PROJECT Management explored

The upgrade of Community edition to .NET at version 2.0 resulted in many clear and visible advantages for users including a more convenient layout, drag and drop, hyperlinks and support for multiple methods.

However there were just as many powerful new features introduced as part of the background technology set including multiple language support, files only data management, improved installation routines and portable mode.  It is this last item we will focus on here.

Because Community Edition is a .NET application and is a files only application it can be operated in a portable mode.  What do we mean by portable mode?  it means you can load the application and all it's managed projects, view folder and check out folder areas onto a portable data device such as a USB stick or an SD card and take your whole Community Edition set up with you from PC to PC.

This makes it great for the PM on the move, for consultants working on customer machines and in fact for anybody who wants to use Community Edition on their work PC but who doesn't have admin permissions to install CE....you dont have to.

So here is how it works in practice...arrive at a PC, plug yoru USB stick or SD card into the PC and once it is recognised browse to Community Edition executable and start it.  Once started use it to manage your PRINCE2 or DSDM Atern projects....yes it is as simple as that. 

In practice when you start Community Edition it requires the .NET framework to operate and this will be already installed on your host Windows PC Which is why you can move everything around so easily.

When you come to install Community Edition instead of choosing the default install location into Program Files, browse to your desired location and continue.  When on the Choose Components step make sure you select the Portable Mode option and then wait for the installer to finish.  If you are  wanting to use CE on a corporate PC for which you don't have Admin rights you can use this approach and instead set the install location to My Documents and Portable Mode will work very well for you here.

If you have already installed CE to your program files location and you now want to take it walkabout you, go into options and change the mode to portable and then grab the set of files from your Program files location and move them to the desired portable device.  Please note that once set to Portable mode CE will not operate in the program files are, Install mode MUST be used in the Program Files area.

I hope you have found this interesting and that it has introduced you to a fantastic new capability of Community Edition we know that the CE users who have discovered it like this feature.......but it is the best kept secret that deserves to be shared!

It is now a month since we announced the launch of Community Edition version 2.1 in our September newsletter and it has been a record breaking month for the product.  Over 2,000 new users have downloaded from PROJECT in a box and partner sites who offer a register and download service.

The peak interest appears to directly relate to the provision of the new PRINCE2 2009 method template and the fact that Community Edition is the first product to make this material available.  There also continues to be a high level of downloads from the DSDM Consortium website reflecting the additional interest in Community Edition now it also includes the DSDM Atern agile method.

These figures help push total Community Edition numbers almost to 45,000 further confirming its dominance as the world's favourite PRINCE2 software.  To support the transition of PRINCE2 from the 2005 method to 2009 we are still providing the Authentic 2005 materials in Community Edition 2.1 and will continue to do for the next few months at least.

Finally, did you know Community Edition is extensible?  You can also download for free our PPP sales method for use on Community Edition and can purchase additional methods including the authentic MSP and a lighter set of PRINCE2 2005 methods for your smaller less complex projects....to find out more go to the Community Edition extensions page

It has dawned on me recently that the thing most organisations we talk to, say they are looking for is Consistency.

Consistency in the way their projects are managed, consistency in the language and terminology used, consistency in the data they collect, consistency in escalation and reporting.

All projects are different so does that mean they don't really understand projects and they want to ignore those awkward annomolies?  No in most cases not, they want to start from a consistent framework with conscious decisions and recognition that this project is different because of 'x'.  This approach brings to key benefits:

• the routine, less risky projects become smoother
• there is recognition where a project is significantly different and this is a risk flag for management

Of course there is still work to do to identify the core consistent parts of the process and to build these models.  Often customers start from an existing standard such as PRINCE2, Managing Successful Programmes or DSDM Atern but they may also use their own in-house standard.  The most successful implementations recognise the pattern and range of projects in the organisation and provide a number of method variations for different types of projects, maybe by value/risk/complexity criteria or by technical domain considerations.

Consistency is a good objective to have as long as you don't use it to try and constrain your projects.

This subject always attracts lots of debate and it affects all of us in one way or another.

The anti spreadsheet lobby rightly point out that most PMs using spreadsheets do so in an uncontrolled way lacking appropriate configuration management, that their approach is often labour intensive and unsuitable for scaling to a team or organisational level.  All very good points but usually they advocate a database centred approach as the solution.

Going to Databases and away from spreadsheets entirely reduces flexibility users have for collecting, managing and reporting the data important to them.  A particular aspect of this is that having things in databases mean they are more difficult to enter and update often with the ability for external contributors to access it being limited.

So is there a best of both worlds?  We think there is....PROJECT in a box allows you to use spreadsheets and configuration manages these for you making sure changes are kept and versions can be compared.  Spreadsheets can easily be shared for viewing or update with whoever you wish using the email facilities.  When it comes to reporting the reporting engine can grab data from your spreadsheets and present this at a project level or roll it up at a portfolio level based on the rules you set.

Of course we provide a range of standard reporting resources but every organisation is different so you can personalise the data you want to collect and how you want to report it.....perfect.