I'm a Project Strategy Manager at Oracle working with the Oracle Projects application. My focus is on our Project Management and Project Resource Managment but I hope that this blog will encompass some of our other modules with the use of guest bloggers, i.e. my colleagues who manage those modules. I'm also interested in how software can help project managers and teams be more successful especially given the proliferation of collaborative tools that we see now.
In case you missed it, registration for OpenWorld 2008 - the premiere event for anything related to Oracle each year - is now open. I happened to be at our HQ the last couple of weeks and got to scout out a possible location for our annual Projects party, typically held on the Tuesday night of OOW.
I can’t say where the location is of course, but I wanted to leave you with a little taste of what the view COULD look like if we go with this spot.
OAUG Collaborate is in Denver this year from April 13-17th. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that the Oracle Projects team will be there this year with a few presentations.
The first one is called Project Management Best Practices: Achieving Business Results and is on Tuesday April 15th at 1.45 pm. The synopsis is:
This session will deliver key insight into the industry-leading practices companies have adopted in managing their project-driven organizations. These practices are based on the real-world experiences of thousands of customers of Oracle’s PPM solutions, across industries, managing and governing their project management office (PMO), and driving corporate change initiatives. The speakers will identify challenges and recommend best business practices to address the challenges, while providing guidance in making the critical decisions involved in implementing software solutions. Finally, the audience will learn how to address these challenges with Oracle’s PPM solutions.
The second session we’re presenting is called Managing the Project Portfolio: Delivering Balance, Alignment, and Optimization. This session is on Wednesday April 16th at 11 am. Here is the synopsis for that session:
Getting the most out of available resources and assets while ensuring that the “right” programs and projects are initiated is a critical business requirement across industry. This session will detail how Oracle’s Portfolio Analysis tool can help companies align their portfolios of projects and programs with their organizational objectives by taking advantage of standard criteria, weighted scoring and ranking, and what-if portfolio analyses.
Finally, our third session is titled Program Management with EBS Projects Integration to Microsoft Project Server and Primavera. This session is also on Wednesday at 4.30 pm. This is the abstract for that session:
Running a successful project management office requires both strategic management and tactical scheduling. Learn how Oracle and Impress Software are simplifying this challenge by integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Projects with Microsoft Project Server for project scheduling. Regardless of your industry, if you have wondered how to reconcile executives’ demands for analysis and project managers’ need for detail, make time to attend this session.
I apologize for this site being on hiatus for so long. There’s a hundred excuses but I’m sure none of them sound very good when put down in print so let me just say that I will renew my efforts to keep it up to date. I hope everyone out there had a fantastic holiday season and is looking forward to 2008.
The world of Projects is always interesting and full of highs and lows. I was reminded of the lows on New Year’s Eve when I received a call from an old friend, Mark, who still project manages PeopleSoft implementations for a large consulting firm.
Mark lives in Madison, Wisconsin but his current client is in Raleigh, North Carolina. When I got his call at my home around 9pm on New Year’s Eve we both had a good laugh. He said that he could tell I had a wife and kids because I was home at 9pm on New Year’s. I laughed and said I knew he’s a project manager because he was at his client’s office far away from home on New Year’s Eve!
Often the sacrifices that come from working those crazy times of the year to minimize the daily disruptions of co-workers goes unnoticed. It takes that special breed to want to give up so much personal time to make sure a project runs as smooth as possible.
So lift up your coffee mug to those unsung heroes that toil on while you’re either snug at home watching the re-invention of Dick Clark (is it just me or does Carson Daly really, really look like a young Dick?), or catching a movie like we did (Transformers actually wasn’t as bad as I thought once you give up your grip on reality), and let’s salute the Project Managers (and all those that do the task work under them but do it for double time and a half)!
