TenStep Product Offerings
TenStep PM Process
The TenStep Project Management Process® (TenStep) will help project managers successfully manage projects of all kinds. On many project management sites you are sent to links to order books. On others, you find a professor's notes from a college class. The TenStep Project Management Process provides the information you need to be a successful project manager, including a step-by-step approach, starting with the basics and getting as sophisticated as you need for your particular project.
TenStep PMBOK Format
The second product represented is the PMBOK®. The Project Management Institute (PMI)
has created a standard framework for how to think about project management. This
framework is represented in their Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®).
The PMBOK® does not represent a methodology. It is really a high-level model
that describes the various knowledge areas that PMI thinks are important for
project managers to understand to be successful on projects. At a very high
level, some of these knowledge areas (and sub-areas) can be tied together into
processes. However, the PMBOK is not meant to be a process map for project
managers. Instead, the PMBOK® contains knowledge areas, sub-processes, inputs
and outputs, and techniques (typically definitions, not how-to's).
The bottom line is that an organization would be hard-pressed to use the PMBOK® as a
means to actually manage projects.
TenStep PB (TenStep in the PMBOK®
Framework™) combines the TenStep Project Management Process with the PMBOK® to
create a new product that can be used to manage your projects. This product
contains all of the detailed information from the TenStep Project Management
Process mapped into the PMBOK® framework. This resulting product is a great
choice for companies that want the clear, detailed content of the TenStep
Project Management process, but prefer to align their overall project management
model to the PMBOK®.
PMO Implementation - PMOStep
Organizations around the world are
implementing formal project management processes and disciplines to deliver
their work initiatives on time, within budget and to an agreed upon level of
quality. Part of the ability to execute better, faster and cheaper comes from
your ability to implement common processes and practices across your entire
organization. Many organizations have attempted to deploy common processes by
creating a focused Project Management Office (PMO) and giving this organization
varying aspects of responsibility for projects and project management
methodology.
There are many potential products and
services that a PMO can be responsible for, depending on the needs of the
organization and the vision of the PMO sponsor. The group is typically
responsible for acquiring and deploying a common project management process to
the rest of the organization. However, they can also do much more, including
training and coaching, project audits, consolidated project status reporting,
project management certification, portfolio management, etc.
TenStep can help you understand how to best define and
utilize a PMO within your organization. We have the products and expertise to
help you create and implement your deployment plan, providing you with a fully
capable PMO. We recommend deploying methodology in waves, concentrating on the
most critical aspects first, and then rolling out increasingly more complex and
sophisticated features of the methodology as time goes by.
Process Modelling - ProcessStep
The ProcessStep Process Modeling Framework (ProcessStep) is the methodology that defines and documents business Processes and drives out areas for improvement or opportunities to introduce best practices.
Project LifeCycle - LifeCycleStep
Projects are
the way that most new work gets delivered. All projects have certain
characteristics in common. They all have a beginning and an end. In other words,
they do not continue on forever. Projects result in the creation of one or more
deliverables. Projects also have assigned resources - either full time, part
time or both. There are other characteristics as well. All organizations can
have projects. Projects can include building a house or office building,
planning and executing a marketing campaign, upgrading desktop operating
systems, installing a new phone system, developing an IT business application,
etc.
Projects can be managed using a common set of project
management processes. In fact, a similar set of project management processes can
be utilized regardless of the type of project. All projects should be defined
and planned and all projects should manage scope, risk, quality, status, etc.
Project management, however, defines the overall management and control
processes for the project. Project management does not actually result in the
project execution. At some point, you still need to define the actual activities
necessary to build the house, execute the marketing campaign, develop the IT
business application and upgrade the desktop operating systems. These activities
are referred to as the project lifecycle and the project lifecycle is the focus
of LifecycleStep.
Portfolio Implementation - PortfolioStep
No company has
the resources to meet all of its business needs. A portfolio management process
provides a way to select, prioritize, authorize and manage the totality of work
in the organization. This includes work that has been completed, work
in-progress and work that has been approved for the future.
Managers that do not understand how
their budgets are spent, and who cannot validate that scarce resources are
assigned to work that is of the most value, will find themselves under greater
scrutiny and second-guessing in the future. Portfolio management can help your
organization answer some of the most basic, yet difficult, questions regarding
work performed and value provided.
TenStep has a predefined model for
implementing portfolio management in your organization using our ten step
model.
Application Support - SupportStep
Today, all major business processes are computerized in part or in whole. Therefore, every company must have an application support organization to ensure that these business applications run successfully and are error free. These support groups provide the backbone services that keep the production business applications going, which in turn allow the business itself to keep functioning. SupportStep is designed to provide the information necessary to successfully establish and manage the business application support group.
