view of the organization and its operations by implementing a single integrated enterprise resource planning system.
Marchese Health Care is an independent, community-based health care provider dedicated to the delivery of compassionate, patient-focused care. It provides a variety of health care services, including prescriptions, medical supplies and equipment; infusion services, and clinical knowledge.
With a rapidly growing number of patients and partners, Marchese had outgrown its disparate software environment and its resulting data silos, with finance, accounting, inventory, purchasing and sales spread across a number of systems. After doing an evaluation of enterprise resource planning vendors, Pronto Software and its partner, PSA, emerged as the finalist. Today, Ross will share with us his experiences and insights of selecting and implementing PRONTO-Xi.
In this episode Wayne Thompson sits down with Blake Chadick, Parksite's enterprise systems manager, to discuss how Parksite improved its operations by transitioning from multiple disparate software systems to a single integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.
Parksite is a wholesaler and distributor company headquartered in Illinois that offers specialized products, training, and value-added services to market segments within the building industry. It is one hundred percent employee owned, and has 14 locations and over 350 employees.
Parksite’s growth and its continued success demand that the company maintain a clear vision and well-defined goals. It already had in place the right business model, the right people, the right attitude and outstanding products and services. What it was missing was an integrated IT system to enable managers to see what was happening in the business in real time and respond in a timely and effective manner.
Parksite set out on a quest to find a software solution that provided end to end integration; the ability to customize the software to Parksite’s needs and business model (and not the other way around); and a low total cost of ownership. After doing an evaluation of enterprise resource planning vendors, Pronto Software emerged as the finalist. Today, Blake will share with us his experiences and insights of selecting and implementing PRONTO-Xi.
Music Notes
1. The opening of the episode – “Chelsea Loft” 2. Interview with industry insiders – “East Ender” 3. The closing of the episode – “Torn Jeans”
Uncertainty is inherent to all projects. Good project managers have developed their own strategies to both manage and mitigate project uncertainties that can have either a positive or negative impact on a project's outcome. To further complicate matters, project managers must face overlapping or conflicting views of risk by both the business side and the project team. What separates the good project managers from the bad is the ability not to only plan for project uncertainities, but the ability to manage risk across the entire organization.
In this episode we will examine the evaluation and management of project risk in its appropriate context, as well as how professional services organizations can mitigate risk when selecting an enterprise resource planning system or ERP system.
Our show is divided into 2 segments.
In part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Dr. Wilhelm Kross, who is a recognized expert in the fields of risk- and project management. Currently he is President of the PMI Frankfurt Chapter and a Senior Vice President with Marsh GmbH, a subsidiary of Marsh - the world's leading insurance broker and strategic risk advisor. During his career, Dr. Kross has focused on IT mega-projects, crisis and turnaround management, and operational risk audits and management assignments in more than 30 countries. In this episode he will be sharing his insights and experiences in the management of complex and troubled projects while mitigating risks.
In Part 2, the Technology Corner, we sit down with David Hofferberth, who has over 20 years experience in the information technology industry. David is the Managing Director at Service Performance Insight, covering the services economy, with particular emphasis on white-collar productivity issues. His area of specialization is the technologies that enable peak performance of people and service organizations. In this episode he discusses how ERP technology can provide business benefits and how to make effective ERP purchase and deployment decisions.
We hope you enjoy the show and encourage you to send your questions, issues, and war stories.
Music Notes
1. The opening of the episode – “Country” by The Videos 2. Interview with industry insider – “Risk your life” by Flipper Dave 3. Technology Corner – “Integration is InteGREAT” by Csub1 4. The closing of the episode – “PSA” by DynaMic Produktionz
In many cases the role of a project manager is to assist an organization in implementing new systems to streamline or improve business processes. Having the ability to effectively track and measure a project’s progress will impact the success of these particular projects and their bottom line. Employing a best practice methodology that captures and tracks a project’s metrics will not ensure quality assurance, but will deliver the best value in streamlining an organization’s processes.
In this episode we will be examining how the appropriate use of metrics can help an organization streamline its business processes and we will look at a case study of an electronics distributor and its experience improving its operations. Our show is divided into 2 segments.
In part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Steve Rollins who has over 35 years of project management experience. Steve is the Chief Project Strategist for the ALLPMO Network and chairs the Project Management Institute's International Metrics SIG. He is well recognized for providing global consultative solutions and services for businesses in developing and implementing organizational governance processes that lead to bottom line improvement. Today, he will share his insights and experiences in answering the call to deliver to a specified metric or close the department – by developing a successful PMO, Steve helped to reduce costs by over $75 million dollars and save the jobs of an entire department at a telecommunications company.
In Part 2, the technology corner, we sit down with Brian Leffler, Vice President of TTI Instruments, a wholesale distributor specializing in different kinds of industrial process controllers and instrumentation. TTI serves customers from the Fortune 500 to mom and pop shops, generating 14,000 invoices per year. In our conversation, Brian shares his company's experiences in managing the migration process from Microsoft Great Plains to Netsuite.
In many organizations, more often than not, project sponsors play a critical role in either derailing or keeping a project on track . Effectively understanding your sponsor’s objectives will increase a project’s positive outcome. In contrast, heading into a project blind to a sponsor’s goals, or even worse, heading into a project with no sponsor, can kill the successful execution of a project plan. Often organizations fail to realize that the projects sponsor and project manager play equal roles in a project’s outcome. Consequently, even with the best project manager in place many projects are doomed to fail.
In this episode we will be examining how having the right project sponsor can be the difference between success and failure in ERP projects. Our show is divided into 2 segments.
In part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Randy Banks, who is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Project Management Professional with over 20 years of business experience. Today Randy will be sharing his experiences in rescuing troubled projects.
In Part 2, the technology corner, I sit down with David Stover, the Chief Financial Officer of Asahi Kasei Spandex America Inc. - a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Group of Japan - to discuss its switch from SAP to Netsuite for its enterprise resource planning system. This case study demonstrates how the right sponsor, here the CFO, successfully led his organization to choose and implement the right ERP solution.
Music Notes 1. The opening of the episode – “Salty” by Last Page 2. Interview with industry insider – “Troubles” by paul sevy blues band 3. Technology Corner – “spandex_reloaded” by Oberhofer 4. The closing of the episode – “Montreal bound” by harpman64
Many organizations are faced with the reality of balancing their portfolio of projects. Depending on the level of investment of time and money, both projects and their associated stakeholders are continuously competing for face time to meet their own agendas. Interestingly enough, senior project managers have expressed concerns comparing the ROI calculation of new projects versus those later into their lifecycle. In fact, new projects at the beginning of their cycle are calculated at the 75%+ ROI in contrast to the more mature projects estimated at a 10%-15% ROI. It’s no wonder that project portfolio management as a discipline and the emergence of PMOs have gained momentum in recent years in project-centric organizations.
For industries in which the development of new products is the life line of their organizations, PPM methodology has always been a critical component to their business. This is especially true for organizations in Consumer Packaged Goods industry that may have dozens of products at one time at different stages in their development. Every product is treated as a project, and with the complexity of each product the time and resources invested have challenged organizations in their ability to separate the good from the bad that lies within their portfolio of projects.
In this episode, we look at new product development in the CPG industry and we will feature a new segment entitled “Technology Corner.” Based on emails from listeners Technology Corner will feature IT project case studies and provide insights to their successful delivery. Initially the Technology Corner will make periodic appearances in our monthly shows. If it is well received, we will add it as a regular installment.
Our show is divided into 3 segments:
In part 1, we will go Roaming with the Salty Dogg and explore whether new really is better by exploring a case study in new product development.
In part 2, we will be talking to industry insider, Hugh Woodward, who has over 35 years of project management experience in manufacturing, construction and IT. Hugh will be sharing with us his war stories and insights of project portfolio management in the consumer packaged goods industry and the challenges of choosing between investments in scheduled or existing projects and new ideas.
In part 3, we will talk with Randy Banks in our first installment of the Technology Corner. Randy is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Project Management Professional with over 20 years of business experience. Today Randy will be sharing his experiences in rescuing an Enterprise Resource Planning systems or ERP project.
We hope you enjoy the show and encourage you to send your questions, issues, and war stories.
