The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) held its annual conference and exhibition February 13 - 17 at the Dallas Convention Center in Texas.

Approximately 23,000 professionals from across the globe came together to see the latest technology in healthcare information from nearly 700 companies and to attend educational sessions on more than 200 topics.

Project management was a popular topic at the conference. Two pre-conference workshops on project management were delivered.

The first was “How to Install, Implement and Administer the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management Solution”, given by Glen Knight, Knight Associates and Troy Wheeler, EPM2e.

The second, “eXtreme Project Management: How to Deliver Value in the Face of Volatility”, presented by Doug Decarlo, Regina Heiser, Sharon McLaughlin and Carol Steltenkamp.

Two project management sessions were held during the conference. “It’s an Evolution: Lessons Learned from an EPM Program”, by Glen Knight, Knight Associates and Jackie Lucas, Baptist Healthcare System; and “The Secret to CIO Success: Building a Successful Project Management Office” by John Hummel, Sutter Health.

The HIMSS Project Management Special Interest Group (HIMSS PM SIG) also held a membership meeting during the conference. More than 70 members and prospective members attended.

The group discussed the previous year’s accomplishments and established goals for the coming year; presented the results of two surveys; and discussed the new relationship developed between the PMI Healthcare SIG and HIMSS PM SIG.

Also during the meeting, representatives from PMI Healthcare SIG gave a presentation on how the two SIGs can work cooperatively.

Audio tapes from the HIMSS educational sessions are available at www.conference.himss.org. For information on joining the HIMSS PM SIG, contact Maggie Suerth at msuerth@himss.org.

Below is an excerpt of a presentation given by Jackie Lucas, Corporate Information Technology Director for Baptist Healthcare System in Louisville, Kentucky, and Glen Knight at the 2005 HIMSS Conference.

The Problem:
Baptist Healthcare System (BHS) experienced a 70% growth in the applications, servers, desktops and networking it supports over the past six years. Faced with too many project requests and limited resources, BHS recognized that it needed to develop a formalized project management methodology, project management training for its staff and a software tool to manage its project portfolio.

The Solution:
BHS began by redesigning the organization’s management, process and project management structure. BHS then established a project management methodology, conducted project management training, created an enterprise project management portfolio and implemented the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management Solution.

Lessons Learned:
BHS learned several key lessons during this transition:

• A successful Enterprise Project Management Program requires a solid program structure with defined roles.
• All staff must be involved and trained on project management methodology.
• BHS found leadership training to be invaluable for project managers.
• The organization’s leadership must recognize this is a multi-year phased project.
• MS EPMS is a complex install which must be supported.
• Most importantly, the organization must be willing to change.

To view the complete white paper from this presentation, click the following link: EPM White Paper.

In my last article, I discussed the four basic components of the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (MSEPM) Solution - Project Professional, Project Server, Project Web Access and Windows Sharepoint Services.  Now, we will review the three most common mistakes organizations make during implementation of the MSEPM solution.

First, many organizations underestimate the complexity of the implementation because they think of this as a software rollout. While there is a software component to an EPM deployment, the technical install is a very small part of the overall process.

Jackie Lucas, a Corporate IT Director for Baptist Healthcare System in Louisville, Kentucky, explained this point during her EPM session at HIMSS this year. According to Lucas, “Implementing MSEPM is much the same as implementing Peoplesoft or SAP.  You have to understand when you begin the project that you can’t just turn MSEPM over to a technician and expect him/her to install it and get it working.”  A MSEPM install requires a considerable amount of planning and design coupled with executive sponsorship to be successful.

Second, organizations choose to skip a formal assessment.  We in IT sometimes tend to rush into getting to know what the product can do before we define what organizational needs the solution should address. There are four basic steps an organization should go through prior to installing MSEPM:

1. Envision the solution.
2. Plan the EPM initiative.
3. Build the EPM solution.
4. Deploy the EPM solution.

Third, organizations underestimate the social and cultural impact.  In a preliminary study of EPM deployments conducted by Microsoft in 2004, 80% of respondents cited cultural change as the most important challenge in a MS Project 2003 deployment.  It is critical to develop a multidisciplinary team, actively engage the organization’s executives and involve representatives from all user groups to clearly articulate the benefits of change to each set of users.

Troy Wheeler, Vice President of Technology, EPM2e, can be reached at 800-878-0385.

Have you been asked to lead a project team that you have no authority over?  On top of that, you don’t have any formal leadership training?  How can you develop your leadership skills?

A number of years ago, I accepted an offer to be the committee chair for my son’s Cub Scout Pack.  Having been in management for quite some time, I was eager to apply my skills to lead the parents through the various activities needed to support the organization.

However, I quickly found that the adult volunteers were more difficult to lead than my employees were.  Since I had no direct authority over the volunteers, I had to develop and use other leadership techniques.

Project leaders face this dilemma on a daily basis.  We are expected to plan, organize, control, and motivate our project teams, yet are given no real authority.  When employees ask me what they can do to advance into management, I suggest that they first develop their leadership skills by leading a group of volunteers.

The group could be a local service club, a professional service organization, or even your child’s sports club.  You see, if you can lead a group of volunteers, you can lead any group. Since you have no direct authority, you must learn to lead with the carrot instead of the stick. There are many advantages in doing this:

First, if you have never had the experience leading a team, it is a great introduction to leadership.

Second, you will get an opportunity to experiment with different leadership skills, techniques and styles.

Last, it’s low risk and you can make mistakes without any dire consequences.  When was the last time you heard of somebody being fired from leading a group of adult volunteers?  It is far better to make mistakes in this environment than when leading a multi-million dollar project.

I have been practicing this method for years and continue to do so now. I  am currently leading a national professional organization and a local service club.  I do this not only to serve these groups but also to keep my leadership skills sharp. 

As a project leader, you are probably not in a management position so you should continually develop your leadership skills.  Go volunteer!