Project Management process is a key element of every project's successful completion - meeting projects goals and objectives on time, on budget and with quality level expected.
PSA has experienced project managers who focus on customer needs and deliver highest results on schedule and on budget, as well as maintain sufficient level of project documentation providing our customers with complete and accurate information about each project.
Fundamental management rules which are "must know" and "must follow" for every project manager within the company are the following:
- Understanding of customers' needs and requirements - transforming them into project objectives
- Creating a reasonable project plan and maintaining it through the life cycle
- Building a good team of professionals with a right skills set
- Tracking of projects status and sharing it with all team members
- Defining projects risks and mitigating them
- Establishing baselines and tracking accordingly
- Documenting project decisions, agreements and changes
- Being proactive against problems and issues arising
- Ensuring customers satisfaction
Project Management Process
PSA has established the U.S. based project management process which resulted in a long history of successful projects. Efficient project and process management make 80% of our customers to come back to PSA for developing their new ideas and solutions.
PSA performs effective project management in order to ensure that every project results in customer satisfaction. Our project managers plan and monitor the projects from different perspectives to accomplish goals within predictable quality, cost and time. The primary objective is to build and deliver solutions that meet stakeholder's expectations using well-defined, reliable, flexible processes throughout all business cycles. PSA is a process-oriented organization which uses structured, adjustable processes that are tailored to meet the specific business needs of each project. Our processes are monitored and regularly measured to guarantee process improvements and increase the quality of the product we produce.
Main project management activities at PSA are:
- Planning the work
- Estimating and allocating resources
- Assessing and controlling risks
- Directing tasks and activities
- Time management
- Quality management
- Configuration management
- Issues management and solving
- Tracking and progress reporting
Project Plan
All projects start with a clear definition of objectives and goals which require the following "inputs" to initiate a project:
- Objectives to deliver
- Schedule to meet
- Budget to hold
Once these key items are defined a project manager creates a project plan that includes the following information to track activities:
- Tasks
- Resources
- Milestones
- Start and finish dates
- Baseline time estimates
- Dependences
- Cost
- Actual work
- Remaining work
Project plans are updated weekly with actual hours performed by task and by resource to insure that project tracking and metrics can be performed on a regular basis.
Team Structure
After the project plan is reviewed and approved by customer, project activities start as defined in the project plan. A project management resource oversees activities during all phases. The project manager performs preparing, monitoring or conducting reviews of project elements (plans, processes, project status reports, requirements and design documents, test cases, test reports, etc.).
PSA has all kinds of skillful and competent technical resources that may be involved in a software project. Project Management makes sure that project tasks are assigned to the right resource who will accomplish the task in the most efficient manner. Possible team structure including key team members and their responsibilities is described below:
Project Manager
U.S. Project Manager who provides structured environment to facilitate effective communications and ensure quality service delivery.
Technical Coordinator
Technical leader who coordinates all development and testing activities, assign tasks to the team members and verifies the produced output.
Business Analyst
Technical Expert who describes what the system, process, or product/service must do in order to fulfill the business requirements.
Software Architect
System architect who defines system structure, high level designs and reviews detailed designs created by Software Engineers.
Software Engineer
Development Engineer to perform application design and implementation.
Quality Assurance Engineer
Quality engineer for validation of project documentation (functional requirements, design documents etc.) and testing the developed software.
Integration Engineer
Onsite integration engineer responsible for integration of technology within client's organization.
Technical Writer
Professional writer who creates and updates technical documentation including help system, user guides, functional requirements and other documents.
Graphic Designer
Professional designer who creates unique user interface of the application, images for project documentation and other pieces of design.
Weekly Status Reporting
Professional Software Associates, Inc. distributes project status reports weekly. This status report includes such information as activities performed during the previous week, activities to be performed during the current week, problems encountered and a budget summary. Status reports consist of the following documents:
- Timecard of each team member for a week period with detailed description of work performed
- Status report listing activities performed during the reporting period and activities planned for current week
- Project Plan with updated actual and remaining work hours
- Project tracking workbook containing worksheets for Milestone dates (planned, estimated, and completed), Risk Management, Action Items (updated weekly during status call), Budget (updated weekly from time cards), Team members contact info for both organizations
Professional Software Associates, Inc. holds weekly status calls in which the status report and project tracking worksheet are reviewed. Usual project status call participants are:
- PSA Project Manager
- PSA Technical Coordinator
- Any Technical staff required form PSA side
- Client Project Manager
- Client Lead Technician