December 2011

The first half of this month was exciting because we finally had our Clarity meetings that we have been preparing for weeks now. Just as a recap, the Clarity product is a new PPM tool that is going to be taking over the majority of the Project Management and Program Governance monthly reporting, into a more efficient process. During our three day meeting marathon, we met with the Architect and a couple other people working for the vendor.  We went over how AHS wanted to build their site from the ground up and all the different aspects it needed to meet our expectations. It was really interesting to see how the Architect was able to take what we wanted and what we were looking for and meet those expectations with the capabilities that clarity offers. My role in these meetings was to be taking minutes.  Therefore during these three days I was responsible for keeping track of what everyone said, the direction the conversation led to and the finalized decisions that were agreed upon. I had to be alert and focused for the entire duration of the meetings and as a result, I was able to gain a strong gasp of these processes. I learned a lot about how these tools work and how they are custom built to fit the client’s needs.

 The second half of this month was more of a transitional phase in the co-op term, by passing on my knowledge learnt over the past 4 months on to two other part-time co-op students that will be taking on my position. This was an interesting position to be in because over the course of a few days I was able to reflect on everything I have done and learnt over the past 4 months.   I started by teaching the basics that I started with (i.e. collecting data, file storing, PGO email upkeep, maintaining the Initiative Repository, etc.) to my more complicated  job responsibilities (i.e. creating the monthly Executive Dashboard, creating the compliance report, filling out change requests, creating QA documents, etc.). It was a very nice way to end my co-op term by reviewing everything I have learnt and accomplished. I will miss everyone at ACC, their kindness and welcoming nature made my work term fly by seamlessly.  I look forward to my next co-op term and the adventures to come!

November 2011

This month I haven’t really learned anything new but I have been continuing my involvement in the PGO reporting process. I will get into a bit more detail into what exactly these tasks are and what they entail.

Creating the monthly Executive Dashboard report

The Dashboard report is a word document that displays all the current initiatives and their status in keys areas such as Budget, Scope, Schedule, Outcomes, and Overall. The projects are currently being organized by their respective TIPS (Transformational Improvement Programs). TIPS are measurable goals, in five priority areas, intended to significantly improve the way AHS delivers care (i.e. Reducing Wait Times, Choice & Quality for Seniors, etc.) The Dashboard report is populated from the information received in the project’s and program’s monthly status reports that are issued by their respective Project Managers.  My duties are:

·         Populate the dashboard reporting fields with the information provided on the status reports.

·         Resolve and discrepancies or issues with information by contacting the project manager, business sponsor, or budget owner (whichever is most appropriate). This is usually done via email or phone.

·         Email dashboard to TIP Leads for review. Incorporate valid feedback into the Dashboard. Do not change the reporting process based on feedback, only incorporate changes that uphold the reporting process.

Ø  Any changes to the Dashboard must be reflected in the status reports. If this information is not accurately displayed in the status report, I have the Project Managers correct and resubmit the status report first.

Here’s a quick shot of what a page of the Dashboard looks like:

Developing the monthly Compliance Report

The monthly compliance report reflects those initiatives that have met their reporting requirement: the submission of a status report and a monthly financial report.  The report also tracks (for PGO information only) which initiatives produced their report on time and which ones did not.

·         Revise previous excel spreadsheet for compliance reporting

·         Reporting on each initiative to show whether the Project Manager has submitted a monthly status report and/or a financial plan

·         Record when the status report was submitted and who it was submitted too (PGO or PMO)

·         Highlight in green for the projects that were compliant and in red for those that haven’t

·         This report is distributed to TIP leads, program leads, and the Priority Initiative Review Committee (PIRC) to indicate which initiatives have submitted the correct documents for each reporting period

Here’s a quick shot of a page seen in the compliance report:

Preparing, Conducting, and Completing Quality Assurance (QA) Review Documents

QA reviews are conducted at PIRC meetings when an initiative has brought forth a new stage gate document or change request.

·         Revise previous QA template to reduce redundancy

·         Prepare QA template in the “Rough QA’s” folder for each initiative to be reviewed at the PIRC meeting

·         Document the live QA during PIRC meetings

·         After the QA review at PIRC, I summarize the notes and cleaned-up the rest of the QA review

·         If there are any key pieces of information missing I contact the Project Manger, Director of TIP Lead to track down the appropriate information

·         The DRAFT QA would then be reviewed at PIRC. After the meeting I would incorporate any changes and submit the FINAL QA to Bill Trafford’s office for signature.

·         The document will be returned as a PDF. I save and store it in the appropriate initiative repository folder.

·         The QA then have to be sent to TIPs Finance to ensure financial set up for the initiative

October 2011

I have now completed my second month at Alberta Health Services. Like at any job, there are highs and lows for the amount of work flowing in and this month has been the slow part. I think part of the reason for this is that the PGO and other areas in IT have gone through a transition in the way they categorize their initiatives. This then lead to us not updating and releasing the Executive Dashboard this month (which is a large part of my job) and has kept the bosses high up in the organization very busy.  The PIRC meetings have been cancelled for several weeks in a row now and the prep work and documentation afterwards would have kept me very busy.  But I am sure it will pick up and in the mean time I have been travelling back and forth a couple times between the Airport and Southport Tower.  The first time was when my manager came into town and worked with me for three days.  Originally we were going to have a jam packed week with the PIRC meeting and another meeting with the head of the PGO to go over the future of the department. Unfortunately both of those got cancelled but I still got to go to Southport and meet with some other really important people in IT (including the head of the PGO). Last week I got the opportunity to work at Southport again.  I set up the lunch and learn session there that was actually being held in Edmonton but was video conferencing in at a meeting room in Southport for the AHS employees there. I learnt how to set up the equipment for that type of meeting and met with more AHS employees and other co-op students working from that location.

This month I have also participated in 4 Sharepoint training sessions.  Sharepoint is our new repository for all our files and is an excellent streamlined process that allows the AHS employees to share their project documentation. It hasn’t completely replaced the Initiative Repository yet but we are still working on setting up the PGO Sharepoint site.

The next couple weeks will be filled with meetings with a vendor who is introducing a new project portfolio management software, CA Clarity PPM, into the IT and Program Governance Office Departments. This tool will be for the overall scope of the portfolio, project management and reporting within AHS. This project will be defining the data, processes and management of dashboards. This basically means that we will be streamlining our processes and have shorter deployment times.

I look forward to see what comes next in the change management process with the elimination of TIPS to the implementation of Clarity!

Work Term Learning Plan

I have successfully completed almost 4 weeks of my co-op term as an Analyst with AHS in their Program Governance Office (PGO).  Here are some of the job related objectives and self directed objectives I have experienced and some that I will be experiencing later on in my work term.

 Job Related Experience/Objectives

1. Maintain the Initiative Repository
2. Create the monthly Executive Dashboard report that summarizes the status of the current   project initiatives
3. Develop a monthly Compliance report that keeps track of whether or not the initiatives have met their requirements (i.e. Status Report and Financial Report submission)
4. Update  Process Documents
5.  Track and Maintain PGO Insite
6.  Attend all weekly Priority Initiative Review Committee meetings
7. Handle the Program Governance Email  
8.  Develop and Maintain PGO Process Templates
8. Modify the training manual for succeeding co-op students  
9. Handle email, phone and fax  
10. Develop and Maintain PGO Process Templates 

 Self Directed Learning/Objectives

1. Attend all Lunch and Learn Sessions
2.  Meetings with other current and previous co-op students
3.  Acquire understanding of the various positions and prospects within Alberta Health Services
4. Make an effort to do some background research on the organization  
5. Contribute to the discussions and ask questions in every meeting and info session