EPM Team

The Catapult EPM team is responsible for delivering Microsoft project and portfolio management solutions. Their blog reflects team insights and real-world experiences developing world-class EPM solutions.
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Jul1

We Interrupt Your Normal Programming….

Well, a very pleasant surprise this afternoon when the plane landed and I checked my e-mail.  Lo-and-behold, it would appear as though I now can add three more letters to the IT alphabet soup already on my name card.  I am very excited about this.  To keep things in perspective, my kids couldn’t care less & my wife suggested I celebrate by mowing the lawn. Thank you everyone for the ongo...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Thursday, 1 Jul 2010 08:18.
3 Comments | Categories: Project Management, Project Server 2010, Gratuitous Self-Reference

 
Jun15

Problem Solving vs. Problem Finding

Chatting with a mentor from a previous life recently as I prepped for a presentation, and he pointed me to this excellent 1986 article by Herbert Simon, the late Nobel prize winning social scientist.  If you’re attending my PMI Houston presentation on Project Teams as Innovation Systems on Wednesday, then this would be a great follow up (or even pre) read. It’s an overview of the state of deci...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 15 Jun 2010 07:50.
0 Comments | Categories: Operations, Portfolio Management, Project Management

 
May18

PMO Symposium Now Registering

The national PMO SIG blowout (in Dallas this year) is now open for registration: http://www.pmosymposium.org/     ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 18 May 2010 02:52.
1 Comment | Categories: Project Management

 
Mar26

Identifying the Parameters of an EPM Consulting Engagement

Every good consulting engagement begins with a good written proposal.  Most proposals that I’ve seen include some section somewhere buried amongst the boilerplate which discusses the specific roles and responsibilities of the consulting and implementing organizations. Typically, the verbiage appears something like the following: The Consulting Agency Responsibilities: Install the tool Un...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Friday, 26 Mar 2010 07:34.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Management

 
Mar23

Establishing EPM Tool Ownership

Part of my ongoing preparation for a presentation on EPM Deployment best practices…. A colleague of mine remarked a couple of months ago that the number one indicator of success in a MOPS deployment is identifying the owner of the Server implementation going forward.  More often then not, the owner is a PM or PMO member who is dragooned into Server ownership.  Alternatively, the owner is a mem...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 23 Mar 2010 09:12.
1 Comment | Categories: Project Management, Operations

 
Mar21

Developing an EPM Training Program (Part I)

(Working on my presentation on EPM Deployment Best Practices, and decided to work out a couple of ideas via blog posting.)  As I think nobody would argue, a significant part of the EPM deployment story is of course in the training deployment – yet, often the training component is either an afterthought, not paid attention to, or simply delivered at the end of a consulting engagement, right befo...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Sunday, 21 Mar 2010 09:44.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Management

 
Mar11

Speaking at the June PMI Houston Shindig

Haven’t been quite so active on the blog as of late as I’ve been working on a couple of presentations and enjoying this beautiful south Texas weather with the kids.  Stay tuned as we have some good content getting queued up and due to be released in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, please note that I’ll be delivering three presentations at the upcoming June PMI Houston blowout (more ...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Thursday, 11 Mar 2010 04:41.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Management

 
Feb25

Getting Back to Scheduling Basics….

There’ve been a number of good blog posts/articles in the last week or two on the basics of scheduling and project planning.  I haven’t had the time to capture each and every one of them, but I thought it was worth collecting some of the best ones in a short list here.  If you’re in the scheduling business, then these are well worth the time to check out. Mosaic Projects on Metaplanning in Con...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Thursday, 25 Feb 2010 08:38.
1 Comment | Categories: Project Management

 
Feb2

Austin PMO LIG: PM & SharePoint (2/24)

I am not sure how the Austin PMO LIG stacks up, but the Central Ohio one I used to attend was a great forum for sharing ideas and mixing with local program/portfolio managers.  This event is at the Texas Association of School Boards.  From the invitation e-mail I received yesterday… ****** Have you wondered at all buzz regarding SharePoint and Project Management? Well, come join us for a de...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 2 Feb 2010 08:23.
0 Comments | Categories: Project Management, SharePoint

 
Jan26

Upcoming 2/11 ITSMf Houston Event: Service Portfolios

The ITSMf Houston mailing list autospammed me the other day inviting me to an interesting upcoming event on Service Portfolios presented by Reginald Best, a Deloitte consultant - and if my memory doesn’t fail me from a brief conversation in Austin two years ago, a fellow Buckeye-in-exile. The event is on 2/11 and will be at the BMC offices in Westchase.  Free event, free food, good content.  I...
Posted by Andrew Lavinsky on Tuesday, 26 Jan 2010 06:53.
0 Comments | Categories: Operations, Project Management