IT Portfolio Management

Meta Group insights on managing IT investments as a portfolio to maximize returns while balancing risk. ...

Asset Management: Secure, Track Your Laptops

A number of interesting experiences and lessons are at play here for Starbucks ... The need for better security of private employee data. Traceability of its information technology assets. In this case, the company is not even sure that the assets are out of its possession. And, finally, transparency. Starbucks is being pretty open about the situation, as embarrassing as it is. They'll learn and improve from the experience. ...

... "Starbucks Corporation announced that four retired (no longer in regular use) laptops have been identified as missing from the Starbucks Corporate Support Center in Seattle. Two of the laptops contained the private information, including names and social security numbers, of nearly 60,000 United States partners (employees) and less than 80 Canadian partners and contractors at all levels employed across the organization prior to Dec.31, 2003. At this time, there is no indication that the private information in question has been misused or that the devices are in the hands of someone intending to misuse the information. These laptops may still be in the possession of Starbucks, however we cannot currently locate them. In accordance with Starbucks standards for information security, the laptops were password protected. " ...

Via Starbucks: Link

Technology Evolution: Call to Green Action ...

As computing density increases, power consumption is spiraling out of control. It is time for the Information Technology industry to do its part in energy conservation and management. ...

... "Chief information officers need to wake up to the issues of spiralling energy consumption and environmental legislation, and develop greener approaches to IT, according to Gartner. " ...

Via ITNews Australia: Gartner urges IT to go green ...

A green strategy can include server virtualization which increases asset utilization and lowers the energy footprint of the datacenter ...

IBM VIRTUALIZATION SERVES UP COOLER SYSTEMS FOR US OPEN TENNIS EVENT: "Virtualization technology, which IBM has been providing to clients since before Arthur Ashe won his first US Open title in 1968, allows many computing resources to act as one and, more commonly, one computer, storage device or server to divide its own workload and act as many different resources. By reducing the number of computers and servers in use, virtualization helps minimize the often strenuous and expensive power and cooling demands of datacenters and eliminate unnecessary maintenance expenses. "

ITIL Service Desk Software: Market Consolidation ...

Mercury acquires ITIL service desk software vendor to improve the depth of its offering. Rapid integration of this acquisition should position Mercury as a viable competitor in the service desk space with its suite approach to IT service and portfolio management. ...

... "The acquired offering is an advanced set of ITIL-based technologies that help enable companies to take a business-centric approach to managing an enterprise service desk with low total cost of ownership. This technology provides advanced out-of-the-box ITIL-based capabilities in incident management, problem resolution, configuration management, change management and release management, along with robust functionality in asset and inventory management. Mercury provides this technology as part of its Mercury Service Desk product, which is available as a strategic part of the Mercury BTO Enterprise and part of the Mercury Application Change Lifecycle solution. Mercury plans to further incorporate this technology to expand its set of ITSM offerings within the Mercury BTO Enterprise. " ...

ITIL Service Desk Software: Market Consolidation: Via Mercury Interactive: Mercury Accelerates BTO Strategy For IT Service Management With Strategic Acquisitions ...

HP: Service Desk Asset Management Integration ...

On the heels of the acquisition, HP wastes no time in making progress on the Peregrine acquisition by integrating the Service Desk and Asset Management capabilities. Kudos to them. ...

... "Less than three months after closing the acquisition, HP has combined HP OpenView Service Desk and Peregrine's AssetCenter to provide customers with greater insight and control over their IT assets. ... Asset management enhances a chief information officer's ability to run IT as a service delivery business and to flip the ratio of IT spending between maintenance and innovation. "

HP: Service Desk Asset Management Integration: Via HP: HP Announces First Milestone in Peregrine Software Integration

SOX 404 Solution: IT Controls Automation

New software release incorporates controls automation, testing, and reporting in a comprehensive library of business processes. ...

... "With the new release, MetricStream Design now enables users to identify any control as a process-level application control or a process-level general IT control or a process-level manual control. In addition, MetricStream Design now enables users to capture general IT controls by defining IT as a separate function with various processes such as acquisition, change management, service level monitoring, security, incident management etc and enabling customers to easily comply with COBIT, ISO17799 and ITIL standards. MetricStream Assess now provides a framework that automates the testing of process level application controls and reports the results for the entire test - including manual and application controls, in an integrated manner and also provides an out-of-the-box library containing more than 1500 tests for automating the testing of application level controls in general ledger, procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, inventory / cost Accounting, asset management and payroll processes. " ...

SOX 404 Solution: IT Controls Automation: Via MetricStream: MetricStream adds full support for IT Controls and Automation of Application Control Testing in its SOx 404 Solution ...

Project Work Packages; The Importance of Delegation

I read this story on Stephen Covey's website about his inspiring interview with a well-respected Naval captain. They key success factors for this captain were his ability to delegate, and his trust in his subordinates. This trust and delegation truly inspired passion and accountability in his people (something we've promoted here at PMThink as well).

It reminded me again of the importance of Work Packages in project management, where we assign deliverable (or group of deliverables) to a work package owner, and give them full accountability of managing the details to "make it so" (as Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation would say).

Here's Stephen Covey's account of this interview:

I was training U.S. Navy officers in leadership during the dot.com era, when someone told me about an exemplary leader named Captain David Marquet, Captain of the U.S.S. Santa Fe, who never lost anyone, in spite of the hellish conditions submarine personnel are required to endure. An opportunity arose, which I jumped at.

I was invited to board Captain Marquet’s sub and interview him. Never before had I observed such empowerment. We stood on the bridge of this multibillion-dollar nuclear submarine with a football field of vessel in front of and behind us. A young officer approached the Captain and said, "Sir, I intend to take this ship down 400 feet." Captain Marquet asked about the sonar and sounding and then instructed this young man to give us another twenty minutes on the bridge before carrying out his intention.

Throughout the day, people approached the captain intending to do this or do that. The Captain would sometimes ask a question or two, but then say, "Very well." He reserved only the top decisions for his own confirmation and empowered others to make the rest. He said he wanted to empower his people as far as he possibly could within the Navy’s confines. He felt if he required them to own the problem and the solution to it, they would begin to view themselves as a vitally important link in the chain of command. He created a culture where those sailors had a real sense of adding value.

Months after my sub ride, Captain Marquet wrote to inform me that the U.S.S. Santa Fe was awarded the Arleigh Burke Trophy for most improved submarine, ship, or aviation squadron in the Pacific.

All in all, a very inspiring reminder to us that we don't need to be managing every last detail of our projects, and instead must have faith in our most valuable asset---our team. This "distributed accountability" approach is a surefire way to encourage and exploit team synergy. Just pick the right people, give them guidelines, and get out of the way.

SOX SarbanesOxley: IT Asset Management: Webinar

Peregrine and Protiviti collaborate in Web Seminar, Dec 8, on driving SOX Sarbanes-Oxley compliance through better management of information technology assets. ...

Via Peregrine: Peregrine Systems and Protiviti to Participate in InformationWeek TechWebCast on Sarbanes-Oxley and the Role of IT Asset Management ...

... "The WebCast will take place on Thursday, December 8 at 9:00 a.m. PST, and will discuss how organizations can minimize the total cost of ownership for IT assets and mitigate the risks associated with software audits. Although a number of major milestones have been met since Sarbanes-Oxley regulations were enacted in 2002, there is still a long way to go to achieve effective long-term compliance, especially within the IT organization. During this discussion, experts from Peregrine and Protiviti will draw on their experience working with business and technology leaders to offer advice on what's necessary to meet Sarbanes-Oxley compliance requirements and discuss a fast track approach to establishing leading IT Asset Management practices. " ...

ITIL Service Desk Implementation: Virgin ...

Virgin implements software to enable the ITIL-compliant service desk, including project management integration. ...

ITIL Service Desk Implementation: Virgin: Via Axios Systems, the leading ITIL based Help Desk and IT Service Management solution: Virgin goes for experience in IT Service Management ...

... "Virgin Money is installing assyst across its operation at its central Service Desk in Norwich, initially implementing Incident Management to be followed by Asset and Configuration Management. This first phase of the implementation will also include an integration with its internal project management process. " ...

IT Governance: CA Enables Optimized Resource Management: Clarity ...

CA provides improvements to Clarity IT governance software that enable optimized resource management. ...

IT Governance: CA Enables Optimized Resource Management: Clarity: Via Computer Associates: CA Delivers Enhancements to its Clarity IT Governance Solution, Enabling World-Class IT Performance

... "To be effective, IT organizations must be able to quickly and appropriately allocate the right resources to the right projects. Clarity now allows this optimized allocation process to be performed dynamically - even as project plans and schedules are being changed - by empowering resource managers to shift resources based on evolving requirements. Clarity also now supports withholding certain functionality (such as access to project documents and time recording) from resources until they are formally assigned to a project, enabling greater process control. In addition, Clarity's enhanced organizational breakdown structure (OBS) and reporting structure filtering ease the complexity associated with juggling demand across teams. IT department managers can use a variety of powerful resource analysis screens to zoom in on the capacity and demand for the specific needs of a particular part of their organization, for a certain line manager, and for custom groupings such as application area, customer or project type. " ...

Clarity, the industry-leading IT Governance solution, enables IT organizations to achieve world-class performance by improving the quality of their engagement with the business and enhancing their ability to run at peak efficiency. The Clarity system features integrated portfolio planning, demand management, project management, resource planning, and time and cost management. More than 425,000 users at 425 companies depend on Clarity to govern IT and, increasingly, to manage new product development. The Clarity Division (formerly Niku) is part of CA's Business Service Optimization (BSO) unit, which offers leading systems for service, asset and change management and provides a comprehensive framework for delivery of world-class IT services.

SW-CMM Level3: Mellon Teams Succeed ...

Software teams at financial services firm, Mellon Financial, demonstrate Level 3 performance in the Capability Maturity Model for Software, SW-CMM. ...

SW-CMM Level3: Mellon Teams Succeed: Via Mellon Financial Corporation: Mellon Software Engineering Teams Successfully Complete SW-CMM (Capability Maturity Model for Software) Level 3 Reappraisals ...

... "Two of Mellon Financial Corporation's software engineering teams have renewed their SW-CMM (Capability Maturity Model for Software) Level 3 appraisals. Mellon operations supported by the two teams include global cash management, foreign exchange, wholesale markets trading, trust & custody, and middle- and back-office management solutions for investment managers. Accomplished using the current CMM for Software model with a new, more rigorous Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) appraisal method, these Level 3 appraisal renewals position Mellon to move to the new process model, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). " ...

Mellon Financial Corporation is a global financial services company. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon is one of the world's leading providers of financial services for institutions, corporations and high net worth individuals, providing institutional asset management, mutual funds, private wealth management, asset servicing, payment solutions and investor services, and treasury services. Mellon has approximately $4.5 trillion in assets under management, administration or custody, including $766 billion under management. Its asset management companies include The Dreyfus Corporation and U.K.-based Newton Investment Management Limited.

ITIL ITSM Software Market Competition Grows: Maximo ...

Software vendor MRO Software repurposes their Maximo solution to support IT service management based on the ITIL principles. Competition in the ITSM software market continues to grow as firms shift their products to address this hot space. ...

ITIL ITSM Software Market Competition Grows: Maximo: Via MRO Software: MRO SOFTWARE'S MAXIMO ENTERPRISE SUITE ON DISPLAY AT GARTNER'S 2005 SYMPOSIUM ITXPO: IT Service Management Suite Shows Early Momentum ...

... "MRO Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: MROI), the leading provider of asset and service management solutions, today announced that the company's Maximo Enterprise Suite (MXES) will be on display at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo. MXES combines asset and service management functionality with an IT infrastructure library (ITIL)-based solution for IT Service Management. Companies are shifting from simply managing assets to managing the service they perform and the strategic contribution they make to the business. MRO Software's Maximo Enterprise Suite builds on the Company's core expertise in asset management to deliver an expanded, comprehensive IT Service Management solution encompassing IT Asset Management and Service Desk functionality. " ...

MRO Software is the leading provider of asset and service management solutions. Maximo Enterprise Suite, the Company's flagship solution, is delivered on a web-architected platform and increases productivity, optimizes asset performance, and service levels, reduces costs and enables asset-related sourcing and procurement across the entire spectrum of strategic assets. The Company's asset management solutions allow customers to manage the complete lifecycle of strategic assets including: planning, procurement, deployment, tracking, maintenance and retirement. Using MRO Software's solutions, customers improve production reliability, labor efficiency, material optimization, software license compliance, lease management, warranty and service management across the asset base. MRO Software (Nasdaq: MROI) is a global company based in Bedford, Mass., with approximately 900 employees, and more than 300,000 end-users. The Company markets its products through a direct sales organization in combination with a network of international distributors. MRO Software has sales offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America.

Organisational benefits of Project Management Maturity

This chapter by Dr Cooke-Davies examines some interesting questions about organisational maturity. It includes discussion of the question 'Is maturity an asset?' The conclusion is not an un-equivocal 'Yes', a lot depending on the context and dependence of the organisation on project management generally.
For those in the industry with an interest in promoting maturity models, there are important issues to ponder. For instance, how well do different maturity models actually confer benefit? Since most models evolve as experience in their use is acquired, there probably is no definitive answer.
This is a topic that deserves a lot more discussion.
Measurement of Organisational Maturity

SOA Governance: Best Practice Strategies Webinar ...

SOA Governance: Best Practice Strategies Webinar: Via Service Integrity: Real-Time Business Intelligence for Service Oriented Enterprises

Upcoming webinar explores best practices and strategy for SOA Service Oriented Architecture in leading enterprises ...

... "Service Integrity, a provider of real-time Business Intelligence (BI) software for Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), and Systinet, the leader in SOA governance and lifecycle management, announced they will co-host a webinar, Creating a Policy and Practice Blueprint for SOA, on Tuesday, October 4. The online event will present best practices and strategies for building today's service-oriented enterprises, including the critical steps for establishing a system of record for SOA policies and how to secure real-time visibility into the implementation of best practices. " ...

Systinet is a leading software provider of the foundation for SOA governance and business service lifecycle management. Founded in 2000, Systinet's award-winning, proven, and standards-based products enable IT organizations to rapidly leverage existing technology investments, provide interoperability between heterogeneous systems, and better align business processes with IT. Customers receive the benefits of a simpler, faster, standards-based way to dramatically improve IT responsiveness and technology asset reuse, while maximizing the ROI for SOA. Systinet's customer base of over 150 Global 2000 clients includes Amazon.com, BMC Software, Interwoven, JP Morgan, Motorola, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and SAIC. Headquartered in Burlington, Mass., Systinet is a privately held company with over 100 employees.

Service Integrity provides patent-pending, real-time Business Intelligence (BI) software for Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA). As a consequence of implementing SOA, more business critical data is “in-flight” than ever, and it’s moving at the speed of light. Service Integrity’s SIFT™ software uniquely resolves the challenge of harnessing and leveraging Information-in-Motion™ to achieve optimal business execution. With SIFT, companies like Pfizer, Novell, and Fidelity National Financial achieve the insight, agility, and predictability they need to gain increased regulatory compliance, continuous risk management, and seamless operational performance. Service Integrity is headquartered in Boston, MA.

ProjectManagement ITGovernanceSoftware Linux Capable ...

Project Management IT Governance Software Linux Capable: Via Computer Associates: CA's Clarity IT Governance Solution Available on Red Hat Linux

Clarity project management and IT governance solution has been enabled to run on Linux platform ...

... "Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE:CA) today announced that its flagship IT Governance (ITG) solution, Clarity (formerly from Niku), is now available on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system. This extended platform support enables Clarity users to take advantage of the many benefits offered by this open source platform, including a broad choice of hardware options, development flexibility, greater ease of application integration and enhanced scalability. " ...

Clarity, an industry-leading IT Governance solution, enables IT organizations to achieve world-class performance by improving the quality of their engagement with the business and enhancing their ability to run at peak efficiency. The Clarity system features integrated portfolio planning, demand management, project management, resource planning, and time and cost management. More than 425,000 users at 425 companies depend on Clarity to govern IT and, increasingly, to manage new product development. The Clarity Division (formerly Niku) is part of CA's Business Service Optimization (BSO) unit, which offers leading systems for service, asset and change management and provides a comprehensive framework for delivery of world-class IT services.

EPM Software: Artemis China Presence ...

EPM Software: Artemis China Presence: Via Artemis: ARTEMIS INTERNATIONAL SOLUTIONS CORP OPENS NEW CHINA OFFICE - Investment Planning and Control Solutions

Artemis expands China presence with Shanghai office ...

... "Artemis International Solutions Corporation (OTCBB: AMSI), global provider of Investment Planning and Control solutions, announced the company has established a direct operation in Shanghai, China, to meet the growing demand for its line of Investment Planning & Control solutions including IT Management, New Product Development and Strategic Asset Optimization. " ...

Asset Portfolio Management Teams Drive Reuse

Asset Portfolio Management Teams Drive Reuse: Via Flashline Community Weblog: Want Reuse? Recruit Asset Portfolio Management Teams ...

Sharon Fay writes about reuse opportunities, which leverage teams for portfolio management of assets ...

... "Asset Portfolio Management Teams are responsible for identifying, acquiring, managing, and monitoring the use of their assets. These assets are typically related to IT initiatives such as: Enterprise Architecture (EA); Product Line Architecture; Enterprise Application Integration (EAI); etc. ... " ...

Tag: Portfolio Management