Project Portfolio Management - Basic input for setting up a project

[Sheila Llewelly]

Project Management requires collaboration with all lines of business who have a stake in the outcome of a project. There has been a lot of thought around what deliverables are expected, when the deliverables will be put in place, and how much the project will cost. As the PMs, we are responsible for setting up projects that give the stakeholders a clear, precise view of how their projects are progressing. 

 In ServiceNow there are six tasks to setting up a project in the Initiate and Plan stages:

• Kick off the project
• Plan the project
• Create the project in ServiceNow
• Add project tasks, dependencies, and relationships
• Assign resources
• Add the project to a program and / or portfolio

These tasks are not necessarily listed in the order they will be completed; each project will be different and that is where our expertise comes in. Before we can start to set up our project, we must go through a few requirements gathering steps. I usually hold two kick off meetings: one with the internal team and one with the Customer. This information will enable us to move smoothly from Initiating and Planning into Execution. 

The internal kick off is held as soon as the project is transitioned from sales to project.

• The key attendees of this meeting may be the lead developer or architect, the sales lead, and any other stakeholder that may have been in the pre-sales meetings to gather customer requirements.
• This meeting typically takes at least an hour where we will whiteboard what the customer wants, how we will deliver, start and end dates, and Level of Effort (LOE). Once this information is finalized, the PM will take their notes (oh, did I forget to mention that we are taking notes?) and separate them into categories for setting up the project 
• Many times I will hold a separate meeting with the developers to identify the tasks that will go into the project. We will discuss how the project is to be executed: Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid. And we will how the meetings with the customer will be managed: Weekly status, Stand - ups, Retrospectives, etc. 

The external, or customer, kick off is held once all requirements are established with the internal team.

• I use a Power Point template that I created just for customer kick off meetings.
• First I introduce the team
• Then I describe the project goals and deliverables. The reason for this is because many times, the requestor for the project is not the only stakeholder on the meeting. There should also be leaders that are interested in how and when the project will be delivered as well as the team we will work with to deliver it.
• Next I will establish how the project will be executed. If it is waterfall or hybrid, I will have an image of the WBS so that they can see the timeline on the Gantt chart. If Agile, I will have an image of a Visual Task Board (VTB) to show how we will be tracking the stories.
• I also include the meeting structure such as daily 15 minute stand - up calls, weekly status calls, and so on.
• I will relay the schedule for status reports and escalation lines.
• Finally I will turn it over to the lead developer to let them know about workshops and other information gathering activities. 

Now we have the information we need to start entering data into the project record. 

• The project tasks that we gleaned from our meeting with the developers will become the work breakdown structure (WBS) of our project work. The elements of a task are:
•      Short description is a summary of the task to be performed
•      System generated sequential number
•      Identify if the tasks will start as soon as possible or on a specific date
•      Enter the planned start and end dates. The planned duration is a calculated field that is the working days between the planned start and end dates
•      All tasks start as Pending, but depending on where we are on the project this can be changed to either Open or Work in Progress as well
•      Fill in the fields for the Assignment Group, Assigned to, and Additional assigned list if this applies
•      Milestones and Key Milestones have no duration. These are described as "check points" for the project. An example may be the completion of Phases if your project is broken down by phase. Just remember, the Key Milestones are globally visible on the Program Manager Dashboard and reports, Portfolio Manager Dashboard and Demand pipeline, and the Status Reports. Milestones will show up on the Project reports. 
• Sometimes there is a need to break a project down into sub - projects. We use these specifically on Block of Hours projects where a Parent Project is created, then the blocks of development hours are put into sub - projects. The reason for this is to keep all the renewals that go with a Block of Hours project linked to the parent project. There are other times we may need to use sub - projects as well:
•      Complexity: dividing work into phases with each having their own deliverables
•      Prototypes or experiments
•      Dividing work by lines of business
•      Components such as training, facility preparation, marketing, and so on
• Creating stories for Agile or Hybrid projects
• Documenting project requirements, risks, issues, decisions, actions
• If we are using the Resource Management application, now is when we start to develop the resource plan for the project
• Enter all pertinent financials: cost plans,, benefit plans, and project budget. 
• Once the tasks are entered, the dates are established, financials are listed, we can now create an initial baseline. 
• Determine what the customer wants to see and create the status report format
• We can either add the stakeholders for the project or bring them in from Demand
• If we are using the Time Card functionality, we need to get this set up as well as the Expense Lines - actual costs and expenses incurred by the project

This seems like a lot of detail to manage a project, but the rewards are exponential if is is done right. The Project Manager is responsible for delivering the project on time, under budget, and in quality and ServiceNow has given us the tools to do this. If you would like more information on the technical side of setting up the project go to https://docs.servicenow.com/search?facetreset=yes&q=Start+a+project&labels=4&labels=4.