News Room
23-Jul-10 Launching the Inspired Project Manangement Cluc (IPMC)
Where members will deliver more successful projects.
Project management is an art - blended with skills in planning,
organising, and administering set goals.
Some people find project
management ideal and rewarding for their talents and capabilities.
For beginners there is so much jargon - don't be
bamboozled
Managing a project is just another branch of business management.
There are well understood methodologies, tools, guidelines, and procedures
to help you on your way.
Project management is a skill that can be applied to your work,
home-life and aspirations.
The IPMC will help you develop the important
life-skill of project management and help you become a competent project
manager.
Are you ready to orchestrate various projects with deadlines,
budgets and teams.
If so, then the IPMC offer support as you start out in
project management.
The club welcomes:
- Business managers, project managers, planners and schedulers
- Everyone at all levels and abilities.
- Companies, organisations and universities.
- Under graduates and post graduates.
The Club offers three benefits:
- Belong with meetings, connections, newsletters, socials, members' forum.
- Learn through seminars, workshops, case-studies, reviews.
- Develop through mentoring, coaching, up-dates, news, visiting centres of best practice.
Call To Action
If that sounds interesting and you want to learn more then
:
Then visit the IPMC website or
give us a ring, or send an email.
Then recommend your friends to join
IPMC.
Contact:
John Cornish, Chartered Marketer, MBA, MAPM, FCIM
Inspired Project Management Club
Dorset, England, UK
Tel: +44 (0)
1725 553199
Mob: +44 (0) 7799 516 735
Email:
john@ipmc.uk.net
Or
Maurice Howell, DMS, MCMI, DIPC, MAPM
Inspired Project
Management Club
Dorset, England, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1202 849 795
Mob:
+44 (0) 7721 344 429
Email: maurice@ipmc.uk.net
Implementing Project Management and Reporting into a Project
Alliance 870 Kb.pdf
This paper describes a Project Alliance Agreement
with multiple partners who included the client (the Queensland State
Government).
It describes the initial project planning and use of multiple
planning packages to deliver the reporting.
14-Oct-09 Calculating and Using Float
Project Managers, Planners and Schedulers need to understand how
planning and scheduling software computes "float", when deciding on the
reliability of results.
Planning and scheduling software applications will calculate "float" differently causing potential variations in results leading to loss of accuracy.
In the 1950's Critical Path Methodology (CPM) and Activity-on-Arrow (ADM) were developed to calculate float for scheduling resources for optimum usage and best cost-effectiveness.
In the 1960's John Fondahl developed the Precedence Diagram Method, or "Task in a Box" (PDM), which sought to simplify calculations for manual usage.
PDM never had the same disciplined view of float as ADM, which may be detrimental to the practice of scheduling today.
From an analytical viewpoint, any loss of accuracy is undesirable
In the 1970's, Micro Planner X-Pert was developed for the microcomputer and used "Activity-on-Arrow" (ADM) technique for drawing the network logic diagrams giving an assurance of best possible float calculations used for resource analysis and scheduling.
Micro Planning International Ltd (MPI) is indebted to the Authors
of a "soon to be released" definitive paper that clearly demonstrates that PDM
has less rigour in its float calculations than ADM.
13-Oct-09 An Explanation for "Lag
Drag"
This paper “Behind – the – Scenes” Look
at Basic Schedule Calculation was presented at the 2006 PMI COS
conference.
It offers a comparison between APM and PDM” and
demonstrates the process of overlapping the three PDM tasks and how the
critical path computations are calculated.
Using "Start to Start" and
"Finish to Finish" links they demonstrate a major flaw in the PDM calculations.
This flaw is known as “Lag Drag”
Download MPI's latest
paper called Progressive Feedsand
learn how "Lag Drags" can affect you project's calculations.
13-Oct-09 Basic Concepts of Multi Project Resource and Cost Scheduling
Complex projects have the problem of establishing good operational schedules and effective utilisation of resources.
This can be challenging and occupies a great deal of senior management time.
Management seeks economic benefit derived from resource scheduling and Critical Path Network planning software tools, such as Micro Planner X-Pert to produce the desired results.
Download MPI's latest paper called
Basic
Concepts of Multi Project Resource and Cost Scheduling and apply the
concepts to your organisation.
22-Sep-09 "Planning For Success" Project Plan
A ten-point project plan has been included in the "Project Management" webpage. This is in support of the
seminar to be held on the 14th October at Kingston Maurward
College.
03-Sep-09 "Planning For Success" Seminar, 14th October, Dorchester.
New Seminar and Workshop for Business Owners and project
managers .
Owners and managers of organisations, large or small, must
constantly change to survive.
Attend this workshop at Kingston Maurward College, Dorchester, Dorset to gain valuable insights and practical support
Download and read the full details from this "Planning For Success" .pdf
Bookings: Telephone Kingston Maurward College (office hours) 01305
215025 giving your Credit/Debit card number, or after reserving your place,
send a cheque payable to Kingston Maurward College.
Priced at just
£60.00 (UK Sterling) including, free parking, refreshments and
lunch.
14-Jul-09 Micro Planner "Manager" priced at £195.00 plus VAT
Switch from paper notes and "to-do" lists to Manager - for
scheduling and adding resources to your projects.
Now that Sunami wave
of work can be smoothed out and managed - giving you a better chance of
success.
Priced at just £195.00 plus VAT (UK Sterling) it will start
paying for itself with days.
1-Jun-09 "The Decline in Construction Projects Continues"
Figures for March 2009 shows a 23% year on year fall in the
number of "new construction starts" (Source: APM May 2009)
MPI Responded By Sponsoring A Free Seminar Showing How To Reduce Costs And Improve Performance In Projects - With Focus On The Construction Industry.
The Seminar was held in Southampton, UK on Tuesday 26th May 2009.
First Talk: Partnering In Projects
- A Look
At Collaborative Working Agreements (CWA) In Construction Projects -
A
review of the practicabilities of Collaborative Working Agreements. On CWA
projects, Micro Planner X-Pert has been selected for its planning and control,
and its Earned Value reporting capabilities.
Second Talk: Performance in Industry through Resource
Scheduling -
Reliable allocations of resources is an imperative,
if the project is to finish on time and on budget.
The presentation will
describe how a good planning tool will use float, as a significant factor, when
allocating resources.
Both Presented by: Raf Dua, who flew in after presenting his paper at the 6th Annual Conference of the PMI College of Scheduling in Boston MA.
12-May-09 Partnering I Projects - Seminar at
Chilworth Science Park
Dr. Raf Dua of MPI (Australia) will present
a paper entitled "Collaborative Working Agreements (CWA) on 26th May at
Chilworth Science Park.
More details from the Events Page.
This event is sponsored by Micro planning International Ltd and free to all attendees. To reserve your place please ring John Cornish Tel 01202 884690, or email John at john@microplanning.co.uk
19-Nov-08 Resource Allocations
Dr.
Raf Dua of MPI (Australia) presented a paper on "Resource Allocations" at the
PMI's conference in May 2008.
This paper is now available as a free download
from the "Tutorials" section of the downloads web
page.
24-Oct-08 MPI Announces Partnership with Wellingtone Ltd
Link to the job list webpage
Wellingtone Ltd is a leading Project Management Recruitment specialist:
- ¤ Recruiting Project Managers, Programme Managers and Project Office Personnel
- ¤ Choice of permanent, contract or interim positions
- ¤ Clients in UK, Ireland, UAE and Internationally and across all sectors
- ¤ Preferred supplier to many leading companies.
28-Sep-08 Business South West, Exeter, on
Thursday 16 and Friday 17 October 2008
Like a complex engine your
business needs oil to keep it running.
The oil you need can come in many forms, eg. latest laws, training facilities, marketing tools or technology.
The 2008 Business South West exhibition is offering you all these kinds of oils FREE.
Includes over 100 exhibitors from across the region, Meet the Buyer, Free advice, seminars and speed networking.
Business South West takes place at Westpoint on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 October 2008.
Email: sales@jobserveevents.com to register.
Micro Planning International Ltd will be exhibiting and
demonstrating X-Pert version 3.5.
8-Sep-08 University of Technology, Auckland
Upgraded to X-Pert Version 3.5 - providing the best in Project Management and
Scheduling courses.
University of Technology in Auckland, New
Zealand has continued to show it's expertise in providing the best in Project
Management and Scheduling courses, by continuing to licence and upgrade its
Windows version of Micro Planner X-Pert from V3 to V3.5.1
27- Aug-08 X-Pert 3.5 at
Business South West 16/17 October
Come and see live
demonstrations of X-Pert 3.5 on Stand N8 at Business South West on 16 October
10.00am - 5.00pm and 17 October 10.00am - 4.00pm at Westpoint Arena, Exeter,
Devon. UK.
Visit
www.business2businessshows.com
to reserve your free ticket now.
13-Aug-08 Upgrade now to X-Pert
3.5
Gain the benefits from new features by opening your existing
X-Pert project files with X-Pert version 3.5.
Read the detail in the
release notes .doc format.
12-Aug-08 MPI Ltd now listed with the best on-line business directory
Businessmagnet the on-line Business Directory.
Click here to
view their directory Business
Directory
11-Jul-08 X-Pert 3.5 at Project Challenge on
24/25 September
Come and see live demonstrations of X-Pert 3.5 on Stand 36 at
Project Challenge.
Visit www.projchallenge.com to reserve your
free ticket now, on 24 or 25 September at Olympia, London.
MPI is far more than software.
MPI has a team of Associates - experienced Project Managers delivering philosophy, methodology, tools, consultancy, training and support for Project Managers.
Visit Stand 36 to learn about "The Fundamentals Of Project Management" training from Phil Vale and Maurice Howell.
MPI have developed new ideas on 'Post Milestone Reviews' - learn quickly, to win time to regain control of your projects.
Tell us, in confidence, about your issues, (be they Skills, Process, Tools, Governance) let us offer a solution that will work for you and with you.
We look forward to meeting many "Friends of X-Pert" - Please visit and say hello.
Please call John Cornish if you need more - now. Tel +44 (0) 1202
884690 or email john@microplanning.co.uk.
08-Jul-08 Did you know that X-Pert draws "Activity on the Arrow"
Why is this Important for Universities and Colleges
X-Pert is believed to be the only product which draws logic networks with Activity on Arrow. And we have been doing so since 1978.
Many Universities use X-Pert as a teaching tool for the very reason that Arrow Diagrams can be demonstrated as an alternative to PDM
The University of Melbourne, Australia in its Masters of Construction degree teaches X-Pert.
University of Western Sydney in its Construction degrees also teaches Activity on the Arrow , using X-Pert.
University of Technology in Auckland also teach X-Pert in their construction courses and it is because of Arrow Diagrams Professor Russel Kenley of Swinburne University in Melbourne also teaches X-Pert.
X-Pert is very good for teaching on all aspects of planning and scheduling - such as:
- the "Activity on the Arrow" logic networks, or "Task in a box" if you prefer
- the "family tree" style WBS,
- the fact that Earned Value (EV) reports and graphs are all in the box with no need to export data to third party packages.
- that all 100 sub-projects can have their own logic diagrams/critical paths.
- the resource analysis with either the "deadlines" or "resources" being critical - and automatically computed.
- the fact that X-Pert works to the nearest minute - not in hourly units as some packages giving greater accuracy for cost estimates, etc.
- that X-Pert runs under Windows or on a Mac.
If any of the above is of interest, then do call and I will
delighted to have that conversation of how we at MPI can help you deliver in
the classroom.
02-Jun-08 Micro Planner X-Pert Reviewed by PM Today
Steve Cotterell's review of Micro Planner X-Pert featured in June's edition of Project Manager Today magazine.
Please call this office if you would like to know how to get details of Steve's review.
Project
Manager Today provides an unrivalled means of addressing the project &
programme management communities in the UK and overseas.
14-May-08 Review of the Seminar on 13 May
2008
The Seminar, for Project Managers, Project Risk Managers,
Planners and Schedulers. held at the Southampton Science Park was a great
success as measured by the high quality of the attendees and the interest
generated from the presentations.
Titles of the two presentations can be seen on the agenda .
The transfer of data between Risk Aid software and Micro Planner
X-Pert in a 'single-pass' was demonstrated and the two companies Risk reasoning
and Micro Planning International have agreed to collaborate to make the
transfers even easier.
13-May-08 MPI Ltd and Risk Reasoning Ltd have sponsored a Seminar for Project Managers, Project Risk Managers, Planners and Schedulers.
A Seminar on best-practice tools to support Project Management and Risk Management.
Title: Project Scheduling and Risk "Does Scheduling Matter? - Managing Risks Well"
Date: 10:00 - 12:00 repeated 14:00 - 16:00 on Tuesday 13th May 2008,
Location: Chilworth Science Park, Chilworth, SO16
7NP, UK. Ample free car parking on-site
Download the invitation and details
here. .pdf format
29-Apr-08: Micro Planner X-Pert proven to work on
Macintosh using VMware
Whilst waiting for the Mac version of Micro
Planner X-Pert, we recommend VMware, a seamless way to run windows applications
on your Mac.
MPI has a client in Adelaide, Australia. running Micro Planner X-Pert under 'VMware' software on his latest Apple Laptop.
Learn more about VMware at www.vmware.com.
VMware Fusion 1.1 (for Mac OS X) - downloadable and priced around $80.00.
21-Apr-08: Project Software Survey.
Take a
look at this on-line survey of project planning software
www.planningengineers.org
10-Apr-08 : Sustainability in Projects
Given
that ~80% of the environmental impact of a project is determined in the Concept
and Definition Phases and the remaining 20% of the environmental impact is
determined in the Operations and Hand-over phases, then there seems a golden
opportunity to use Micro Planning X-Pert to carry out "What if" type analysis
on the supply Chains.
What do I mean?
Supply Chains:
Most major projects need some form of
Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS) the project's organisation is broken
down to the lowest levels where management-accountability and control is
required.
So, a project is broken down for example to Partners, Supply Chains, Out-sourcing, etc., where accountability needs to be measured and control needs to be exercised.
Micro Planner X-Pert works with OBS's to enable that local control and accountability.
Micro Planner X-Pert is also very strong on "Estimated Costs to Complete" and "Earned Value" reports.
How can these help you with your EMS (Environmental Management System)?
EMS
The Project Manager is ultimately responsible for a
successful project and could be made responsible for the environmental foot
print his project has on the environment.
Therefore the Project Manager will want to work through differing scenarios (or "What If" exercises) to determine the best and balanced OBS that delivers 'on-time' ,'to cost' and 'to spec' and meet's the enterprises KPI's within the EMS.
"What If" Planning:
Micro Planner X-Pert has facilities such
as "Hammocks" that stretch across all the sub-projects owned by elements in the
OBS.
Environmental measures (using special resources) could be added to calculate the environmental impact.
Plans using the initial OBS could be baselined, changes to differing suppliers could be made, a new analysis could be run and the delta between the baseline plan and the new analysis measured and reported.
Summary:
It might be that by moving away from the traditional
"Just In Time" project work, we allow more "slack" (more float) to allow for
more efficient plans for transport, development, decisions on working in-house,
or out-sourcing.
We can make Project Sponsors aware of the options available at their discretion, and their respective impact on the environment.
There is some further work needed to really flush out these ideas. To see where an easy to use, project planning tool can work with Prime Contractors, to model the environmental impact of their projects at the Concept and Definition Phases (Source APM BOK5), where the environmental costs are being modelled and determined in advance.
Then, to use the power of Micro Planner X-Pert to determine the accurate and trustworthy reports when planning different scenarios within the project's supply chain or OBS.
MPI will be very pleased to receive comments and suggestions that
build on these themes. All emails will be acknowledged.
10-Apr-08 : Empowerment and Accountability of Project
Managers
The Section 853 of the Warner Act will affect project
management practices and tools in companies wishing to sell into the US Defense
Programme. These include:
- improved resources and support (including systems engineering expertise, cost estimating expertise, and software development expertise) for program managers;
- improved means of collecting and disseminating best practices and lessons learned to enhance program management
- common templates and tools to support improved data gathering and analysis for program management and oversight purposes
- increased accountability of program managers
for the results of defense acquisition programs.
What starts in the US often crosses the pond into Europe. Get
ready and use Micro Planner X-Pert, with its built in audit trail and Earned
Value reporting all built into the box, with no need to export to third party
software.
25-Feb-08: Micro Planner in Poland
MPI Ltd is
delighted to announce that good conversations with Maciej Rashwan, BDM at
Business Project Management Group in Poland have got off to an excellent start.
If you understand Polish, then visit www.bpmg.pl to learn more about
BPMG.
BPMG share project management knowledge across Poland, Hungary, Czech
Republic and the Slovak Republic.
In the near future you will be able to
learn more about Micro Planner X-Pert and MPI's papers in the Polish
language.
MPI Ltd and BPMG working together and making the very best of
Project Management available to all of Eastern Europe.
12-Feb-08: Evaluating Project Planning
Software.
Download this
evaluation form to compare and contrast Micro Planner with other planning
packages.
31-Jan-08: Network Rail Project Over-run
The
true project management life cycle goes like this:
- Initial Enthusiasm
- Dawn of Reality
- Panic
- Blame of the Innocent
- Rewards for the Uninvolved
It seems that a key Network Rail project is stuck deep in stage 4.
The project to update the West Coast line had work planned over the
Christmas holidays - but over-ran by a few very expensive days.
Read the
full story from
Project
Manager Today.
25-Jan-2008: It would be interesting to hear from Protect
Managers over conflicts caused by different management practices.
To help, we need to understand what are regarded to be the major differences in
PM processes between the UK/European's Association For Project Managers (APM)
and the US Project Management Institute (PMI). Both have their own Body of
Knowledge (BOK)
What I have learnt is that PMI is based on US management
practises (e.g., US ANSII standards), whilst APM is based on on UK/European
(e.g.. BS/EN/ISO standards).
Question 1: "What does that mean in practice
so far as the 'management of projects' is concerned?"
Question 2: "If a
European company has a management structure and general management principles
based on BS/EN/ISO will there be conflicts at senior management levels if the
projects are run using PMI? Does it bring cultural and communication problems?"
If anyone has experienced this then please send an email to
john@microplanning.co.uk .
Thanks.
B2B South Show at St. Mary's Stadium Southampton 5th and
6th March 2008
Business South covers every aspect of business
today, from the tried and tested to the new and exciting.
- Reduce your business costs and overheads in hours
- Learn from the experts on the key business issues
- Meet the widest selection of suppliers in the region
- Benchmark your competition
- Take inspiration and learn to innovate from successful entrepreneurs
- Network face-to-face with fellow professionals
- Learn about the essentials of trading Internationally
To view the latest exhibitor list, latest competitions, seminars,
directions and parking for Business South please visit:
www.business2businessshows.com
Download
your invitation from this link. .pdf
John Cornish CEO at Micro Planning International Ltd., will be available on The Chartered Institute of Marketing's stand in the 'business' section.
07-Jan-08: Micro Planning International Ltd gets a mention
in "Project Manager Today" magazine.
The January edition of the
PMT magazine includes an announcement that MPI Ltd is once again operational
across all Europe.
The PMT is a great magazine keeping project managers
up-to-date. Visit www.pmtoday.co.uk
20-Nov-07: Micro Planning International Ltd Opens In
Europe.
After the retirement of Glynn Nixon, the original founder
of Micro Planning International Ltd (MPI), John Cornish becomes the new CEO at
MPI Ltd with a mandate to support all UK and Europe.
John said that after twelve-years of successfully using Micro Planner he was delighted to be part of a group of MPI companies covering Europe, America and Australia.
Raf Dua and John Cornish also announced the release of Micro Planner X-Pert Version 3.12 for Windows.
John is looking forward to meeting users and customers of Micro Planner products and services.
Contact John at john@microplanning.co.uk, or telephone +44 (0) 1202 884 690.
Read the full story by downloading this Press Release in ".doc" format.
07-Nov-07: Micro Planning International LLC group of
companies have unified their various domain addresses.
As from
01-Sep-07 the Micro Planning International companies made it easier to remember
web pages and email addresses.
Download the full story here.doc format.
06-Nov-07: Micro Planning International Asia Pacific Pty
Ltd announces new Managing Director
Raf Dua, Director and
Shareholder of MPIAP Pty Ltd is proud to announce the appointment on September
1st 2007 of Mr Adrian Chau as Managing Director.
Download the full story here.doc format.
05-Nov-07: MPI celebrate thirty years of
success
We invite you to celebrate our thirty years in the project
planning software industry and the launch of Micro Planner X-Pert version 3.12
for Windows.
Venue:
Room 2 at the Kenneth Dibden
Building,
The University of Southampton Science Park,
2 Venture Road,
Chilworth,
Southampton,
Hampshire,
SO16 7NP
UK
About Raf Dua:
Raf Dua is General Manager of
Micro Planning International Asia Pacific based in Melbourne Australia. Raf was
a foundation member of the Australian Institute of Planning Engineers in 1968.
And has decades of experience in managing multi-million dollar projects for the
Australian Defence (Army, Navy and Air force) , Healthcare, Mining and IT
industries.
In addition he has given innumerable presentations to learned bodies in many countries on project planning, and scheduling, resource scheduling methodologies and project control techniques as well as Information Technology Strategic Planning and Systems Integration and lectured at numerous Universities in Australia.
Interested ?
If anything in the news sounds interesting, or you have some news to share on this site then please call.
We would be delighted to hear from you.
Main Contact:
John Cornish, Chartered Marketer, MBA, MAPM, FCIM
Micro Planning International Ltd
Wimborne, Dorset, UK
Tel: +44 (0)
1202 884 690
Mob: +44 (0) 7799 516 735
Email:
john@microplanning.co.uk
PS: Your views on this website are very welcome - especially on how it can be enhanced giving better value to Project Managers.