Page 256 - Global Project Management Handbook

LESSONS LEARNED: REBUILDING IRAQ IN 2004 12-17

● All the sector engineering firms and all the DB firms already had good working project
and program reporting systems in place. An issue quickly arose relating to whether to
allow each firm to use its own existing system and write interfaces to the government’s
system or to require each firm to use the system provided by the government. In the end,
all the sector engineering firms were required to use the government-provided P3ec
system for schedule management.
● Another issue was what common scheduled events to require for all projects so that a
rolled-up program management report could be generated? In the end, 10 standard events
were defined and required in the schedule for every project. With 2500 projects being
planned, this meant that the program management system contained 25,000 events.

Program Reporting

Program reporting went through four distinct phases. In each phase there was a dis-
tinct focus so that in each phase a different report was the key report. The four phases
and the key reports were as shown in Table 12.5.

Paperless Reporting

All reports were generated electronically using Excel, PowerPoint, or the reporting
system within RMS and P3ec. Few, if any, reports were printed. When small project
meetings were held, a computer monitor was used to display the report for all to see.
This worked well for meetings with up to four or five attendees. When larger meetings
were held, a projector was used to display a larger version of the computer monitor on
the wall or a screen. Paper copies of reports were rarely generated or stored. Instead,
everyone carried a memory stick. Since everyone was required to have an identifica-
tion badge over his or her neck, the memory stick generally was worn around the neck
in combination with the ID badge. When anyone wanted a copy of a report, he or she
simply plugged his or her memory stick into the computer in use and downloaded the
report to the memory stick. Note that the reports generally were too large to e-mail
because the file size limit for e-mail attachments is 5 megabytes.
Further supporting the paperless environment was the fact that everyone had a

large-capacity networked desktop computer with the latest versions of Microsoft
Outlook and Microsoft Office.

TABLE 12.5 Program Reporting Phases

Phase Time Frame Report
1. Project definition December 2003 to Completed and approved project
May 2004 information sheets
2. Get the money May 2004 to Dollars apportioned, committed,
September 2004 and obligated
3. Start projects September 2004 to Projects started
January 2005
4. Complete projects January 2005 until Earned value and percent complete
December 2008 (estimate) coupled with project costs