THE IMPORTANCE OF PROGRAM OVERSIGHT

A program is generally a collection of related programs. As an analogy, building a single house would be a project, but building an entire housing development would be a program. A program requires having the overall big picture because it involves many different projects that can influence the entire organization.

Program management helps coordinate multiple entities and projects while monitoring the progress of projects across the program. Professional and experienced project management can help control cost and time overruns and help ensure the success of the software implementation. Effective program management can have the following benefits:

• Properly manage the vendor and other contractors
• Create and manage the plan
• Manage issues and risks
• Properly communicate up and down the enterprise chain and with vendors
• Understand, from experience, the entire process of the project
• Manage/Control change and scope creep
• Tracking and managing spending and budget
• Keep everyone focused on objectives and limit distractions
• See potential problems coming, understand their potential impact, and limit them
• Clear the field so people can do their jobs effectively

HOW FPOV CAN HELP WITH PROJECT OVERSIGHT?

FPOV can offer our experienced services in many different ways when it comes to program oversight:

• We help organizations develop a program plan. We typically do this by breaking a program down into a work breakdown structure (WBS). This is a highly structured outline of the program. It starts with big concepts or phases (such as testing) and breaks them down into smaller components (such as system tests or user acceptance tests). It further breaks these down into more critical/manageable/executable chunks. The program plan helps keep everything lined up and improves communication across the different projects and departments.
• We can walk side-by-side with an organization as they implement a major program. We stand alongside an organization as it implements the program from structuring the team and resource planning all the way through training, testing, and release. Our consultants have extensive experience leading successful programs in a wide variety of organizations and industries.
• Highly successful programs need to be lead by an experienced or certified manager. We often act as a “program manager” or program oversight. A program manager oversees the entire program, coordinating resources, budget, and the program plan. Organizations can often benefit from having an outside third party facilitate this important role. Mature PMs can provide the following:

  • Governance: The PM ensures that decisions are taken by the right people, based on the right information. The governance role can also include audits or peer reviews, developing project and program structures and ensuring accountability at all levels.​

  • Transparency: The PM is responsible for providing information and being the single source of the truth. Information should be relevant and accurate to support effective decision-making, and provided to people in a way they can understand.​

  • Reusability: The PM facilitates the sharing of knowledge. This stops project teams from reinventing the wheel and makes the PM the central point for lessons learned, templates and best practice.​

  • Delivery support: The PM makes it easy for project teams to do their jobs by reducing bureaucracy, providing training, coaching, mentoring and quality assurance.​

  • Traceability: The PM provides the function for managing documentation, project history and organizational knowledge.