On Time, Budget Projects Key

As IT managers take on more implementation projects with greater strategic value than ever, getting projects done on time and on budget is a critical skill. New software is cropping up to address project-management requirements.

>Yet analysts and IT managers also know project-management software is only as good as the manager using it. To reach the managers themselves, Project Management Solutions Inc. and the Gartner Institute recently each launched training initiatives to teach project managers how to plan, assess and manage their IT projects better.

Welcom Software Technology Corp., Houston, a maker of project- and cost-management software, will release Internet-based software, called WelcomHome, incorporating project scope, issues and risk-management modules to help IT managers better execute new or ongoing technology implementations.

The software lets team members collaborate on a project's progress and troubleshoot problems via the Internet, an intranet or a LAN connection. Team members simply enter a password and ID to gain appropriate access to the system. In addition, team members can view at a glance boxes of project data and user-specific task-assignment lists.

IT managers can monitor a project's status using charts to indicate progress levels. The software automatically sends an E-mail alert to a manager of potential budget, deadline or other problems.

Gary Mascetti, systems manager at Sears Roebuck and Co., has used Welcom's older project-management software, Open Plan, for his home-construction managers, who plan and complete remodeling projects for the company's retail stores. Mascetti said the software is helpful, but that he could better manage tasks and work with different personalities if he had formal training in project management.

"Sears doesn't have a policy on project-management training," he said. "But I would love to take a class because in my role,acting as a liaison between the business and IT,I need to have the soft skills that will allow me to understand the business argument and the IT issues."

Mascetti said he has a good handle on both IT and business issues. But some IT managers and business executives could benefit from project-management training, he said. IT managers tend to need training in soft skills such as managing people and understanding the business case for the project, while business executives "need to understand IT teams can't just throw together a solution overnight," he said. "You need to understand the limitations of the IT department."

In fact, it is a lack of understanding and communication that causes the majority of IT project failures. According to the Gartner Institute, an IT-training spinoff of the research firm GartnerGroup Inc., Stamford, Conn., about $75 billion is spent yearly on failed IT projects, and poor management is the culprit.

In a report titled "What Skills Will Characterize Top Project Managers?" the Institute found that most projects fail because of poor methodology. Successful project management, on the other hand, is related to good business and interpersonal knowledge and the skill level of the project manager.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of an ongoing series exploring the IT challenges faced by enterprise customers, with reporting by InformationWeek, a sister publication of CRN, published by CMP Media Inc.