Steve Cotterell examines this highly configurable, enterprise-level PPM solution, concentrating mainly on its most recently added features.

Transcription

1 SmartCore Steve Cotterell examines this highly configurable, enterprise-level PPM solution, concentrating mainly on its most recently added features. On their company Web site, Ninth Wave describes SmartCore as a web based, highly adaptive platform allowing distributed users to collaborate and share both information and process in a controlled knowledge management environment. I couldn t have put it better, for this software system provides a single version of the truth in an integrated hub that gives its users access to all portfolio, programme and project processes, from strategic planning through project execution to benefits management. It can be adapted to use the organisation s terminology, workflow structure and work practices and is also designed to evolve as the customer s project management capability matures. It can be provided on both a SaaS and an in-house basis. This system can be integrated with many other systems including document management, timesheet, ledger and requirements management and will also interface with MS Project and Primavera. Ninth Wave has developed a generic API (which can communicate with any system that publishes an API) which allows data to be passed from SmartCore to third party applications, such as estimating packages, and to make use of the results of the calculations done by those packages. Using the API, SmartCore can be linked to a specific desktop system, and the results of that system can be made available across the Cloud. During the implementation process, Ninth Wave tailors and configures the application to their client s requirements and different roles and other groups of people can be given their own customisable configuration. This review is mostly based on a typical project manager s configuration. Organisations that experience a high staff turnover have to contend with staff that are unfamiliar with the company procedures and so they need a package that offers guidance in this area as well as providing the required tools; SmartCore can do that via its Process Library. This is a customer configurable wiki (which can be linked to external systems if they already exist) in which the organisation can document its processes. Although this area has no content when the system is purchased, Ninth Wave could populate it with their client s processes (if they were asked to do so), during the implementation process. There s a full SmartCore help system which can also be linked to this area. A fully-featured but highly customisable PPM solution ideally suited for use by large organisations with a geographically distributed workforce. A project managers Home screen overlaid with a project dashboard

2 The Management Deliverables Centre Tiles can be configured to give access to external applications and you can also create Favourite tiles to give instant access to a particular project, programme or other area of the system. On logging in, the project manager sees a tiled home screen. The different tile functions are indicated by the tile colours and icons. Green tiles lead to reference information and blue tiles indicate work to be done. A tile flashing orange indicates the need for immediate attention. All tile icons and colours are customisable. Tiles can be rearranged on the screen and can be deleted. The company can set up a predefined list of tiles and can flag tiles to prevent their deletion or to anchor them to a particular place on the screen. People with the necessary permission can create new tiles, which can be for individual use or shared with all users. A set of tiles can be nested below another tile. Depending on the screen resolution and size, additional tiles can be added to the Home screen and additional tile pages can also be added. Buttons leading to functions and wizards can be attached to any screen throughout the system. Active data can be displayed on the face of a tile and right-clicking a tile can display additional data on that topic. Tiles can be configured to give access to external applications and you can also create Favourite tiles to give instant access to a particular project, programme or other area of the system. If the Favourite tile points at a project, it will display a graph showing the RAG status of the project, its stage and the level of compliance (more about compliance later) shown as a percentage figure. Clicking a project tile opens a flexible, interactive dashboard for that project, superimposed on the Home page and containing summary project data. If you click the dashboard s top margin, the project is opened full screen. If you select the Summary tab, you are presented with a screen showing basic project information, summarising the costs and benefits and other financial data including both cash flow and payback. Above the dashboard s summary information panel appears a Timeline graph showing the current project situation. Below the Summary panel can be displayed a list of project stages, phases or work packages listing the outstanding items in each area, drillable for detail. If you click on the Quality summary box, you arrive at a display that lists, across the screen, all the project s stages. Below each heading is a list of the management deliverables involved in that stage. Each deliverable carries a RAG indicator showing whether it s been signed off (green), has been submitted but not approved (amber) or is overdue (red). A blue indicator shows that it s been decided not to use this deliverable in this project - a manager s waiver must be attached. If you click a hyperlink on a completed document, which can be held in the system library, in SharePoint or in another URL linkable area, that document is opened. When setting up project templates, template documents can be attached to the deliverables in this area and these will be automatically included at the project start-up. Whenever possible, when data that needs to be included in a document is entered elsewhere in the system, it s also copied to the appropriate area of the relevant documents so, for example, having entered the project initiation data, the project manager should find the business case document almost ready. The system calculates the quality index by looking at the completed stages, taking account of any missing documents in these areas. The Add tile summons the area in which you can add projects, activities, risks, issues or anything else to your system. When setting up a project, you enter details of the project s scope and deliverables, inter-project dependencies, financials - including budget forecast and actuals, funding sources and financial and non-financial benefits. Stakeholder information is recorded and is used for authorisation purposes. When setting up a new project, especially a repetitive project, clicking the Home page Model a Project tile produces a set of questions about the project. Once they ve been answered, the system selects the appropriate project template from the set already created by the business. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014

3 The Benefit Chain diagram You re then asked for a projected end date and an estimated duration for the project s key stage. Given this information the system calculates each task s duration, the number of resources and days required and the costs involved. You can then use this calculated scenario to create the new project and edit any figures where necessary. Metrics from previous projects can be used to adjust the figures used by the templates, either through SmartCore s own capabilities or using Price Systems TruePlanning parametric estimating package. The PERT Calculator tile (there s also a link to this tool from the task editing box.) summons a wizard that collects the estimated duration of an activity. You enter the best, worst and most likely durations and, using standard PERT algorithms, the wizard suggests a set of durations, indicating the level of confidence of achieving each one, for the user to select from. A question mark in the corner of the dialogue box containing the tool leads to a full explanation of the process. The Project Register can also be reached via the Home page. This details the number of green, amber and red projects in the organisation s portfolio. Other registers, including those for risks and issues are also held and, when a register list is displayed, items in that list can be edited there and then, without drilling any deeper. Any list produced by the system can be exported to Excel and Word or as a PDF file. Three other tiles help you keep abreast of the current situation. The Action Today tile, when clicked, displays a drillable list of everything to be done today. The Chaser tile shows project tasks and other work that other people have been asked to do. This list is groupable and filterable by any property and can be constrained using a time envelope. The third tile Exceptions lists things that should have happened and haven t or where tolerances have been exceeded - things that are going wrong with the project and that need to be examined. Although not mentioned elsewhere in this review, SmartCore offers a full-featured Gantt chart with scheduling and project progressing functionality. Comprehensive resource management functionality is included in the package, including conflict detection and resolution. You can search the system for someone to do specific work during a specified time slot in a specific location, taking account of the skill levels required. You can indicate how flexible your dates are and you can search multiple resource pools. SmartCore s social media functionality supports threaded chat about projects, risks and so on. Clicking the project manager s Social Media tile displays chat about all aspects of that manager s responsible area. If you enter the chat area via a project, or any other record (eg a risk), you just see the chat relating to that area. Your Home page Timesheet tile flashes orange if your timesheet entry is overdue and clicking it opens your timesheet for the entry of your work details. Timesheets are subjected to an approval workflow before the details are posted to the system. The project manager has access to a Timesheet Processing tile which shows the number of timesheets, relevant to that SmartCore offers a full-featured Gantt chart with scheduling and project progressing functionality.

4 The Forecast Scenario screen Searches can include synonym, stemming and natural language searches and documents held in other systems, that link to the system via URLs, (and which are automatically indexed when registered to the system) can also be included in searches. project manager, that are awaiting approval. Click this tile and you see a list of the tasks: click the items in the list to see and authorise the individual details. You can also authorise the timesheets from the summary list without closely inspecting them. The way timesheets and other system processes are handled can be controlled by instituting a workflow. On every screen containing data, there is a workflow bar showing the progress that this particular data follows. For example, on the screen containing a risk, the workflow steps might be: Create an active risk followed by two alternative steps, either Accept Risk or Mitigate Risk. These two options would appear on the active risk screen as buttons. With permission, you can open a workflow screen and create a new state, say Escalate and link that state back to Active. You create an Escalate button and this option would then appear additionally on the Risk Screen workflow bar. Workflow rules can be set up and permissions can be attached to workflow options. Guards can be established preventing movement along the workflow if certain conditions are not met and you can require several actions to be completed before a transition becomes available. Once a transition is made, other activities can be generated, such as sending an . You can search the entire system for any combination of properties or any keyword or phrase in the database and in documents in the system library. Searches can include synonym, stemming and natural language searches and documents held in other systems, that link to the system via URLs, (and which are automatically indexed when registered to the system) can also be included in searches. Searches can be saved as favourites. Another way of looking at the documentation for the full project range is to use the Home page Library tile. The list it produces is filterable and can be grouped by projects, stages, priority, status, etc. and the documents can be opened from here. SmartCore s Reports Centre contains the standard reports used by your projects and a Progress Report Wizard utilises data from within the system and gives the project manager the opportunity to add comments and forecasts. Each report is saved by the system and can be used to create a project history. There s a full audit trail behind the system, recording who has made changes and when. Specific system fields can be flagged, at system administration level, as History Capable ensuring that, whenever such a field is changed, a reason for the change would be required. Every record in the system has a journal and this contains history comments, s, social media interaction and comments. Strategic Planners have their own Home page containing the tools, resources and views that they require. At portfolio level the system allows you to model the strategic objectives of the organisation. You can then break down each objective into steps that define the benefits to be aimed for, and what needs to be done to achieve them. The system contains a Strategy Questionnaire, usually used when you re setting a project up, that asks questions about how the project aligns with the targeted project portfolio drivers and the risks involved. The project can be attached to one or more benefits and is scored against its alignment against strategic drivers and the cost of the project compared with NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014

5 A Benefits Dashboard the value of the anticipated benefits and the budget availability. Alternative scenarios can be created at portfolio level, to help decide the projects priority. From data held by the system, the resource availability for the future is calculated, taking account of permanent staff and contractors, estimated holiday requirements and non-project time. The results of these calculations are used when deciding if resources will be available to carry out a project. The Forecast Scenario screen can then be used to compare the feasibility of different combinations of project demand and resource supply scenarios, taking account of mandatory projects and fixed end dates, to arrive at the optimum combination. Once all the scenarios have been established, the system will produce a report that recommends the actions to be taken when implementing each scenario. This report is intended to help management decide which scenario to use and to action the one decided upon. How much does it cost? SmartCore system costs from 1,500 a month for a rented solution, with the cost depending on the scope of the deployment, the functionality required and whether installed in-house or hosted by Ninth Wave. A large, enterprise-wide solution can cost more than 500,000. All prices exclude VAT. Right to Reply Steve, thank you for this updated review of SmartCore s capabilities. You ve covered the exciting recent developments in the solution, including our user-configurable tiles homepage, API-based interfacing, powerful new wiki, wizard and workflow functionality and enhanced strategic planning and resource management capabilities. We aim to offer a one-stop-shop for our customers, providing implementation, integration, support and hosting services as required, with every aspect delivered by Ninth Wave. You ve said that the solution is ideally suited for use by large organisations, but SmartCore has also been successfully deployed in smaller organisations to meet their specific requirements. Our approach appeals to those organisations that are unsure about what they need, or who know that their needs will change over time, or to those who just can t find a solution to meet their specific needs elsewhere. With a company focus on PPM, we have successfully deployed SmartCore across a range of different sectors, including defence, energy, finance, government, media, manufacturing, telecoms and transport. As an established UK-based firm in a market shared with large US corporations, we are proud to offer an innovative and powerful solution that is fully up-to-date with the latest trends in PPM software. Jon Lewis, Director, Ninth Wave Ltd Ninth Wave Ltd, Sherborne House, 119 Cannon Street, London EC4N 5AT Tel: partners@ninthwave.co.uk