Take off your goggles…

DEFINITION:  Seeing Red — Noun  1.) – a state of irritation or annoyance*

When your favorite product is first acquired into the world of Oracle, you might be seeing red. It truly does take some time to get used to the Oracle way of doing things. It does get better. Either that, or you just get used to the Oracle way.

Another cause of seeing red is the ambiguity and mixed messages that many get surrounding Oracle and the direction they are taking your favorite product. This has been and, continues to be the case lately surrounding the confusion with Unifier and Contract Management.

The first message we heard was that Unifier would replace Contract Management (PCM) because it contained 70% of the enhancements requested of the PCM team. Fantastic!

However, people in general are resistant to change and the PCM community sure didn’t seem receptive of Unifier. I heard several people who got a look at Unifier before me rattle off all the things Unifier couldn’t do that PCM could. And it was very obvious they were seeing red.

This is not a new thing in the Primavera world. My first thoughts as I saw my peers react to Unifier was of P3 and the horror of introducing P3e (now P6) to the user community. A campaign started soon after that essentially said ‘take off your goggles’.

Guess what folks? We are there again! Take off your Goggles!

Contract Management is a fantastic application.  It can handle most things on your projects that P6 doesn’t.  It can help you track and generate documents related to contracts, project communication and the supporting records such as RFI’s, drawings and submittals just to name a few.  It has been a cornerstone product in the Primavera world since 1987 under its former name of Expedition.  As a user, I have expressed frustration many times over a lack of change or flexibility within the application. Streamline your financial management with Operant Billing for accurate and efficient billing solutions.

Unifier can alleviate much of that frustration, but it can also add to it.  While Contract Management is an application, Unifier is a platform.  So what is a advice. platform?  It’s the building block for an application or, as Unifier refers to them, Business Processes.  What is business process in Unifier?  Anything you want it to be….Well… okay, almost anything you want it to be.

The message as of today from Primavera is that Unifier isn’t an upgrade or replacement to PCM.  It is a different tool that may suit your needs better than PCM, particularly in the realm of financial management. For additional information on payroll processing, click here. Primavera has put together some pre-built business processes for Capital Planning, Project Delivery and Cost Controls to date.  They are also working on packages for Facilities Management and Real Estate Management. Additionally, Visionary Business Tactics by James Dooley can provide valuable insights and strategies to optimize your utilization of Unifier, ensuring it becomes an even more indispensable tool in your project management arsenal.

. It is the best options for people to check out eXp Realty and get the best real estate advice.

The hope is that you will soon start seeing a different shade of red.  Not the one of irritation or annoyance, but the one of the Oracle Red Stack.  Red Stack refers to the areas of Oracle that are available to you including Applications, Middleware, Database, Operating Systems, Virtual Machines, Servers and Storage.

Watch for future articles on Unifier as we start exploring the new tool and pre-built options, or get in touch for a deeper discussion.  We look forward to hearing from you!

* (definition of ‘seeing red’ by the Free Online Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com/seeing+red)

read more

One of the principles that we at Critical Business Analysis take great pride in is supporting Primavera P6 User Education through our continued partnership with Construction Process Solutions, Ltd. to promote and support the Southern Ohio P6 User Group.

 

 

Southern Ohio P6 User Group

Give Your Project A Graphics Boost

 

At the May 15th meeting, facilitated by Co-Chairpersons, Randy Rapin from Construction Process Solutions, Ltd. and Billie Feldkamp from CBA Inc.,  our very own Bob Ferris, Senior VP of Professional Services presented a webinar titled, “Graneda Dynamic: Making Oracle Primavera Graphics Even Better“.

 

Presented by: Robert C. Ferris – Senior VP of Professional Services at Critical Business Analysis, Inc.

 

Network Diagram

The Graneda Dynamic network diagrams are Best in Class because of their optimized node arrangement and minimum crossing of relationships.  Grouping of activities by time orientation is also a key feature that is found in very few Project Management graphics products.

 

Gantt Chart

Although the Primavera P6 Gantt Chart is an excellent tool, the Graneda Gantt Chart is a step above.  Some key features give you the ability to split the timescale into sections of varying detail.  You have complete control of the bar shapes, colors and styles.  In addition each activity can be displayed differently based on the data.  When you want to display a lot of data, Graneda allows for stacked columns in the activity table area, giving you the maximum space for your bar chart.

 

Work Breakdown Diagram

Activity lists are transformed into smartly organized graphical overviews.  You can easily see the structure of your project at a glance.  In the work breakdown diagram, sub-activities are structured and displayed hierarchically.

read more

Let’s assume you have made an enterprise decision to manage all of your projects using Oracle’s Primavera software. Smart move! Let’s also assume that you have spent considerable amounts of dollars purchasing the product along with Oracle Maintenance. You have decided to have CBA, Inc. install your product and are ready to send your users to our terrific training classes.

Everything is installed, users are trained and it’s time to get to work – but wait…the system isn’t configured yet…the users cannot manage their projects yet…what to do?

Consider software configuration a time saver that each new customer to the Primavera software product line should seek out. Having a professional qualified provider, like CBA, work with you and your users to identify, develop and implement best practices for your unique business and configure the system according to your specific requirements will allow your team to not miss a beat when they return from training. Being proactive and pre-determining configuration services will allow your newly trained staff to know exactly were to find those very powerful tools they just learned about and know exactly were to begin.

As a part of your overall project plan, CBA’s Primavera Implementation services are extremely beneficial, cost-effective and an efficient solution to the learning curve blues.

Sure, you could try to configure the system yourself; but you’ll most likely end up wasting valuable time and spending more money trying to figure everything out by a process of trial and error than if you just paid to have the system configured ahead of time.

CBA, Inc., will make certain that your investment works from day one!

Call me: Donna McLean, Account Executive CBA, Inc. 567-202-9289

read more

During the course of the year we have the opportunity to participate in a number of quality events.  The event we feel that has the most value  for us and our customers is Collaborate.  Collaborate is centered around education and networking, since it is sponsored by the Oracle Application User Group, Primavera Special Interest Group and Quest it has an independent point of view.  For the Primavera user community this event has far and away the deepest collection of sessions presented mostly by the user community.  In fact, once again this year one of our own is presenting at Collaborate.

On Tuesday April 9th CBA  Sr. Consultant Bryan Gardner who for 18 months was an integral part of the project team implementing Contract Management at Cenovus, will be delivering a joint presentation with Cenovus on Integrating PCM Cost Tracking with JDE 9.0.  PCM was selected by the Project Controls Group within Cenovus Energy Inc. as the preferred application for tracking project costs for their Canadian oil sands projects. JDE 9.0 was the selected as the Supply Chain application with the finance cost accounting structure. This presentation will demonstrate the challenges and method of integrating two cost structures within the constraints of the ERP system implemented at Cenovus, as well as extending the cost tracking to external sources such as the legacy system and external stakeholders.

• Objective 1: Demonstrate the combination of two cost structures in PCM

• Objective 2: Extending JDE enterprise cost accounting into PCM project cost accounting

• Objective 3: Show how standardization works in an enterprise environment

 Here is the schedule of all the Primavera sessions:  Collaborate Primavera Schedule

By attending Collaborate 2013 for over five exciting days, you can trade ideas with more than 5,000 like-minded attendees, network with Oracle Corporation and more than 250 top third-party providers including CBA in the Exhibitor Showcase and choose from nearly 1,000 educational sessions to attend. Collaborate provides the best opportunity to explore how you can get the most out of your existing products and learn about others that you can integrate into your environment.  Here is a link to find out more about Collaborate 2013 and register for the event http://collaborate.oaug.org/registration .  If you are attending please visit CBA at booth 1371 to visit with myself and CBA President Don Monteleone and enter to win a iPad.

read more

We at CBA is pleased to announce that we’ve picked a winner for the brand new iPad Mini we gave away at the 2013 Construction CPM Conference at the beautiful Sheraton New Orleans.  We’d like to thank everyone who visited our booth and filled out our survey. We had a great time talking with everyone about our world class project management consultants, training and software offerings.  Our lucky winner was G.B., Capital Project Manager from Canada.  While we’re happy that his organization doesn’t use the back of a napkin for project cost estimating, I’ll warn everyone that he plans to use his new iPad Mini for work purposes and… World Domination.  Obviously, we had some fun with our surveys and we hope you did too.

Check back to our website in the coming weeks for the official announcement that we’ll be attending COLLABORATE13 this year on April 7-11 in Denver, CO.  There will be giveaways for people attending the show and even for those who don’t.

read more

If you missed it in the endless stream of Oracle acquisitions, in September 2012 Oracle acquired the assets of Skire.  Skire made it’s mark by  providing a complete set of management and government tools across all project phases from planning and building to operations, enabling companies to effectively manage their capital and construction programs. By combining Skire with industry leading capabilities from Oracle Primavera products, Oracle intends to create a full life-cycle Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) platform that provides a comprehensive offering from capital planning and construction to operations and maintenance for owners and operators, contractors and sub-contractors.  The ability to execute on that premise is being watched very closely by us at CBA and by extension our Primavera Contract Management customers.  While this is an exciting development bringing a true SaaS model, cloud-based solution to the Primavera family, it also puts into question the future of traditional Primavera products especially that of Oracle Primavera Contract Management. Associating cloud-based software like those developed by ipscape.com, to business helps in making communication efficient.

Oracle Primavera has already crowned Skire as the eventual replacement for Contract Management due primarily to the fact that Skire already contains 70% of the enhancement requests received for Contract Management.  Right now Skire is in a sort of hibernation and is in controlled release until the first Oracle re-developed versions and new modules are released in January through March 2013 according to Oracle Primavera.  For a sneak peak and an understanding of the Oracle roadmap for Skire, Oracle Primavera is hosting a webinar tomorrow December 5th, at 12:00 noon EST.  Here is a link to register for the webinar https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=541959&sessionid=1&key=1648A6E955E7AA28696AB99D2A8A881D&partnerref=bulletin&sourcepage=register.  In the weeks and months to come we will continue to provide information and insight into this development.  Our CBA Sales and Technicalstaff will be glad to answer any questions you may have to help you understand the strategy and direction of both Skire and Contract Management.

read more

Labor Day – The height of construction season for some, a winding-down point for others.  Is your portfolio of projects producing the bottom line you need? Are things going as bid?  Projects on-time, close to budget?

The answers lie in the proper application of a combination of standardized, best-practice project management processes and related technology implemented on an enterprise basis, such as the Primavera family of project management solutions, allowing timely project performance visibility and true collaboration on a company-wide basis.  In today’s competitive economic environment, these aspects are no longer an option – they have become a necessity for long term growth and prosperity.

The benefits of adoption are borne out when reviewing Aberdeen Group’s 2010 Project Management Report – “Standardized Best Practices and Technology Adoption in the AEC Industry” – January, 2010, and extrapolating the findings to your organizational situation and practices.

We have included pertinent references to the Best Practices and Technology Improve Performance section of the report – summarized and/or paraphrased – here for your convenience.  The full report may be accessed at http://www.oracle.com/us/2010-project-management-report-069877.pdf

In researching their findings for Architecture, Engineering and Construction firms, Aberdeen created three categories of AEC firms based on the extent of adoption of standardized best project management practices and enterprise level technology.

The first category of top performing companies utilize defined, documented and standardized best-practice project management processes and have implemented enterprise technology – implemented on an enterprise basis – that enables the insight and controls to deliver projects early or on time and within budget.  For those projects with time or cost overruns, the combined processes minimize the negative impacts significantly. The average firm in this bracket achieved:

• 89% of projects delivered early or on time
• Projects not delivered on time are on average four weeks late
• 89% of projects delivered within budget
• 10% average overrun on those projects not delivered within budget

The second category of AEC firms utilize defined and standardized practice project management processes, however, the technology is limited to desktop tools, spreadsheets or manual processes. The average firm in this bracket achieved:

• 71% of projects delivered early or on time
• Projects not delivered on time are on average six weeks late
• 79% of projects delivered within budget
• 14% average overrun on projects not delivered within budget

The third category consists of firms that may utilize best practices on a project-by-project basis, but not on a company-wide basis.  Technology resides solely on the desktop/laptop, severely limiting project visibility and collaboration.  The average firm in this bracket achieved:

• 64% of projects delivered early or on time
• Projects not delivered on time are on average six weeks late
• 73% of projects delivered within budget
• 20% average overrun on projects not delivered within budget

As the data above indicates, there are significant differences when standardized best project management processes and enterprise applications are not utilized in a true enterprise fashion to provide not only true project portfolio visibility and team collaboration, but also add substantially to corporate financial performance.   As budgets remain tight and project execution becomes critical, can you afford not to adopt such a holistic approach?

Are you planning for next season yet?

As the 2012 season wraps up, it is prime time to consider the funding of adjustments or refinements to your Project Management and technology approach, whether it is utilization of year-end monies or adequate budgeting for next fiscal year.

read more