EnterSource Staff and Associates have worked client engagements and projects in many different regions of the world. This represents an enormous pool of ready-to-use practical global experience. Examples of the successes of some of our people follow.

For greater detail please contact us.

Case Studies:

• Implementing Project Management and the Project Office
  • Getting Project Management Started
  • Executive Mentoring
  • Change Management
  • Process and Procedure Development
• Project Management Systems Implementation
  • Resource Planning and Scheduling Systems
  • Microsoft Project 2000 / Project Central
  • Primavera Project Planner for Enterprise (P3e)
  • Primavera Project Planner (P3)
• Enterprise Resource Solutions
  • eUNITE Implementation
  • Solutions for Enterprise Resource Management Issues
• Staff Augmentation

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More and more companies are recognizing the Management by Projects is the road to project success and profitability. Occasionally, these companies need a shot in the arm to help them overcome the inertia. Several of those companies have turned to EnterSource for help.

An Information Technology organization of a major systems provider recognized that their work was in chaos, and the work force was burning out from the need to manage everything by exception. The brush fires were turning into major conflagrations. Several of their people were PMI® members and knew that the project management discipline would eradicate much of their current crisis management, but needed help to get the ball rolling.

EnterSource was engaged to help. Our initial focus was to identify the issues they were facing, to verify management's understanding of the current crisis management style and to ascertain how best to proceed with jump-starting a project management discipline. Working closely with our client sponsors, we developed an Internal Marketing Plan that laid the framework for selling the concept to internal stakeholders. We targeted a three-phased approach, with messages and sound-bites to be used in each phase, targeting individuals and groups within the corporation. EnterSource consultants guided the client team through each phase of the plan, checking for mid-course corrections, and applying sound marketing principles to convince the stakeholders that a project management methodology would result in better utilization of their limited resources, reduce the need for additional resources, and lead to greater profits. The executive sponsor was convinced and agreed to support and fund the implementation of a Project Management Office, with standards, procedures and a training regimen to train not only the Project Managers, but also the Resource Managers in operating within a Project Management environment. EnterSource consultants continued to support this client through the successful rollout of the Project Management Office.

Our Lesson Learned: Marketing for change is required in order for the product to be successful.

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An EnterSource consultant assisted a telecommunications client in implementing of office methods to better control and manage their work. We helped the client define the enterprise-wide program and project management concepts and philosophies at the headquarters Program Office and then helped develop the processes, procedures and training of the client's personnel on a global level. By working closely with and mentoring executives of the client, we were able to effect a smoother transition to the project management philosophy across the entire enterprise. These executives are still proponents of the process we helped them implement.

Our Lesson Learned: Executive sponsorship and support is crucial to any successful project.

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It is true that nothing is constant except change. Change must be planned for. EnterSource embraces the concept of planning for change and our consultants helped a telecommunications systems company develop a change management capability. Starting at the executive level, we worked through the succeeding layers of the enterprise to explain the benefits of Change Management and Change Control. We helped implement a change proposal and change review process. We coached the Change Review Board on proper review and approval processes. We helped them understand that not every change has merit and that there is a difference between change requirements and variations from the plan. Our consultants worked with the client to establish a change control discipline and process that resulted in identification and award of contract up scopes, which helped maintain a reliable baseline from which future work could be credibly estimated. We transferred our knowledge to the local project team so they could continue this process after we left.

Our Lesson Learned: Change occurs. To control it you have to plan for it.

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EnterSource was engaged to work with a global telecommunications systems provider to establish standard processes and procedures for proposing, planning, managing and controlling projects through their life cycle. The challenge was to establish procedures at a level of depth that would have meaning to the global project teams, but not to such a depth that they became restrictive, causing people to avoid using them.

EnterSource successfully met this challenge by providing a series of required, standard processes that were documented in a set of procedures. These procedures were then supplemented with examples and more in-depth discussions for those requiring amplification and further depth. But, these did not form requirements - only examples and enhancements.

The performing organizations were only held accountable to work within the standard procedures, and were given the flexibility to manage their local work plans outside those requirements to their local needs. This allowed common data sharing and comparisons, enabling the corporate-level offices to observe project planning and progress without obsessive micro-management. It allowed the performing organizations to know the boundaries of requirements, and the flexibility to operate autonomously outside those boundaries - a win-win for all concerned.

Our Lesson Learned: Control only that which is absolutely mandatory. Give autonomy to local managers to control their work as they see fit as long as it works within the requirements.

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EnterSource was engaged to develop and implement a web-based system that would help forecast, plan and control resources on a global basis. The need was to be able to identify what work was required to be accomplished where and when, and then to find the resource that would be available from a global resource pool to accomplish the work. Resources had specific and unique skills and certifications, along with travel restrictions, visa limits, and other limiting criteria. All resources were in limited supply and in great demand.

EnterSource devised an approach based on our eUNITE system, using Microsoft Project 2000 as the scheduling engine to provide a comprehensive resource planning system, considering the resource requirements from marketing opportunity to project completion. The Resource Pool was established from the available resource supply, or "Pool" where each resource was identified with several cross-referenceable data fields. As opportunities approached becoming hard projects, the Project Managers are notified of a pending project, and resources can be allocated to the project at a generic level. Upon project award, the Resource Manager makes the by-name assignment. The "Pool" is debited as the committed resource fills the demand, and the resource pool is updated. Projects are managed and statused, with information being shared through the web-based portal and the global database.

Our Lesson Learned: Flexible, scalable databases are a "must" in a web-based resource planning environment.

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EnterSource was engaged by an Internet-based training provider to help deploy Microsoft Project 2000/Project Central in the client's Project Office for managing their internal and customer-based projects. Our personnel provided specific support to tailor Project 2000/Project Central to meet the client's planning and reporting requirements. Not only did we plan and execute the rollout of these tools, we integrated them with a database specifically created by EnterSource to support unique client reporting requirements. We prepared and delivered Microsoft Access databases containing code, reports and other supporting objects required to generate and display the report formats. We also generated scripts and other information specifically required to create the supporting tables in the database. We documented our deliverables in a technical support guide that enabled the client to continue to evolve the database to meet their emerging needs. 95% of this effort was successfully conducted off-site, away from the client location, using teleconferencing and VPN access. This reduced costs to the clients, and allowed EnterSource to engage our best resources on this effort, irrespective of the client or consultant location.

Our Lesson Learned: Virtual teams require close coordination and regular communication to ensure all parties are comfortable with the progress.

Click here to learn more about Microsoft Project 2000 / Project Central.

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Case Study 1
EnterSource consultants were involved with the first major rollout of this new enterprise management system from Primavera. Our people participated in the very first authorized training session on P3e available outside of Primavera. We helped define the requirements, set up the WBS, OBS, RBS and standard structures for this powerful toolset that was to be used to plan and manage the workload of 18,000 personnel across the USA.

EnterSource helped develop the materials and led the conduct of a Boot Camp style training session wherein we trained 100 planners and managers in the use of the P3e toolset and ancillary systems. We then devised and rolled out a method for transferring knowledge from the EnterSource consultants to the client's personnel.

Our Lesson Learned: We need to better manage the requirements and expectations.

Case Study 2
EnterSource consultants were engaged to provide P3e implementation support to a nation-wide wireless telecommunications provider. Our personnel helped to define the requirements, plan the rollout, develop resource-loaded, logically-driven templates, and train the client project controls personnel on the use of the system. We also provided hands-on planning and scheduling functions until the client personnel were up to speed, and we were able to leave the client knowing they were capable of employing the system.

Lesson Learned: Work along side the client, transferring knowledge, until they believe they are ready to take on the care and feeding of any new system.

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EnterSource consultants have worked with clients throughout the Asia/Pacific region to implement P3 (version 2.0b and 3.0) to manage a variety of projects. Our people supported a client in Thailand who was implementing a regional Project Management Office by establishing the Project Controls capabilities, built on a P3 scheduling solution. We developed the standards, templates, processes and procedures for using this powerful system in the client's environment. We tailored training materials to suit the local needs and instructed the client's personnel on the best practices using P3 to meet their requirements. As we rolled out the Project Controls capability, we recognized that some of our standards developed at the headquarters location did not work when applied at remote facilities. We updated the documentation and procedures based upon our lessons learned, and proceeded to deliver a system that continues in use today.

Lesson: Make sure you proof out the theoretical by putting it into practice before putting the project to bed.

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Case Study 1
EnterSource provided a Project Controls Manager to a large Project Office in Tokyo. Although the EnterSource resource was an American citizen, he was a culturally aware, internationally experienced resource. We realized the potentially sensitive nature of the task and ensured we had the right resource for the right assignment. The EnterSource Project Controls Manager became an integral part of the Japanese team, respected by the organization as a source of knowledge, logic, and common sense, who fit well into the culture of the team.

Lesson Learned: Be certain that resources assigned to client engagements fit the cultural needs of the client.

Case Study 2
EnterSource placed a senior project planner with a client, based on the stated requirements. The client defined the requirements as a seasoned Planner/Scheduler with 15 years experience on a specific Project Management tool. They wanted someone who could establish a project planning capability, set up the tool suite, create templates and link the system to legacy systems, and then continue to provide hands-on leadership to the planning and scheduling team.

We provided a resource that met the requirements and provided the requisite set-up. But, when it came time to continue to provide the hands-on leadership, we found that the requirements changed, and that our consultant did not fit well with the office culture. After refining the requirements while at the same time endeavoring to resolve the cultural differences, all parties came to the conclusion that we had the right resource at the wrong time. EnterSource was able to replace the consultant with a different resource who was better suited to the current situation, and completed the assignment with success.

Lesson Learned: Assignments change, and consultants that are right today may not be right tomorrow. We need to keep in touch with our clients to continually monitor the current situation, and be flexible to adapt as the situation changes.

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When asked by a division of a large telecommunications systems to help define the requirements for a restructuring of its resource planning and forecasting capabilities, EnterSource answered the call. We conducted a needs assessment in parallel with an assessment of their current systems and processes. The clients needs were to engage a single, scalable system that would provide the integration of Marketing and Sales information to Bid and Proposal input, and ultimately feed the same information to the Project and Resource Management teams, all on a global basis. Finding that there were several different systems presently in use, none of which were truly integrated with the other and none of which, by themselves, could provide the entire data management capability, EnterSource was asked to modify several of the existing systems, and where necessary, create new structures. EUNITE was the solution.

eUNITE, in this environment, was comprised of an n-tier, web-based architecture. The underlying database was implemented under Oracle v8.1.6 that provided easy access and interoperability via various standards-based interfaces (SQL, ODBC, JDBC) as well as wide support from third-party interface and tools. The User Interfaces are written in Java/JSP. Reports are created on client machines, and once created, can be archived, scheduled, and executed on demand. Project scheduling is provided by the client-selected Microsoft Project 2000, with a resource pool maintained by interactions with the Oracle database. Finally, a "portal" or top-level entry-point website coordinating access to all of the above-mentioned facilities (as well as training, support, and documentation resources) was posted to the client's intranet.

We created a pilot deployment for the North America Region, including developing the resource pool, generating specific reports, and conducting training of the users. Upon successful demonstration of the eUNITE capability, we received the go-ahead to deploy the system on a global basis, collecting comments and change requests from users as the system was deployed to a broader audience. We maintained a change control capability to review these user change requests, and upon client approval, we implemented the approved changes.

To facilitate the deployment effort, EnterSource provided a Help Desk capability, staffed at a toll-free number and with e-mail tech support. This feature continued until the client's internal Help Desk was trained and ready to take on the function itself.

Web-based as well as classroom training was employed in a cost-conscious move to maximize the educational experience while minimizing travel expenses. Our training materials were approved for standard employment by the client's training organization.

Over 1,000 users were trained around the world on various elements of the eUNITE system. The system met its design goals, and added functionalities that were not originally envisioned through the managed change process. eUNITE ensures that the right people with the right skills are assigned to the right job at the right time. The system is now being considered for greater engagement across a broader spectrum of the client corporation.

Lesson Learned: Solid change management and control is crucial to the success of any new system implementation.

Click here to learn more about eUNITE

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EnterSource was engaged by the Network Systems organization of a Fortune 500 client as part of a team to define the requirements, document the processes, and build and deploy an integrated system to forecast, plan and control the work for over 10,000 Network Systems people across the United States. The EnterSource role was to define the current "in-use" processes, and tailor them to satisfy the client needs in the new tool environment, and then to train the user community through a formal training regimen followed by a knowledge transfer capability.

Working closely with the developers, we defined the system requirements and selected the appropriate tool set for the solution. We helped with conducting User Acceptance Testing, defining the test plans and participating in the test conduct and after test corrective action reviews.

EnterSource led one of two pilot projects, focusing on the western USA. The three-month pilot demonstrated that the owner's requirements needed to be modified to suit the real-world application for managing their resources across the enterprise. These changes were factored into the production system.

We created the training plans and led the training material development. We provided instructors, and also provided coaches to the client instructors to ensure a consistency of training in parallel classrooms. The system training was provided to over 100 people. EnterSource then led the effort to conduct the on-site training and knowledge transfer from the system experts to the Users, ensuring that the User community had the wherewithal to modify their local processes and had the requisite executive and management support. The successful implementation resulted in users across the country being able to forecast, plan and monitor the workload of the Network Systems resource pool.

Lesson Learned: The process of defining system requirements necessitates a deep and thorough assessment of the real needs, and not just a surface-level documentation of what the client says is needed. Sometimes, that which is stated as being needed really is not the sought-after solution at all. It is less costly to spend more time defining the requirements up front and develop the proper solution than it is to rework something after the pilot project tells you the requirements did not fit the bill.

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