Our HOT TOPICS section provides you with a recent selection of our thinking on topics which we hope will enlighten, intrigue, and inspire. Our intent is to be informative, but not academic. Business results occur when context and real world experience meet collective thought leadership – something we call Traction.
Too often the work of Process Improvement is viewed in the context of small, incremental
gains across large numbers of repetitive tasks. Organizations which do not have high volume
repetitive tasks or which have custom processes, often see little value in Process Improvement
Initiatives. This article focuses on the dramatic benefits to the business of identifying and
repairing "Process Holes". Process Holes are often "Big Picture" issues which are easily missed
or ignored because they do not lend themselves to simple analysis and often require thinking
"outside the box". At the other extreme, they may be "easy-to-fix" issues (with major business
impact) which are overlooked because they fall between the boundaries of process activities or
organizational responsibilities.
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Let's face it, your business needs successful projects that are done on time and on budget,
but successful projects can be elusive. Based on trusted sources such as a 2004
PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey of executives and project managers from 200 companies in 30
countries, only 2.5% of these companies completed 100% of their projects on time, within
budget, and within the originally defined scope. A solution to these project challenges
may well be a Project Management Office (PMO), as discussed in this article. The PMO,
backed by senior management sponsorship, establishes consistent implementation practices
for projects across your organization. This consistency from the PMO helps your
organization in ensuring higher project success rates. A 2003 PMI and CIO magazine survey
shows that project success rates increased 46% as a result of having a PMO.
Click here to review the complete article
Project Management, and the role it plays in modern business, has changed. Project
management is no longer just about ensuring successful project execution. Instead,
it ensures organizations are aligning their project initiatives and business resources
with the business objectives. It focuses on partnerships, collaboration and continuous
improvements. This shift is forcing leaders to evaluate their existing project management
capability and its role within the organization. We have developed an article defining
the different project management approaches and the changes organizations can implement in
order to make it a strategic advantage.
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Why do some projects fail, while others succeed? Our experience tells us that it could
simply be a factor of the project resources skill-set. In this article we focus on the
"people skills" that increase the likelihood of project success. Specifically, those
skills related to project leadership, which are commonly found in resources highly versed
in both the Organizational Change Management and Strategic Project Management disciplines.
By identifying the key skills required during each phase of a typical product development
lifecycle and the associated action steps that should be utilized; you will be better
prepared to select the "best" resources and implement corrective measures to keep your
project on track.
Click here to review the complete article.
Looking for new functionality? How about improved performance tuning and monitoring tools?
Or do you prefer the stability of your already fine-tuned environment but merely want to
stay current on a supported version? With support of 9iR2 already ending and the recent
release of 11g, should you consider the direct jump to 11g? These are only a few of the
questions to be considered when planning your Oracle 10g upgrade. There are some well-advised
tasks to consider and risks to evaluate prior to launching your upgrade project. In this
article, our Oracle database experts explore inputs to timing and strategy decisions like training
of your technical staff, evaluation of related infrastructure upgrades, and coordination across
application owners and end users.
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In this article we will explore four technical approaches for executing your migration, support
offerings to leverage, and a collection of our lessons learned and best practices from past migrations.
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Organizational change management (OCM) is a discipline which may be applied to a broad
range of organizational change efforts, from enterprise-wide transformations to individual
capital or technology projects. When enterprises embrace and employ Organizational Change
Management methodologies and approaches, quantifiable results are achieved.
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With knowledge, technology, and globalization increasing at exponential rates, change
is a common and pervasive experience. Within the business organization, the ability to
understand and manage change is essential for successful outcomes through transition.
We have created an article that defines the attributes of change, the different types of
change, and how change management techniques can be applied to ensure a successful outcome.
Click here to review the complete article.
Master Data Management (MDM) is quickly coming to the forefront of the IT project pipeline for almost
every corporation. As companies look to
invest in such a potentially broad, risky and significant corporate initiative,
SEI offers our insights on the business case, various approaches, and potential
challenges to engaging in such an effort.
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In this article, we begin to examine the spectrum of MDM Implementation strategies, while
providing a set of common questions that will help guide you in selecting the correct
implementation strategy for your environment.
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In this article we offer a review of some common challenges that any organization
will face in a large scale MDM initiative, along with tips to avoid or minimize
the opposing forces in your efforts.
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SOA represents a fundamental change in the way technology is implemented within the
enterprise. In an SOA, business is the key driver and technology is secondary. BPM and
Workflow drive business processes which interact with services as required. The result is
a dramatic increase in business agility and flexibility. Our SOA experts analyze the role
SOA fulfills within an organization including the benefits and advantages of transitioning
to a SOA.
Click here to review the complete article.