Feedback from the Haute-Savoie department (CD74) on the introduction of Project Monitor

The story of CD74's relationship with Project Monitor (PM) can be divided into two main phases. First, in 2014, the system was deployed within CIO , with the aim of establishing an exhaustive register of the department's activities. Then, in 2017, the emergence of the PMO unit will revolutionize the department's use of Project Monitor to get the most out of it.

Speakers from the Haute-Savoie department :

In this article, discover the highlights of the Haute-Savoie department's testimonial:

Implementation history

The first deployment of Project monitor at CD74 was part of the Projet d'Informatisation du Registre des Applications Métiers, de l'Infrastructure et des Développements (PIRAMID, which became the name of Project monitor at CD74). The creation of this register was intended to provide a reliable, formalized database of CIO activities.

The implementation of Project Monitor began in July 2013, and six months later a first group of users (the size of a department) went into production, with the scope of use extending to the whole of CIO three months later. Following this first successful deployment, some business departments showed interest in using the tool, and at the end of 2014, pilot users were identified to assess more precisely the value of extending the scope to their department.

Review of the first Project Monitor implementation and benefits

This first implementation has enabled us to draw up an initial assessment of the benefits derived from using PM. Benefits identified :

Concrete benefits reported by users :

testimonial community budget management

The advent of the PMO: "Everything is a project

In 2017, CIO was reorganized to make way for the "Pôle Innovation, Systèmes d'Information et Usages Numériques" (PISIUN), within which a PMO unit appeared: a new absolute referent, in charge of standardizing project practices.

PIRAMID" project: Support for project methodology

Project management practices are as numerous as they are personal. The challenge for the PMO is to homogenize practices sufficiently to provide a repository that everyone can understand, without forcing users to make too many sacrifices in terms of their habits, or too much inertia induced by the methodology.

CD74 has therefore chosen to implement a simple project template, based on the main methodological stages of their project management. As a result, the first and second level phases are standard and schedule can be understood by all. If desired, the Project Manager can refine his schedule by breaking down the model's stages into sub-phases specific to his project.

To simplify projects and schedules, CD74 has opted for a modular approach based on template insertion. According to the methodology illustrated above :

  1. A project is created from a "pre-project" template, at which point its content in terms of schedule or project sheet information relates solely to this phase,
  2. A Go/NoGo milestone takes place at the end of the pre-project phase, and it is only after the decision to continue has been made that the project manager inserts the template corresponding to the "Definition" phase.

The same mechanism operates for each phase, so schedules are never overloaded with potentially superfluous phases. However, there's nothing to stop you inserting all the phases as soon as you create the project, to enable you to carry out other analyses, such as controlling the project end date.

Identify and plan agent workloads

Solange Excoffier, PMO at PISIUN, repeated it several times during her speech: "for CD74, everything is a project". Indeed, all PISIUN's recurring activities take the form of projects at Project Monitor. They are distinguished from one another by a different "typology". Here, for example, we find :

These rather special projects are not usually schedule or budgeted, but serve mainly as a basis for recording activities. This enables agents to precisely size the share each activity represents in their day-to-day work.

The direct benefit of tracing all these activities is to be able to make full use of the load tracking and planning functions provided by Project Monitor, for example:

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 "There are a lot of requests from secondary schools to the Education & Youth department, the Buildings and Resources department. Colleges often need work, wiring, wifi, tablets...

The portfolio in the Project Management software Project Monitor is used to facilitate monthly meetings and track interactions between the actions of these divisions. The Flash report is used to facilitate coordination meetings.

Tool integration: key success factors

Budget preparation and monitoring

" Project monitor has made us abandon our Excel files for budget preparation and monitoring once and for all" Sandrine CHABANNES - Head of the Accounting and Contracts unit

Thanks to a precise interface between PM and CD74's accounting tool, all stages of the project's budgetary life cycle have been integrated into the tool: from budget preparation to monitoring of payments.

An implicit virtue of this organization is the development of a common culture of budget methodology. As the tool is shared, all those involved speak a common language, and each understands the involvement of the others in the various stages of budget construction and monitoring.

Animation of all committees within the tool

CD74 has chosen to strongly integrate the use of PM in its various methodological bodies. As PM is the medium for these meetings, the facilitator can demonstrate the usefulness of dynamically capturing and tracking all project-related information exchanges.

This is a definite advantage in terms of acceptance of the tool, which is perceived by all participants as the natural database for all project-related information. The next step is to help users get to grips with a tool that is already of interest to them.

Integrate Project Monitor into project timetables to set the pace for steering bodies

rhythm instance pilotage gouvernance it

Support and training

ppm software training

2 types of workshops have been set up to accompany the training:

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