Category: news

A project management software like Twproject, to be really effective, has to be used by all the team, so, how can we valuate if and how much the software is really used?

The question is apparently simple, but it hides some pitfalls.

Twproject is a PM software used by different user profiles: Project managers, Workers, Supervisors just to name the best known ones.
 
Each of these profiles uses different tools, has different approaches and has specific needs.
For example, when a “worker” accesses Twproject, he wants to know what to work on.
A project manager would like to know how its projects are going.
She/he want to know if the team is working at a sustainable load level or is in trouble.
So, the CEO (supervisor) want an overall view on open / closed projects, their economic values and in monitoring a portfolio of key projects.

Measuring “usage” with a simple login number or connection time counter would be simplistic and ineffective.
 
Twproject 7 measure the use of the tool as well as the compliance to some good project management practices.
 
The processing of this complex data is then summarized in two simple “motivational” widgets that show users’ scores.
 
A healthy “competition” between users will help to better use Twproject and better manage their projects. It is a not negligible aspect.
 
In this post we will examine in detail how this new tool works.

 Data collection

To be able to make statistics you need good data.
I clarify immediately that the collection of this information takes place within the database of your Twproject.
The data is yours and does NOT leave your server. This information serves you, our customers, to know how your users use Twproject and manage their projects, in total respect of privacy.
If this feature is not interesting for you, you can simply disable it.

Daily, Twproject collects, for each user, a series of indicators.
Real time of use of the tool, planned hours, recorded hours and workable hours are basic indicators, not linked to a concept of “quality”.
There are also indicators more related to operations such as the number of todo closed, todo created, chat used etc..
The matching between what planned and what done are more quality oriented. These indicators are valid for all profiles, but are more significant for the operative profiles. Management profiles will find useful expired projects / phases, expired todo, overrun budgets.
 
UsageHistoryBuilder job carry out this activity .

Score computing

The collected data are processed daily and the user score calculated using a moving average over n days (with n configurable).
 
Of course, the importance given to each of the parameters described above depends on how your company works.
If it is more “agile”, thus ToDo-oriented, those parameters should have more “weight” than others.
 
We have therefore made available a tool for configuring these “weights”, here some of those:

The score is calculated as follows:
whoever has made the greatest value for a certain indicator takes the “weight”, whoever has made the smallest value still takes some points. Eg: operator “a” has closed 100 ToDo, “b” has closed 30. Since the “weight” for closed ToDo is 100, “a” will take 100, “b” 30.
 
Note that some weights are negative, ie they are “penalties”. If I have let the ToDo’s “expire”, or rather I am the operator who has let the most expire, I will have a penalty of 100 points.
Penalties encourages compliance with the project quality indicators, dates, milestones, budgets, estimates, planning.

Tuning weights over time you can incentivize use and good practices depending on which of them you change.
The widgets seen above summarises very well the data. In reality they relies on a collection of information that allows more in-depth analysis.
 
Technically this task is done by the “UsersScoreBuilder” job.
 
This tool is meant to be extended and accommodate new “dimensions”, so if you have an idea for some other indicator let us know what you think 🙂

A “to-do list” is a primal yet powerful tool for organizing.

We make lists for all occasions. You start as a child with the wish list for Santa Claus. You are growing up and your list becomes a shopping list,  a travel list or a documents list necessary to open a bank account.

Even at work you make lists for goods ordered, for the forthcoming week tasks, for the activities needed to close a project.

What makes lists so attractive?

The immediate answer is “they help us not to forget anything”.

So it seems like we don’t trust our ability to remember too much, but that’s only part of the story.

Do you think that it is the fault of modernity and our hectic life that does not allow us the time to stop and reflect and put ideas together? Unfortunately it is not.

Even Michelangelo, in 1518, had the same problem even though his list was by far more artistic than ours.

The best feature of a list is to “free us from the fear of forgetting“.

Have you ever had, in the middle of the night, a genial idea that will solve an age-old problem?
Fear of forgetting it will prevent you from sleeping.
So take a sheet of paper, write it down, turn the other side sleep peacefully.

The simple fact of being able to deposit in a safe place (the paper) helps to “unload” the mind.

So the “list” can be a check-list (the travel or shopping list), a container of ideas, but also a list of tasks  aka  to-do list.

Do To-do lists work?

I was able to experience the power of to-do lists in the home environment. I like doing small repairs, building objects, sewing, recycling etc.
I admit I am a DIY fanatic. Unfortunately free time is short and when finally I find a few minutes only complex jobs came to my mind. Then laziness took over and I turn on the TV.

For some years now I have started using Twproject to manage these small activities. I create a private project that starts on January 1st and ends on December 31st (do you know that private projects in Twproject can only be seen by the people who work there and no one else?) on which I register my ToDo’s.

Then when I have a free time, I take my phone, I open Twproject, I take a look at the ToDO list, I choose the one that inspires me (and that is compatible with the time availabl)e and I get to work.
If I can’t find it ….. I turn on the TV.

Since using Twproject, or better,  its ToDo list, I have done hundreds of repairs, dozens of new items, mending and so on,  who had been sadly waiting for years:

It works!

ToDO and Project Management

Can we use To Do List for project management? Of course.

“Classic” project management has always considered this unstructured, somewhat simplistic and immature approach. Definitely not suitable for managing complex projects.

The advent of Agile methodologies changed this perception; simplifying we can consider some of them, like Kanban, an empowered to-do list management. This brought to a sort of acceptance of the to-do lists in the classical PM world.
But scepticism remains, also due to inadequate tools.

There are several to-do list products on the market that pass themselves off as project management systems. Is it possible that they work well? What are the requirements they should have to get the most out of managing a project?

Let’s see some of them.

To Do List: Basic data

We do not know what data our ToDo will have to contain to be effective.
A large descriptive space is a must! A title to ease a compact view of the list will be very useful.

If you have to manage many ToDo’s you must have the possibility to tag them. The teams should be able to create its own types such as “ideas”, “repairs”, “to discuss” etc.. Strong typed types will help defining a common taxonomy about what each ToDo stands for.

In Twproject, you will also find code, impact, severity, priority, estimated duration, reporting date, comments and  attachments:

… and, icing on the cake, up to eight fully customizable fields.

To Do List: Status

In a simplistic view a ToDo has two states: “to do” or “done”.

In a more complex setting you will need to fit better the business process.
It is convenient having the option of multiple states, such as “suspended”, “to be tested“, “boss approval” and so on . This possibility will allow you to better model your Agile project management.

With Twproject you can define as many states you need in order to adapt perfectly to your modus operandi.
By defining a state you can tell if it behaves as “closed” or “open”:

You may not know it, but in Twproject, when you close a ToDo you may be asked to enter how long it took to “close” it.

If you will track working times (and therefore the costs) of project, the collection of the closing times of the ToDo’s is an “high quality” information.
At the very moment of closing you remember how long it took, you are happy to have closed the activity and therefore you are in the right mood to put accurate information.

If you will track working times (and therefore the costs) of project, the collection of the closing times of the ToDo’s is an “high quality” information.

The fact that entry is quick and easy increases the quality of the information itself.

To Do List: Scope

When working with non-trivial projects, a single ToDo list could soon become very long and difficult to manage. It is necessary that it is possible to break down the “big one” into sub-list or group the ToDo’s.

There are many solutions that can be adopted, but without inventing new ones, the breakdown according to hierarchical structures, well known to PMs, such as the WBS or temporal structures such as Gantt, are the preferable ones.
They are preferable as tools designed precisely to give a rough order of execution. It is not necessary to go into too much detail with the structuring: 2-3 levels are more than enough even for moderately complex projects.

ToDo’s are in Twproject the smallest elements of a project and “live” within a project / phase, which makes management very easy.

In this case, navigation will take place through the project and its WBS:

A cross-project summary list can be viewed through filtering criteria (… do you know that all the lists in Twproject use a powerful Query By Example filtering system and that they can always be exported to Excel? If you want to know more see “search in Twproject“.

To Do List: Responsability

When a team tackles a ToDo list it must have the ability to specify who is responsible for completing a task. Our tool will therefore have to manage the information relating to the assignee.

The assignment can take place according to different criteria; specific skills, less workload, responsibility on the client or on the project, etc.

In particular, it would be important to clearly keep track of who is the applicant for the activity, since not all applicants have the same “weight”.

In Twproject, the assignee and the applicant are always clearly visible:

To Do List: Timing

Typically the listed tasks are performed as ordered, but you should be able to specify the “when”.

With this information, your ToDo list can become a real schedule.

The expected execution date is important for the assignee’s workload, but also for any constraints with dependent activities.

Another aspect is that the activities can be repetitive so the tool should also manage recurring ToDo’s.

Even the date on which an activity was requested can be of great importance when our ToDo are “tickets”. In this case, there could be time constraints for execution based on “severity”.

In Twproject you will always know when a ToDo has been reported, you can specify the expected execution date or enter a recurrence.

Since the ToDo’s “live” within a project / phase, they will have to respect its dates and any dependencies. A project / phase cannot be declared closed if it still has ToDo’s that have not been completed.

If a project is managed through ToDo lists, in Twproject, you can automatically calculate the project progress percentage based on the completed ToDo’s.

To Do List: Management tools

To be truly functional, a ToDo management tool must allow a quick and effortless reorganization of the list.

Sorting: a list cannot transcend the possibility of being sortable. It is essential that you can sort the ToDo’s according to your criteria. Almost all tools allow the drag & drop of ToDo’s.

With Twproject you can order both manually with the D&D but also by acting directly on the columns for greater control:

Then there are some typical activities that it would be necessary to be able to manage on one or many ToDo’s with a few clicks such as assignment.

When distributing tasks among team members it is important that you can easily re-assign the ToDOs.

It will also be important to be able to reclassify via tags, merge similar ToDo’s, move to different lists, change status, assign a date, add comments etc.

Furthermore, the possibility of doing actions on many ToDo’s at once should not be neglected if you intend to use them in environments with a minimum of complexity.

Twproject provides you with a series of “bulk” actions that you can apply with a few clicks:

You will also have two more visual tools for organizing your ToDo’s, the Kanban and the Planner.

The first allows you to organize between states, phases, assignees and severity:

The second allows you to schedule the ToDo’s, i.e. your schedule:

Conclusions

ToDo lists represent an Agile, quick and easy to understand approach, therefore well accepted by work groups.
In order to take full advantage of managing multiple projects with heterogeneous work teams, it is important that the tool allows you to enrich your ToDo’s with all the necessary information and provides you with the necessary management and supervision tools.

Twproject combines all these aspects in the best possible way, providing you with a work tool that is very easy to use, but at the same time with professional management tools that can satisfy both the need for immediacy of small companies and the requirements of complex projects with large working groups of large corporates.

Kanban, is a Japanese words which means + or- sign or tag, it is part of a production organization method (called TPS) adopted in the 1950s at Toyota factories.

In project management, the use of Kanban has become a real methodology that is perfectly reflected in the principles of the Agile Methodology.

The Agile movement was born in the field of software development, but many of its principles, tools and methodologies are widely used outside this specific niche.

In particular, in this post we will talk about Kanban, how it works, how we can use it in our projects.

Kanban Board: what it is and how it works

The basic idea is quite simple and consists in arranging on a “board”, the Kanban board, some cards describing the activities to be carried out.

These “activity cards” are arranged in columns according to the stage of production they have reached and moved when an activity changes “state”.
Typically the shift occurs from left to right.

Here’s what a kanban board looks like in Twproject:

The immediate advantage of this tool is that all resources engaged in the process are informed, or rather see, the current overall state. Another advantage is the ease of use that does not waste too much time for updating cards.

The column names are specific to the activity of the company applying the Kanban.
For example, for a software development project you could use columns like “open, under development, under test, completed, failed”.
A small mechanical parts manufacturing company might use “queuing, cad / cam design, machine setup, manufacturing, finishing, shipping, completed, locked”.
It is mandatory to be able to configure the columns according to your needs.

Kanban Board and cards

The lead time, i.e. the time needed to make the card pass from the first to the last column, depends on the type of process and can range from a few hours for a Support call center to several weeks for a plastic molding company.

This consideration leads us to investigate what a single card represents.

Also in this case it depends on the process / project in which we use the Kanban; in the cases reported above, for example, a card could be a bug to be solved or a feature to be developed and therefore to be solved in a few hours, just as it could be an entire order of several days for the mechanical company.

Within the same company, I may need different Kanban boards. For example I could have software releases or “epics” on boards dedicated to planning / management use and have team kanban boards for the more operational part.
This is why it is important to have a flexible tool that makes it possible in an easy way.

It is therefore important that the cards are simple to use but at the same time capable of carrying a lot of information with them, for example: descriptions, codes, tags, annotations, attached files or images.

Kanban card in Twproject

One kanban card in Twproject is one ToDo; simple and powerful at the same time.

ToDo’s bring with them two additional pieces of information, the assignee and the project / phase that greatly extend the possibilities of the classic kanban.

In Twproject it will be possible to organize the kanban board not only by the classic “open / under development / etc …” status, but also by phase / project, assignee or severity (other groupings are under development).

Here is the classic view by status:

If we order it by project / phase it assumes new potential:

In this case columns are not simple labels, but are the objects dear to project managers with all the information, the potential, the constraints necessary for the management of the most complex projects.

In this case the Kanban acts as a trait d’union between a classic approach (projects, phases, WBS, Gantt, budget etc.) and a more agile one oriented to ToDo.

Twproject is, if not the only one, one of the few tools that allows this versatility, you can have a project created with the classic waterfall methodology, which from a certain depth can instead be managed in an agile way.

Kanban Board for balancing resources’ activities

The grouping by assigned resource is also interesting:

In this case the focus is the balancing of activities, the assignment by skills, the supervision.

This grouping is particularly useful for the team within a project phase in order to assign tasks to themselves.

A last but not less useful grouping is by severity / priority.

It is often used when working with a single “infinite queue”. In this case the work group focuses on completing the high-gravity tasks. Sometimes perception errors or more commonly bad habits cause only the highest priority column to grow.
In this case the kanban board helps us to carry out a new “triage” quickly, allowing us to re-distribute the activities correctly.
Of course it is advisable to have objective parameters for the assignment of priorities so as not to create this type of situation.

In conclusion, with Twproject, you can manage even complex projects, in an agile way, thanks to the multidimensional kanban board.

Twproject is Agile:

is designed by Agile people
developed with Agile methodology
to be used by Agile customers

And it is concrete, to give a real answer to the daily problems of project managers and teams who on the one hand want to monitor progress and on the other work with simplicity.

Now that you have discovered such a versatile tool, all that remains is to try it.

 

The three-year plan AGID (Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale, as it is often called) is officially known as the Three-Year Plan for Information Technology in the Public Administration.

This is a strategic document, always published in September, which is a guide and support for digital transformation in Italy. A digital transformation also in line with what the European Union Action Plan for eGovernment 2016-2020 predicts.

What is the purpose of the AGID Triennial Plan and why do we deal with it?

This plan serves as a structured and strategic planning of technological investments in the Public Administration scheduled for the three-year period 2019-2021.

Obviously, we are dealing with this because the implementation of a project management software falls within the AGID Plan. Can you imagine how useful it could be for the economies of the country to have a centralized place for the realization and control of public administration projects?

The Plan, as we have said, will be valid for three years (2019-2021), but before being implemented, it must be approved by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and signed by the President.

Thanks to the solutions provided by this document, public administrations can work and invest to offer more effective services to citizens and businesses.

The focal points are mainly the use of agile methodologies, a mobile approach, safe and reliable application interfaces, and open source.

Digital development in the country is therefore organized, structured and integrated following this three-year plan. But let’s try to see the application steps in detail:

1. At the national level, the standards and general rules are defined. In addition, platforms are built in order to optimize investments in this field.
2. The individual public administrations then develop the services according to their own needs and specific case – for example, the autonomous regions will function differently than the others.
3. Individual companies plan long-term investments by seeking to exploit new opportunities and innovative national or regional platforms.

The goals of the Three-year Plan

The AGID Three-Year Plan has several goals, including:

• Implementing a shared strategy in the country following the goals of the Digital Agenda in Italy.
• Supporting public administrations in offering digital services that meet the needs of citizens and businesses.
• Facilitating the functioning of the market thanks to best practices and standards, also involving private entities in the implementation of integrated services.
• Introducing a new vision about digital transformation in our country.

As can be easily deduced from the topic, this plan is constantly evolving over time.

Specifically, the three-year AGID 2019-2021 Plan envisages four changes compared to the previous one. Let’s see them together:

• The inclusion of the latest changes envisaged by the Digital Administration Code – CAD – and the recent European directives and regulations about digital innovation.
• The strengthening of the concept of Cloud for the Public Administration – cloud first – which allows to ensure a complete circulation of data and a new interoperability between systems.
• Particular attention to the issues of open innovation and smart landscape. With the first concept, we mean a new approach according to which companies no longer rely only on their internal resources, but also on ideas and solutions coming from outside, in order to compete better in the market. While the smart landscape concept, sometimes known also as Smart City, means a user-friendly city, that is easily usable and understandable by citizens, with the aim of improving the quality of life.
• Application of digital by default and once only principles: Administrations must learn to provide digital services as the first option – ie. digital by default – and should avoid asking citizens and businesses for information they already know – ie. once only.

Who takes care of the digital transition?

The purpose and goals of the three-year AGID Plan are now, very probably, clear; but who is in charge of making this digital transition?

There are three main actors:

• The digital transition manager.
• The Purchasing Manager and the person in charge of personal data protection.
• The offices in charge.

This is then not a solitary project within the Public Administration, but a process where different experts must be involved and should work together, for the good of the citizens.

In addition, a large monitoring action must be taken in order to evaluate the results of the introduction of these new services and evaluate any possible change.

How do you read the Three Year Plan?

The 2019-2021 Three Year Plan, like the previous one, is structured in three parts.

Above all, the first and the third give a summary of the strategies that Public Administrations are expected to implement.

The second part is much more technical.

In particular:

Part 1 – Frame of reference

Here the European and national regulatory context is illustrated and the strategic model is mapped.

Part 2 – Technological and governance components

Divided in turn into:

• Current scenario
• Targets
• Lines of action

Part 3 – Final considerations and address notes 

Here are reported the data of the Public Administration expenditure as regards the digital transformation.

Also, the actions that the public administrations will have to implement from the digital point of view are listed.

Conclusions

To conclude, the AGID Triennial Plan offers a framework and a “guide” to the digital world for the entire ecosystem of the Public Administration.

It is therefore hoped that with its help it is possible to positively continue a digital transformation in line with the European one, but above all responding to the needs of citizens and businesses.

Project management conferences are an excellent way to meet new people, do networking and improving one’s skills. Obviously, it is not always worth participating to all of them.

We thought, therefore, to do a selection of the most important events. Basically, a list of the major Project Management events that will take place in Italy and in Europe in 2019.

CONTENT INDEX

• PMI Central Italy Chapter
• PE Award Assessment Training Lisbon 2019 – Lisbon, Portugal
• APM Project Management Conference – London
• Congress PMI® EMEA 2019 – Dublin, Ireland
• SUPSI Project Management Forum – Lugano, Switzerland
• Portfolio & Project Management Summit 2019 – Berlin, Germany
• CUOA –Executive Project Management Course
• MIP – Politecnico di Milano, Project Management courses

PMI Central Italy Chapter

There are many interesting events organized every year by the PMI Central Italy Chapter, but the two events that are under international attention and which will surely be worth following will be:

1. InNOWvation: Creating the Future, an international event, in which innovation in planning will be the main theme. This event will be held on the 13th and 14th June 2019, in Rome, and you can find all the details at this link: https://innowation.pmi-centralitaly.org/;
2. The 3rd National Project Management Forum scheduled for mid-October

PE Award Assessment Training Lisbon 2019 – Lisbon, Portugal

A three-day training program organized by the IPMA – International Project Management Association for potential PE Award assessors.

Much attention is devoted to the evaluation process itself, including the ability to interview and report.

Before this training session in Lisbon, there are also two other sessions in the form of webinars that are carried out online.

More information can be found at the official link
https://www.ipma.world/projects/project-excellence-awards/pe-assesment-trainings/

APM Project Management Conference – London

This conference, sponsored by Hyde Park Solutions Ltd., will explore how the profession is delivering value in a changing world, following the “Delivering Value in a Transforming World” macro-theme.

Key speakers will discuss how project managers can take control of their projects and provide more benefits using innovative methods, tools and techniques.

The three streams this year will focus on adapting to develop a career, working smarter and how to develop personal performance.

The appointment is for May 2nd, 2019: https://www.apm.org.uk/apm-conference/

Congress PMI® EMEA 2019 – Dublin, Ireland

The PMI – Project Management Institute is the leading association for project, program or portfolio management professionals.

The PMI® EMEA 2019 Congress will provide the concept, skills, and behavior needed in order to make a difference in project management.

More than three days, in which the global perspectives on this fast-moving profession will be heard.

The congress will take place from the 13th to the 15th May 2019 in Dublin, Ireland: https://www.pmi.org/emea-congress/registration-options

SUPSI Project Management Forum – Lugano, Switzerland

The second edition of the Project Management Foruma – PMF will take place on the 23rd and 24th May 2019 at the Palazzo di Congressi in Lugano.

The program of this new edition of the PMF has not been published yet, but this event was created to contribute to the development of knowledge and the dissemination of culture in the field of project management.

Surely, even in 2019, there will be an interesting program. More information will be published here http://www2.supsi.ch/cms/pmforum/pmf-2019/

Portfolio & Project Management Summit 2019 – Berlin, Germany

The agenda and keynote speakers of this congress have yet to be published, but this is definitely an event to attend.

The 2019 Portfolio & Project Management Summit will take place in Berlin, Germany, on October 24th and 25th 2019.

The information will be published in this official link https://qepler.com/events/portfolio-and-project-management-summit-2019.html

CUOA –Executive Project Management Course

In this case, we are not talking about a congress, but about an executive course in Project Management offered by CUOA – University Center of Business Organization.

This course focuses on all aspects of project management in operational terms, and not just theoretical ones as most of the courses do.

In fact, technical competence is necessary, but not sufficient for a professional project manager.

The 15th edition of the course will take place from the 15th February to the 25th May 2019.

Keep in mind also that the Jobleader Project Management course of CUOA Business School is a prerequisite for the certifications in Project Management of the PMI.

For more information, here is the link: https://www.cuoa.it/ita/formazione/corsi-executive/project-management

MIP – Politecnico di Milano, Project Management courses

MIP has always supported organizations of different sizes and from different sectors in the training of their project managers.

Also in 2019, three courses will be proposed:

• Project Manager Fundamentals, which allows the acquisition of the base knowledge regarding project management;
• Project Manager Advanced, which focuses on the project management theme with practical and theoretical examples;
• PMI Certification Course, the PMP certification promoted worldwide by the PMI and which attests the individual skills in Project Management.

To know all the dates, consult the official website of the MIP
https://www.mip.polimi.it/it/offerta-formativa/management-academy/aree-tematiche/innovation-design/corsi-brevi-in-project-management/

In our opinion, these are the most important project management events of 2019. In case you have new events to report, you can easily do so by leaving a comment below.

Before starting to talk about the Organizational Process Assets, we want to spend some words in order to “contextualize” the topic.

As the 6^th version of the Italian PMBOK highlights, the projects exist and operate in environments that may have influence on them.

Such influences can have a favorable or unfavorable impact on the project and this obviously depends on a number of conditions.

However, there are some categories of priority influences:

• The Organizational Process Assets (OPA)
• Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF).

It is precisely the updated guide of the PMBOK that highlights this structure.

Starting precisely from this division, we have chosen to deepen in this article the topic related to the Organizational Process Assets.

 

What are the Organizational Process Assets?

Organizational process assets (OPA) are valuable information, documents and knowledge tools that the organization accumulates over time.

In a simpler way, we can say that they are one thing: lessons learned from the past.

In other words, while the organization is involved in various projects, it gradually gains and develops more Organizational Process Assets. These are the history of the company itself and of its projects.

Organizational Process Assets include documentation that serves as an archive or repository of the company.

An asset is something of value and the assets of a mature company are priceless. It took a long time, human and economic resources to achieve them.

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It is therefore easy to understand how the organizational process assets correspond to a real treasure in project management.[/av_notification]

Here is a list of the Organizational Process Assets normally used and that can be divided into two categories.

1. Processes and procedures
2. Basic knowledge of the company

The first category deals with the processes and procedures needed to carry out the work, which includes the following:

• Policies
• Procedures
• Standard models
• General guidelines

The second category includes basic company knowledge for storing and retrieving information:

• Register of project risks
• Lessons learned
• Stakeholders register
• Files of previous projects
• Historical information

A project manager should normally include all this information during project planning.

What are the advantages of organizational process assets in project management?

As mentioned, the organizational process assets consist of what the company has acquired over time and are therefore very valuable especially considering project planning.

Documents, policies or procedures that are part of the organizational process assets are used as input for most planning processes.

For example, if the company is trying to start a new project very similar to a project already carried out, the documentation of lessons learned about the past project will provide a lot of useful information for the new project.

In short, the assets will act as inputs for the new project.

The resources of the organizational process can also be advantageous in terms of saving time in the case of hiring a new employee.

If all that is connected to the role of the new employee is well documented, it will be really easy for this new team member to start working quickly and effectively. Obviously, the same thing will happen in the case of a change of role within the company.

At the end of each project, during the closing process, the new lessons learned will be collected within the organizational process assets and will help in future projects.

First of all, come the lessons learned by the team, and after those the evaluations of customers and stakeholders.

The format of the assets can be  different depending on the project or the type of organization.

It is possible to use databases, sometimes specific, for the collection and documentation of information or these can be collected in paper format.

It is important to keep in mind that the organizational process assets are not only fundamental for the project management, but also for the general management of a company. In fact, they represent its historical basis and its experiences.

In conclusion, and we repeat the concept, the organizational process assets can be considered a real treasure when it comes to project management.

These exist to make suggestions, to be used, to develop and grow further, from project to project.

This is why it is essential that the project documentation is always available and updated.

In Twproject, we have created an intelligent system for managing and archiving project documents.

By choice, we keep document management to the essential, with some powerful and simple technique that can satisfy most companies.

The documents, even those related to the organizational process assets, are always just a click away!

We are happy to announce that Twproject 6.5 is out with some great new features free for all plans. This new release includes some database changes and updates so do a complete backup before upgrade.

If you are updating from a version before 6.3 remember to check the upgrade guide here:
https://twproject.com/support/twproject-advanced-usage/installation/update-twproject-6-3/

Task Updates

Task logs, recording dates and status changes have been converted in the new task updates that you can use to save also comments/notes/updates of your projects and tasks.

Now you can record important information that remains in task history, visible to everyone that has the rights to see that task, on the overview page, Gantt editor, dashboards.

Task updates can be easily added from the task overview page but also from the Gantt chart. Just click on the + button and add a new note.

Task updates are fully indexed so you can search within their text and find them easily, thanks to this new feature it will be even easier to manage and control your projects progress!

Updates con be also monitored in a dedicated webpart that you can add to your dashboard showing you all new updates in real time.

And much more…

The new release includes also several minor features and bugfix.

You can find the entire list of updates here our Twproject Changelog.