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A successful project must not only be on time, but also on your budget.

In this article we will see how Twproject manages project costs.

The overall cost of a project depends mainly on the scope of application; the list of items contributing to the total will be very different between a consultancy project, a building construction project or an R&D project.

We can identify two categories of costs: thoserelated to the people involved (resources) and those related to material goods (or “lump sum” services) necessary for the execution of the project..

For the resources we will have both the costs of the work done (simplifying: hours worked x hourly cost) and any costs incurred by the resource for carrying out the work (expense notes).

For all these entries Twproject collects both estimated and actual values. These data compared with the expected budget will give a complete picture of the progress of the project from an economic point of view.
A simple management of expected and actual revenues will also allow an estimate on the cash flow.

Let see in detail how it works.

Resources: the hourly cost

Each resource has its own hourly cost which depends on many factors (duties, seniority, etc.). Its definition is beyond the tasks of the PM.
Once this cost has been determined, it can be entered in the user card:

It is quite common to insert a “standardized” cost instead of the actual cost of the resource, doing so solves the problem of the exact calculation which could be complex.
In this editor you can also assign the resource to a cost center for cross-project analysis.

To simplify data input, in Twproject, both the hourly cost and the cost center (but also the working time) can be defined at the resource, department or company level; in this way the value will be inherited unless otherwise specified.

Resource’s cost will be entered only once, as it represents the “business cost” and will be the same on all projects in which this resource will be involved.

Resource costs: the cost of work

On each project, phase, sub-phase, etc. you can indicate resources that are involved through the assignment.
The project estimation are specified during the assignment phase (100 in the example below).

Entering the expected hours, the estimated cost of this assignment will be computed using the actual resource hourly cost.

Each time a resource enters the hours worked on the project, a phase or a ToDo, the total will be updated on the project, thus generating a real cost that we could then compare with the one entered in the estimation phase.

In Twproject there are many ways to enter the hours worked; the timesheet (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly), the start / stop buttons on projects and ToDo, while closing a ToDo etc.
It’s a very quick and easy operation.

One “worker hour” record, brings with it the hourly cost and the cost center of the resource at the date of insertion.

Resource costs: expense reports

An expense item related to resources is the expenses report.
For some projects it is a non-negligible cost item and Twproject takes it into account; both in the estimation and reporting phases.

Expense reports and work costs close the resources related costs.
The summary dashboard looks like this:

For each resource we find the estimated hours, the hours worked, the hourly cost, the equivalent amounts, personal budget, total expenses incurred. At the end the estimated total cost and real cost.
Each overshoot is clearly visible marked in red.
If the project is divided into phases, the last line will report estimates and costs on the entire underlying tree.
Estimates and costs can be structured along the WBS (Work Break-down Structure) simplifying its analysis .
Browsing through WBS will show at a glance where there are discrepancies between estimate and actual:

Additional project costs

This category includes all those costs that are not dependent on the activities of the resources.
Typical examples: materials, licensing costs, external consultancy, suppliers, rental fees, etc.
For each of these items, you can enter estimated and actual value, classification, cost center, any attachment etc .:

Also in this case a table will summarize the values for this project / phase and a summary row for the data of the sub-phases:

Project’s budget

So far we have compared the estimated values with the actual.
Twproject allows us to add a dimension, the project budget.
The project budget can have different meanings and uses depending on the goal we aim to achieve.
A very common use, which is adopted by companies that work on order, is that the “budget” represents the “cost to the customer”. In this sense, the summary table is quite clear:

On the “Forecast” line I will read the expected margin for the entire order. This is the data that comes to the PM from the commercial negotiation.
On the “Estimated” line I will read how much margin I still have to stay in the estimated: depending on the phase of the project (start, ongoing or completed) it can be used in different ways , but in any case it depends on the quality of the estimates made by the PM (or by the project team).
The last line “Actual” also takes on different meanings depending on the phase, but upon completion it will tell us the profit we will “brought home” with the project.

Even for what concerns the budget, it is possible to indicate it both at project level and at phases / sub-phases.
This approach, especially on very complex projects, together with the refined security management of Twproject, allows you to implement a delegation mechanism, in which the PMs of the underlying phases can manage their own budget.

With Twproject you can analyze costs, expense reports and cross-project hours worked with dedicated tools. Of course, there is also an export to Excel for fans 🙂

Remember that all changes to costs, budgets, hours entered, expense reports etc. are recorded daily in the project statistics, so it is always possible to go and see what the situation was on a given date:

To contextualize the costs with the other project parameters (dates, progress, To-Do, hours worked etc.), the statistics page with the use of the slider will allow you to have a complete picture at any point in the past:

Complementary to cost management, Twproject also provides for revenue management, but we will address this part in a dedicated post.

With Twproject I would always have the project costs under control without complications.

If you’re looking for the best project management software, you’ve finally landed on the right list.

Online you will find many lists like this one, but most of them always include the same software which, let’s face it, does not solve even 10% of all the problems that a project manager and more generally a company face on a daily basis.

And which are these problems?

Managing projects in a heterogeneous way: Who said a company should manage all of its projects with waterfall methodologies rather than agile, why not both?

Relying on a single software for the entire project management: every company is looking for a single software, which gives you the complete overview of everything running around your projects, resources, costs, documents.

A software that is suitable for everyone: what about a software that meets not only the usability needs of the team, but also the completeness of the data for the management?

In this list you will find software that really meets these needs. Not bad right?

1. Twproject

Twproject is a perfect solution for any type of company thanks to its flexibility. It is very easy to use project management software that and at the same time offers all the tools for a complete project overview.

With Twproject you can manage your project from the planning stage, with a WBS and an interactive Gantt tool, balancing resources and checking budgets. Twproject follows the entire life of your project, helping you having everything under controls, deadlines, bottle necks and budget overflow.

At the same time it includes also a set of functionality for managing the every day work, to-do list, kanban board, weekly planner.

The cost of this software starts from 4.89 eur per user / month.

Pros: Twproject is a truly complete tool, which also offers time-tracking, cost and document management, and which better than many others gives the project manager the possibility to have an overall view of the project that is always updated.

Cons: We didn’t detect any

Twproject responds perfectly to all 3 points mentioned: it is flexible, it is complete and it is very easy to use.

2. Monday

Monday also presents itself as a truly complete tool, whose strong points are undoubtedly configurability and integrability. Monday offers a lot of templates to start with and a really nifty set of configurations. It is possible to manage complex projects and resources.

The cost starts from 8 eur per user / month.

Pros: one of the strong points is undoubtedly the assistance, which in our case was really punctual and precise.

Cons: the things that have left us most perplexed are the lack of a time tracking tool and above all the inability to enter a start and end date for the project.

Monday not including time tracking and project dates cannot be considered complete if used alone, but its integrability covers what is not foreseen by default.

3. Zoho

Zoho offers a bundle of tools that once purchased as a package will really cover all your needs, one of the main advantages is the possibility to buy only those that are really needed in the company, thus eliminating unsolicited features, but it is clearly one of the most expensive one.

Zoho offers features dedicated to project management, customer management with its CRM and a suite dedicated to smart working

The cost per user for the complete bundle is 37 eur user / month.

Pros: Zoho has launched artificial intelligence-based technology that will help you with design assumptions. A truly innovative tool.

Cons: In our experience, the most lacking part is in terms of customer support, in addition to the cost. On the use side of the platform, no particular problems were found.

Zoho responds effectively to all the issues mentioned, albeit in a somewhat expensive way.

4. Basecamp

It is one of the best known tools and probably the easiest to use. Although in our opinion it is not complete in terms of functionality for top management, it still deserves to be included for its ease of use. If your team is really adamant about not accepting new software then Basecamp could help you.

Its to-do list management is truly comprehensive, and connects all team members effectively and productively.

Pros: undoubtedly its ease of use and the cost of 99 usd per month for unlimited users

Cons: it does not include the time tracking tool which in our opinion is a fundamental element for project management, in addition to the possibility of structuring projects in a complex way.

Basecamp isn’t complete but it’s the answer if you need to give in to a team that isn’t willing to use anything more complicated than a ToDo list

Conclusion

In summary, each of these 4 software is worth trying, based on your needs and in consideration of the context in which it is to be inserted.

Each of them has its strengths and some weaknesses, Twproject is perfect if you need to really rely on a single simple yet complete software, Basecamp is the right one if you need a really basic and easy to use software, Zoho on the contrary if you are looking for a suite that, although expensive, covers all possible features.

Let us know your experience and your final choice!

There comes a time in the life of a project in which the PM will find himself having to answer the fateful question: “where are we?”

At the dawn of my activity in this field, many years ago, the main purpose of the PM’s job was summed up by the creation of a huge Gantt (the more detailed it was the better ), which was punctually printed, or at the time “plotted” and hung in the office behind the PM’s desk.

Then the project started and ….

Unfortunately, the reality had not been informed on the path traced by the PM and despite good intentions they could be separated.

But here unexpectedly the atrocious question fell from above on the head of the unsuspecting PM: “WHERE ARE WE AT?”

Following days were generally full of excited phone calls, rounds of emails, exchanges of Excel, screams and anxieties to be able to collect data and update the evil Gantt (which was the more detailed and the more difficult to update).

The idea of Twproject was born in that troubled era (we are talking about the distant 2001) precisely to solve this situation.

Twproject should:

• be a tool for the whole company
• being able to collect information where the activities are carried out, i.e. at the operational level
• provide updated data and management tools to the PM
• present aggregate data and statistics for top management

Without the aid of a project management software such as Twproject, the PM, once the data was collected and the Gantt updated, had to make a manual estimate of the project’s progress percentage, the extreme synthesis.

66.6%

I consider it “diabolical” to synthesize an infinite number of parameters in a single figure, but basically this is what is required of us.
A good PM will still be able to extrapolate a plausible datum, but how useful can a software be to helps us with this evaluation?

Manual progress estimation

Twproject provides you with a view of the main parameters, so that the PM can base their considerations and then manually enter the progress.

Let’s see an example: the data of the development project of Twproject 7.0.007.

Without going into too much detail, the project is managed in Scrum-like mode; we have a backlog where we collect all the ideas, improvements, bugs in the form of ToDo. Sprints, lasting 20 days, represent the Twproject releases.

For each sprint / release we move the ToDo’s that we are going to develop from the Backlog.

This is the structure we currently use:

On each sprint resources (Scrum team) are assigned with the estimated hours to close the ToDo’s.

Here is how Twproject summarizes the data useful for determining the progress.

Looking at the figures, I see that 69% of the time has passed for this project, 82% of the to-do’s have been closed, 84% of the hours worked.

Surely a project in good health that could be estimated at 80% of completion.

Leaving this task in the hands of the PM, however, has two negative implications:

• top management does not have this information available in real time and therefore the PM must update the assessment when necessary
• the subjectivity of the assessment is a harbinger of discussions and requests for clarification

Automatic progress calculation

To solve these two problems, the solution was to introduce an automatic mechanism for calculating the progress of the project.

To do this, we have identified the most common situations and combined them to allow you to easily model the behavior of even complex projects.

Let’s see in detail the other types of calculation besides the manual one:

Worklog done on estimated

I estimated to work 100 hours I worked 45, I’m 45%.
Optimistic. It models well both the hourly package support contracts and the budgeting and study phases.

Completed phases over totals

The project consists of 3 phases; after the first two they are at 66%.
A rather brutal calculation, but easy to understand.
It can be useful for projects consisting of many repetitive phases.
Eg: installation of 200 identical appliances.

ToDo closed over total

I have 100 ToDo’s on the project / phase, I have closed 50, I’m at 50%.
Suitable when the project activities can be summarized in lists (see ToDO lists in Twproject).
This calculation is particularly fitting with Agile methodologies.

ToDo weighed closed over total

It is a refinement of the previous one with which the “severity” of the ToDo is considered.
If I have the same 80 ToDo’s as before, including 40 “Blockers” and 40 “low priority”, if I close the 40 blockers I will have a higher advancement than closing the low priority ones.
It is a stimulus to induce to follow good practices

Encountered costs over estimated or budget

You have an expenditure (or budget) forecast of 100, if you have spent 30, you are at 30%.
Model different types of contracts related to SALs.
It also works for some no-estimate iterative Agile methodologies
Not my favorite algorithms 🙂

By dates

90% of the expected time has passed we are at 90%
Everything is always fine; by far my favorite!
Unfortunately, it cannot be applied often in real projects. Typical is the use in construction in some “waiting” phases such as settling, drying and the like.
However, it is very useful for modeling annual support contracts and similar situations

By phases weighed

I have deliberately left this type of calculation for last because it is the most flexible and “refined”.

It is based on the percentage of progress of the phases that make up the project, weighed on the importance of each of them.

Suppose we have a project consisting of three phases that can proceed in parallel, the first of relevance 60, the second 30 and the third 10.

If the progress of the first stage is 20%, the second 50% and 100% the third, the result will be

60 * 20% + 30 * 50% + 10 * 100% = 37%

When a phase advances, the project will automatically advance as well.

If it seems complicated to give relevance, don’t worry, Twproject levels all the values even if the total does not make 100.

Conclusion

Returning to our example of the sprint Twproject 7.0.007, the most suitable automatic formula is the ” ToDo weighed closed over total “, because the sprint is completely determined by the set of ToDo’s that compose it.

If we edit the project and change the type of calculation we will immediately see the effect:

So slightly better than the 80% expected per sensation.

Twproject allows you to use progress calculation rules not only on the project, but also on each phase, sub-phase, sub-sub-phase and so on.
In this way it will be possible to easily model even complex and heterogeneous behaviors.

For the Twproject 7.0 project we have development partners; in their case we have purchased packages of days and for the progress we use the “done / estimated worklog”

I could therefore have a phase of study progressing with the work done, an Agile development phase progressing by completed ToDo and a maintenance phase progressing by time.

Easy, powerful, intuitive, automatic, objective and above all without too much effort for the PM!

The information relating to the progress is then visible in Twproject not only in the summary lists but also in specific dashboards that high-level users can independently verify without disturbing the team.

Of course, all progress changes will also be tracked in the project’s statistical data, but we’ll talk about this in another post as well.

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!