Banish the "Crude Spreadsheet" Approach to Project Management, or Risk More Project Failure

According to many independent surveys, IT project management failure is endemic. To help organisations improve their project management effectiveness, IT Governance has launched BugBox, a simple-to-use, yet comprehensive issue management and project manager support aid.

Pub. 6.22.08 by vendor

According to many independent surveys, IT project failure is endemic—with a recent study by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association of 400 UK IT professionals finding nearly half of IT projects never make it to full implementation because of a failure to deliver. Furthermore, according to a landmark 2003 KPMG survey, between 5 and 15% of projects crash and burn - not least because they're bedevilled by a host of unresolved issues and bugs, many of which, though minor, have to be resolved before end-users will sign the project off as complete. To help companies meet these challenges, independent UK compliance expert IT Governance Ltd has launched BugBox, a simple-to-use, yet comprehensive issue management and project manager support aid.

BugBox can be used with a variety of project management methodologies, including UK Government standard PRINCE2, providing the manager with a way to input and manage issues ("bugs") and see proposed solutions, such as ownership, planned actions and revised completion dates, in a very straightforward manner.

The software was developed by experienced PRINCE2 and project management experts, resulting in a feature-rich workflow issue management tool that controls ownership, resolves issues and delivers projects on time. The software has been accredited by professional standards body APM Group for use in PRINCE2 project management (being awarded Bronze status). However, BugBox has been designed to be used with any project management methodology.

Another key advantage is the fact that BugBox is highly tailorable and scaleable to projects of any size - from single-person operations to large, multi-disciplinary undertakings. BugBox can be used as a stand-alone tool, or on a network. No training is required, and download and installation is on a follow-the-screen instructions basis.

"The use of spreadsheets and Word documents has consistently failed to deliver the information effective project management requires," warns Alan Calder, IT Governance's Chief Executive.

"Using that approach just delivers inconsistent and hard-to-quantify results - significantly diminishing the value of information collected for what are often mission-critical business projects. We strongly urge any project manager to investigate more structured and workflow-based alternatives."

Calder adds, "Changes in public tolerance for weak project performance make addressing issues generated by managing projects via spreadsheets vital. Project management is a key strategic capability in today's challenging business environment, and it truly deserves to be based on more than a crude tool like the spreadsheet."

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