when things go right cornell’s peoplesoft 8.9 upgrade
DESCRIPTION
When Things Go Right Cornell’s PeopleSoft 8.9 Upgrade. Lisa Stensland Manager, CIT Project Management Office May 15, 2008. Agenda. Challenge Change in Methodology and How We Manage Resources Results. Challenge. Two critical projects competing for resources - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
When Things Go Right
Cornell’s PeopleSoft 8.9 Upgrade
Lisa StenslandManager, CIT Project Management Office
May 15, 2008
Agenda
• Challenge• Change in Methodology and How We
Manage Resources• Results
Challenge
• Two critical projects competing for resources– Upgrade PeopleSoft (HR, Payroll, Contributor
Relations) from 8.0 to 8.9– Implement PeopleSoft Student Administration
modules
• Technical implementations could not overlap• They both must be done ASAP
Analysis
• Conducted forecasting of schedule and budget for multiple options– Upgrade first, then implement Student Admin
…or…– Implement Student Admin, then upgrade the
whole thing
• Decision– Upgrade first, do it as quickly as possible
What We Knew
• The forecasting effort indicated that the PS 8.9 Upgrade project would take approximately 15-18 months to complete– Late Summer 2005 - Spring 2007
• We spent 3 months doing more detailed planning, which resulted– Targeted completion in Winter of 2006– Estimated $5M budget
What We Knew
• The timing of a Fall 2006 upgrade was not ideal– Competing business cycles– A “tax/fix version” of PS comes out at that time,
and how would we address that?
• How do we bring the schedule in further when all our planning indicates that we can’t?
I did some digging….
Critical Chain Project Management
• A way to schedule and track a project that encourages:– Aggressive scheduling– Team Focus– Team ownership of the project commitment
The old way….
Create list of tasks
Project Manager asks,“How long will
each task take?”
Well…about 5 days+ I am working
on another project+ I get interrupted
alot+ Something usually goes wrong
So…10 days!
Safety in estimation
• Time needed to protect the work estimate commitment from: – Murphy’s Law - what can go wrong, will go wrong– Distraction – Multi-tasking
Parkinson’s Law
Work expands to fill the time allotted
“Student Syndrome”
Many people will start to fully apply themselves to a task at
the last possible moment before a deadline.
What do these factors do to a project?
• It is normal to focus on task ‘due dates’• Student Syndrome -> Late starts• Parkinson’s Law
– If nothing goes wrong, the task will finish on time– If something goes wrong, the task will likely finish
late
• Late tasks on the critical path will delay the project
What should be done differently?
Remove the safety from the individual tasks
Safety
Safety
Safety
Safety
Move it to the end…the Project Buffer
Safety
Safety
Safety
Safety EndEnd
Earliest Possible Finish
Committed Finish
Refocus the team on…
• Starting tasks on time• Completing tasks as aggressively as possible • Managing the amount of Project Buffer that is
consumed– Project Buffer is consumed when a task on the
critical path is late– Project Buffer is replenished when a task on the
critical path is early
P S 8 . 9 U p g r a d e F e v e r C h a r t
0 . 0 %
1 0 . 0 %
2 0 . 0 %
3 0 . 0 %
4 0 . 0 %
5 0 . 0 %
6 0 . 0 %
7 0 . 0 %
8 0 . 0 %
9 0 . 0 %
1 0 0 . 0 %
9/27/200510/4/2005
10/11/200510/18/200510/25/2005
11/1/200511/8/2005
11/15/200511/22/200511/29/2005
12/6/2005
12/13/200512/20/200512/27/2005
1/3/2006
1/10/20061/17/20061/24/20061/31/2006
2/7/2006
2/14/20062/21/20062/28/2006
3/7/2006
3/14/20063/21/20063/28/2006
4/4/2006
4/11/20064/18/20064/25/2006
5/2/2006 5/9/2006
5/16/20065/23/20065/30/2006
6/6/2006
6/13/20066/20/20066/27/2006
7/4/2006
7/11/20067/18/20067/25/2006
8/1/20068/8/2006
8/15/20068/22/20068/29/2006
9/5/2006
9/12/20069/19/20069/26/200610/3/2006
10/10/200610/17/200610/24/200610/31/2006
11/7/2006
11/14/200611/21/200611/28/2006
12/5/2006
12/12/200612/19/2006
S t a t u s D a t e
% Buffer Utilization
July
October
December
P S 8 . 9 U p g r a d e F e v e r C h a r t
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1 0
1 1
1 2
1 3
1 4
1 5
1 6
1 7
1 8
1 9
2 0
2/24/2006
3/3/2006
3/10/2006 3/17/2006 3/24/2006 3/31/2006
4/7/2006
4/14/2006 4/21/2006 4/28/2006
5/5/2006
5/12/2006 5/19/2006 5/26/2006
6/2/2006 6/9/2006
6/16/2006 6/23/2006 6/30/2006
7/7/2006
7/14/2006 7/21/2006 7/28/2006
S t a t u s D a t e
Buffer Utilization
7 / 7
7 / 1 4
7 / 2 1
7 / 2 8
F i n a l c u t o v e r d e c i d e d :
J u l y 2 8 - 3 1
What Had to Change?
• Estimate aggressively by removing safety from individual tasks– Trust management to not hold staff accountable to
aggressive estimates without safety
• Put safety where the project can use it• Minimize multi-tasking• Track progress using buffer consumption
– Not individual milestones!
Benefits
• Protection against Murphy’s Law• Took advantage of early finishes• Team protected the project buffer• Opportunity for team to focus• Sponsor visibility to what is possible vs
realistic• Better visibility to when project is in trouble
The Results?
• Team cutover to PeopleSoft 8.9 in July 2006– Our most aggressive possible go-live!
• Project delivered 40% under-budget– $3M spent– $2M saved
• Staff time not needed - $1.3M
• Unused contingency - $500K
Moral of the story…
• Encourage aggressive planning by developing trust between management and the team
• Allow staff to focus on one task at a time rather than multitask across projects
• Implement mechanisms that encourage the team to protect the project commitment, rathern than individual commitments
More information…
• Critical Chain Project Management– http://www.focusedperformance.com/articles/ccpm
.html