Archive for category workforce management
Resource Planning for the Small and Mid-Sized Service Organizations
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Business Process Management, workforce management on August 2nd, 2007
by Mike McRae, CMA, Vice President of Professional Services, Tenrox
If you’re like most SMB Professional Services Organizations (PSOs), you’ve probably got a good handle on things like utilization rates, average billing rate, profit per project, and revenue per resource. These metrics are widely used across all PSOs and are relatively easy to capture with any Professional Services software tool. The problem with only focusing on these metrics is that they only provide you with insight into how well you’ve done – past tense. They don’t provide you with any insight into how many resources you’ll need next month or next quarter, or more specifically, the number of Project Managers, Database Administrators, and Consultants you’ll need in the US, Europe, and Asia.
More importantly, these metrics will not alert you to upturns and downturns in the sales pipeline. This blind spot limits your ability to ramp up and threatens the new business you’ve just acquired.
Similarly, in a downtrend environment this reduces the amount of time you have to scramble before having to layoff quality personnel. In this regard the SMB organization is greatly disadvantaged over larger competitors. With formalized recruitment and on-boarding processes, larger organizations have an easier time attracting and training new talent and have a much greater ability to withstand lulls in the market, thus making them tougher to compete against.
With so much on the line, why do SMBs spend so little time on Resource Planning?
Read more on PSVillage.com, where Mike McRae is a featured author.
The Keys to Success in Implementing Project Workforce Management
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in workforce management on July 25th, 2007
On the blog HiringExchange, there is an excellent article about how to achieve success when implementing a new Contingent Workforce Management program. The same principles apply to Project Workforce Management as well. And, by applying these principles to both, we can elevate our thinking to a Workforce 2.0 level.
The post, authored by CWM consultant Elaine Taylor, is here:
http://hotgigs.typepad.com/hiringexchange/2007/06/achieving_100_u.html
Taylor states: "Achieving 100% adoption of your program by the managers who engage contingent workers" is the critical success factor. I would add that the same is true of any type of workforce management system. Just as I discussed in this post about using and re-using "Your Go-To People," you aren’t really managing any type of workforce effectively unless you use the tools to leverage the whole workforce–not just your own "usual suspects."
Taylor recommends four strategies for implementing contingent workforce management, which I believe apply equally well to Project Workforce Management or any other system that helps the enterprise make the best use of its internal and external talent pool. Taylor’s strategies are quoted below, and my additional comments are in brackets.
a) Simplify the user’s life. Reengineer and streamline business processes with the goal of reducing the manager’s administrative burden rather than complicating it with low-reward, convoluted processes.
b) First and foremost, consider the users’ needs. Choose a supplier model that ensures client satisfaction. [The "user" is the workforce manager who uses the system. The idea of a "supplier model" applies, whether the "supply" of workers is an internal talent pool or a contingent workforce.]
c) Use a "carrot and a stick" approach. Market the benefits of using corporate contracted suppliers; but put “teeth” in your program for those who will “resist out of principle." (Once they understand the risks and costs they personally assume by working outside the official guidelines, managers are likely to become enthusiastic supporters of a well-designed CWM program.) [Again, the risks of working outside the system also apply to an internal workforce. Managers must feel the pain of managing less-than-optimal teams because they don't leverage the entire talent pool.]
d) Listen to what the users say. Incorporate a formal feedback loop that ensures the continual process improvements inherent in any successful program.
The real Workforce 2.0 model is to create a uniform system for managing both contingent and internal workers on projects. Companies tend to place more value on contingent workers–and manage them with more care–because they are perceived to be more expensive. But why not give the same attention to internal workers as well?
When we start to "think globally," a worker is a worker, no matter whose bank his or her paycheck comes from. The processes for finding, engaging, managing work, and tracking costs all deserve the same care and attention. Project Workforce Management can be implemented to help workforce managers assimilate these processes for all workers, and compete effectively in a flat world.
The New New HR? The Changing Role of Human Resource Management: Part 2
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in workforce management on July 20th, 2007
In a previous post on this topic, I explained how HR’s role has changed from enterprise talent management to global workforce planning and talent sourcing. With HR’s new role, it is only natural to conclude that the traditional methods of human capital management have to change.
The HR of old manages its function as any tribe chief would. In fact, traditional company structures are highly tribe-oriented. Every company has its finance tribe, its service delivery tribe, its sales tribe, its IT tribe, and so forth. Department managers run their tribes like chiefs–turf wars are much more common than any true sustained collaboration.
The new new HR has a very different mandate; it is viewed as a peer and collaborator with the other departments in the company–regardless of their tribal nature. This new HR is plays a key role in project management, process improvement and compliance initiatives. In effect, the new HR is an active member of the “virtual buying committee” for such initiatives and is a user of these now cross-departmental tools.
With HR as the peers and collaborators around the table, they can gain influence on how departments collaborate, and the tools they use to do so. One of their strategies: to get the company to stop purchasing and rolling out departmental tools, such as:
- A project management application just for IT
- A CRM application just for Sales
- A time and billing application just for Services
- An accounting application just for Finance
By enabling, even mandating, that department heads (ex-tribe chiefs) to work as peers and collaborators, the company selects and implements tools that serve the enterprise as whole. In turn, tools that cross the tribal boundaries encourage collaboration.
In the next post, I will describe a common enterprise software investment scenario and how the need for inter-departmental collaboration is fundamentally changing the decision-making process.
Enterprise 2.0: Part 3, The Rebirth of Software
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Enterprise Software, Globalization, workforce management on July 18th, 2007
By M.R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group
Enterprise 2.0 is a new phase for the software industry. The advantages and benefits for software vendors are tremendous. Innovation has driven the industry since its beginning, but now, rather than developing software internally and delivering it to customers, end users, business managers, CIOs, partners and other members of the ecosystem will be included in the innovation process.
An important part of the Enterprise 2.0 promise is the self-service application realm. The user-driven nature of these applications will revolutionize the workforce and the nature of collaboration.
Workforce management applications will emerge as a critical component of Enterprise 2.0 success. Companies that deploy these applications will witness increased visibility, better decision making and improved productivity—all core to the promise of Enterprise 2.0. And as Enterprise 2.0 influences workforce management, “Workforce 2.0” will emerge as companies leverage unprecedented ways to bring together teams, collaborate, share and develop talent, and build knowledge.
The results will be products that are more effective than ever before, customers that are more demanding than ever before and a software vendor ecosystem that will rise to the occasion—or be passed by.
The software industry is being reborn—yet again. Enterprise 2.0 will bring massive innovation to business computing. I stand by the assertion I wrote last year: in five years, we will look back and not recognize the software company of today.
M.R. Rangaswami is co-founder of Sand Hill Group and founder of SandHill.com, a strategic online resource for software business executives. This piece first appeared as part of an op-ed on SandHill.com.
Enterprise 2.0: Part 2, Reaping The Benefits
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise Software, Globalization, workforce management on July 11th, 2007
By M.R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group
The Enterprise 2.0 opportunity for software vendors is to seed the ground for the next era of software applications. Over the next 5 to 10 years, software that leverages the tenets of Enterprise 2.0 will let “a thousand flowers bloom.”
There are a variety of possible scenarios. What if a consumer packaged goods company could introduce products via podcasts? What if a retailer could corresponds with its customers via a RSS? What if Fortune 500 companies could tag all internal documents and create proprietary indexes for future document searches? What if vendors’ software upgrades could be incremental instead of a big bang, all-or-nothing scenario? What if a customer could integrate a legacy application with a new one using only a few keystrokes?
For enterprises, the advantages of Enterprise 2.0 software are numerous.
- Lightweight—Requiring minimal system and maintenance resources
- Easy to use—Simple interfaces will mean no user training is required
- Quick adoption—Company-wide rollouts can be provided via services or downloads
- Easy to integrate—Web services and open source code will ease integration
- Vendor accountability—On-demand and service-based apps keep vendors responsive
As leading-edge CIOs embrace the philosophies and potential of Enterprise 2.0, some software vendors struggle with how they will fit into this new world. The reality is that the benefits for software vendors are also compelling.
- Fast development—New development models such as co-creation and global development will improve go-to-market speed.
- Reduced capital investment—Open source, components and shorter development time translate to lower production costs.
- Shorter sales cycle—Self-service and try-and-buy models mean products prove themselves.
- Committed, satisfied customers—Better products and service-based pricing means customers remain loyal.
In Part 3 of this series, I will describe the implications of Enterprise 2.0 on the users of software, and on Workforce 2.0.
(Jump to the next post in this series.)
M.R. Rangaswami is co-founder of Sand Hill Group and founder of SandHill.com, a strategic online resource for software business executives. This piece first appeared as part of an op-ed on SandHill.com.
Enterprise 2.0: Why It Matters to Project Workforce Management
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise Software, Globalization, workforce management on July 5th, 2007
We welcome M.R. Rangaswami of Sand Hill Group as our guest on Talent on Target for a 3-part series about Enterprise 2.0, and its implications for the software industry.
On this blog, I frequently discuss “Workforce 2.0”—the trend I see, as our world becomes flatter and more global, for work to become more project-based, more service-based, less centralized, and less controlled from the top down.
Enterprise 2.0 and Workforce 2.0 go hand-in-hand. In fact, it is Enterprise 2.0 that is making Workforce 2.0 possible. The ability—both technologically and economically—for enterprises to distribute their work and collaborate globally has a profound effect upon how we manage workforces, develop talent, and even how we treat people at work.
The changes in the software industry, which M.R. sees first-hand in his consultant practice, are simply the first wave that will also overtake the rest of IT and professional services, and have at least ripple effects in every other sector. It is an exciting time to be a part of the changes in the ways we do business and work together.
Enterprise 2.0: Bringing Software to Life
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise Software, Globalization, workforce management on July 5th, 2007
By M.R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group
One by one, technologies, models and vendors have emerged that have had a dramatic impact on the future of the software industry: open source, offshoring, services-oriented architecture (SOA) and software as a service (SaaS). Most recently, the buzz about Web 2.0 has moved to its potential in the business world.
Enterprise 2.0 is the emerging combination of all of these new technologies and models. It will re-shape the CIO’s philosophy about IT and it will transform the way vendors build and sell software.
What is " Enterprise 2.0"?
The most common definition of Enterprise 2.0 has involved the application of Web 2.0 technologies in the enterprise. But the reality is something far more. Enterprise computing is far more complex than personal computing. It includes legacy environments, innumerable vendors, mismatched data sources, stringent regulations and far-flung users. While Web 2.0 can deliver genuine advantages for both business users and consumers, the real "Enterprise 2.0" will encompass a far broader and more complex vision.
Enterprise 2.0 is the synergy of a new set of technologies, development models and delivery methods that are used to develop business software and deliver it to users.
Whether created by software vendors, internal IT departments, line-of-business units or service providers, the software of Enterprise 2.0 will be flexible, simple and lightweight. It will be created using an infinite combination of the latest–and possibly, some old-fashioned–ingredients, including
the following:
- Technologies–Open source, SOA/Web services (AJAX, RSS, blogs, wikis, tagging, social networking, and so on) Web 2.0, legacy and proprietary or some combination
- Development Models–Relying on in-house, outsourced or offshore resources–or any combination; pursuing a global development strategy; and/or pursuing co-creation with users, partners or both
- Delivery Methods–Downloading individually; paying for a license; and/or, using on-demand/SaaS or via a service provider
Only by taking a broad, holistic view of the business IT systems in place today and looking forward, beyond their constraints, will we be able to tap the necessary technologies and models to bring Enterprise 2.0 to life.
In Part 2 of this series, I will explain the advantages and benefits for software vendors to adopt Enterprise 2.0.
(Jump to the next post in this series.)
M.R. Rangaswami is co-founder of Sand Hill Group and founder of SandHill.com, a strategic online resource for software business executives. This piece first appeared as part of an op-ed on SandHill.com.
Outbehave Your Competition in a Flat World
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Globalization, workforce management on July 2nd, 2007
Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, has penned a column in the New York Times entitled "The Whole World is Watching" (NY Times login required). In it, he describes how the Internet has potentially exposed all of its participants to public scrutiny:
When everyone has a blog, a MySpace page or Facebook entry, everyone is a publisher. When everyone has a cellphone with a camera in it, everyone is a paparazzo. When everyone can upload video on YouTube, everyone is filmmaker. When everyone is a publisher, paparazzo or filmmaker, everyone else is a public figure. We’re all public figures now. The blogosphere has made the global discussion so much richer — and each of us so much more transparent.
…
But this also creates opportunities. Today “what” you make is quickly copied and sold by everyone. But “how” you engage your customers, “how” you keep your promises and “how” you collaborate with partners — that’s not so easy to copy, and that is where companies can now really differentiate themselves.
Quoting a new book titled How by Dov Seidman, Friedman discusses how intelligent businesses can use the transparency to "outbehave the competition," keeping in mind that all our behavior can, potentially, become a matter of public record.
The very nature of communication and collaboration in our "flat" world is raising the standards of good behavior, and making us all accountable for how we work together. Companies are already experiencing this transparency, as evidenced in the ways they use blogs more, and press releases less, to shape public opinion.
But this phenomenon will also affect how individuals behave at work. As the world flattens, each individual’s reputation and experience will be published information, whether it is recorded in a write-up in a project workforce management database, or in a video on YouTube. Each individual will take more responsibility–and, I hope, more pride–in the value they add to their project teams and the companies they serve.
Workforce Management Meets Project Management: “Evolve Or Die”
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Globalization, workforce management on June 29th, 2007
On the blog The HR Capitalist (http://www.hrcapitalist.com), Kris Dunn writes about how HR executives need to "get at the table, stay at the table" in terms of providing strategic value to the companies they serve.
In a recent post, Dunn referenced an article in the daily newsletter of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference being held this week in Las Vegas. The newsletter is here:
http://www.workforce.com/tools/dcn/2007shrm_sunday.pdf and the piece on page 2 is titled: "Readying HR managers for a post-HRO future." (HRO is human resources outsourcing.) Here is an excerpt:
The half-filled room at Saturday’s session on project management skills may signal that HR managers don’t yet understand that they must embrace the role of project manager now that more companies are outsourcing their HR processes.
As more companies turn over activities like payroll and benefits administration to vendors, HR managers either have to “evolve or die,” says Jason Corsello, a vice president at human capital management consulting firm Knowledge Infusion.
So here’s an interesting phenomenon: HR managers need to learn project management skills in a Workforce 2.0 world–not just to manage the outsourcing of IT, call centers, and other operational functions–but to manage the outsourcing of HR itself.
Overall, HR will lose its relevance if it assumes that workforces are staying large and static–that is the Workforce 1.0 model. As companies focus on their core competencies, become leaner, and participate in a global economy, HR will be more about managing vendor and partner relationships, accessing talent anywhere any time (not just inside the 4 walls), and developing the best teams for project-based work. This is the Workforce 2.0 model for HR.
Talent Factory: Feeding the Project Workforce
Posted by Rudolf Melik - Project Management Software Blog in Business Process Management, workforce management on June 28th, 2007
Computerworld has published a great interview with Douglas A. Ready, co-author of a recent article in the Harvard Business Review about "talent factories." While these pieces are specifically addressing the need to cultivate talent for management positions, their findings have implications for the project workforce as well.
The Computerworld interview is here: "How To Build a Talent Factory."
In the HBR, Ready and Conger describe two case studies: Procter & Gamble and HSBC Group. Each of these companies has very different processes in place for attracting and cultivating talent, but they share these fundamental principles in common:
- Functionality–rigorously-followed business processes for recruiting, training, and succession management that are designed to align with real strategic objectives
- Vitality (a wonderful concept!)–a commitment to the emotional side of the equation, addressing how leadership’s daily actions foster passion and engagement.
What does this mean for line of business and project managers who have to recruit talent for project-based work? Douglas A. Ready states in the Computerworld interview that the principles of functionality and vitality can apply at any level:
By all means, start with the areas that you can control and influence. There are lots of lessons from talent factories that you can duplicate. Start with your function or region. Then talk up the successes you’ve had: stronger retention, better accept-to-offers ratios, stronger engagement scores — those can give you confidence that talent initiatives are starting to bring about results. Then colleagues may follow your lead.
Project managers, PMOs, HR, services organizations, and anyone who regularly manages and staffs project teams need also to be aware of Functionality and Vitality. Without talent to feed their project workforce, companies will lack or lose their competitive advantage. This applies not only to management positions but also to contractors or employees who are hired for contract work on or assigned to specific projects.
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