Abstract:
A project workforce management system defines project tasks, project positions, and assigns personnel to the project positions. During the project and following project completion, data is collected regarding the success of project tasks, project positions, and personnel assignments. The project manager reviews how similar opportunities have been handled in the past, and may select to re-use project templates, tasks, positions and personnel assignments that proved successful in similar opportunities.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    This invention relates to project management systems and methods, and more particularly to a software-based system and method for project and knowledge management.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    Good project management is an important factor to the success of a project. A project may be thought of as a collection of activities and tasks designed to achieve a specific goal of the organization, with specific performance or quality requirements while meeting any subject time and cost constraints. Project management refers to managing the activities that lead to the successful completion of a project. Project management focuses on finite deadlines and objectives. A number of tools may be used to assist with project management and assessment.  
           [0003]    Project management may be used when planning of personnel resources and check capacities is desired. The project may be linked to the objects in a professional services life cycle and may accompany the objects from the opportunity over quotation, contract, time and expense (T&amp;E) recording, billing, period-end-activities until the final reporting. Naturally the project gets even more detailed when moving through this cycle.  
           [0004]    A project may arise as an opportunity or a request for quotation (inquiry) sent by a potential customer. When the opportunity or request arrives, a decision has to take place by the manager whether the opportunity should be pursued or a quotation be submitted. Even at this early stage, it is important to check whether the company has the necessary capacity and resources with the required skills and qualifications available at the requested time.  
           [0005]    For any given project, several project tasks should be defined. Project tasks describe the activities and phases that have to be performed in the project such as writing of blueprints, customizing, testing etc. and can be arranged hierarchically.  
           [0006]    What is needed is a system that allows for experience from past projects to be used to in creating a current project. Knowledge on projects in the past may be an important asset. Using past knowledge, project managers can repeat successful methodologies, avoid mistakes, eliminate risks, and do more accurate quotations for new, similar projects. By employing knowledge management, the knowledge can be kept within a firm even with high staff turnover ranges.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0007]    A project workforce management system defines project tasks, project positions, and assigns personnel to the project positions. During the project and following project completion, data is collected regarding the success of project tasks, project positions, and personnel assignments. The project manager reviews how similar opportunities have been handled in the past, and may select to re-use project templates, tasks, positions and personnel assignments that proved successful in similar opportunities. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    These and other features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 illustrates the overall structure of a project management system.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 illustrates a process for generating a project in a project management system.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 illustrates a process for incorporating successful project attributes in a project management system.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 illustrates a process for collecting and storing effectiveness data in a project management system. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 illustrates the overall structure of project management system  100  showing the relationship between a project  105 , project tasks  110 , project positions  115 , and resources  120 . The project  100  is a strategy to achieve a defined goal of an organization. The project  100  may be divided into a series of project tasks  110  and/or a series of project positions  115 .  
         [0014]    The project tasks  110  define activities and phases to be performed in the project  105 . For example, for a construction project examples of project tasks  110  may include preparing blue prints, obtaining the proper permits, preparing the foundation, ordering the lumber, hiring sub-contractors, etc. The project tasks  110  describe operational activities or phases in the project  105  that should be performed like analysis, business blueprint, implementation, and documentation. The project tasks  110  describe qualification requirements and time demand: To be able, e.g., to write a business blueprint document it is necessary to have attended a specific training session and to be available in the first weeks of September. Project tasks  110  have a hierarchical structure, i.e. tasks can be grouped or split up. Sometimes the refinement and split of tasks into several subtasks occurs at a later time in the life cycle of the project  110 .  
         [0015]    The project positions  115  define project roles by job title. For the same construction example, project positions  115  may include architect, foreman, electrician, mason, supervisor, etc. The project positions  115  may include qualifications and requirements for each project position  115 . Thus, a project position  115  may require availability (such as during the month of July) and certain certifications (such as certification for high voltage installations, professional licenses). The project positions  115  represent roles in the project  105  and describe what roles with what requirements exist in the project  105 . The project positions  115  may be described by fields like position type, category, time demand, description, qualification requirements, etc. One example for such a position is the project manager. The qualification requirements for this position might be: account expert, at least two similar projects done, available from September until November for at least 80% of the time. Project positions  115  are non-hierarchical and can be represented by a linear list assigned to a project header. It might be necessary to change the project positions  115  continually during the life cycle of the project  105 .  
         [0016]    The resources  120  describe a particular person or group that may fill a project position. For a company project  105 , the resources  120  may be all the employees of the company. The resources  120  are listed by name and may also include job title, availability, qualifications or other information. The resources  120  may also include any other personnel the company may use, including contractors and temporary workers.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 illustrates a process  200  for generating a project in a project management system. The process  200  begins at a START block  205 . Proceeding to block  210 , an opportunity of inquiry is obtained. An opportunity or inquiry asks for a simple or complex engagement, where one or more persons are required to perform dedicated tasks. This engagement is requested to be performed in a defined time frame.  
         [0018]    Proceeding to block  215 , the process  200  defines a project  105  based on the opportunity or inquiry. The project  105  may be defined to check whether it is possible and reasonable to make an offer (quotation).  
         [0019]    Proceeding to block  220 , the requirements and tasks of the project  105  may be structured as project tasks  110  and the positions (roles) have to be estimated and structured as project positions  115 . As described above, the project tasks  110  define activities and phases to be performed in the project  105  and the project positions  115  define project roles by job title.  
         [0020]    Proceeding to block  225 , the project positions  115  and the project tasks  110  are correlated. Within the project  105  a correlation between project positions  115  and project tasks  110  is performed by the project manager or a resource manager. The correlation describes what project position (role)  115  is responsible to work on a project task  110 . It is possible to correlate one project position  115  to several project tasks  110 . During the correlation of a project position  115  to a project task  110 , the project position  115  acts as a supplier or (nominal) resource that fulfills the time demand and qualification requirements of the project task  110 . Thus a matching of time and qualification data between project positions  115  and project tasks  110  should be possible.  
         [0021]    Proceeding to block  230 , the process  200  matches resources  120  to project positions  115 . The program manager selects a resource  120  from all the available, qualified resources.  
         [0022]    Proceeding to block  235 , the process  200  may prepare optional reports. An integrated reporting functionality is available within the project  105 . The reporting functionality may show all project tasks  110  and resources  120  for a project position  115 , all project positions  115  and resources  120  that are assigned to a project task  110 , and all project positions  115  and project tasks  110  that are assigned to a resource  120 .  
         [0023]    The process  200  can be accomplished by a consulting manager or by a (potential) project manager using software on a computer. The project  105  does not have to be highly complex or lengthy. For example, in a case of a so-called spot-consulting scenario (example: a consultant is needed for two days to define a report) the consulting project consists only of one position and the single task is represented by the consulting project itself.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 3 illustrates a process  300  for incorporating successful project attributes in a project management system. The process  300  begins in a START block  305 . Proceeding to block  310 , the project manager compares the current project to previous projects. The project manager reviews how similar projects have been handled in the past, with the goal of being able to re-use presentations, written contracts, or other documents for the new project. Thus, the project manager can repeat successful methods and avoid mistakes from the past. When comparing the current project  105 , the project manager may also compare individual project tasks  110 , project positions  115 , and even resources  120 . It is possible that unrelated projects may have some similar project tasks  110  and project positions  115 .  
         [0025]    Proceeding to block  315 , the project manager may search a database of previous project for successful attributes. This search may be done manually by the project manager, or may be an automated part of the project creation process. Search methods may include full text retrieval on attached documents, keyword searches, and attribute searches (e.g. industry codes, to find projects from the same industry as the client, or customer names, to find projects from the clients competitors).  
         [0026]    Proceeding to block  320 , the process ranks the successful attributes discovered during the search. The search methods may include analytical information, allowing a comparison between attributes and an ability to rank which attribute was the most successful.  
         [0027]    Proceeding to block  325 , the process selects from the ranked attributes the ones most related to the current project. This enables the project manager to perform more accurate quotations (e.g. by comparing similar projects from the past), and identify and re-apply success factors for highly profitable projects from the past.  
         [0028]    Proceeding to block  330 , the process  300  may import templates from the selected attributes. The templates allow the project manager to re-use project attributes) that have proven to be successful in the past without having to recreate the information. The project manager may copy the templates and modify them to fit them to the new project. Thus the project manager can do more realistic project plans and come to more precise quotations. The process  300  then terminates in END block  335 .  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 4 illustrates a process  400  for collecting and storing effectiveness data in a project management system. The process  400  begins at a START block  405 . Proceeding to block  410 , customer feedback is collected on a project. The customer feedback may be continually collected during the project, and ideally after some other period (such as 6 months) following completion of the project. The feedback may be collected by customer care calling the client and requesting feedback on the project, feedback questionnaires, and any other technique used to measure customer satisfaction. The feedback results may be stored together with the project and can be used for project retrieval (e.g. search the projects with the highest client satisfaction). The feedback results may include both qualitative and quantitative data.  
         [0030]    Proceeding to block  415 , the process the calculates the quality of each of the project attributes. The quality attributes of the project are either automatically calculated or manually maintained by the engagement manager or quality manager (e.g. duration, timeliness, costs within budget, profitability). These key figures can be used for reporting or retrieval (find the most or least profitable projects, etc.).  
         [0031]    Proceeding to block  420 , the process  400  rates partner companies/sub-contractors/external consultants or other third party service providers. During or after the engagement, the service procurement manager, engagement manager or quality manager may store quality data for third party service providers involved in the system. This information can be used in later projects to find the best partners and assure the highest possible project quality.  
         [0032]    Proceeding to block  425 , the customer feedback, quality attributes, third party information, and any other project data measurement is stored in a central database accessible by other project managers. The database may be used to search for effective techniques used in the project to reuse in later projects. The process  400  then terminates in END block  430 .  
         [0033]    Numerous variations and modifications of the invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics.