Company: PM Solution

INSURERS PUT NEW PRODUCTS TO THE TESTIMPLEMENTATION.

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Product: Project Management Community of Practice
Web Site: www.pmsolutions.com

PM Solutions, the developer of project management consulting, training, and research, in February released the latest version of
its Web-enabled Project Management Com-munity of Practice (PMCOP) methodology solution, which aligns with standards
contained within the Project Management Institutes PMBOK Guide 3rd Edition. The PMCOP gives Global 2000 organizations a source for hundreds of forms, templates, practices, and guidelines that can be used to improve project execution and operational efficiency.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has been using an earlier version of the PMCOP solution for approximately two years, according to Ron Hougui, EPMO manager for Horizon. When we first launched the enterprise project management office, the maturity level of most proj-ect managers was low, he says. [Man-agers] didnt know what the next steps were and how to proceed. It made it difficult for [the EPMO] to follow or for a sponsor who had multiple project managers working on different projects. [Project sponsors] constantly saw different status reports, different ways of creating schedules, and a different way of creating stakeholder analysis documentation.
What Horizon has done with the tool is create a common set of standards, methodologies, and templates. We provide samples if the [project managers] dont know how to get started, explains Hougui. [The tool] outlines our project methodology, the project managers life cycle, and it talks about the different roles and responsibilities. Its sort of like the gateway for project managers.

PMCOP supports the active use of repeatable processes across all projects within an organization. Having a standard process in place for managing projects accelerates project start-up time, increases project speed, and makes project results more predictable.

It keeps managers focusing on what they have to do, what the next steps are, how they go about initiating a project, and how they close a project, states Hougui. Its hard to keep tabs on things if everybody has a different approach to it. You really dont know the project is failing until its too late. If you follow the common methodology, you are able to stay on top of [projects] and identify areas where [managers] may be needing help before the problems really become a major issue.
Since the initial release of the PMCOP in 2002, PM Solutions methodology experts have spent more than 6,000 hours customizing the methodology for our clients, adding new content based on customer feedback and PMBOK Guide industry advancements, and refining the functionality of our solution to meet the needs of a broad user base, says Karen White, director of consulting services at PM Solutions.

The tool also is customizable, Hougui adds. We purchased it a couple of years ago and Horizon-ized it, he says. Although the methodology follows standards, we made some minor modifications to be more in line with our own methodology.
PM Solutions updated PMCOP is easy to use and scalable, according to White. The PMCOP aims to bring practical best practices, templates, guidelines, and reference materials directly to the organizations fingertips, she notes. It defines project management roles and responsibilities and features a glossary with the definitions of nearly 400 key project management terms. Its interface requires minimal user training and is adaptable to integrate with a companys intranet or existing project management software. It features full search capabilities, a software development project handbook, and an integrated knowledge center.

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Company: Computer Associates International
Product: Legacy Renewal Solution
Web Site: www.ca.com

Computer Associates (CA) International, Inc., announced last month the availability of its Legacy Renewal Solution, a knowledge-based service that automates the conversion of legacy COBOL applications to J2EE, .NET, and Web services without rewriting source code. The CA solution combines its technology services with its AllFusion Gen model-based development tool to help organizations migrate COBOL-based legacy applications to new platforms and application architectures while maintaining business rules and requirements.
IT organizations want to minimize cost and risk when migrating their COBOL applications while ensuring the newly converted applications provide optimum functionality and take advantage of todays Web-based architectures, says Una ONeill, senior vice president, CA Technology Services. CAs Legacy Renewal Solution uniquely leverages our industry-leading technology and a delivery methodology to fulfill these requirements effectively.
The Legacy Renewal Solution captures code-based business rules and stores them separately from any specific implementation technology. It automatically extracts the rules and data into CAs AllFusion Gen, which generates 100 percent of the new code from diagrams that mirror the customers business requirements. Converted business rules can be augmented and enhanced easily to support an organizations current business practices.

The ability to extract business processes from legacy systems, document them within a model-driven environment, and engineer them into new applications helps organizations meet process compliancy requirements associated with legislated standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA.