LoadSpring

LoadSpring is the market leader in providing cloud-based Project Management solutions that are quick and simple to deploy and implement. This ensures ROI maximization for our customers PM applications investment. From software selection to cloud access, security to support, implementation and online training, to custom mobile product development LoadSpring has the Project Management focus and expertise to ensure the right solution is delivered to you quickly, the first time. This enables our customers to rapidly execute their PM IT projects and move on. LoadSpring’s easy to use access portal, called The SpringBoard Portal, immediately improves acceptance and adoption of your solution due to its easy to use and secure format. Imagine your PM solution this easy. Mission LoadSpring is a place of empowerment for our Customers, Employees, and Partners. General Information LoadSpring hosts over 60 different applications that support the Project Management process.

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Getting Value Out of Social Project Management

The warm glow of social networking may have already enchanted a billion Facebook users, but what about project management? Perhaps you’re still pondering the potential of getting different project actors to communicate with each other. If so, it may be good to take a step back and consider enterprise project portfolio management (EPPM) first. By taking a holistic view of all the project activity in an organization, management can use EPPM to better decide the priorities and the resource allocations that will be best overall – rather than on a project by project basis. That knowledge comes from comparing data for the projects, but it also comes from gathering the inputs and comments of the people working on them. This is where social project management comes in.

More than Project Management 2.O

Social project management is a means to an end. We’re conditioned to nod our heads when a suggestion is made to improve communication between teams and team members. But the real benefits are in getting better productivity from increased engagement and job satisfaction, and better end-results from more insights. As the saying goes, in order to have one good idea, first have lots of ideas. That’s what social project management helps to do. The wave of ‘Project Management 2.0’ with its additional communication and collaboration tools was a step in the right direction. However, on its own it suffered from being a solution looking for a problem. Social project management makes uses expected project end results as its starting point for defining new ways of working. Communication and collaboration are brought in to serve project management, rather than the other way round.

Instantis EnterpriseStream

Oracle’s Instantis EPPM (enterprise project portfolio management) solution has social project management built in as the EnterpriseStream module. It’s a tool that contributes to achieving project and project management objectives. This is an important difference compared to other project management solutions that rely on external social media. Third-party social networks are typically not built with project management in mind. They may not therefore offer the advantages that a purpose-built solution does.

What Does It Do?

EnterpriseStream offers a number of project-oriented functionality to engage project team members and improve project results – both individually and collectively. Being already integrated into Instantis EnterpriseTrack EPPM means that setup is rapid. Users are automatically registered in EnterpriseStream based on their social graph (the links they have with other users of the system, like Facebook’s approach). They are also kept up to date with project events by an automatic stream ticker (think Twitter). The social ticker then allows users to drill down to get detail on the project event or document being referenced.

Benefits to the Organization

EnterpriseStream can add value to an organization in three ways: enhanced visibility and team morale; improved productivity; and better and faster project execution. Like the dashboard and reporting capabilities in Instantis that are available to users at all stages of the project, EnterpriseStream forms a communication base that stretches from start to finish. That includes project planning, selection, mobilization, execution and measurement. With social project management in the role of a constant companion and faithful servant, enterprises can reap real benefits that go beyond just following a fashion.

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Change Management Processes and Project Management Success

If the only constant is now change, it sounds like change management could be a major factor in achieving the expected results for a project. But change management also needs to happen in several ways. Just changing dates and checking for resource conflicts may not be enough. Good change management typically also needs to address the people part of the equation. That can be anything from ensuring that everybody is ‘on-board’ for a new deliverable timeline, to installing new priorities, work approaches, habits and attitudes.

(Ordered) Democracy is the Order of the Day

In many industries, command and control is no longer the only solution. In some, it isn’t a solution at all. Between tyranny and anarchy, the happy medium is a correctly structured, collaborative and contributive team environment. Team members need to feel involved and to know that their input and suggestions are taken into account. Project management applications must offer both technical ease and speed of schedule updating, together with tools to encourage constructive interactions and discussions.

Change Management Checklist

Project management software should offer functionality to help enterprises run projects correctly while handling curves and kinks in the project life cycle. It should have practical, usable tools to help management get the best results from their project teams and keep their stakeholders happy, including:

Project portfolio management. Enabling the right project decisions to be taken to optimize the overall success of the organization.

Resource engagement. Instigating enterprise-wide discussion on the best ways to move forward and benefit from insights that might otherwise have gone unheeded.

Project vision. Building and maintaining repositories of supporting documents, conversations and data that can be consulted by participants and interested parties.

Communication. Opening up channels with internal social networking. Streamlining reporting with real time activity timesheets and feedback. Integrating with other company systems for financial and human resource management.

Positive urgency. Flexible planning controls to manage agile as well as waterfall project cycles.

Momentum. Scheduling in short-term wins to keep good momentum going. Facilities in the project management applications to delegate responsibilities appropriately if team members are otherwise occupied.

Oracle Project Management Solutions

There’s an application, a module or a tool in the range of Oracle’s PM solutions to address all of the points above. Examples include:

P6 EPPM for overall project portfolio management

Instantis for portfolio management with added social networking

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Thank you to the thousands of customers and visitors, who joined LoadSpring at Oracle OpenWorld 2014!

There was a lot to take in at our booth.  View this quick and fun video of our favorite highlights!

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Instantis EnterpriseTrack Project Portfolio Management – An Overview

Instantis EnterpriseTrack (by its full name) is fundamentally about two things. The first is an enterprise-wide view of all projects being managed. The second is to do this is in a way that connects IT and the rest of the business. In its cloud-based version, Instantis EnterpriseTrack brings IT departments and PMOs (project management offices) the capability to improve both delivery against strategic objectives and financial management. The emphasis is on a solution that spans the whole of corporate project portfolio management, while remaining affordable, rapid to deploy and easy to use.

An IT Governance Angle

Instantis EnterpriseTrack is positioned as a project portfolio management (PPM) platform to cover all project types and complexities. It answers the requirements of corporate leaders to understand and plan for opportunities of portfolio leverage, risk reduction and effectiveness. It’s also a PPM answer to IT governance needs. This is because it helps senior management understand the nature and impact of project schedules and constraints, and lets IT make a real contribution to enterprise success.

Aligning Projects with Business and IT Priorities

The Instantis solution is designed for business and IT strategy-driven project portfolio management. The Strategy Manager module allows enterprises to define strategic goals and initiatives in a hierarchically organized portfolio. That means that activities are driven top-down. This in turn ensures that projects are aligned with business priorities and IT strategic initiatives. The Applications Manager module tracks portfolio of IT applications with their usage, cost and performance for project management lifecycle decisions. It also gives the IT department the power to manage and include further IT portfolio types including applications, assets, services, investments and vendors.

Project Management and Additional Modules in Instantis EnterpriseTrack

Instantis EnterpriseTrack then provides the following groups of functionality for portfolio project management:

Demand Manager. Streamlines workflow, prioritization, resource scoping, and approval processing.

Capacity Manager. For resource optimization with scenario (‘what if’) planning.

Resource Manager. For resource visibility and allocation control.

Project Manager. Best practice application of different methodologies with flexible drill-down capability to manage varying numbers of levels of work.

Knowledge Manager. Leverages a database of PM best practices, documents, templates and tools.

Financials Manager. Tracks planned and actual costs, budgeting, capitalization and expenses.

Metrics Manager. For non-financial indicators such as defects, service levels and other user-defined parameters.

Opening Up Channels of PPM Communication

In addition, Instantis EnterpriseTrack has two modules to enhance collaboration and social networking between users. Its Enterprise Stream module lets PPM practitioners and stakeholders across the organization exchange comments and ideas on improvements to project management and portfolio synergies. And its Idea Manager module is the equivalent of an automated project ‘suggestions box’ with an online portal for capturing ideas and filtering requests.

Instantis EnterpriseTrack, P6 EPPM and Fusion

Oracle also has other ‘enterprise project portfolio management’ (EPPM) solutions. P6 EPPM is positioned as ‘Execution-level’ PPM helping groups such as R&D, manufacturing, operations and capital projects (including construction) rationalize and optimize their portfolio management department by department. Oracle Fusion PPM plays a similar execution-level role for IT itself, professional services groups and corporate entities such as marketing, sales and finance. Instantis Enterprise Track then provides overall EPPM capability from strategic corporate business objectives downwards.

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Oracle P6 Analytics Brings Insights to Everybody

The more your project has an impact on your enterprise as a whole, the wider the range of people avidly expecting information about what you’re up to and how you’re doing. You could spend precious project management time collating data and statuses specifically for each interested party. Or you could let everybody get the information they want to see individually with an interface that makes it easy to create reports, scorecards and KPIs to suit individual requirements. That’s the promise of Oracle P6 Analytics when linked to P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (P6 EPPM).

Play ‘What’s Wrong with This Picture’ – And Win!

Oracle P6 Analytics comes with an integrated database of industry best practice metrics and indicators. It lets you build intuitive graphs and geospatial maps to see if you’re on track, off the rails or somewhere in between. Proven methodologies underpin the insights P6 Analytics offers you. They include enhanced resource analysis, variance analysis, earned value management, and cost and schedule perfor

mance. And users can also modify the default dashboards provided and build their own, thanks to the self-service portal.

For Everybody Who Needs to Know

Another nice feature is that the security profiles and access permissions that you have set within P6 are also applied to P6 Analytics. So while you satisfy the needs and curiosity of everyone who are authorized to know what’s going on, you protect confidential portfolio and project information too. P6 Analytics is actionable business intelligence for senior, middle and project management, as well as project team members. Users can drill down into project progress, as well as reviewing history and trends. Potential performance issues can be flagged and project course corrections made in a timely way at any point in the project lifecycle.

Seamless Linking to Project Management

The entry point for managing projects is P6 EPPM. It covers all phases of project, resource  and portfolio management. It’s also where you enter the data to be used by P6 Analytics in its reports. In fact, P6 Analytics comes with the P6 Reporting Database for storing the information in a way that optimizes dashboard and reporting performance. If P6 Analytics reveals that a project is under performing or over budget, you can drill down through the data to find the root cause. Then you can launch directly into P6 EPPM from the P6 Analytics dashboard to make appropriate project course corrections.

Publishing and Mobile

P6 Analytics is built on top of the Oracle Business Intelligence platform. Using Oracle BI Publisher makes enterprise report formatting and publishing capability available for the P6 Analytics data from its P6 Reporting Database. Support exists for popular formats like PDF, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), HTML and more. Managers and team members out and about can also consult P6 Analytics dashboards directly thanks to full iPhone and iPad support.

A Single View of the Truth

While it offers flexibility and diversity concerning individual user needs for project status and trend information, P6 Analytics also has a further key characteristic. It can be used as the exclusive business intelligence solution for projects throughout the organization. With the power of the underlying Oracle BI platform, P6 EPPM data can be combined with information from other related ERP, financial or CRM systems. Thus it provides not only different dashboards for different people, but also one unifying view of the truth for all.

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Bringing Business Process Management to the World of Projects

The potential advantages of applying BPM (business process management) to project management are wide-ranging. Essentially, it’s all about process optimization – making organizations more efficient, effective and adaptive. The levels of savings that can be made and reductions in response time for both internal and external customers mean that improving business processes often tops the list of priorities for organizations and their CIOs. The challenge is to manage the real-world processes that often span several functional departments and their applications. Good BPM provides a solution by allowing users to better communicate their process requirements to the IT department for computerization and automation.

Oracle BPM

Oracle’s solution  to business process management (called Oracle Business Process Management Suite or Oracle BPM) offers tools to project managers among other business users, for them to model their business processes. It also brings tools to IT teams for the creation of business process applications directly from those models. Processes can then be automatically accelerated and workflows flexibly programmed. Oracle BPM supports industry standards for business process modeling, implementation and monitoring. In particular it provides BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation), typically for business users and people-oriented process modeling, and BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), which fits system-oriented and application integration processes.

A Process Approach to Project Management

Advantages of a process-driven approach to project management include the simplification of complex or labor-intensive work, together with improved governance of the way projects are proposed, assigned priorities and realized. Automated workflows can be built around processes that are repeated within projects. This allows better mobile working, enhanced linkages between systems and applications, and improved management of access to limited Primavera data for users outside the immediate circle of the project team and principal stakeholders. Oracle BPM applied to P6 project management allows business-level processes and workflows to be extended beyond P6 – for instance, for the transfer of information between P6 and cash management or ERP applications.

Workflow and Process Management with P6

BPM possibilities are only limited by the imagination of the business users and the way they capture their requirements using the graphical representations of workflows. A project initiation workflow could for instance be defined to cover the initial proposal of the project by a business user, review of the proposal by the project management office, capacity analysis, management sign-off and finally assignment to a project manager. Each stage of the process can be driven by appropriate forms designed using the tools provided.

Further Examples

A P6 schedule can be automatically updated using information from a supply chain application concerning a change in delivery dates. Help desk or CRM applications can trigger new P6 project activities and resources reservations following information recorded on software or system incidents. Likewise, equipment defects logged in a work order system can be automatically presented to P6 for redefining priorities. And as the icing on the cake for even faster workflow creation and automation, best practices can also be captured and reused, thanks to the business catalog that is part of the BPM Project Navigator.

At LoadSpring Solutions, Process Management is what we live for. We understand your challenges—whether it’s securing Cloud hosting for all your people, partners and contractors, integrating data between management applications or migrating and upgrading your software company-wide, we do it all. Ask us how. +1 978.685.9715.

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The Road to Risk Reduction with Primavera Risk Analysis

What should you do – accept, mitigate, reduce or eliminate them? No, we’re not talking about those extra pounds that arrive uninvited at too many of our waistlines. We’re talking about risk in projects and the best way to plan for events that may or may not happen. Primavera Risk Analysis brings users the capability to model risks and understand the budget impacts (cost and time) of different options for handling them. But what is risk and how can we realistically deal with the inevitable complexity? Some quick information on some of the fundamentals involved may help.

Risk or Uncertainty?

The two words are often used interchangeably, but their meanings are in fact different. Uncertainty refers to anything that you cannot be sure about – and whose probability of happening cannot be measured. Changes in the weather and the economy are instances that are often cited. Even if general or seasonal trends may be apparent, these areas are determined by so many different factors that it is impossible in many cases to predict what will happen. Risk on the other hand refers to events you can reasonably model and to which you can attach meaningful measures of probability.

Monte Carlo Models

As soon as a risk depends on more than just a handful of factors, it becomes too complex (in many cases) to try to work out what will happen by pure mathematics alone. So instead of trying, risk modeling turns to Monte Carlo techniques (named after the casino in Monte Carlo), in which randomly generated inputs are fed into a model to yield a series of results. This has two big advantages. The first is that computer processors can use this technique to rapidly produce realistic predictions of the likelihood of a risk materializing. Secondly, these results often lend themselves well to being plotted on a graph for intuitive and immediate understanding by project managers and stakeholders. Primavera Risk Analysis offers a range of visual interpretations for this.

Risk Registers Integrated with Project Schedules

Understanding the nature of risks and having a practical way of assessing their chance of happening is good. So is making a risk register or a record of all relevant risks to see how collectively they might affect a project. Oracle Primavera Risk Analysis offers risk register functionality as well so that you can define new risks or use registers you’ve already defined. It integrates the risk register with information about response or contingency plans to show you cost-effectiveness. It also generates a new ‘risk adjusted schedule’ for your project.

Why So Negative? The Positive Side of Risk

There’s more to risk than just the negative events that can delay delivery or increase costs. Risk in its most general sense includes positive risk as well, meaning opportunities as well as threats. Whether it’s a matter of leveraging the availability of additional resources to enhance project functionality or analyzing the possibility of increasing manufacturing runs to sell more products, potential upside deserves to be factored in just like possible downside. With Primavera Risk Analysis, you can see not only how best to bring your projects in before time and under budget, but how to maximize any chances of boosting return on investment as well. All of which might just also allow you some extra time at the gym for some personal upside, should you be so inclined…

LoadSpring lets you identify the risks associated with managing your project portfolio via its cloud services. Call us about our Primavera Risk Analysis knowledge to learn how you can eliminate potential problems and ensure success for your project. +1 978.685.9715

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Is P6 Professional only for Power Users?

Primavera P6 Professional has a reputation for being aimed at the ‘power user’ market. But what is a power user? Is it someone who is hopelessly addicted to keyboard shortcuts and a command line interface with a score of different options for every command? Or do you become a power user by seeking out and using advanced features of programs generally ignored by the average user? It turns out that while P6 Professional certainly doesn’t shut the door on project management power users, its real advantage is in opening it to users of project management power. There’s a subtle but important difference here. Let’s investigate.

First, Define P6 Professional

Delve into Oracle’s product description and you’ll see that Primavera P6 Professional is a Windows client project scheduling application that is installed on a PC. You can use it as a standalone application that accesses a local database. But it can also serve as a multi-user system and access a central database too. As high-performance project management software, it can handle large, multi-faceted projects with up to 100,000 activities. Whether trying to get your head around that level of complexity is a good idea is another question. But for the project management eggheads, P6 Professional has all the power required.

Power-Hungry?

So there’s that word ‘power’ again. But now we can define it better in the context of P6 Professional. This software is for day-in, day-out scheduling and project management. It’s for schedules with a few hundred activities or more per project. It’s also for users who want or who are obliged to work with their schedules offline. The power is in the robustness of an application for continual, everyday use for projects between bigger than others and mindboggling. Interestingly however, some users find that this standalone project management application is in fact easier to use than its web-based counterpart, P6 EPPM.

What Would You Use if You Didn’t Use P6 Professional?

A possible alternative would be P6 EPPM (Enterprise Project Portfolio Management). P6 EPPM runs on a central server and provides browser-based access. It brings a variety of graphical enhancements, including graphs, charts and dashboards. It also focuses on portfolio management (as its name suggests) so that you can take a holistic view of the totality of projects in an enterprise. That allows you to globally manage costs, schedules and resources, with additional risk register and schedule checker functionality that isn’t available in standalone P6 Professional.

P6 Professional Power Makes It Faster

In terms of scheduling functionality, P6 Professional and P6 EPPM are very similar. However, P6 Professional handles more data faster. Above a certain level (2,000 to 3,000 activities for example), there will be a noticeable difference compared to P6 EPPM. Granted, P6 EPPM embraces project management at an enterprise level and fosters team working and broad portfolio management. By comparison, P6 Professional is often the preferred solution for smaller companies, but for users whose professional life is largely absorbed by scheduling activities. While it also offers additional functionality not available in P6 EPPM (catering to the PM power users), it’s also the relatively detailed, fast, accurate scheduling of P6 Professional that appeals to many (good for the users of PM power).

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Goal Tuning and ROI with Primavera Portfolio Management

Are you battling to progress different projects that slow to a crawl because resources are arbitrarily pulled off them? Or do your projects collectively seem to use twice the budget for half the effect? In either case, you might see serious benefit by using Primavera Portfolio Management. PPM is the next level up compared to individual project management. It takes a global view of the different activities you have on the go to see how they contribute to overall enterprise goals. It also helps you identify any unnecessary overlap and redundancy – and get those budget dollars to really roll up their sleeves and work properly for you.

From Nobel Prize to Enterprise

Today’s project portfolio management has its roots in developments made earlier in financial investment portfolio management. Looking at the approach in finance can help in understanding the project management context. Investors with a range of opportunities want to build a portfolio of investments that yields the highest possible value for a given accepted level of risk (high ‘efficiency’). Nobel prize winner Harry Markowitz showed that better ROI return can be obtained for lower risk if investors take a holistic view of their portfolio and its overall risk and return, rather than focusing on different investments in isolation. Likewise, what an enterprise really wants is the optimal project portfolio for a given level of risk. PPM helps organizations achieve this.

Primavera Portfolio Management

PPM lets you analyze your collection of projects to identify any poorly performing or overlapping components in projects.  Possible changes to projects and returns are examined and assessed using ‘what-if’ modeling, and Investor Maps and dashboards. The global result can be optimized by judicious addition, deletion or modification of project components. You can justify the recovery of missing resources for those hitherto decelerating projects if this is likely to yield a better overall result than leaving them where they are.

Agility in the Market Place

In many sectors, agility is now a major requirement in order to remain competitive. Market requirements now change rapidly in many cases and emerging risks may materialize with little warning. This can then lead to reversals in project priorities and resource allocation. The danger is in silo-style adjustments that could have undesirable effects on both overall efficiency and risk. Instead, PPM lets enterprises rationalize actions for the best effect globally as well as individually, with bridges to Primavera P6 and also Microsoft Office Project Server.

Keeping Your Eye on the Ball Long-Term

The need for efficient project portfolio management exists for large, longer term projects too. Construction, aeronautical, oil and gas projects are just some of the activities that are characterized by budgets of billions and lifecycles as long as a decade or more. PPM helps enterprises adjust dynamically to many different factors, both internal and external. Changes in regulations, variation in market demand and environmental impact can affect the oil and gas sectors in particular, and the perennial challenge of finding talented people and moving with technological change applies to every industry. Once again, Primavera Portfolio Management helps enterprises of all sizes to tune their portfolio, make appropriate project goal adjustments and maximize ROI in the short and the long term.

At LoadSpring, we build tailor-made Project Management IT solutions that come in every size, shape and color. With Primavera Portfolio Management in the cloud, you can be sure all your users have access to project management data via the internet, and customized to exactly what they need without the extra bells and whistles that can quickly drive costs up. The costs to benefits of moving your PPM to the cloud, are clear because we do it faster, simpler and more efficiently.

Do you want to learn more about Primavera Portfolio Management? Ask our team how PPM is ideal for managing just about any type of portfolio from ideation through execution. Call LoadSpring today +1 978.685.9715.

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Primavera Unifier and SOAP for Clean Back-office Integration

With Primavera Unifier, Oracle has made its intentions clear – to provide the ‘best-in-class project lifecycle management solution for capital planning, project delivery, cost control, and facilities and real estate management.’ To help make Unifier the application of choice, Oracle includes a business process automation engine, audit functions, reporting – and an interface based on XML web services. This last item is more meaningful when described as a basis for integrating Primavera Unifier with other enterprise applications such as ERP, HR, supply, procurement and payroll management.

Unifier as an Integration Platform

Such integration should be simple and secure if it is to be embraced by enterprises. Ideally, it should also allow an exchange of information both ways. For this, Unifier offers the ability to call and respond to standard XML-based web services. When the system destined to exchange information with Unifier also uses these services, integration can be done directly. If not, one option is to write a specific Unifier client (although this may require non-negligible effort). Another is to use an enterprise service bus (ESB) that ‘talks’ XML to Unifier on one side and whatever protocol the other application is using on the other side.

Oracle’s Love Affair with XML

Unifier isn’t the only XML-centric application in the Oracle range. Business Intelligence Publisher (BIP for short and formerly known as XML Publisher) for instance communicates exclusively via XML. Any application that can’t talk XML can’t play. Once the concept of an infinitely extensible markup language has been grasped, XML makes a lot of sense as a data transport format. With Web services, the XML model with its document type definition maps onto an industry standard mechanism to get to applications to exchange information in a ‘web-like’ way.

Squeaky Clean with SOAP and WSDL

SOAP stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. It defines the XML format for the messages that are exchanged between Unifier and another application, using the XML web-based services. WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is the language that SOAP uses to express its message format definitions. A WSDL file is an XML document with a set of SOAP messages to specify how the messages are to be exchanged, what must go in a request message and what a response message must contain. If you’ve already worked with XML document type definitions that accompany XML-based storage and transport, WSDL will look familiar.

Security and Added Smarts

To make sure things continue on the right track, the Primavera Unifier web service interface also uses SSL (secure sockets layer) to encrypt all data in transmission. Web service exchanges between Unifier and other applications therefore benefit from the same protection as in online credit card and banking transactions. At the same time, thanks to the flexibility of XML and WSDL, Unifier can integrate dynamically with different applications. It can also respond to requests for report-based business intelligence: users build their requests using the publicized WSDL file provided by Unifier that describes how to interact with Primavera Unifier Web services. That way Unifier really does unify critical business processes and data across the organization.

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LoadSpring will exhibit at 2014 Oracle OpenWorld, San Francisco, Sept 27-Oct 2nd. Watch for our emails and bookmark this page to see all our exciting news and giveaways. See more here.

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Implementing Business Intelligence Publisher (BIP)

If you can imagine the power of channeling all kinds of different report generating requirements into one software application to then choose between multiple methods of distribution – that’s the idea behind Business Intelligence Publisher. BI Publisher takes data from P6 project portfolio management for example, and generates reports according to pre-defined or custom templates. Report can be generated to a variety of formats that include PDF, HTML, Excel, PowerPoint, Flash, RTF, CSV, XML, EDI or EFT. The reports can then be automatically routed to email addresses, printers, fax, or different data repositories. BI Publisher can do this for varying data sources including other Oracle applications.

BI Publisher Components

BI Publisher comprises Toolbox, Bursting Designer, Delivery Designer, Report Conversion and Desktop components. With these modules, BI Publisher separates the report presentation from the data structure to apply template files chosen by the user and publish output documents. The Bursting Designer in particular is used to define how a single output file is to be split into individual documents; the Delivery Designer corresponds to the distribution of the report to different destinations. Report design best practices are available to give users information about both data modeling and template design. However, it’s wise to check exactly which BI Publisher functions are available for a given source application as there are some differences.

System-Side Aspects

Knowledge of applications like P6 Report Writer does not carry over to BI Publisher. It’s a different animal and requires specific application knowledge to make it work with LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), for instance. It’s also important to know which version of BI Publisher is required for a given source application and how to troubleshoot any hiccups. A competent hosting provider will handle these points. A good cloud-based BI Publisher service can therefore be advantageous by reducing in-house support workloads.

Desktop Tools

With BI Publisher is installed or available as a hosted service, the next step is to add any specific report templates required. BI Publisher works with XML (its former name was XML Publisher). However to make life easier and so that customers don’t have to work with XML directly, BI Publisher provides a design tool for creating templates in RTF (Rich Text Format). The Template Builder tool runs as a plug-in for Microsoft Word and incorporates instructions, demos and samples. With straight forward drag-and-drop functionality, you can use the Template Builder to build, test and upload templates to BI Publisher. Similarly, BI Publisher Analyzer is an add-in for Microsoft Excel for creating templates in Excel, and accessing and running reports in BI Publisher from Excel.

If You’ve Already Met Oracle Reports

Oracle Reports is also a tool for creating reports using data stored in an Oracle database. It is a solution that requires more specialized knowledge for modifying existing reports. BI Publisher offers easier ongoing maintenance via its desktop tools, and greater efficiency by initially separating the presentation of the report from its data structure. However, if an Oracle Report currently exists, it may well be possible to change the report output to XML and input it into BI Publisher. This is then a first step towards standardizing on BI Publisher for all reports afterwards.

Best of all, BI Publisher is can be hosted in the Cloud. Making the grade as one of our Cloud-hosted software products isn’t easy. Each one has to live up to our persnickety standards before we even think about recommending or hosting it. Go ahead and generate your reports – now it’s fast and simple, in the Cloud.

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Challenges upgrading to P6R8 – and Why It’s Worth It

If you’re already an Oracle Primavera user for project portfolio management, upgrading to P6R8 from Release 7 or earlier may simply be a case of getting the most out of the incremental new functionality. But suppose your organization has been using a mixed bag of different tools, Excel spreadsheets or other, for its PPM. An upgrade to P6R8 could be the chance to harmonize and streamline all project portfolio management. In that case, you may also face a few additional challenges.

What’s the Attraction of P6R8?

In addressing PPM needs across the enterprise, P6R8 lets users link multiple schedules together easily using multiple baselines. It also unifies resource capacity planning and gives a complete view of the whole company project portfolio. From Release 8.2 onwards, you can update an existing P6 project using an XML file from Microsoft Project. That way if diehards insist on using Microsoft Project, there’s still room for them in the enterprise PPM universe. And the prospect of also moving from disparate Excel files to one global, robust P6 solution is likely to bring a smile to many a project or program manager’s face.

Technical Considerations

A P6R8 solution requires certain computing platform resources. Depending on which modules you want to use, an application server for Citrix (for the P6 client application), a web server and a reporting server may be necessary, as well as one or more SQL servers. A hosting provider specialized in cloud-based PPM can look after all the hardware and platform software needed. Hosted solutions can also include access to auxiliary services such as Team Member (mobile working) and Business Intelligence Publisher for report generation and distribution. A good hosting provider will ensure that the versions of the different system components are all compatible, and offer one universal point of contact for queries on any of the modules being used.

End-User Buy-In and Training

Moving to a new system means change, wherever you’re starting from. Advanced warning, or rather, motivating information sessions can help by showing users the new functionality and the good reasons for moving to P6R8. It’s important to differentiate between functionality in the web user interface that is not available in the client application, and to ensure users’ browsers are of the correct version and properly configured. Examples include enabling pop-ups and disabling Java automatic updates to avoid any moves to unsupported versions of Java.

Administrator Responsibilities

Administrators need training too. Even if you use a hosted solution, your enterprise may need to migrate databases and archive old data as historical records. A sound plan is required for switching legacy databases to read-only mode before permanently retiring them. Other projects may need to be transferred to a new database from the various tools currently in use. Best-in-class hosting providers will offer supporting consultancy services to help you accelerate such processes, while bringing your administrators up to speed at the same time. While there may be ‘no gain without pain’, knowing in advance how best to reap the benefits of a P6R8 upgrade may help you save on aspirin!

Two cloud systems are continuing to gain popularity for using P6R8 on the fly—our very own SpringBoard™ 7.0 portal and LoadSpringMobile. - See more about how you can upgrade to P6R8 and have it in the cloud: http://www.loadspring.com/solutions/

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Have you ever watched clouds as they move across the sky, forming, un-forming, reforming? You can see them. You know they’re there. But you don’t always know where they’ll go next or what they’ll turn into. The cloud metaphor in IT was initially a shortcut to refer to a network of computing resources, but it’s turning out to be a model for the next generation workforce too. Employees and contractors have increasing freedom to roam around and to work anywhere there is a net connection. The new mobility in work means they may no longer have to show up on your site in order to contribute to the success of your projects.

From the Outside In

The human resources trend, encouraged by cloud and mobile computing, is increasingly towards independent workers and project-oriented contracts. Their expectations are that a company’s infrastructure will in fact be an extra structure, where they can hook up remotely and work together in a virtual team outside the constraints of the traditional corporate nine-to-five framework. Cloud talent sourcing is also on the rise. Team members will come, go, come back again and so on, with teams configuring and reconfiguring like so many skyscapes.

Project Management Must Adapt

Project management in an organization needs to take account of this constant change. A project management system must be more than just functional. It must allow you to adjust capacity in real time, not in days or even in hours. It should be flexible enough to be resized according to requirements. It must give users access according to their level of authorization, wherever they connect from. And it still has to give the organization a complete, transparent view of its entire project portfolio as well as drill-down detail on any particular project.

The Cloud – a Match and a Challenge

Requirements for elasticity, scalability and control fit naturally with the potential of cloud applications. But workers who live in the cloud also need performance, reliability and security when they connect to execute their project management duties on your behalf. Mobility and the cloud bring new challenges that did not exist when applications were hosted by enterprises themselves for employees physically on your site. Now connections must be rugged and optimized for uncertain network conditions and security has to be simple yet effective for people you may never even meet.

A Platform for Productivity

The good news is that when you have the project management system in place in the cloud to do this, then you’re set to make the most of the increases in productivity and efficiency that worker mobility can bring. Latency is reduced between decisions and action. Team members wherever they are can be informed immediately of news and changes. Resources are managed in real time and project events logged as they happen. Mobile team members can work effectively and efficiently wherever they are, while your organization remains in control of its projects, objectives and deadlines. That also gives you more time to plan ahead for new projects – and perhaps take a moment to admire a few natural cumulus clouds as they pass by.

Our SpringBoard Cloud Portal lets you seize control of the most potent Program Management suite ever—without the usual complexity or frustration. Ask us how 978.685.9715 / [email protected] or see our demo video.

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Collaborative tools for Project Management

Once upon a time people worked in the same physical space on one project at a time. The virtual team was unknown. Nowadays, it’s the opposite. Teams made up of people who are geographically diverse, multi-cultural, and multi-tasking are commonplace, and the old-style of all-in-one-room project management a rarity. Effective collaboration remains a common priority however, with a need for excellent communications as its base. Project success depends on team information exchange that is free, open and clear. If just one of those requirements is ignored, projects may founder or grind to a complete halt.

It Takes More than the Telephone

Project teams are made up of people using different technologies to fulfill their roles. If these people are to share knowledge, and collectively learn and create – in a word, collaborate – the project management technology they use must help them do that. When they are miles apart, the technology has to provide a 24 hour information source, the facility for collectively sharing and updating, and a socio-professional environment for the added enthusiasm to make projects work even better. We’re not just talking about the telephone. The technology has to support communication, information, organization, and control. It also has to be accessible and compatible with company techno-culture and habits too.

Same Destination via Different Routes

The cloud is the collaborative solution. It offers standard, web-browser connectivity often with additional advantages of pay-as-you go financing and an answer to the headaches of trying to build your own private solution. However, it also needs an application to provide the information, collaboration and project management application required. While it’s true that IT vendors have produced a range of software applications to help organizations make their project management successful, that variety is double-edged. In the same way that two enterprises may compete for a common goal but have different strategies for getting there, they may have quite different IT make-ups as well. How can they both achieve collaboration via the cloud?

Cloud Choice

Here’s the way to do it. To give people the project management tools they need to collaborate, don’t reinvent the wheel or all those applications either. Primavera, ProLog, SharePoint and other solutions all have their strengths and loyal customers. Instead, make the applications available in the cloud and provide an easy-to-use, powerful cloud portal to give users access to them and to further enhance the collaboration between them. Examples of added value in portal functionality include real time mapping of geographical sites to see which team members are logged in where, and social media capabilities to foster communication and collaboration between them.

Collaboration and Virtual Proximity

When a good cloud project management portal makes collaborative tools like these available for project management, it can have an extraordinarily beneficial effect on virtual team working. What determines to a large extent the performance of a virtual team is the virtual proximity of its members. By helping to reduce the virtual distances at all levels – geographical, hierarchical and cultural – the project management portal and its collaborative tools contribute to higher project quality all round.

Take control of project management your way. LoadSpring is your cloud based, project management solutions partner. Our SpringBoard 7.0 enables you to create your own project management suite so you can collaborate with your entire team, anywhere at any time. Watch the SpringBoard 7.0 demo here.

- See more at: http://www.loadspring.com/collaborative-tools-project-management/?preview=true&preview_id=4141&preview_nonce=6bd8402630#sthash.ZJXjEkb3.dpuf

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How to Retain Your Best People with the Right Cloud Tools

People are not machines, and employment engagement is a clear example of the difference between them. A machine is either on or off, but for employees engagement can run the whole gamut of ‘totally onboard’ to ‘barely there’. The stakes for organizations concerning employee engagement are high. Companies whose employee engagement is in the top 25 percent have been estimated to make more than twice the revenue of companies where engagement is in the bottom 25 percent. Also, there is four times as much chance that the less engaged employees quit compared to the more engaged employees.

Bottom Line Impacts

But the problem doesn’t stop with a less engaged employee leaving. If the organization wants to replace the employee, it will need to spend time and effort to find the new person, while dealing with possible internal disruption, reduction of knowledge and lower morale. Figures of six months to repair the damage and a third of the departing employee’s salary to locate and bring onboard a replacement are all too common. Keeping employees engaged is more profitable and less expensive, especially when they include your best people.

What’s Your Theory?

How to reinforce engagement is a question that has kept HR departments busy for years. Maslow’s and Hertzberg’s theories are perennial favorites. Their ideas also carry over into new business contexts such as mobile working and cloud business process environments. Both of these recent developments extend employer-employee relationships beyond the traditional workplace, with the possibility of accentuating both the positive and the negative. Good cloud tools in particular can help boost positive engagement.

Mixing Social and Professional in the Cloud

More employees are now expecting and claiming the right to change the way they work – if not completely outside the organization, then at least in parallel with it.  With BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), they use the same computing device for both their social and their professional lives. It is the organization of the information inside that device that demarcates one mode of use from the other, although social interaction is increasingly blending with professional activity. As consumers they expect to be able to access information they need instantly, independently of time and location. This expectation is now spilling over to the workplace.

Any Time, Any Place

Cloud work tools that support this new work paradigm are the ones most likely to find favor.  At the lower level, facilitation of mobile connections to resources such as project management applications is a first step. Single sign-on for secure access to all authorized PM applications is the next. Increasing the sociability of project management work with social media style tools is yet another way to deepen positive engagement, allowing companies to retain employees longer.

Don’t Just Retain – Attract Too

There’s further potential advantage to be had as well. A web presence with the cloud portal described above can demonstrate how an enterprise has embraced the new model of working. Cloud-based talent will then naturally gravitate towards that enterprise. Instead of scrambling to replace employees who leave, a business will be able to retain them and then expand at its own pace, hiring in more of the best via the cloud.

Contact LoadSpring today to find out how we can help with tools like our cloud portal SpringBoard 7.0 and mobile tool LoadSpringMobile. Call 978.685.9715 or send us an email [email protected].

- See more at: http://www.loadspring.com/blog/?p_id=4132#sthash.cZwaNszn.dpuf

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SpringBoard 7.0 – Not Your Father’s PM Hosting Solution?

Even if the advertising for Oldsmobile cars (‘Not your father’s Oldsmobile’) that launched a thousand other slogans has by now become a cliché, its message about handling the new and the old is still relevant. As times change, new solutions arrive, but existing needs must still be served. So it is with enterprise project management. The SpringBoard 7.0 cloud project management portal from LoadSpring offers significant advantages over previous project management hosting solutions, while continuing to give users the benefits they had before and can allow you to host multiple versions of the same application to manage existing jobs.

Moving With the Project Management Market

Oldsmobile’s oversight was to exclude its existing market in its advertising campaign: the brand was ultimately retired by its owner, General Motors. On the other hand, SpringBoard 7.0 continues to address past, present and future customer requirements. Even before the Cloud achieved its current popularity, LoadSpring had an enviable track record of providing PM cloud hosting solutions to give customers wide-ranging possibilities to manage permissions, versions, upgrades and more. Customers can be assured all the LoadSpring qualities they appreciated then are carried forward now into the Cloud.

The Better Alternative to DIY Heavy-Lifting

But suppose you’re not yet a LoadSpring patron. How does cloud-based PM hosting with SpringBoard 7.0 compare with, say, doing it yourself in-house? Using your company’s own data center means bearing the capital cost of the solution, the operational costs of IT staff to look after its care and feeding, and the challenge of making sure that your project management systems are always up and running. Oh yes, and answering your users’ questions. Yet business logic and experience suggest that an enterprise needing this kind of complex but non-core competence should seriously consider outsourcing it to a reliable third party.

Choice and Continuity Together

In that case, does the SpringBoard 7.0 cloud solution give you everything you need? The SpringBoard 7.0 portal can connect you to a wide range of project management apps running in the cloud. They include PM applications from Oracle, Deltek, Meridian, Microsoft, Adobe, Aras, Archibus, AutoDesk, AutoVue, Myriod, Ares, Synchro and US Cost. That covers scheduling, estimating, BIM, file sharing, collaboration and more.  The portal also does this with flexible and effective access security, and business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities to match practically any business requirement.

More than Before

Can SpringBoard 7.0 then offer you more than previous hosting solutions? Yes, indeed. The cloud computing wave inspired LoadSpring to add new key features and the company’s natural inclination to consistently offer top quality project management solutions did the rest. Consequently, SpringBoard 7.0 also offers advanced mobile working features including performance-driven connection routing and the facility for your people to huddle online and boost project management results together, wherever they are.

Set for the Future

SpringBoard 7.0 will continue to be at the forefront of developments in cloud computing, while continuing to satisfy different generations of project management application users. Like the LoadSpring’s brochure for SpringBoard 7.0 says, ‘Don’t just manage the cloud. Dominate it’; and like the brochure also says, ‘Don’t Mess with Success’.  With these two maxims in mind, count on LoadSpring 7.0 to continue being a cost-effective alternative to other hosting possibilities while serving all generations of business users.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LoadSpring Solutions Closes $6 Million Growth Equity Investment

Bank Street Capital Partners Investment to Drive Accelerated Growth Initiatives

STAMFORD, CT and WILMINGTON, MA – January 27, 2014 – Bank Street Capital Partners announced the closing of a $6 million investment in LoadSpring Solutions, the leading Cloud-based Project Management Solutions provider serving Fortune 100 companies in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Manufacturing, Real Estate Services, Financial, Energy and Utility, City, State and Federal Government, and Healthcare sectors.

Eric Leighton, Chief Executive Officer of LoadSpring Solutions, said, “After 14 years of building LoadSpring organically with internally generated capital, we are now poised for explosive growth enabling us to expand our market leadership. I have worked with Bank Street for over 4 years and with this investment we have aligned our market expertise with the capital to deliver innovation and exceptional value to the marketplace.”

Steve Lee, Managing Director of Bank Street Capital Partners, said, “LoadSpring is a leader in the Cloud-based Project Management Solutions market segment with its unique SpringBoard Cloud Portal that enhances the experience of using and managing multiple underlying hosted applications for the company’s customers and offers open-ended potential for growth for LoadSpring as a flexible platform for expanding the portfolio of applications under management. We’re excited to invest in a leader like Eric Leighton who has an outstanding track record of growth and a clear vision for the future of LoadSpring.  Eric has assembled an outstanding team and we look forward to working with him closely.”

LoadSpring plans to use the $6 million investment to grow its sales organization and distribution channels, enhance its SpringBoard platform and product offering, and establish a European division to better support existing customers and raise the company’s prominence in the region.  The company also intends to make opportunistic tuck-in acquisitions of complementary businesses.

SpringBoard, LoadSpring’s cloud platform is already a differentiated management tool in the market and a key technology asset for LoadSpring.  With the planned investment, the company expects to accelerate advancements in Mobile applications and Global performance technologies; delivering a powerful and flexible solution that will help Project Management organizations realize the massive power of the cloud.

About LoadSpring Solutions

Founded in 1999,

LoadSpringTM is a Project Management Solutions company that is dedicated to Project Management software and the people who use it. The firm’s intuitive, user-friendly SpringBoard control panel, combined with their Professional Services Group, makes life simpler and easier for Project Managers and IT teams. These professionals see LoadSpring as specialized problem-solvers, helping them make smarter, timelier business decisions. LoadSpring supports Fortune 100 companies in industries such as: Architecture; Engineering & Construction; Manufacturing; Real Estate Services; Financial; Gas; Energy/Utilities; City, State and Federal Government; Entertainment; Healthcare and others.

For more information, contact Stacey Witt at [email protected] or visit www.loadspring.com.

About Bank Street Capital Partners

Bank Street Capital Partners makes investments in small and mid-size growth companies in the Communications, Media and Technology sectors where our capital base, industry knowledge and network of operational resources can strengthen a company's balance sheet and enhance its prospects for growth and value creation.  We invest across the capital structure from equity to debt securities with a focus on providing flexible capital solutions that enable companies and their shareholders to achieve their objectives for growth, liquidity or key strategic initiatives.  BSCP is led by a senior investment team that has originated, structured and executed more than 500 financial and strategic transactions during the course of their careers.