PST Newsletter

1. Making Use of the New Resource Allocation Features

The latest release of ManagePro has a number of updates to the Resource Allocation feature.  We re-wrote the entire function to make the allocated hour figure primary, not the % of time a person is allocated to a task.  That means if you are allocated to a task for 100 hours over 4 weeks, and the task suddenly gets extended to 6 weeks, you are still allocated for only 100 hours.  In the past we would extrapolate the number of hours a person was allocated when the duration got shorter or longer, based upon their % of allocation.

Hope that makes sense.  On the other hand, if you don't do much planning around allocating your resources across your projects, this may feel like "it's not for me."  And you may be right, but before you skip by this section of the newsletter, let me give you a quick look at a couple of advantages to using the Resource Allocation feature and see if they could help you.

I want to call your attention to the People & Meetings / Resource Allocation tab view.  You can view allocation across time and projects, by person or by group, or select the -All- option at the top of the User Drop down menu to get a valuable look at where all of your people are allocated to spend their time.  Even if you only do this at a high level, it generates an important look at where you're spending your staff's time.

Let me point out a couple of things in the screen shot below:

1.    The Allocation Loading by Hour column tracks the number of hours on each project a person is assigned to during the Date Range you establish.
2.   The Allocation Loading column takes the hours assigned to each project in a date range and calculates what % of time across the date range that it represents.
3.   Using the Right Click menu, you can set the date range for days, weeks, months or years to zoom in on just the time span of interest.
4. When in the Set Date Range option, you can also specify that you only wish to see the summary of hours, not the details across each project (see second screen shot). 




You see the same date range, but in Summary format in this second screen shot.  Remember by moving your mouse over the duration bars on the right, you will see the % allocation for each task, with the addition of height and color (ex. allocation over 100% turns the duration bar red for as many days as that allocation loading exists) to make it easier to recognize allocation loading at a glance.



 

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2. Confessions about Strategic Planning

I'm heading off to multiple customer sites over the next few weeks, in part, to assist companies in structuring ManagePro so it better supports their strategic plan and ultimately the outcomes they want.

Over the past few months, I've started developing a list of what I call "confessions" about what your strategic plan might really look like or how strategic people really are in your organization.  I've come up with three confessions that you might recognize.    You'll find them listed below, and if you would like more detail, there's a following link to my blog on the topic.

Confession #1   Everyone is light on research and quick to substitute discussion for knowing the facts.    It's amazing how much a little research improves the planning process, a dozen customer survey interviews improves your understanding of what your customers want. 
Showing up to do strategic planning without doing your research homework is a bit like showing up without your pants on.

Confession #2    Everyone needs to focus on the money funnel and the relationships and criteria that drive the funnel.   I think of taking care of the money funnel as 1st tier, with all other strategies being 2nd tier.  I find that strategic plans are consistently pretty fuzzy about exactly what they believe will drive the money funnel.  Does your strategic plan lay it out very clearly?... and I don't mean having a statement like "grow sales 20%", that's just a measurement, not a strategy.

Confession #3    If you’re using a Balanced Scorecard approach, you need to translate it.  Meaning you need to break the strategy down into meaningful chunks that represent business or organizational realities,
otherwise it starts looking stiff, formal, bureaucratic and policy-based.

Just remember if confession is good for the soul, it’s also good for your strategic plan, if you listen closely.   If we were to look at your strategic plan and planning process would we find the same confesssions emerging?  E.g. a) the need for good data before you start planning, b) the need to take care of your money funnel, and c) the need to break your plan down into chunks that reflect your primary business realities, including the priority of the money funnel and growing the business.  Click here to read the whole article, it could pay off for you in a big way.

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3. MProLite is coming to Your Smart Phone in November

I wanted to include a couple of screen shots of MProLite running on a smart phone.  In this case it's running on an HTC EVO - Android phone.  The display is great, and the speed, especially when hooked up to a Wi-Fi, is really workable.

We've got a couple more changes planned to make it more smart phone ready.  It runs on a smart phone's browser and if you're already exploring MProLite on your smart phone, please let us know your thoughts and reactions. We always welcome suggestions on how we can improve our products.

In the first screen below, you see the Main Work Space view, with the familiar ribbon control at the top, and the outline of goals and projects below.

 

The Value of Collaboration from Anywhere:

In this second screen shot I'm displaying and working in the Today / Calendar view.

 

I'll keep you posted in the November newsletter, but expect to have it ready to use via your smart phone's browser by the end of November.

 

 
Rodney Brim,  Ph.D.
CEO Performance Solutions Technology
Blog - http://www.PerformanceSolutionsTech.com/Blog
Twitter Account - http://www.twitter.com/RodneyBrim

PS. Be sure to stay in touch with us through Facebook!

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