Career self-management is controlled by the concerned individual and includes certain plans and information applicable for future career decision-making and problem solving. It is comprised of continuously improving the existent conditions at the present work place and preparing yourself for a change. Career self-management and organizational career management are not restricted and can actually help to promote each other.
Common Misconceptions
Listed below are some of the common misconceptions about career management:
o Most people think that the most skilled candidate is likely to be selected. However, this is not true. Candidates with limited qualifications avail of a number of job opportunities because of the way they prepare and present themselves. In short, they self-market themselves in the required manner. Being skilled or qualified is not the only criteria. You must be able to convince the employer that you are the most suitable candidate for the job.
o Most people feel that as long as they already have a job, they don't really need to work on their careers. Again, this not true. Whether or not you are employed currently, you should be prepared for change, in whatever form. To steer clear of any career-related disasters, you should implement the concept of 'Perpetual Career Management' to enhance your career growth.
o Professional education should not stop when you graduate. You should always explore ways to increase your knowledge. You should be constantly updating your skills via journals, seminars and pursuing certifications. These choices should be a part of your consistent career development effort.
o Don't be under the misconception that your job is secure if you work hard and do a good job. With current mergers, outsourcing, downsizing and an unstable economy, there is no job that is entirely secure. You must be fully responsible for the future prospects of your chosen career.
What Graduates Have In Store For Them
Organizations in the United States and other developed countries have been following a trend of employing only the best university graduates to prepare them for future leadership within the organization. However, apprehensions about the proceeds in investing long-term in career development has led many organizations to wonder if this conventional stress on the management of graduate careers should be continued. Employers are now wondering whether they should promote self-management or whether they should continue with the traditional methods of career management.
Similarly, graduates are also faced with a problem. They need to decide whether they should engage in self-management or whether they need to adhere and prepare for the traditional methods already in use. Organizational commitment is important in shaping the responses to career development practices and in acting as chief indicators of the influence of these practices.
Nevertheless, there has been very little research done to sufficiently investigate the impact of career management practices, in spite of the evidence that these practices are capable of making a positive contribution.
Career Management DefinedWhat is supply chain management certification? If you are asking about a certification in this area, it is likely you already work in some aspect of supply chain management. You may work on the starting end where raw goods move to manufacturing facilities. You may work somewhere in the middle of the process moving inventory between manufacturing stations. Or you may be involved in moving finished goods to consumers. No matter where you are in your career, getting certification can help you. Let us look at it and see what it involves.
One of the first areas you begin to understand while studying for this certification is the fundamentals of how this industry works from end to end. If you are currently only working in one aspect of the supply chain, it might be difficult to understand how everything works together. During the certification study process you will learn how raw goods move into the manufacturing process, how work in process goods move around manufacturing process, and how finished goods move out of the manufacturing process into the consumption area. This knowledge helps a certified specialist handle any problem thrown at them.
Another area you will understand while working on your supply chain management certification is the models and processes currently accepted in this industry. As with many other industries, this one has seen a lot of changes in the last couple of decades with technology and the ever-expanding global market. In order to stay ahead of this, a supply-chain management specialist needs to understand all of the leading models and processes excepted by companies around the world to manage their supply chain.
When you complete training, you will take a test to achieve your supply chain management certification. That test will cover all of the fundamentals you have studied, although models and processes involved, and how to do best practices analysis. If you can successfully complete this testing, you will be able to gain your certification as a supply-chain management specialist. That can lead to advancement in your current career or open up opportunities with other companies. It will be something that you proudly display on your resume and you will not hesitate to bring up during any job interviews. You become a recognized professional at your current company and in the industry overall. You can get started today with a simple phone call or visit to a website.
Supply Chain Management Certification - What Is It?First things first: What is Clarity* and what is the difference between Clarity and MS Project*? Do we need to use both? Why?
Clarity (formerly Niku) is a project management information system with functionality to do communication management, time management (including scheduling), cost management, resource management, risk management, and portfolio management. You can create projects, create a budget, add/remove resources to projects, manage project risks and issues, baseline a project, enter project actuals, store project documentation and monitor the project health.
MS Project (MSP for short) is a project scheduler. You can add/change/remove tasks and milestones, create task dependencies, add/remove resources to tasks, estimate task work or duration, identify the critical path, and level resources.
Because MSP does project scheduling better than Clarity they are used in conjunction so that all scheduling tasks are performed in MSP and uploaded back to Clarity. The user interface in Clarity is not conducive to doing project scheduling as easily as in MSPs Excel-like already familiar interface.
When MSP is used as a scheduling tool with Clarity, there are rules and one of them is that Clarity "rules": Clarity owns everything, including the schedule. It just allows you to temporarily "borrow" the schedule by downloading it into MSP so that you can make the necessary changes and hand it back; all of this via a Clarity-MSP interface that neither Clarity nor Microsoft are proud of.
The other rules are not as simple and are not spelled out anywhere except by third party vendors and consultants that have been there and done that. If you follow these best practices that I have collected through some years of working with both tools you will avoid a lot of trouble and frustration:
" Interface installation - Follow the interface installation instructions from top to bottom without missing anything. You want to do it right the first time so that you can continue to the "MSP configuration"
" MSP configuration - Ensure MSP is configured to work with Clarity as per the installation instructions provided by Clarity's manufacturer. Clarity limits the functionality of MSP. This means that you cannot use MSPs functionality to their full extent when it works in conjunction with Clarity
" Password protection - Don't password protect the project in MSP, Clarity does not support it
" New projects - Don't use the "Save As to Clarity" (on MSPs Integration Toolbar) to create and save a new project from MSP to Clarity. All projects have to be created in Clarity first using the project creation functionality
" Project save - Don't use the MSPs File/Save or the File/Save As functions because they don't save to Clarity
" Copy/cut and paste - In MSP, we are all used to copy or cut and paste a whole row. Clarity doesn't like it because each row of the schedule is provided with a unique Clarity ID that cannot be duplicated
" Drag and drop - Same as "Copy/cut and paste"
" Resource assignment - Only assign resources to a task in MSP that are already allocated to the project in Clarity first. If you create resources directly into MSP that are not in the Clarity project the project will not be saved back to Clarity
" Blank task names - Blank task names are not supported in Clarity. They will acquire their Clarity internal ID as the task name upon the save to Clarity
" Split tasks - Clarity does not support the split task functionality of MSP
" Do not use Effort Driven - Clarity does not support Effort Driven tasks. Do not mark tasks as Effort Driven in MSP
" Do not use Fixed Work - Task type Fixed Work is not supported by Clarity because of its effort driven nature; do not mark a task with this type in MSP or it will create unexpected results down the road
" Do not use recurring tasks - Recurring tasks are not supported by Clarity and, in the best case scenario, will be converted to ordinary tasks once saved to Clarity, in the worse case, you will get unexpected results when uploading the project back to Clarity
" Terminology - Get the terminology straight. For example, allocation in MSP is always used loosely when talking about both allocation and assignment, however, in Clarity, allocation is when a resource has been added to a project, and assignment is when that resource has been assigned to at least a task in that project
" Field names - Be aware that some fields in MSP do not share the same name in Clarity. For example, Remaining Work in MSP is called Estimate To Complete (or ETC) in Clarity. You can always rename the MSP column name (a nice feature of MSP)
" Clarity reserved fields - Clarity has reserved some fields for its exclusive use: Text1 through Text5, Flag1, Resource Name, Initials, Email, Number1, and Number2. Bad things will happen if you use them, for example, Text3 holds Clarity's unique ID for each task and you can imaging what will happen if this is changed
" Calendars - Clarity is the source of calendars. Changes made to the calendars in MSP will not be saved to Clarity and will only persist until you close MSP
" Resource leveling - There is no resource leveling functionality in Clarity similar to MSPs. Continue to perform a manual leveling in MSP for each project; you can try the automatic leveling if you are comfortable with the unexpected results it always give you (in any case, always save a copy of the schedule before trying it)
" Baseline - Do not baseline in MSP. Clarity owns the project baseline and this is done in Clarity
" Actuals - Do not manipulate project actuals in MSP. Actuals are entered via Clarity's timesheet functionality
" Task completion - If you use MSP to mark tasks as "Complete" remember to change the Remaining Work (ETC in Clarity) to zero. If a task's Remaining Work Hours or Remaining Work is zero in MSP and the completion is 100%, the complete task must be changed to 100% and the status changed to Complete
" Save frequently - Frequently, save your plan to Clarity. The more often you save it, the easier it will be to recover if you do something you want to back out of
The best advice of all is to completely avoid MSP functions that are not supported by Clarity and you will save yourself and others a lot of time. Don't you think so...? Well, I do.
* Clarity (version 8.1.1 as of this writing) is a product of CA, Inc; MS Office Project (version 2007 as of this writing) is a product of Microsoft Corp.
Clarity-MS Project Best PracticesGOAL: How to apply the essentials of project management to enrich your life
Do you notice how you mirror your work activities to every day living? It's an undeniable statement of fact that our lives are systemically intertwined in everything we undertake-whichever way we cut it.
That's why I totally subscribe to the basic philosophy that, in learning the basic essentials of project management and applying positive and high standards to every endeavor, we benefit on the job and end up happier and more contented with our lives, other people and our surroundings.
Every day, we're faced with ideas that can impact and improve our lives. However, I've also observed that immediately after these inspirations appear, the mind asks, "If I could possibly pull that off, where would I start?"
Indeed, what is the difference between the person who tries-and the person who doesn't?
Having the confidence to try new ideas is definitely a key factor. Where does confidence come from? From knowledge and experience. From learning the essentials of project management, which gift you invaluable insights that every successful person needs to know, in order to live a happy and satisfying life.
The five essential stages of project management are:
• Define
• Plan
• Execute
• Monitor
• Closure
Imagine if it was that simple to define your goal, create a plan for success and execute the plan. At that point, all you'd have to do is watch out for red flags that may hinder successful results.
However, eight out of ten failed projects can be attributed to the person in charge-the project manager. It's the manager's inability to take ownership of the project that becomes a major roadblock. They are stymied by their own fears and insecurities, which stifle successful outcomes.
Every successful project manager knows how to overcome personal and situational limitations. So can you. When you're able to learn and apply the essentials of project management, the possibilities are endless in enriching your life, too.
Project Management & Positive Living RewardsAttaining a risk management certification is an exciting way to launch a new career. The risk management field is experiencing incredible growth, and has become a required area of expertise for high-functioning companies. Receiving a this type of certification can lead to an increased rate of pay and promotion, and a heightened feeling of prestige. It also allows a certified individual to undertake new challenges in high-paying and rewarding industries such as bank finance and strategy consulting.
A risk management certification can be achieved through a number of educational institutions and in a number of different formats. The process includes courses, training, and in-the-field experience. The amount of time required to achieve a risk management certification depends on the chosen institution and the time constraints of the student. The process can cost as little as 0 or as much as a full college degree. Examples of risk certifications are the CRCMP and the CISRCP.
Achieving a risk management certification is a worthwhile endeavor, and can open the door to many new opportunities. It is a professional designation that demonstrates the acquisition of unique skills and can improve the individuals competitiveness in both the internal and external job market. This type of designation can also be used to aid a professional association or charity in analyzing strategy, projects, or fund-raising efforts. Following the recent setbacks in the economy the need for insightful risk analysis has increased, and has spawned new government legislation demanding it. This changing regulation is pervasive across a number of industries and provides an opportunity for motivated individuals with a zeal for risk analysis to become vital players in the new economy. Since the financial crisis in 2008 and the ensuring recession, the need for understanding and controlling risk has been forced to the forefront of business management. During the crisis many firms failed to recognize how compartmentalized risk can interact and form together to create massive consequences. A certified risk professional would have implemented various tools and techniques to prevent firms, and ultimately entire industry sectors, from being overly exposed to structural risk.
A risk management certification provides the individual with the educational and practical foundation required to conduct in-depth risk analysis. This analysis includes interpreting a standard risk template and aiding the management team in developing a company risk policy. This certification also provides more tactical skills such as conducting assessments, developing event responses, and implementing response action plans.
The three most common types of risk management that certified individuals are asked to address are operational, financial, and credit. These fields are constantly expanding and updating, and a certified individual is exposed to these exciting and dynamic changes. By undertaking this designation and all the required educational requirements, the individual can effectively network with risk professionals and associations. This 'inside' connection and communication will aid the newly certified individual in not only recognizing new changes in the risk analysis field, but play an integral role in its development and progress. By supporting a certified risk specialist, an organization can not only demonstrate commitment to their organizational risk philosophy but also maintain a link to an advancing science.
A risk management certification helps the individual fully embrace the role of a risk administrator and develop into an irreplaceable member of the management team. An effective and actionable risk policy allows the senior management of a company to be more confident in their forecasting, estimating and decision-making. Eliminating unforeseen events in their entirety is an act of magic and simply unachievable, but a certified manager can effectively reduce the prospect of these events while also properly preparing the company should these events occur.
Rick Management Certification - The Path to an Exciting and Emerging FieldThere are a number of project managers today that use Microsoft Project to create and track project plans to keep tasks on schedule. Project is a fine application for small endeavors with one person in charge. However as a project grows and more decision makers are involved, managers need an application that can provide enterprise-wide project management.
On-line Management with Project Server
When coordinating a large venture, basic management tools like Microsoft Project may not serve the manager's needs. It is a standalone application that can be used only on one computer. All project information is in one place and all decisions can be made only at that computer.
Once there is a large endeavor with a management team, this lack of access becomes a problem. What is needed is a project management tool that can be shared company-wide and allow all managers to track their respective tasks without needing to wait for printed reports.
Project Server was designed with exactly that capability in mind. All team members can access the application from anywhere on the company network or over the web. Coordination and communication is easier when everyone is on the same page.
Each Team Member Has a Role
Just because everyone can access the software, that doesn't mean everyone has the same capabilities. Individuals are given permissions appropriate to their role in the plan and in the company.
Project managers use the basic Project Professional application just like they have in the past. However their updates and changes are transmitted to the server where they can be viewed by other managers and incorporated in their plans.
Team members who don't use Project directly can still access the server to see what their tasks are, what the status of the overall plan is, and can send status reports to be used by managers.
Even interested parties not directly involved in completion of the tasks, such as executives or investors, can be given access over the company network or the web so they can monitor the progress. Comprehensive security settings ensure that each person is given needed access without any excess privileges.
Project Server Training
Even experienced users of Microsoft Project will benefit from training on the unique capabilities of Project Server. The enterprise-level features of the software greatly increase the size of the projects that can be handled but may not be obvious to new users. Tasks such as team building, resource substitution, and information pooling can be used more effectively after taking instructor-led courses.
The transition from Project to Project Server is a major step for any business but with guidance and proper planning, it is a move that can be made with a minimum of complication. The added capabilities will be invaluable to any mid-size to large business.
Microsoft Project Server Vs Microsoft ProjectProject success is completely depends on balancing one of the major component of project that is "Scope". Scope refers the quality and quantity of what requires to be delivered in the project. Scope management concern about both what is there in the scope and also clearly identify what is not there in the scope.
Project scope management mainly concern with some important activities like:
• Constantly checking the work and make sure that it is completed.
• Preventing doing more work than what is required.
• Don't let people to randomly add to the project scope.
Project scope management also includes some processes required to successfully complete the project are:
• Collect Requirements-Define and document the Stakeholder need.
• Define Scope-Develop a detailed description of project and product.
• Create WBS (Work Breakdown structure)-In this process it subdivides the project deliverables and project work into smaller and more manageable components.
• Verify Scope-formalize acceptance of the completed project deliverables.
• Control Scope-Monitor the status of the project and products scope and manage the changes to the scope base line.
Following are some points to remember to avoid any scope issue:
• Make sure you have written, formal, agreement for the scope of the project: it helps to identify what is there and what is not there in a scope of a project.
• Recognize the scope requirements: know your requirements. Identify a variation to the document and underline it as a project issue.
• Review the Impact and decide the options: Review the cost and time impact of the increase in scope and present this to whomever you want to get a decision.
• Revise the Plan: depending upon the result of your discussions you need to eliminate other functions to increase time, accommodate, and increase the cost associated. Whatever your result, document it and ensure everybody is clear of the impacts on the project.
Project Scope Management is one of the most complicated parts of managing a project. Project managers should know what they are committed and also have a responsibility to make all effort to give the entire information essential to ensure the project scope will meet the strategic direction of the company.
Project Scope ManagementIn our life especially for those moving up their career ladder, at some point in time, one will invariably being called upon to lead and manage a project. Depending upon the nature of the work and the industry one is in, the size and magnitude, the intensity and rigor required of the method of project management may differ. At the simplest, it may just be the simple identification and definition of the various activities and tasks with assigned roles and responsibilities together with clear timelines and key delivery milestones. At the extreme, it may involve the full rigor of project management best practices utilizing robust Project Management (PM) methodology (such as those propounded by PM Institute, US or PRINCE, UK )and adoption of the various automated tools (eg Microsoft Office Project, complete with recruitment of fully qualified full time project manager or director to manage the complex process.
While one can avail himself to the variety of tools available in the market, does this guarantee project success. Detailed information on many PM Methodology tools is widely and freely available to all. Yet I must say that the mere adoption of such tools does not guarantee the project will be completed and implemented successfully. There have been far too many major projects that have gone wrong, unable to be salvaged. You can read many in the News.
What then is successful and how does one define that the project is considered completed and successful. Is completion of a project say done within budget and within timeline, consider success. I believe many would say so, after all, to the business, the project is implemented and to the supplier, he gets paid for the work done. Is this the sole criterion to determine success. What if the projects are completed, but never being used or worst still being shelved after a short while and ended up a white elephant. How do we account for the investment in this? The work done and delivered, irrespective of whether the project is used and serving its intended purpose. Ultimately, irrespective of which perspective you look at, if the project is completed on time and within budget, and adding value to the organization and indirectly also value to the society, then it is successful.
In the course of my career, I have undertaken numerous projects from small to major ones involving tens of millions and more particularly in the technology industry. While the key criteria to gauge the success or failure is determined by the order of the Management at that point in time, I must say that it is a very fine line largely dependent on the immediate stakeholders and users who stand to gain or lose by the project. And it is usually this group of people who determine the fate of the project, which may well be managed very properly and professionally. How qualified and knowledgeable is this group of stakeholders, I can only say appalling in most times, due to tendency to delegate to lower level staff.
I think the key requirements to ensuring successful projects are easily identified and obtained. Requirements such as getting right personnel, adequate time, adequate budget and so on, and with that, the assigned project manager to adopt a methodology. But despite the availability of such information and so-called tips and tricks or best practices, many projects still fail, and I mean real big projects. And maybe a professionally certified Project Manager will by no means guarantee the success. Perhaps a higher probability of success, but never a guarantee.
Here, I do not intend to delve into the key planning activities that a good PM tools will provide. Picking and standardizing one good, not necessary the most expensive and most elaborate one to suit your industry, organization and project is important for training, awareness and continuity of usage and support along the way. For continuity within the organization, there must be control on standards and not left to individual to pick his own due to familiarity. So the key consideration is like having the right people, the right tools and the right costs.
However, there are few focus points that I would like to emphasize that requires constant check and re-evaluation to ensure the success.
a) Select the Project Manager - At the start of the project, the assignment of the Project manager is critical. This is not a position that is offer to someone that happens to be available, with time to spent, or maybe senior enough. Blending this together with one that has good background knowledge of the business and industry as well as being able to see a holistic view is key. One that is handpicked by Project Sponsor for political purpose and although is willing to listen, to support and be advised by him is bound to fail as the Project Manager is ultimately the key person who shoulders the full accountabilities..
So if there is a need, one needs to hire one from outside the organization on contract basis, to be free from internal politics.
b) The Plan - Suffice to say, in any project, to be successful, it must be planned out first. As the saying goes, anything that is not planned is doomed to failure. So a typical plan as outlined in decent project management methodology such as the PMBok of PMI from the US, or PRINCE from UK will adequately identify and require the plan to include activities encompassing aspects such as Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Human Resources, Communication, Risks, and Procurement. Due consideration must be given to each aspects to have adequate resources, time, cost and not just to suit top-down directives.
Planning must be done on participative basis with assistance from all stakeholders. Eventually, this has to be reviewed, confirmed and sign-off, and periodically used to monitor progress.
c) Define the Scope - The project manager can played a key role here to maintain what I call a fair and reasonable scope. While all stakeholders are involved and given time to define the scope and requirements, someone must be able to control the stakeholders to prevent runaway scoping. Firstly, unreasonable requirements such as requiring the project to provide the ideal leads to doom. One can talk about the ideal, but will never get started as they will be caught in analysis/paralysis syndrome causing repeated changes and delays. I say the PM plays a key role here to signal showstopper as to align perception of everybody, to avoid unreasonable expectations from this start point to avoid the need to raise issues at the final stage, if not arrested at this point. The final document must be reviewed and eventual sign-of by all key personnel. Mind you, this document will be the reference, when old stakeholders leave the organisation and new one replacing them will see no need to continue with the project and create problems to kill the project. Sometimes, I wonder, is the project undertaken for the person or for the organization. If it is for the later, why would new stakeholders so eager to kill of the project.
d) Regular and periodical review of Plan against status - There must be factual reporting, no trade-off, with sincere and concern for inactions. Here the PM's job knowledge and confidence is very critical as it will call for the questioning of the various stakeholders roles/responsibilities and inadequate effort and performance in partaking this project. The challenge is how to expose all such deficiencies and yet maintain a working team.
We are sometimes governed by own internal politics where the project sponsor knowledge and trust of his Project Manager is important. Ultimately, the project will be guided by and advise arising from his knowledge or perhaps the lack of it. Solid real life experiences and foundations as an all rounder will place the PM in good stead to make a project successful. One must be able to call a spade a spade without tradeoff. The PM ability to see a holistic view and identify hotspots and to raise them at an early stage, is important, to ensure and keep everybody's perception in tune.
e) Decision Making - Many a time, I find that too much of discretion is given to the business or users and not the supporting function. But they only have the view of their own functional areas. I always use the example of being efficient for the Department but inefficient for the organization as a whole. Of course, every Department will take care of their own interest, but when this goes against the company as a whole, the PM must be able to spot it and escalate for a "force" decision. How often we see the loudest voice rules, and the organization suffers?
f) Over demanding business/Users - When there is one over demanding person who occupy key position, but lacking the knowledge, the project is doomed to fail. Imagine what happen when there is indecisiveness or frequent change of decision can have on a project. While proper sign-off of the Scope Document may signify completion of the process and time-line as a formality, there is no guarantee of quality and completion, if the so-called key personnel has the overall say of acceptance and eventual payment. A weak PM would have succumb to such threat only to live with the problem that comes up when there is repeated delay after delay at later stage. A good PM needs to manage this, enforce strict change management and yet maintain the working relationship at all level.
g) Maintaining and keeping tabs of progress of all related activities. - As in doing up the Plan, the Project Manager must include all activities to have a dashboard of all the activities. Several times, I have come across Plans that are handled by a supplier, but did not capture the Activities and Progress of those handled by the buyer company. For example, the supplier could be involved in the supply of a computer system solution. So the plan only capture the part on completion of the system, while the part on getting ready the computer room, getting the necessary statutory approval, User Training etc are not capture. While such activities maybe undertaken by the buyer company and remains the responsibilities and accountabilities of the buyer organisation, nevertheless, a good PM would have capture such key milestones to track progress at high level. While it may be the fault of another party not fulfilling their part, it is the lack of full visibility of all key activities that cause projects to slip and then argument starts to follow.
Different people view success differently. It is hard to say whether a project is eventually successful. Many projects are completed and in use, but is the project delivering good value. Like I said, this is a fine line. Who eventually do we listen to whether the project meets the needs. After all , a truly successful project is one where the project is embarked to do effective things in an efficient way. Equally possible is when someone in power, in position embarks on an project based upon ineffective strategies and premises, but yet can be completed efficiently and therefore perceived as successful.
The point here is not the knowledge about project management, the industry, but the subtle qualities of the person put in charge, to lead the project and apply such qualities against the respective activities and tasks to fruition.
Managing a Project Successfully - From Start to Completion, a Management Perspective