Please click on this link to download FREE template
One of the most important project documentation milestone to achieve on any project, has to be the sign-off of a Test Strategy document. This typically contains the testing methodology and acceptance criteria, vital if you want to define the end point for a project and the starting point for maintenance and support to begin.
If your running a software house, getting a clear end to a project is one of the keys to profiatable software development.
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I rarely mention by name organisations who I have done business with in the past. However, today I want to mention a little known IT consultancy called Avanade. It is a company born out of a unique partnership between Microsoft and Accenture and is a global IT player specialising in the Microsoft platform. It is not Avanade’s undoubted technological expertise which fascinates me, its the organisations ability to deliver outstanding profitability to its shareholders and world-class delivery capability to its customers.
The pursuit of excellence is a means to an end for Avanade.
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Click to download your FREE Programme Management Handover Checklist
Quick & efficient handover is the name of the game!
Have you ever been asked to takeover a programme of work from another manager and wanted to get up to speed on its likely probability of success and identify the key area which are threatening the success /survival of your programme - Then look no further!
The attached check list is a comprehensive programme handover checklist which details for programmes with budgets above £10 million all the key areas which you need to understand before taking over the delivery of a programme of work.
This check list is specifically aimed at programmes managed by software houses and consultancies.
Over the last couple of years, clients are increasingly requiring Earned Value Analysis (EVA) as part of our project progress /performance status reports. EVA is a very powerful project performance indicator, which is becoming more and more widely used.
The purpose of earned value analysis is to measure a project’s progress and help predict its outcome. Earned value analysis involves comparing a project’s actual progress to what the project was expected to achieve (as reflected in a baseline plan) at a specific point in the schedule /budget, and providing forecasts of this relationship going forward.
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Posted by Kevin Brady on Sun 10th December 2006 at 11:12 AM, Filed in Outsourcing
So what do we mean by the term Offshoring for the Newbie Project Manager?
“It is the relocation of business processes to a lower cost location, usually overseas”.
In theory this looks an almost “too good to be true” opportunity to increase profits through reduced production costs via the exploitation of cheap foreign labour. The expectation with respect to IT software development is a promise of cost reductions in the region of 30% to 40%. The management consultants convince clients that all you needed to do in order to encapsulate this cost saving into your balance sheet, is to carry out, with their help, an IT staff change-over similar to changing out an old car engine and replacing it with a new one made in India or China. Make this happen and “he presto you’re in the money”.
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