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About the event:

Here’s a terrifying statistic: 70% of Information Technology (IT) projects fail! Studies consistently show that even well-resourced organizations have a better-than-even chance of project failure. Reasons include “fuzzy business objectives”, “out-of-sync stakeholders” and “excessive rework”. In short: a lack of good project management (and not a shortage of money.)

Please join Net Tuesday on March 5 for “IT project management for nonprofits”. Experts from PM-Volunteers will provide an introduction to the core skills of project management and present a case study on their support for BC211’s Information Management System Implementation. An evening spent getting an introduction to the skills of project management will save you time, money and a world of frustration! :-p

TWITTER

• Hashtag for Net Tuesday is #ntvan
• Official account is @NetTuesday
• Pm-Volunteers: @pmvolunteersorg

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When: Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 5:30 PM To 7:30 PM

Where: HiVE Vancouver, 210 – 128 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC.

RSVP on Meetup.com

Agenda

• 5:30 – 6:00 pm: schmoozing and snacks
• 6:00 – 7:00 pm: PM-Volunteers present
• 7:00 – 7:30 pm: Q&A

About pm-volunteers.org

pm-volunteers.orgTM is a grassroots initiative of the project management community. Its’ mission is to mobilize the project management community in order to generate high value, skilled volunteer project management services for Not for Profit community and charitable organizations. For more information, please go to www.pm-volunteers.org.

Don Williams, PM-V’s Senior Client Relationship Manager, and Shawn Hawkins, the volunteer project manager for BC211’s Information Management System Implementation Project, will be co-presenting the session.

Our sponsor

Net Tuesday is thrilled to have HiVE Vancouver as our venue sponsor.

HiVe Vancouver is a shared workspace with a dynamic cafe-like studio culture. They are home to artists, designers, small social enterprises, mid-size NGOs, green businesses, IT experts, self employed, start ups, independent contractors… and you?

bc211 background and case study

bc211 is an Information and Referral organization that is funded by the Province of BC and the United Way to operate the following provincial lines; 211, VictimLink BC, Youth Against Violence, Alcohol and Drug, Information and Referral Service and the Problem Gambling Help Line. Their service is free, confidential, and multilingual and is a referral to a full range of community, social, and government services 24/7. BC211 is currently working on a project which will see the enhancement of their 211 internet portal which will feature a searchable database for all social, community and government resources in the Lower Mainland of BC as well as being used by the call centre for tracking call data for all lines.

Information Management System Implementation Project (IMSI)

bc211 utilized a custom built data base that no longer meets their needs. To support its replacement bc211 connected with PM-V to engage a volunteer project manager (PM) Shawn Hawkins. The new data base – Information Management System (IMS) will enhance the ability to report data gathered from callers and help public search capacity and device agnostic. A review of the Strategic Plan by PM Shawn was completed. He worked with the Executive Director to create a Project Plan that took into account the focus areas; stakeholder plan, scheduling, training, risk register, resource and budget requirements. With the Project Plan in place Shawn provided in-depth coaching to the Executive Director and her team that assisted them with its implementation.

“When BC211 was about to take on the implementation of a new Information Management System, we knew for this initiative to be successful, we needed some professional project management skills. When I learned about pm-volunteers.org I was a bit skeptical. Would this organization really be able to provide a volunteer project manager who was up to the task? We’ve learned that what pm-volunteers.org delivers is exceptional. We were encouraged to treat this like a regular employee selection which started with a position description and a call for applications.
We interviewed three great candidates and we were very grateful when Shawn Hawkins signed on.
Shawn has been instrumental in keeping us on track. He delivered a solid project plan and a risk register. Beyond project management he has been a mentor to many of us and he took the time to meet individually with our entire project team. It’s really quite something to get such a commitment from a volunteer like Shawn who has years of experience and expertise to share with us.”
– Myrna Holman, executive Director, BC211

“Seldom in life do opportunities come along to be a part of history in the making. On one level, I’m working with a wonderful organization, BC211, that is re-shaping how people-in-need reach out for help, and how the public and non-profit sectors that serve those needs are able to plan for the future. In clinical terms, the project is about implementation of a state-of-the-art information management system. But unlike project management work in the private/corporate world, my role is not to “do the work”, but to open the window on project management approaches and benefits so the leadership team at BC21 can “do the work”.
At project completion, the legacy will be not only a new IMS, but also a team versed in the project management discipline and committed to applying it across the board as their organization grows. On another level, I get to showcase the outrageously successful PM-V approach, matching non-profits with needs to project managers building experience and giving back to their community. How great is that!”
– Shawn Hawkins, volunteer Project Manager

Photo Credit: mik_p via Compfight cc