Best Practices 2005: Project management

We receive a high volume of e-mails telling us about customer case study stories, with takes of implementations that save companies time and money. This year, we saw a good chunk of rollouts that involved the integration of a new system into an existing one to automate one or several business processes.

But rarely are projects as easy as the drop of a disk or a few clicks of a mouse. One example is the case of a system that was supposed to replace paper but ended up costing Hudson’s Bay Co. $10 million in losses.

During times when budgets are tight and executives are increasingly taking a more active role in their companies’ IT investments, getting the thumbs-up to start a project has become more difficult for IT managers. Given that, Canadian businesses need to continue to invest in technology to help close the productivity gap between Canada and our neighbours to the South. Besides, the only way to truly succeed is to learn how to fail.

Private sector projects:

London Drugs shelves PeopleSoft scheduling app
Retailer replaces time and labour module with Kronos software

Staples Business Depot deploys Gen2 tags in RFID pilot
Retailer among the first in Canada to apply EPC standard

Kawartha Pine Ridge signs up Dell for printer refresh
Ink management system leads school board to switch from Xerox

Public sector projects:

City of Mississauga rolls out property tax application
Richmond Hill, Markham, Brampton, deploy Oracle-based solution

Saskatchewan’s property network reassesses software
The province concludes a three-year project to replace legacy tools with a package that can help it assess real estate in more than 800 jurisdictions. Now they’re ready for a data project that comes once every four years

Via Rail brings Wi-Fi aboard Quebec-Windsor trains
Service combines satellite, cellular and other wireless tools

ITBusiness exclusives:

Project management guru offers tips to control crises
q&a Michael Stanleigh comments on Ontario Justice fiasco and more

BMO bets on smart card security plan
InfoSecurity Canada The bank is designing a role-based solution that has to serve 35,000 employees. An executive discusses the challenges, while Microsoft, Bell and others share user experiences

Toronto, Calgary may join Intel Wi-Fi project for cities
Global initiative seeks to expand municipal services wirelessly

Hudson’s Bay CIO explains ‘big ticket’ IT problems
A system that was supposed to replace paper processes led to $10 million in losses last quarter. Gary Davenport discusses long-term goals and the retailer’s next big project

Editorials:

The finest in failure
Worst case scenarios can be more instructive than projects that pass with flying colours

Yabba Dabba Don’t
Why the Fred Flintstone approach to project management just doesn’t work

Project management hell? Big deal
IT is just like high stakes Hold ‘Em when the pressure’s on

Comment: [email protected]

Best Practices: SOA
Best Practices: RFID
Best Practices: E-health
Best Practices: WiMAX/Wi-Mesh

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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