Morgan Sourcing

Five Secrets to Buying Staffing Services

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:34:34 GMT

According to the American Staffing Association, there are over 17,000 companies in the United States offering staffing services. Services include a variety of temporary, contract, permanent placement, and HR consulting services. The skill sets range from labor and office work to professional and technical work. Americans are increasingly interested in working in contract positions which provide them variety and flexibility. American corporations are turning to a more flexible workforce to fill the gaps that long periods of hiring freezes have caused. When the economy starts picking up, employers will typically hire contract workers before committing to permanent placements.

What this means to the corporate recruiting teams is that you need to have solid relationships with several excellent staffing agencies who will work hard for you when it comes to hiring the best contract workforce. If you solely base your choice on the price or you beat the agency down so far they barely make any money, they aren’t likely to value you as a client, because you’ve shown them you don’t value their services. Would you hire the cheapest babysitter? Cheapest hairdresser? Cheapest surgeon?

Tips for Buying Staffing Services

Be a good customer: Staffing agencies are sales focused and typically employees have some type of quota to fill. The larger the company they work for the more pressure from upper management employees will be under to meet their numbers. The first time you “throw them a bone” they will likely jump to fill that order, but if you don’t give them any feedback, any subsequent orders, or even meet in person with them, the agency will think that you just used them in a pinch when their primary agency couldn’t fill their request. Most agencies won’t waste their time with you if you do that a second time. Yes, it’s that transparent!
Let them in: Agencies often times are all recruiting from the same sources and often times have a database of the same candidates as their competitors. What makes the agency different is what they know about their candidate, and what makes a good match. What skills have they tested for, what are their hobbies, what type of environment will they thrive in? A good agency should also get to know your company culture, what type of environment it is, and thus they will be able to make a better match beyond just a simple resume match…but you, corporate recruiter, must enable the good recruitment agencies to do their job. Let them in, introduce them to various employees, remember the agency is the employer of the contractor, give them feedback, help the agency council the contractor to get better results.
Understand they can’t control candidates: Agency recruiters and sales people literally have nightmares or other anxiety attacks worrying about the day their candidates will embarrass them, and it will happen. A contractor will quit on the 2^nd day, get caught drinking or sleeping on the job, or mouth off to the VP. It’s life, it happens to the best agencies out there. If you have developed a good relationship with your agencies and something awful happens remember that the staffing agency is just as upset as you are, probably more so, and they will deal with the employee accordingly. Don’t let one bad apple ruin the relationship. This is a people business and people can be unpredictable. You want your agencies to have a solid background check and assessment process, but it’s impossible to guarantee anything when it comes to people.
Correct expectations: Candidate satisfaction and candidate retention are extremely important to the agency. Their reputation as an agency can be tarnished by dissatisfied contractors. Be clear with your job descriptions, don’t add manual labor into a job that was supposed to be administrative in nature, and don’t forget to tell the agency what the department is like to work for, this will level set all expectations and get the relationship started on the right foot.
Break down the barriers: Agency staffers are in the people business like you are. If you follow the above guidelines and build a great solid relationship with the agency, you will have a much easier time negotiating a lower rate with them. Once they know they can trust you, that you’ll send them a certain amount of work, and that you’ll respect their candidate, that’s the time to sit down and negotiate a long term price. If they know your organization well, and understand your job descriptions, and what makes a good match, now the agencies job is easier too. They won’t be putty in your hands, but the skyscraper high barriers that often times exist between agency and corporate recruiter come down and the two parties can work towards meeting their objectives.

If you follow these general practices when you are buying staffing services for your company, you will develop strong relationships that transcend customer-client transactional business. When you make that leap, you can justify your productivity demands, lower rates, and get premium service from the recruitment or staffing agency. The real secret is taking the time to develop solid, mutually beneficial relationships over the long term. After all, your people are your company’s most important asset – it’s worth taking the time to develop not just a list of suppliers, but a group of strategic partners.

Tips to Improve your Effectiveness as a Leader

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:19:15 GMT

So the economy finally found you. All those layoffs you hear about have reached your company’s doorsteps and many of your colleagues are gone. While you’re happy to have a job, boy has it changed. Gone is your support system, but still right in front of you is all of the work they used to do.

Or maybe your company has been fortunate enough to grow in this economy. Perhaps your organization has picked up momentum as others in your industry close their doors. But are you being out-paced by the speed of business and your clients’ needs? It’s a good problem to have. It’s a problem none-the-less. Either way… these days there seems to be more work than we have time to do.

Getting more done with fewer resources is one of business life’s greatest challenges. Leaders and managers indicate things are getting more and more difficult, and worse, they realize their performance has gone downhill… and that’s frustrating. One fundamental requirement these days is impeccable time management. Improve those skills and you can stop spinning your wheels, focus on your leadership and improve your team’s performance. From a blog entry by John McKee for TechRepublic, here are a few time-tested tips you can use to improve your game.

“Time is the greatest resource, and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.” - Peter F. Drucker, widely regarded as America’s premier leadership guru and management consultant.

1. Go to other people’s offices for meetings. It’s a lot easier to leave their office than it is to get them out of yours! This saves wasted time after a meeting has ended. It also increases your visibility with others while you’re on the move – and you may learn something in passing.

2. Encourage a “masculine” communication style. Scientists like Loann Brezendine have proven what others have long observed: Men think to talk and women talk to think. In meetings, it takes less time to hear the recommendations that are well thought out and prepared. Tell your team they are limited to two or three sentences. If you like the idea, get more information. Otherwise move on. This will help everyone to be more succinct.

3. As often as possible, meet with users, clients, or customers. This is a big time demand, but what you hear first-hand from those being served by your organization can be startling and exciting.

4. Snooze. According to studies, having a mid-day nap of just 20 minutes can improve mood, alertness, and performance. Next time you find yourself reaching for coffee or red bull, try this first. People underestimate the benefits of sleep. This can be a game changer.

5. Use a smart car. It’s amazing how much time we waste in the car. Improve your time management by parking your car in a getaway position. A little planning makes a big time difference. It’s good for the blood pressure too! Also join the U of A… University of Automobile. If you spend time commuting or traveling between meetings, use audio books to hone your skills and keep current on new thinking. This from Zig Ziglar, a guy who knows performance issues.

6. Review tomorrow’s calendar the night before. After a long day you’re likely to be more hard-nosed about time requests. The next day, just before lunch, revisit your afternoon schedule again. Your day’s priorities may shift many days, but this close management of your time will help keep your eye on the must-do issues.

7. Use praise to reinforce crispness. In meetings, make it clear that you appreciate those who are aware of how valuable time is. The goal is to be crisp, concise and alert so the meeting will be effective and efficient. If someone is a time hog, tell them! Great leaders ensure that those around them are aware of needs and objectives.

8. Use that smart phone in a smarter way. If you aren’t using the recording functionality on your phone, start now. We all have moments of brilliance and when they occur, you want to make the most of them. Never miss an opportunity to make verbal notes. Trying to recall them later is frustrating and can cost you a lost idea. Another approach is to call the office and leave yourself a voicemail.

9. ACT LIKE A LADY. Women, intuitively, are less top-down in their management styles than men are. Social Scientists have a whole raft of reasons for this style difference and it may start when we're children. Studies of youngsters show that girls often prefer games in which everyone leaves a winner, while boys are more inclined toward a winner-take-all approach. Whatever the reason, senior ecexutive women are mroe likely to be egalitarian when looking for new ideas and approaches. This works!

Are you and your staff struggling to keep pace with your clients’ needs? Need high quality technical expertise, managers or executives? Morgan Sourcingis a full service IT Recruiting and Staffing firm specializing in permanent, contract and contract-to-hire scenarios. Information Technology is our thing. Staffing is our expertise! Click here for more about Morgan Sourcing.

Paralyzed by the Need to be Perfect

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:13:49 GMT

Perfection is an overrated concept. Even those who know it’s unattainable try for it when they interview. What’s the result? Nervousness. For example, fear you won’t be liked. Fear you’ll be asked a question but won’t know the answer. Fear that you won’t be asked back. Fear that you might, and they hire the other person instead.

Frequently fear stems from lack of preparation. It can also result from being too attached to the outcome. When you really want the job, but are afraid of not getting it, you try too hard and worry too much about pleasing the interviewer. Consequently, you lose touch with who you are and sabotage yourself, bringing about the opposite outcome from the one you consciously desired. A small incident can take on monumental proportions.

Even when you’ve done your homework, know what you’re looking for in your perfect job, and are fully grounded, things can go amok, scattering your composure. And though you’re not desperate to please, you’d still prefer that nothing untoward happens with which you have to deal.

If Murphy’s Law should rear its ugly head while you’re interviewing, here are a few scenarios and how to handle them.

Raises Creep Back Onto Salary Scene

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:23:32 GMT

The Wall Street Journal

In another sign that the economy may be improving faster than some CEOs expected, recently companies have started to get more aggressive about spending money to retain employees.

Chemical-maker BASF Corp., the North American unit of Germany's BASF SE, distributed raises to its 16,000 employees in April, a month earlier than planned. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP will end a pay freeze for its 26,000 U.S. employees in July, two months ahead of plan. In April, aviation electronics firm Rockwell Collins Inc. added $2 million to its "instant compensation plan" to reward employees for fiscal 2010, bringing the total budget to $5 million.

Last year, many CEOs fretted that lean staffing during the recession would burn out employees and spark turnover once the job market improved, but they put very little money behind retention efforts. Instead, they cut or froze pay and made managers rely on no-cost rewards like thank-you notes. By January, employers had started to restore pay cuts and lift pay freezes.

Now, some firms are going a step further by accelerating the distribution of raises and awarding special bonuses to certain employees, say consultants and executives.

"They are feeling more confident in how 2010 will shake out," and want to ward off poaching, says David Smith, managing director of Accenture PLCs talent and organization performance group. He is seeing companies in health-care, pharmaceutical and, in particular, financial services industries offer more retention-related bonuses in the last three months.

In a January survey of 459 human-resources executives by Towers Watson, 15% of respondents said that it had already become more difficult to retain key talent in the U.S. than it was before the financial crisis. Fifty-one percent said that by January 2011 they expect retaining key talent to become harder. More recent data aren't available, but anecdotal evidence suggests the retention concerns have accelerated since then.

In most cases, employers are trying to preempt defections or are responding to pockets of hiring increases by competitors; across the economy, turnover has ticked up only slightly in recent months, according to government data.

BASF, the chemical maker, froze pay last year, except for promotions to new jobs. It wasn't planning to distribute raises this year until May, when it traditionally awards increases. But André Becker, BASF's senior vice president of human resources in North America, says he wanted to make a gesture to "recognize the tremendous effort of the work force" during the downturn.

He says he hasn't seen turnover increase at BASF but "now, as the economy starts to pick up we are watching very closely."

BASF was also integrating workers from its 2009 purchase of specialty chemical firm Ciba Holding AG, who normally got their annual raises in April. So Mr. Becker decided to move BASF's awards a month earlier for the whole work force.

The move helped morale, says manager David Muldoon, who oversees 105 employees as vice president for BASF's plastic additives in North America. "Anything that helps employees see dollars sooner is appreciated," says Mr. Muldoon.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Chairman Robert Moritz is ending a U.S.-wide pay freeze in July rather than September when raises are normally awarded for the accounting firm's 26,000 U.S. employees. In the last three months, he's seen turnover pick up and is keeping a close eye on exit interview data. Employees in New York, Boston, Houston and Washington, D.C., for instance, have left for jobs in government and at energy and financial-services companies. More of his clients are hiring too, and historically, some of those hires come from PwC.

"There are increasing job opportunities in the marketplace and anxiety on the inside," Mr. Moritz says.

Employee Daniel Castro, a 25-year-old senior associate at PwC's Atlanta office, says news of early raises helped boost loyalty. "It generates a buzz and allows people to recommit themselves," he says.

In April, Rockwell Collins added $2 million to its "instant compensation plan" for fiscal 2010, bringing the total budget to $5 million. The company's 19,000 employees had a pay freeze in 2009, and management wanted to recognize their efforts through the recession, says Ron Kirchenbauer, vice president of human resources. The program doles out cash rewards between $500 and $7,500 to selectemployees who have made an innovation or other advancement. It also includes a lower-level reward program where employees or teams of employees are given smaller amounts for jobs well done.

"We want to show people we value and appreciate their contributions and hopefully in return for that we'll get better retention," says Mr. Kirchenbauer.

Earlier, some companies chose to reward only certain groups with accelerated raises. AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson unfroze the salaries of 100,000 managers and gave them "significant" raises in November 2009 instead of March 2010. The freeze for the rest of employees lifted in March, as planned.

"I wanted [the managers] to understand that the sacrifices and the actions they took manifested themselves in a healthier company and I wanted to reward them for that," says Mr. Stephenson, who says the step helped stem attrition as the economy improved.

Toughest Interview Question #4: Why Do You Want to Work Here?

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:23:49 GMT

During most of the job interview, the interviewer is trying to determine a few key issues. First of all, are you capable of doing the job? They probe your background, explore your accomplishments and try to gain some understanding of your potential value to their company. Eventually, they’re going to extend their questioning beyond your skills and capabilities and try to determine your motivations. They know you want to work somewhere, they’re just not sure why you want to work for them. So, how do you prepare for the inevitable question: Why do you want to work here?

Watch this video from TheJobShopper.com

Enterprise HIE Market Poised to Soar

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:18:32 GMT

Diana Manos, Senior Editor, Healthcare IT News

FRAMINGHAM, MA – A recent study of health information exchange solution vendors shows enterprise HIEs serving integrated delivery networks, health, or hospital systems will be the fastest-growing market segment of HIE organizations in the coming two years.

The study, "Vendor Assessment: Industry Short List for Health Information Exchange Technologies," was conducted by IDC Health Insights, a Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm.

IDC researchers said enterprise HIEs are unlike regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and statewide or national HIEs, because they can establish a sustainable business model and are not as encumbered by organizational and data governance issues.

For the study, IDC evaluated 14 healthcare IT vendors, including Axolotl, Browsersoft/Open HRE, Carefx, dbMotion, eClinicalWorks, InterSystems, MEDecision, Medicity, MEDSEEK, Microsoft, Oracle, Orion Health, PatientKeeper, and RelayHealth.

IDC researchers said they chose the vendors because they are representative of the market and include leaders in the industry.

According to Lynne Dunbrack, program director at IDC Health Insights, the HIE vendor market is volatile with new companies entering the market and with market consolidation.

"We can expect dramatic changes in the next 12 to 18 months as HIE technologies become a commodity and dominant players acquire their way into a crowded market currently made up of many small, privately held vendors," she said.

IDC researchers said they put the vendors through a rigorous assessment for the study that centers around three principles IDC Insights says are critical in today's selection of an IT supplier: fact-based research, industry focus, and evaluation transparency.

IDC said the analysis is intended to help providers find the vendor best suited to their organization's existing IT environment and business needs.

Leaders of Informatics Corporation of America said the report demonstrates the enormous growth potential of health information exchanges (HIEs) in the next two years.

"The IDC report predicts the paradigm shift toward collaborative care through HIE models, which we see as a pivotal opportunity to drive improvements in the quality of medical care delivery and patient outcomes," said Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO of Informatics Corporation of America.

Toughest Interview Question #3: Why Should We Hire You?

Fri, 28 May 2010 19:54:19 GMT

Today we take on another one of the tough, open ended questions that strike fear into the heart of job seekers everywhere: Why should we hire you? Just like the general questions Tell me about yourself and What are your greatest weaknesses?, your answer to this question can raise some red flags for the interviewer if you don’t handle it correctly.

Watch this video from TheJobShopper.com

9 Tips to Get Incredible Power from Project Management

Fri, 28 May 2010 20:08:55 GMT

Management of Time Duration

Estimate how long each activity will take. Be aware that research points out we are notoriously bad at estimating. You estimate a task will take 3 days. Identify how confident you are that you can deliver in 3 days by using % e.g. I’m only 40% certain I can deliver in 3 days. You should aim for 80%. If you do not believe you can achieve 80% then re-calculate.

Identify dependencies

Identify dependencies (or predecessors) of all activities. This will let you put together the Gantt and milestone charts. Ensure you write them down otherwise you are trying to carry potentially hundreds of options in your head.

Identify the Chunks

Group tasks under different headings once you have a list. This will enable you to identify the chunks of work that need to be delivered, as well as put together the Gantt chart and milestone chart.

Delivery Planning

Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. A WBS is a key element you will need to develop your plan. It lists out all of the activities you will need to undertake to deliver the project. Post it notes can be a great help in developing your WBS.

Workshop Management

Hold a kick off meeting (Start up Workshop) with key stakeholders, sponsor, project manager project team. Use the meeting to help develop the PID. Identify risks and generally plan the project. If appropriate hold new meetings at the start of a new stage.

Project Driving Factors

Recognize early in the life of the project what is driving the project. Is it a drive to improve quality, reduce costs or hit a particular deadline? You can only have 1. Discuss with the sponsor what is driving the project and ensure you stick to this throughout the project. Keep “the driver” in mind especially when you monitor and review.

Group of Project Managers

Form a group of Project Managers. The Project Manager role can sometimes be very lonely! Give support to each other by forming a group of Project Managers.

Project Stakeholder

Identify who the stakeholders are for your project – those affected and ‘impacted’ by the project. This should be an in- depth analysis which needs updating regularly.

Management Team Selection

Think ‘Team Selection’ – give some thought to who should be in your team. Analyse whether they have the skills required to enable them to carry out their role? If not, ensure they receive the right training. Check they are available for the period of the project. NOTE: this includes any contactors you may need to use.

Review of Management Stages

Ensure you review the project during the Defining Your Project Stage – involve your sponsor or senior manager in this process. Remember to check progress against the business case.

Why Employees Leave Organizations

Fri, 28 May 2010 20:03:34 GMT

Every company faces employee turnover. Over a career, jobs and opportunities come and go. For a company, that employees will come and go is a fact. Here’s another fact for you. Did you know the cost of replacing someone is 3 to 5 times the annual salary for the position? It puts new focus on retaining key employees. Perhaps introduces the idea that a strategic staffing model can serve your business in more ways than one.

It is the people behind an organization that make it what it is. Human capital is a key driver to meeting business objectives. And the value of a person is obviously much more than the cost of the salary and benefits package. So how do you keep the good ones? Well you can start with figuring out why they leave, and fix what’s in your control.

You can pay great salaries, provide great benefits, put all the right systems and technology in place, implement employee-friendly Human Resources policies, create a comfortable office, even investing in things like an on-site cafeteria or gym will go a long way toward attracting employees… But those are bells and whistles. In the end, people want to work with people they like. In this economy, we’re all getting back to basics. Gone are the days of job hopping or leap frogging to get all that great stuff we just mentioned. These days people want a stable job with a solid company working with people they like. How does that translate?

People leave managers not companies. Managers can absolutely drive people away. HR experts say that employee satisfaction is key to retention. The first time a management issue arises with an employee, they may not leave but a seed has been planted. The second time, that seed begins to grow. The third time, the employee looks for another job. When people cannot retort openly, they do so with passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are made to do and no more. They may omit crucial information when reporting to their manager. When people have to work for someone they don’t like or respect, there may even be some motivation to get that manager into trouble. They certainly don’t have their heart and soul in the job. When this goes on too long, an employee will leave – often times over a trivial issue that just happens to be “the last straw”.

Do you have continuing education or management training incentives in place? Are you monitoring & evaluating your managers as closely as you expect them to monitor their staff? Trends are so easy to identify if you just start looking; they often present themselves once you start the process. The line between supporting your managers vs. employee satisfaction is a fine one. Are you doing the right thing or enforcing your policy? Ultimately they aren’t always the same, and doing right by your people (not your handbook) can be perfectly in synch with what’s right for your business.

Are you maximizing your staff’s potential? Need high quality managers & executives? Morgan Sourcing is a full service IT Recruiting and Staffing firm specializing in permanent, contract and contract-to-hire scenarios. Information Technology is our thing. Staffing is our expertise! We unite talent with opportunities and believe there is a job that fits every person and a person that fits every job. Click here for more about Morgan Sourcing.

EHR Practice Management technology vs. Medical Billing Services

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:45:12 GMT

You know that saying, “If you build it, they will come”? I have to admit, I loved that movie but I have no idea what that means! I mean… not in the real world anyway. Then yesterday as I was struggling with procrastination and writer’s block (Monday, Blogging Monday), Chris Thorman at Software Advice reached out with an article he’d written about whether or not to outsource medical billing. Tada! Inspiration presented itself and here we are with this week’s blog.

Given the current technology revolution taking place in the medical industry and ARRA stimulus incentives, it seems like a no brainer to keep this function in-house and invest the money in EHR Practice Management products. So I’ll preface the following points with a question for Chris… are there any incentives or rewards a practice can get for using a medical billing service that “meaningfully” uses medical technology?! Pending the answer to that minor detail, I’ll bet you can’t guess which side of the argument I’m on!

There are a variety of ways technological “modernization” can benefit a practice. There are benefits to be had outside of billing itself. I know incoming revenue is the life blood of any business, but let’s look this from revenue generation perspective as well. I’m not even going to touch quality of care or pay for performance! That’s just elementary and after the initial implementation, training and ramp up, these two aspects of EHR will show incremental & reciprocal benefits through time. So here are some points to be made pro EHR.

1. The market is full of intelligent, technology savvy young college graduates who can jump in with both feet, learn the practice management business functions at a low cost and in short term, eliminate lost productivity arguments using EHR technology to decrease ROI and revenue cycle timeframes.

2. Same argument, but apply it to technology professionals displaced by economic downturn. There are many, many people out there capable of managing any business office, despite the industry and that’s what we’re talking about here… using technology to manage a business, including its mission. These professionals are fluent in technology, as well as the analysis and execution that are vital to successfully manage and serve business priorities within an IT project. They can contribute to coding & development specific to custom practice requirements such as forms and templates, lab order or billing code lists of values, workflow, reporting and analytics, even overall IT management including hardware, network, etc. They cost more, but they have the same “pro” factors ( x 10) as going with a medical billing service Chris outlines in his article.

3. Get outside the box and think of it as a recruiting tool. Modern processes and technology can attract and retain the best bright young doctors and nurses. A detail like technology is a big factor for younger generations… we like it automated, fast, and interactive. That’s the language we speak and paper… what is that?! These days you can do ten things at one time on one device from the hallway in an emergency department. Paper? Really?!

4. The United States of America is #1 in the world GDP expenditures in Health Care. There’s a stability factor when considering ROI and better yet growth. I can’t wait to watch CRM and marketing functionality work its way into all of this!

5. 80% of US healthcare dollars are spent in ambulatory settings by provider groups of less than 10 providers. 80%! Less than 10 providers! This “it costs too much” argument will not hold water for much longer. With healthcare reform intended to provide more access to more people, how with those numbers change? How important will revenue cycle management be then? At some point, there’s a break even and then you’re on cruise control!

6. Integration with hospitals is a huge benefit. Being able to seamlessly schedule procedures, share information with other departments such as anesthesia, schedule rounds can completely change operational efficiencies (not to mention quality of care and pay for performance, but I’m not going there!).

7. Prescribing medicines… self explanatory! Everybody makes jokes about Doctors’ handwriting, but when it comes to actual prescription errors there’s nothing funny about it. E-prescribing should be required and that’s all I have to say about that! Factor in the convenience of being able to leave your doctor’s office and go straight to your pharmacy where your prescription is ready and waiting? Forget about it!

I could go on and on… What are we waiting for?! Who do I need to call? I’m sure there are many perspectives on both sides of this argument, and many points that I haven’t raised will be made for or against. For now I’ll close with the same statement I began with… “If you build it, they will come.”

Hospitals Brace for Challenges in 2010

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:41:43 GMT

Like a lot of people these days I’m keeping up with healthcare reform, and one of my favorite segments of this far reaching topic is how it fits for me professionally… so I’ve been reading a lot about Healthcare and Medical Information Technology, and I ran across an article at healthcarefinancenews.com about the challenges hospitals face and potential business priorities & solutions. There are a variety of each, but the common thread, it seems to me, that can be leveraged on all fronts is technology. No surprise there. Not necessarily with the use of ubiquitous EMR or HIE technology (They’re everywhere. Everyone and their grandmother is clamoring to get into the emerging market.). Although research shows an abysmal EMR adoption rate by hospitals, which of course has to change (that’s another blog entry!). But just technology. Good old strategic use of technology. I was a little surprised though, by the urgency with which hospitals need to address these challenges.

Like the rest of us, hospital financial executives were happy to see 2009 come to an end. What? I mean I know it wasn’t a good year, but healthcare was one of very few industries who actually realized growth last year. Seems like a good thing to me… Shows you what I know!

While the healthcare industry fared better than the rest of the economy, hospital costs increased at rates higher than revenues. Oh! So goodbye 2009. Glad to see you go. The bad news? 2010 may not be any better. Healthcare reform will almost certainly boost patient totals at hospitals. That’s the goal of healthcare reform after all. Increase access to patient care. So hospitals will likely see the biggest increases for several more years. It’s the proverbial “more with less” scenario. More patients. Less revenue.

The solution? Here’s a summary of the article I read.

Revenue Cycle Management: John Bardis, CEO of MedAssets, thinks that 2010 is the year that will separate the “haves” and “have nots” in the hospital industry. And he says “adverse payer mix” will be the determining factor. In short, he thinks with the aging and expanding population of Medicare and Medicaid patients, hospitals will be under financial pressure. Obviously, shortening the revenue cycle relieves some of that pressure.

Supply Chain Management: Hospital leaders recognize they must be aggressive with cost management in supply chain purchasing and pricing. Warner Thomas, chief operating officer at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, says that cost pressures in 2010 will prompt more hospitals to deliver more efficient care. “There are a lot of opportunities for work redesign using lean and process engineering strategies,” Thomas said. “There is a lot more we can do upfront, such as in pre-registration, to engage patients and improve cost structure. We can learn a lot from the airline industry and even from retail…”

Cost of Care & Customer Satisfaction: Reducing the cost of care and improving patient satisfaction is a requirement. Well ok, that’s true in any industry these days, but given the priorities and initiatives in healthcare reform, it’s critical for hospitals. Hospitals must prepare for a shift toward value-based purchasing and pay for performance. According to Garrett Ogden, practice leader at GE Healthcare Performance Solutions, “We know that reimbursement rates are not going to rise, and that reimbursements will be tied to quality measures. Prepare for that by investing in patient safety and use performance tools as a means to reduce waste.”

Who knows where healthcare reform will land… something tells me it won’t. Healthcare will, as it should, be in a constant state of evolution. Hospitals are a place where all aspects of patient care intersect… in worst case scenarios, collide. Some of this stuff is pretty logical. We’re all stripping down costs and eliminating waste, streamlining processes, focusing on customer satisfaction and retention. We’re all doing all of that. Hospitals MUST do this. If Mr. Bardis is right, I sure don’t want to find myself in a “have not” hospital… or worse, in a community whose hospital has closed its doors.

Employers are Taking a Careful Look at Staffing Models & Employment Trends

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:38:13 GMT

I enjoyed an article in Business Week a few years ago… right after the election of President Obama. It was written by a right-leaning small business owner from the perspective of how businesses can adjust the way they operate to survive from one political wind to another... and even profit! I recently recalled that article (given my business development role for my own small business in an intensely cut throat industry and competitive market). Part of the article that was of particular interest to me went went something like this…

Like it or not, our current administration is supportive of unions and a worker's freedom to unionize. There will be likely be changes to some classification rules which enable more people, formerly classified as supervisors, to become protected by federal labor laws. This administration will be on the side of striking workers. It will step up protection of employees and encourage flexible work schedules. It has raised the minimum wage. And the Family & Medical Leave Act will be expanded too. Oh… and health care. Isn’t there something going on with healthcare?! With final touches being put in place and wide spread rejection and law suits pending, no one is sure where that will land, but it’s coming. Yep… It's going to be good times for workers. Difficult times for employers.

You know what they say?! When in Rome… Smart business people and small business owners will always need good people. But if the costs of employment are going to increase, then we're going to do everything we can to minimize the number of people we employ. Look for a big push for outsourcing. Look for a new rise in contractors. Watch us be very, very careful about hiring people over the next few years. The incentives for employing people have shrunk. Our motivation to find ways around the rules will be strong.

Sounds about right to me. My suggestion? Call Morgan Sourcing! (Wink. Smile.) We specialize in IT Recruiting and Staffing. Information Technology is an industry that lends itself well to contract staffing because of the project based and cyclical nature of the work, as well as the expertise required to complete the work which may not be a constant need on your permanent staff. OK! OK!! I’ll stop plugging and get back on topic.

According to the American Staffing Association, despite the current recession, the U.S. staffing industry is anticipated to grow faster and add more new jobs over the next decade than just about any other industry. Over the long term, temporary and contract staffing has been growing faster than the economy because of the flexibility factor: employees want it, businesses need it, and it's good for the economy.

Read about these benefits in American Staffing 2009, the ASA annual economic analysis. U.S. staffing companies are giving their clients what they want: flexibility and access to talent. These are what clients value most from staffing firms and what they say the industry is best at providing.

Where are you on this? In Rome yet?!

JOB SEEKERS! Toughest Interview #2: What Are Your Biggest Weaknesses?

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:36:09 GMT

One of the most dreaded interview questions that virtually every interviewer asks is: What are your greatest weaknesses?

So, what makes this one of the most uncomfortable questions to handle? As a job seeker, you understandably want to highlight your positive attributes instead of introducing personal characteristics that could eliminate you from consideration for a job.

You have to be thoughtful and careful with your response. If you admit that you have trouble getting to work on time and resent being told what to do by your superiors, you’re interview is going to be pretty short.

So, what’s the best way to handle this question?

Watch this video from TheJobShopper.com!

Georgia awarded $13 million for HER, HIE development

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:32:57 GMT

The Georgia Department of Community Health (GDCH) has been award $13 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support the state’s effort to expand EHR (Electronic Health Record) use and create the infrastructure for health information exchange (HIE).

Upon completion of the planning process, the team will develop a governance structure, financial sustainability plan and an operational HIE, the department said. The funding will be used to build the HIE and to support the development of interfaces with existing HIEs across Georgia.

The award marks the second American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) health IT grant awarded to Georgia to advance the use of electronic health information. In December 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services granted Georgia $3.1 million to create a State Medicaid Health IT Plan and complete initial planning activities related to promoting the adoption and utilization of EHRs among Medicaid providers, according to GDCH.

Demand Created for Health IT Professionals due to Stimulus

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:21:18 GMT

Considering the money that is now flowing into health IT for EHRs – undoubtedly, there will have to be someone to build, install, deploy and train personnel to use the systems. Studies estimate that there was a need for 10,000 to 15,000 new health IT professionals nationwide, but those were conducted before the enactment of the federal stimulus back in February. Therefore, there’s an extremely high demand for health IT workers, reports Health Leaders Media.

Recently, an American Hospital Association survey found that 25% of responding organizations are shorthanded when it comes to IT staff and expertise. However, the economic situation that has left so many talented IT professionals unemployed could provide an unprecedented opportunity for healthcare. “We have to figure out a strategy to take IT professionals from other disciplines and orient them to healthcare, and then look at the educational system and the places where they are training people who are specializing in healthcare issues to beginning to look at healthcare IT as a piece of the curriculum,” says AHA spokesman Rick Wade.

Even though the experienced IT professionals can be immediate help in building secure infrastructure, they will have to be trained for the unique needs of healthcare. Alex Rodriguez CIO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Ky. comments, “It’s about understanding clinical business processes. That is the separation-being able to have the communication skills to dive into how the business processes work, the communication skills and the thinking skills to determine how the new technology applications are going to be used,” he explains.

Though the increased demand could propel salaries, Rodriguez says people are looking for professional growth and stability during these trying times. Therefore, hospitals may not have to break the bank when expanding their health IT staff.

ARRA Stimulus creates new demand for Health IT Professionals

http://healthit.medinanet.com

Recognizing the Ever-Under-Valued HR Recruiters in Today’s Market

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:30:22 GMT

Praise You HR Manager! Thank You Recruiter Extraordinaire!! Recruiting is a function that is absolutely a vital part of any organization. But while it’s really important, it isn’t high profile or glamorous. It is a thankless job that is often under-valued and recruiters are almost certainly under-estimated. Recruiters don’t get those nice big bonus checks every time a new client signs a contract. No, that would be the sales people. They don’t get applauded when they implement a new IT solution that makes everyone’s job a little easier. That would be those techy folks.

Human Resources and recruiters do not bring in clients and revenue. That is true. However, it’s also true that they can grow revenue potential by putting the right people in the right places, or – conversely - blow through some serious time and money with a bad hire. Recruiters don’t provide technology & systems with all the latest bells and whistles – literal or figurative. However, they do hire the people that make those bells and whistles work – literally!

In today’s business climate, customer loyalty is down and a certain percentage of clients come and go. And technology, moving at the speed of light, always finds new bells and better whistles. People, though… it’s the people behind an organization that make it what it is. Human capital is a key driver to meeting business objectives. And it is recruiters who find those people. So why are they so under-valued?

Recruiting is a function that requires business perspective and expertise, analytical skills, interpersonal as well as strategic communication skills, cultural and organizational intuition, diplomacy, marketing skills, and business acumen to align recruitment initiatives with trends and cycles. HR professionals handling the recruitment for an organization face many challenges – not the least of which is finding not only the best candidate for the job, but also the right person for your organization. So why are they so under-estimated?

In the last few years, the job market has undergone some fundamental changes in technologies, sources of recruitment, competition in a saturated market, changing business requirements, shifts in funding… just to name a few. Recruiters are constantly facing new challenges. And they must conquer them quickly to find the best candidates for their organizations. So, hug your recruiter today! Well, ok… depending on the climate, maybe you shouldn’t hug. But VALUE them at least. Don’t under-estimate the impact a good – or bad – recruiter has on you every day. You’d be surprised how often that happens!

Are you getting the most out of your recruiting? Morgan Sourcingis a full service IT Recruiting and Staffing firm specializing in permanent, contract and contract-to-hire scenarios. Information Technology is our thing. Staffing is our expertise! We unite talent with opportunities and believe there is a job that fits every person and a person that fits every job. Click here for more about Morgan Sourcing.

Using Contingent Workers to Save Money

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:14:06 GMT

Customers of contingent labor have their differences. But most agree that using temporary workers saves money. A contingent buyer survey conducted by Staffing Industry Analysts in September 2009 shows just that. The survey indicated that 92 percent of respondents from 171 large companies (1,000 plus employees) believed that using contingents saved their corporations cash. In fact, the median savings reported was nine percent of total expense. In contrast, savings reported in 2008 were at 17 percent. The differences, however, could be related to the state of the economy and the recession.

Also interesting is that that greater the contingent share of the labor force reported by customers, the greater percent total expense savings also reported. Over the last decade, as the use of contingent labor has grown, businesses' attitudes to using temporary workers have changed. In some quarters, there is a fear that engaging temps can harm a company's reputation as an employer. On the other hand, a study by two professors in 2001 found that using temporary workers led to higher returns. (See "The Price is Right" Contingent Workforce Strategies, November/December 2008).

Different attitudes and the recession notwithstanding, it is clear that most research points to the adoption of contingent labor as being positive. Temporary workers provide companies a just-in-time solution to meet the demands of the marketplace. They can either ramp up or down and are not paying for people to stay idle.

http://www.staffingindustry.com

Ensuring IT Project Success

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:00:44 GMT

Revisit Project Planning 101

Let’s tell it like it is—when it comes to project management, IT has it tougher than most. Unlike the solid, tangible results of manufacturing or construction projects, IT project goals are a moving target— complicated by shifting business needs, demanding stakeholders and rapidly changing technology. Given that IT projects are so difficult to execute, how can you ensure your next one will hit the mark? For starters, read this article. It’s full of good ideas to help new, and even veteran project managers manage IT projects more successfully.

Many new project managers receive little or no training on how to do their jobs. But even if you’ve been at it awhile, it never hurts to brush-up on the basics: Projects are short-term efforts to • create a unique product, service or environment (e.g. develop a new corporate website, merge existing databases, etc.). Project constraint factors include time, cost and scope. All must be balanced for the project to succeed. From implementation to planning, • projects move through five phases: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.

Recognize and Address Common IT Project Pitfalls

Poor planning. Realistically consider:

the resources you need to devote to your project;
the skills and people required to do the job correctly;
the time needed to adequately create, test and implement project deliverables (be sure to allow for short-term productivity losses due to the learning curve). Rushing through implementation. Even if your company is relying on your project to remain competitive, don’t rush it. Being first to market with a new technology will prove disastrous if it doesn’t work properly.
Biting off more than you can chew. Conquer an unwieldy project by breaking it down into smaller, more digestible pieces. A series of smaller projects allows for more manageable endeavors, increasing the likelihood of overall success.

Determine Success Criteria

Before beginning the project, identify your stakeholder’s interests and expectations. Define clear and measurable business goals, which will in turn imply your project success criteria (e.g., staying under budget, delivering specific functionality, etc.). Make your success criteria measurable and track-able so you’ll know at a glance how things are progressing—you’ll improve your team’s effectiveness, while reducing frustration and stress.

Write a Detailed Plan

A useful project plan should include the following elements:

Breakdown of the tasks to be performed. Break large tasks into smaller components to help you estimate your needs more accurately.
Staff, budget and other resource estimates and plans.
Team roles and responsibilities. Plans for acquiring and training the staff you need. Assumptions, dependencies, contingencies and risks.
Details of, and target dates for, major deliverables.
Tracking and monitoring processes. Metrics to be used.
Management provisions for subcontractor relationships, if applicable. The time you spend analyzing and detailing your plan now will reduce the number of surprises you have to deal with later.

Make Realistic Work Estimates

Make allowances for task-switching. Switching among tasks creates thought and process inefficiencies that reduce individual productivity. As a rule of thumb, schedule only 80% of multi- tasker’s time.
Build in training time and learning curves. High-tech fields demand that practitioners devote time to ongoing education, which must be built into project estimates. In addition, any new technology adopted must be taught to internal users.
Estimate based on effort, not calendar time. Your employees may work 40 hours per week, but not all of it is focused on project completion. Meetings, emergency requests and waiting for needed information all diminish the effective weekly project hours your employees have to devote.

Actively manage expectations by negotiating with customers, managers and team members whenever there is a gap between project realities and committed goals. Life happens—unanticipated problems arise, risks materialize, new requirements are added—so you must incorporate these changes into your commitments to keep the project on-track.

Negotiate Achievable Commitments

To ensure the success of your IT project, you must plan for the worst by developing a comprehensive risk management proposal:

Control Project Risks— Don’t Let Them Control You

Identify potential problems that could impact project success;
Determine how likely each problem is to happen;
Calculate the negative consequences for the project if each does occur;
Create mitigation actions (e.g., contingency buffers) to reduce either probability or impact of each risk.

Know When to Pull the Plug

Time and cost overruns, or shifting business conditions, may make it necessary to kill an IT project. Make sure your project plan includes criteria for deciding when it’s time to disconnect the life support. If scrapping the project seems too daunting, you may choose to scale-back the project, or create smaller projects that provide some return on sunken costs.

Track Your Progress and Results

Record actuals and estimates. Improve your estimating approach by recording the actual effort/time spent on each task and comparing it to your estimates. Anything less is just guessing, and won’t teach you a thing.

Don’t check it off until it’s done. Really, 100% all-the-way done.
Track honestly and openly. Q: How does an IT project become three months late? A: One day at a time. Joking aside, your project will only be as successful as your tracking is accurate. Create a climate in which your team members feel safe reporting project status—even when goals are missed. Use this status information to take corrective action when necessary.

Celebrate the Small Successes

IT projects are chock-full of stress, frustration and anxiety. So when your team does hit the mark, achieving even a secondary goal, be sure to celebrate your success. When you’re all under pressure, a simple pat on the back can have a tremendously positive effect.

Sources used to write this article:

Phillips, Joseph. ABC: An Introduction to IT Project Management. March 7, 2007.

www.cio.com/article/print/40342 Visitacion, Margo.

Project Management Best Practices: Key Processes and Common Sense.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/ DownloadableAssets/Giga_-_Project_Management_Best_Practices-_Key_ Processes_and_Common_Sense_(1-03).pdf

Wiegers, Karl. 21 Project Management Success Tips. www.projectsmart.co.uk/21-project-management-success-tips.html

The New World of VMS (Vendor Management Systems)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:58:03 GMT

The staffing and recruiting world has changed quite a bit over the least ten years. I have heard grand stories from the 90’s chronicling any “Joe Shmoe” off the street who had a relationship with a manager being able to make a mint placing contractors or employees for companies. The market for information technology and network/infrastructure projects and contractors was intense and ripe for the picking. The internet, E-Commerce, and broadband data bandwidth were the new buzz words and every medium and large-sized company wanted in on it.

Established staff augmentation companies and consulting firms began to increase their technology professional focus and this practice became one of the most successful in the early 90’s. Another interesting scenario that developed around this time was the emergence of small, independent firm owners who possibly worked in a larger firm with technology consultant needs. These insiders had knowledge of the system and knew that the ability to provide services and contractors was fairly casual.

As smaller firms began to provide consultants, corporate liability and the inability to pay contractors became a common issue. The market was saturated and organizations were losing money and productivity by projects not being accomplished in a competitive and timely manner. The ability to control the vendor relationship and ensure firms were stable became the target of many Human Resources professionals.

Along came the age of the Vendor Management System. A Vendor Management System (VMS) is an Internet-enabled, often Web-based application that acts as a mechanism for business to manage and procure staffing services – temporary, and, in some cases, permanent placement services – as well as outside contract or contingent labor. Typical features of a VMS application include order distribution, consolidated billing and significant enhancements in reporting capability that outperforms manual systems and processes. Now margins, qualification processes, and contractor experience and personal background-checking became controlled and easier to manage.

I understand and can certainly appreciate the business purpose of the VMS. It makes good sense and helps alleviate unnecessary issues for all levels of management in most organizations. However, another common element in VMS’ is the staffing firm’s inability to create relationships with hiring managers and HR professionals. When there is a wall (VMS) in between the firm and the manager, getting a true understanding of the requirements and the cultural elements of the position is almost impossible. This also further perpetuates the commoditization of our industry. Meaning, it makes us compete over price rather quality.

At Morgan Sourcing, we strive to create strong and lasting relationships with HR and IT managers. We do business with organizations that utilize VMS systems, but only if we can cultivate some sort of relationship. Our ultimate goal as a true boutique IT staffing firm is to become a valued partner that a client can rely on to dedicate time and effort to the position. We also know that our consultants will be in strong and stable contracts when this type of relationship is enabled.

ERP Implementations: Our Latest Nightmare

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:55:26 GMT

Time and time again, we’ve heard horror stories about large scale, and even small scale ERP implementations or upgrades. The company needed some enterprise solution to bring together the disparate databases and applications so that everything “made sense.” The complaints came from the users, their managers, and a resounding executive cry for dashboards and passive monitoring. Yes, this is complicated and expensive territory we’re treading on, but does it always have to be a giant nightmare?

As technology changes in the blink of an eye, the level of complexity and separate system integration seems to skyrocket. So, if these systems must exist, and if annual upgrades are a given, then why does it bring organizations to a halt when trying to execute? The answer is not an easy one. We found a really interesting interview with Ann All from IT Business Edge and Mike Fauscette from IDC. This may shed a little light on the complexity and how it can be tamed, to a certain extent.

IDC: ERP Systems' Lack of Flexibility a Costly Problem

by Ann All, IT Business Edge
Dec 31, 2009 1:05:49 PM

Ann All spoke with IDC analyst Mike Fauscette, who authored a white paper sponsored by ERP software provider Agresso that found companies' inability to easily modify their ERP systems is disrupting their businesses by delaying product launches, slowing decision making and delaying acquisitions and other activities. These problems ultimately cost them between $10 million and $500 million in lost opportunities.

All: The crux of the research seemed to be that companies have to make lots of changes to their ERP systems, changes that ultimately cost them a lot of money. Why aren't systems set up to better accommodate change?
Fauscette: You can look at it from two sides. The first is the flexibility of the system itself, and I think that’s one of the biggest problems. A lot of ERP systems are good at what they do, but the problem is how they do what they do. They do things in a rigid manner, from an architectural standpoint. Everything is very coded if you need to make changes. When you think how often companies have to make changes to a business process to respond to a competitive pressure, or how often a regulatory change creates a need to change a finance process, it’s very common these days. Yet most ERP systems don’t accommodate these kinds of changes. At the least, you might have to go in and reconfigure something. Often, you’ll have to implement, re-implement or customize something. That’s a significant project. The average cost of that kind of a change is a million dollars.

“Honestly, from the implementation perspective, the vendor definitely shares the responsibility with the customer. I think the vendor has to have a good methodology to help customers understand how to mitigate risks.”

Mike Fauscette

Analyst, IDC

All: This seems like a problem that's probably not exclusive to ERP. Is it a bigger deal with ERP bercause those systems touch so many processes?
Fauscette: Right. It could touch any kind of software. But the difference is the extent to which an ERP system touches the company. The probability of change is much higher. A CRM system, for example, doesn’t touch everything inside a company the way an ERP system does. ERP systems are older than a lot of other software. It came out of the old mainframe days, then the MRP (material requirements planning) world, and MRP turned into ERP. There are some good ERP systems with modern architectures. But they didn’t build the architectures with the idea that companies would need rapid change capabilities.

All: Do companies tend to stick with their ERP systems because they were so expensive and difficult to implement?
Fauscette: Right. You may have gone through a lot of pain to get it implemented. It’s been in your company for a long time, so it’s ingrained in a lot of business processes. If you think about the world from a business strategy perspective, go back 10 years and you were just starting to see connectivity have impact. So even back in the ‘90s, when you built a company strategy or process, you expected it to last several years. Now companies sometimes change their processes weekly or even daily. You have more competition from every quarter. A new competitor you’ve never heard of could pop up tomorrow and threaten market share.

All: Vendors must be cognizant of these trends. So why haven’t systems changed more over time? What features are missing?
Fauscette: I don’t think features are that much of an issue. The systems are generally feature rich. The problem comes when I need to make process changes. We’re starting to see more systems that offer easier ways to make business process management changes. But it’s hard as a vendor to make a major architectural change. Vendors are moving down a path. The problems that have come up around change haven’t been effectively addressed, because it’s a fairly new problem.

All: So this issue just hasn't gotten that much attention to date?
Fauscette: I think we are just on the edge of understanding this process. It’s interesting. When I talk to customers, they know they have problems with their ERP systems, but they don’t necessarily link it to change. When they understand the causal chain, they go, "Oh.” They hadn’t really thought it through. In the enterprise, it’s important. But it’s even more important in the midmarket, because they have fewer resources to deal with disruptions.

All: In some of the lawsuits over failed ERP systems, we hear customers sometimes play a part in problems. Is that the case here?
Fauscette: Before I was in the analyst world, I ran a professional services organization for a software firm. I also have a good friend who has built a business on trying to figure out what causes IT failures. Honestly, from the implementation perspective, the vendor definitely shares the responsibility with the customer. I think the vendor has to have a good methodology to help customers understand how to mitigate risks. But from a customer perspective, there are a lot of issues to work through. In many cases, they can’t do it themselves, and that’s why they enlist outside help. When you get past that, though, and go into the change cycle, I think the customer has no choice. They have to make changes, because market forces or regulatory pressures drive them to do it.

All: What about software-as-a-service? SaaS providers often tout the flexibility of their systems.
Fauscette: I’m a proponent of SaaS. I think it’s a useful delivery model for a lot of customers. But unfortunately today, SaaS might make the problem worse. You can’t customize multitenant SaaS, you can only configure it. It has no more flexibility in that respect. It offers more flexibility with deployments, but not with making changes. I was impressed with Agresso because they have an architecture that allows you to make configuration changes without going in and changing code. I don’t endorse any ERP system. But this capability, whether it comes from Agresso or someone else, is important.

All: So from a customer perspective, it seems important to ask about the ability to make changes during your evaluation process.
Fauscette: You need to ask yourself a couple questions first. What kind of business disruptions are you seeing? Are you in a market where competition changes regularly? Are you in a highly regulated market? Those kinds of things are important for you to understand first. If you’re a business that needs to rapidly respond to change, that needs to be an evaluation criteria for you. Set out some scenarios that relate to your business, and have vendors show you how they’d make those changes.

Project Manager? We can handle this…

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:50:42 GMT

Today’s business model is different than five, or even two years ago. The bottom line is as much a factor, if not more of a factor, than actually getting the project complete. Whether an organization is implementing a new customer relationship management tool or upgrading their existing desktops, the cheapest way to accomplish these goals will most likely be the route in which the company moves.

A solid, well-organized company uses proven methods and easily repeatable models to accomplish many of the larger IT projects. A few examples of these models would be Traditional Project Planning, Critical Chain Project Management, or process-based management such as the CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) and ISO/IEC15504 (SPICE - Software Process Improvement and Capability Estimation).

Tom Mochal and the team at www.TenStep.comhave the following to add:

There are some companies that have built reputations for being able to consistently manage projects effectively. However, the vast majority of organizations have a more spotty reputation. Does your organization have any of the following characteristics?

· Projects completed late, over-budget, or without meeting the functionality requirements of your client

· Weak standard processes and techniques used inconsistently by project managers

· Project management is reactive and not seen as providing value

· The time required to manage projects proactively is not built into the work plan, since it is considered 'overhead'

· Projects are 'successful' in spite of a lack of planning and project management, through heavy stress and overtime work throughout the lifecycle

Good project management discipline is the way to overcome these shortcomings. Having good project management skills does not mean you have no problems. It does not mean that risks go away. It does not mean that there are no surprises. The value of good project management is that you have standard processes in place to deal with all contingencies.

Project management processes and techniques are used to coordinate resources to achieve predictable results. However, it should be understood up front that project management is not an exact science and there is never a guarantee of success. Since projects involve people, there is always complexity and uncertainty that cannot be absolutely controlled.

Project management is a science in that it relies on proven and repeatable processes and techniques to achieve project success. It is an art because it also involves managing and relating to people and requires the project manager to apply intuitive skills in situations that are totally unique for each project. A good project management methodology provides the framework, processes, guidelines and techniques to manage the people and the workload. A good methodology increases the odds of being successful and therefore provides value to the organization, the project and the project manager.

The value proposition for project management goes something like this. It takes time and effort to proactively manage a project. This cost is more than made up for over the life of the project by:

· Completing projects more quickly and cheaply. One of the biggest benefits of using a common methodology is the value of reuse. Once the processes, procedures and templates are created, they can be used (perhaps with small modifications) on all projects in the future. This results in reduced project start-up time, a shorter learning curve for project team members and time savings from not having to reinvent processes and templates from scratch on each project.

· Saving effort and cost with proactive scope management. Many projects have difficulty managing scope, which results in additional effort and cost to the project. Having better project management processes will result in being able to manage scope more effectively.

· Better solution “fit” the first time through better planning. Many projects experience problems because there is a gap between what the client expects and what the project team delivers. Using a methodology results in better project planning, which gives the team and the sponsor an opportunity to make sure they are in agreement on the major deliverables produced by the project.

· Resolving problems more quickly. Some teams spend too much time and energy dealing with problems because they do not know how to resolve the problems to begin with. Having a proactive issues management process helps ensure that problems are resolved as quickly as possible.

· Resolving future risk before the problems occur. Sound risk management processes will result in potential problems being identified and managed before the problems actually occur.

· Communicating and managing expectations with clients, team members and stakeholders more effectively. Many problems on a project can be avoided with proactive and multifaceted communication. In addition, much of the conflict that does arise on a project is not the result of a specific problem, but because of surprises.

· Building a higher quality product the first time. Once the needs are defined, the team can implement quality control and quality assurance techniques to meet the customer expectations.

· Improved financial management. This is the result of better project definition, better estimating, more formal budgeting and better tracking of the project actual costs against the budget. All this rigor results in better financial predictability and control.

· Stopping “bad” projects more quickly. ”Bad” projects are those where the cost-benefit justification no longer makes sense. A project may have started with sound cost/benefit justification. However, if the project is late and over budget it may hit a threshold where the business case is no longer valid. Effective project management allows you to see these situations earlier so that you can make better decisions to re-scope or cancel the project.

· More focus on metrics and fact-based decision making. Metrics give you information that helps you determine how effective and efficient your team is performing and the level of the quality of your deliverables. Metrics also give you the information necessary to validate whether you were successful or not.

· Improved work environment. If your projects are more successful, you will find additional intangible benefits associated with your project team. Your clients will have more involvement, your project team will take more ownership of the project, morale will be better, and the project team will behave with a greater sense of professionalism and self-confidence. This should make sense. People that work on projects with problems tend to be unhappy. On the other hand, people on successful projects tend to feel better about their jobs and themselves.

People who complain that project management is a lot of 'overhead' forget the point. Your project is going to face issues. Do you want to proactively resolve them or figure them out as you go? Your project will face potential risks. Do you want to try to resolve them before they happen or wait until the problems arise? Are you going to communicate proactively or deal with conflict and uncertainty caused by a lack of project information? Are you going to manage scope or deal with cost and deadline overruns caused by doing more work than your budget covers? Are you going to build quality into your process or fix problems later when they will be more costly to resolve?

The characteristics of the project are not going to change whether you use a formal project management process or not. What changes is how the events are dealt with when the project is in progress. Are they dealt with haphazardly and reactively or proactively with a smoothly running process? You can check out the TenStep.com website for more information on methodologies and proper project planning.

In short, trying to accomplish large scale or even small scale projects without proper planning and the proven record of a Project Manager can cause more issues than most companies want to deal with. These issues could cost the organization much more than the originally budgeted project. Please give us a call or send an email to get more info about how one of our qualified Project Management consultants can help your organization be more successful now, and in the future.

Go Virtual or Go Home

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:47:29 GMT

In today’s business world, companies of all sizes have limitless options for creating cost-effective solutions for running their businesses. Finding the right solutions can really impact the bottom line and provide efficiency that may not otherwise be accomplished via “old school” or traditional means. One of the most highly publicized and easily adopted solutions is company virtualization. Virtualization comes in many flavors and levels which can really help a business flourish, especially in a challenging economy.

We will discuss just a few scenarios with which we are familiar:

Virtual PBX Systems (Phone/VOIP)- A PBX (Private Branch Exchange) system allows companies to have sophisticated Answering (Auto Attendant), Call Routing, and Extension management functionality. A virtual PBX is one that is hosted at remote location and can be administered and accessed via a web browser or ASP access. This alleviates the need for expensive servers, hardware, and IT (network) staff that may have to manage and administer the system. With an affordable setup fee, a couple of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) phones, and a monthly access fee, a company can have all of the benefits of a larger system with a fraction of the cost and headaches. We recommend a local Atlanta company called Vocalocity.

Hosted Corporate Email (Exchange)-Just like website hosting, many companies now offer corporate email hosting giving companies the ability to have Microsoft Exchange (or other protected/connected email clients) email functionality without needing the large IT expenses that would normally be part of the deal. Prior to this hosted environment, a company would need email servers with ample bandwidth and storage, client licenses for each user, IT staff members and extensive group policies for regulating traffic flow. Now, nearly all of these items are included or eliminated in the hosted environment and can be obtained for a low monthly access fee per user.

In addition to email hosting, many companies also provide hosted SharePoint services, Online Communications capabilities, and live presentation access as well. All of these services are invaluable and can bring a company to a level of productivity that can be realized in a very brief time. We use Microsoft for all of our Online Hosting needs because we are a Registered Partner and find that going straight to the source is always the safest route. There are many providers out there so do your research and make sure you’re dealing with a reputable provider that has solid track record.