ARES PRISM Blog

A Project Manager’s job can be extremely rewarding, but as projects become more complex the job can become very demanding and frustrating. These complex projects often require lots of hard work, long hours, an abundance of coffee, and an exceptional amount of determination and patience. We have compiled a list of Project Manager’s most frequently cited frustrations in the hope that it will help you combat these challenges if you ever face them.

When implementing project lifecycle management software, like PRISM, it is a common practice to select a “pilot project” that represents a cross section of characteristics likely to be encountered.

As many of you know, PRISM is a forecasting tool that helps you pinpoint potential problems with real-time forecasting and variance analysis. But is it possible to create a detailed forecast with quantities and unit rates that can then be linked to a control account?

The answer is yes and it can be done using the Budget Details.

According to Top Risk Mitigation Strategies - A Proven Software Implementation Plan, many organizations make simple mistakes that can delay and cripple an implementation.  In fact, even once these mistakes are recognized, "many projects fail to implement corrective actions in time and then do not deliver a return on the company's initial investment."

Introduction:

Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS) help organizations better measure project performance and progress.  It often produces valuable insight to organizations. However, many find it difficult to empirically quantify the financial benefit of implementing EVMS.

For a project controls organization, EVMS can provide valid benefits like the integration of work, schedule, and cost; early warning signals through CPI and SPI; and an index-based method to forecast the final cost of the project. 

Let’s explore ten qualitative benefits of EVMS and determine if it is more beneficial to implement an EVMS or stay with traditional project management processes.

Happy New Year from ARES PRISM! We are bringing in the new year with a helpful tip for all our loyal PRISM users. In the latest 3.6 release, we've made an improvement to the Navigation Pane. Now, total and sub-total values appear on the same row as the grouping fields. In previous versions, these values could only be seen if you drilled down to the Control Panel level and would show up at the bottom of each list. 

Do you ever find yourself wondering "what is project cost management"? To fully understand what is project cost management, we need to look at three main components: 

• Estimating
  
• Budgeting
• Controlling Costs

Project cost management can be a very complex topic. So, let's keep it simple to improve clarity and better understand the process. Throughout this article, you will find "make it simple" sections where we talk about a basic project of building a treehouse in a backyard. Let's go back to the basics to find out what is project cost management!