Archive for September 23rd, 2011

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About the Sessions

These are the speakers confirmed for the Your Journey to World Class IT conference October 5th

Click here to register for this full day virtual conference.

What’s IT Worth? Determining the Real ROI of ITby Robert Charette
While the mathematically calculation of Return on Investment is straightforward, determining the true value of an IT investment to an organization is much less so. In this presentation, Robert Charette will lay out the foundational principles necessary to understand the real ROI of IT so that the question, “What’s IT worth?” can best be answered.

Dr. Robert Charette is the President of the ITABHI Corporation, an international high technology company involved in enterprise and program risk management consulting. He is the author of over 80 articles on software, systems, and business management in addition to the following books: “Software Engineering Environments: Concepts and Technology” (1986), “Software Engineering Risk Analysis & Management” (1989), “Applications Strategies for Risk Analysis” (1990), “Introduction to the Management of Risk” (1994, “A Unified Methodology for Systems Development” (1987) and “Decision Empowerment: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Good Decision Makers’ (2007). Several new books on managing enterprise risk are in progress.

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Building an IT Command and Control Center
Dave Smith

Have you ever been surprised by something of significance in your business? Have you ever gotten inconsistent information from your organization? In this presentation, Dave Smith will share some of the challenges he has faced in IT over the last 25 years and will discuss a method for controlling and automating the flow of IT information so that it can be made available to teams, managers, managers, and executives. teaching others business skills, professional skills, and technical skills for more than 12 years. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in education for which his dissertation will focus on the benefits of corporate training and mobile learning. He speaks three languages and was recently inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame. His communication skills, combined with his martial art skills, provide him with a unique combination for keeping his sessions informative, lively, and interactive.

Dave Smith is a senior technology executive at CAI with 25 years of experience leading complex, challenging IT initiatives for industry-leading firms and Fortune 500 client companies. He specializes in the design, development, and launch of technology solutions and processes.

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IT Strategy, Governance, and Value
Leon Kappelman

Are you getting a respectable rate of return on your investments in information technologies? Are you even getting a positive one? The answer to the first question appears to be “no” for about 75% to 80% of organizations; while nearly half of IT investments appear to actually have a negative ROI. While there is no silver bullet to this problem, there are a set of management methods and practices that are almost always found in those organizations which do make the most of their IT spending. Professor Kappelman’s presentation will help you ensure that your organization is developing the practices as well as the intellectual and human capital needed to make the most of your IT investments.

Dr. Leon Kappelman is a research scientist, teacher, author, speaker, and consultant whose research, publications, and presentations in software project management, enterprise architecture, and technology management have received world-wide recognition. He is Director Emeritus of the Information Systems Research Center and a Professor of Information Systems in the College of Business at the University of North Texas, where he is also a Fellow of the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge. His professional expertise includes software project management; technology-related legal and ethical issues including intellectual property; continuity of operations; performance measurement; system development and maintenance; enterprise architecture and strategy; and high-tech and public policy matters like privacy, security, and software quality. He currently serves as chair of the Society for information Management’s Enterprise Architecture Working Group and contributed to and edited the SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture (CRC Press, 2010).

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Evaluating the ROI of IT on a Continual Basis
Michael Bragen
It’s commonly understood that establishing quantitative returns for IT depends on getting reliable and believable hard numbers for the value side and expense side of the value equation. Benchmarking initiatives tend to focus on the expense side, since this is easier to quantify (and tends to be better documented.) Intrinsic value of IT crosses into territory that touches on understanding of strategic and tactical business benefits. This presentation by Michael Bragen will focus on how organizations can evaluate return on a continuous basis by tracking a handful of key metrics. The basic approach is to balance IT application complete life cycle costs (Total Cost of Implementation and Total Cost of Ownership) against the strategic and tactical value of the application portfolio. Often, this analysis strays into the realm of evaluating intangibles, so a common framework for quantifying value must be established. This analysis relies on data collected by and for command and control systems, and therefore can be efficiently promoted in organizations that already have an investment (or intention) to fly by wire.

A software industry analyst, author, and consultant, Mr. Bragen has over 25 years of experience in the fields of strategic management for IT, including software engineering and information systems. Mr. Bragen’s experience centers on the management and implementation of technologies and processes that support, leverage, and enhance business activity. His consulting work focuses on the use of metrics to support project and portfolio management, estimation, and software process improvement. Mr. Bragen has worked with international experience in a variety of industry sectors, including telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, retail, utilities, and government/defense.

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The Live Session Is Free But…

You can get the recorded version of this session & over 500+ other Quality Category A PDU Sessions with an
ITMPI Membership

Premium Memberships are only $199 USD per year
An Excellent Value!!

Search for “2733” to see other great titles available!
Memberships Include all PDU Codes

Note: ITMPI charges a fee to obtain individual PDU codes. This fee ONLY needs to be paid if you ask the provider for the code – This code should be able to be obtained from the PMI.ORG site for free. An ITMPI Membership entitles you to receive all ITMPI PDU Codes and recordings.

Gain valuable insight into IT Topics – October 5th, 2011

  1. What’s IT Worth? Determining the Real ROI of IT
  2. Building an IT Command and Control Center
  3. IT Strategy, Governance, and Value
  4. Evaluating the ROI of IT on a Continual Basis

Your Journey to World Class IT conference takes place Wednesday, October 5th, 2011, this conference is scheduled for 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM EST

Each of the 4 sessions offered is worth 1 PDU – that’s 4 PDUs in one day
Presented by : Computer Aid IT Metrics and Productivity Institute (REP 2733)

This full day virtual conference (October 5 2011 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST) includes the following sessions (Click the specific topic to go to a description of that session):

Note: ITMPI is now charging a $2.99 convenience fee to obtain the PDU code. This fee ONLY needs to be paid if you ask the provider for the code – This code can be obtained from the PMI.ORG site for free. Search the Rep # (it is in our listing) The courses are listed alphabetically use the arrow keys to move to the correct place in the alphabet and search the list on that page for the course that you attended – the code should be listed. (setting the set the dropdown box to show 100 per page will make your search easier). You will have to search for each of the course descriptions and record each one separately.

Click here for the detailed session descriptions that are included in this conference.

Click here to register for Live from Detroit -Your Journey to World Class IT Conference.

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Live Webinar – September 30, 12:00-1:00 PM EDT
Offered by ASPE (REP 2161) 1 Category A PDU – Free PDU
This is a 1 hour seminar and attendees will be awarded 1 PDU for participating

Projects can get into trouble occasionally, and the business analyst can help the project manager get it back on track.

This webinar will step the audience through some “red-flag” symptoms seen in projects that need business analyst skills, their tools and techniques to help the project manager get the project back on track.

Clarity around the accountability and needed collaboration between the project manager and business analyst are provided. The audience will step away with an improved awareness on how much they can contribute to project recovery.

But then we must not forget! We must leverage our business analyst recovery experience in future risk management plans for similar projects with defined ways to reduce the probability of re-occurrence or at least have a contingency if it does happen again.

This webinar will give you some hints and tips to avoid getting back into those situations again. If you are currently in the role of a project manager or business analyst (or both), then this webinar is for you.

Presenter: Gina Schwalm (LinkedIn profile), PMP, CBAP, has spent more than 25 years working in both project manager and business analyst roles in various industries. She has also been in various other roles throughout her career; requirements workshop facilitator, release coordinator, project sponsor, PMO manager, quality assurance manager, and methodology expert. Her passion is helping projects bring value to their companies in the most effective ways possible (with no casualties)! Gina was part of a Quality and Risk Management team that did project recovery work for a top US consulting firm and not only assisted project managers in building a recovery plan, but also worked with project stakeholders (team, sponsors, vendors, functional areas, etc.) to ensure full participation and buy-in. Recently, Gina has worked to build a competency center for project managers and business analysts.

Click to register for The Business Analyst’s Role in Project Recovery and Risk Management

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Live Webinar September 28 2011 – 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Duration: 1 hour webinar Credits: 1 PDU Category C – Free PDU
Sponsored by American Management Association (REP 1294)
Presented by: Dave Bellon & Ed Reilly
Although the AMA is an REP this opportunity may not have a course number Contact the AMA for further information.

A good leader has the ability to make the right decisions during a crisis and perform their best in challenging circumstances. A great leader has the ability to help everyone in an organization make the right decisions and flourish during crisis and sustained stress.

This Webcast explores the key elements of how to build a resilient thought-based organization that uses critical thinking to assess situations and act swiftly.

In a conversation with Ed Reilly, CEO of the American Management Association, Col. David Bellon of the United States Marine Corps Reserve will share leadership lessons he has learned while leading Marine units in combat zones during four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In this enlightening session, you’ll hear how strong organizational culture was successfully created and how an entire unit was trained and prepared to proactively think and respond in a rapidly changing, often ambiguous, high risk environment.

Attend this Webcast to Learn:

  • Key cultural qualities associated with success
  • How to build the right culture
  • Leadership qualities needed to create success
  • How to develop proactive, critical thinking leaders across an organization

Bellon will share a heroic and heart-warming story of how Marines in his battalion task force saved the life of a little girl, Amenah, by thinking through problems and tackling challenges.

While attending this program is FREE, reservations are required.

Presenters:

Dave Bellon is a colonel in the U.S Marine Corps Reserve. Since 9/11, he hasserved four times for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He directly participated in the initial invasion of Iraq as well as both battles for Fallujah. On his final tour, he commanded a 1,500 man battalion task force operating in the Central Euphrates River Valley.After returning from Iraq in 2008,he received a masters in Strategic Studies at the Naval War College.He thendeployed to Afghanistan where he ended up serving as the chief of operations in southern Afghanistan.
Ed Reilly is president and CEO of American Management Association, a leading global not-for-profit, membership-based management development, research and publishing organization. Reilly previously served as president and chief executive officer of Big Flower Holdings, Inc. Prior to that, he spent over 25 years in a variety of senior executive positions with the broadcast and book publishing groups of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

PDU Category C documentation details:

Process Groups: Executing

Knowledge Areas: 4- Integration 9 – Human Resources

  • 4.3 Direct and Monitor Project Execution
  • 9.3 Develop Project Team
  • 9.4 Manage Project Team

As a Category C ‘Self Directed Learning Activity’ remember to document your learning experience and its relationship to project management for your ‘PDU Audit Trail Folder’

Click to register for Critical Decision Points: Thinking and Acting During a Time of Crisis

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Live Webinar – September 28, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT
Duration: 1 Hour Credits: 1 PDU Category C – Free PDU
Presented by : O’Reilly® Webcasts

Do you use Google every day? Mastering Google’s powerful search refinement operators and lesser known features could, over a year’s time, save you days scouring over irrelevant results.

Even more enticing is the promise of elusive nuggets of market research and competitive intelligence out there waiting to be discovered — IF you know how to wield Google.

Neurologists estimate that we humans use a mere 1% of our mental capacity. Similarly, the majority of our search queries are surprisingly unsophisticated and thus the true power of the Google search engine, for most of us, remains untapped.

Learn how you too can become a Google expert searcher and extract invaluable data about your competitors and about the market like never before — with laser-like accuracy and extreme efficiency.

You will learn:

  • How to cut through the clutter with Boolean logic, exact phrase matching, wildcards, and search operators like filetype, intitle, site, and “daterange”
  • How to cast a wider net by expanding your search to include synonyms with the ~ (tilde) operator.
  • How to conduct specialized searches using Google’s many search sites like Google News, Google Groups, and Google Blog Search.
  • How to obtain real, confidential business plans and marketing plans
  • How to invoke the Google search box as a phonebook, a calculator, a measurement converter, a dictionary, a package tracker, an airline timetable, a street map atlas, and a stock ticker.

PDU Category C documentation details:

Process Groups: Executing

Knowledge Areas: 9 – Human Resources

  • 9.3 Develop Project Team

As a Category C ‘Self Directed Learning Activity’ remember to document your learning experience and its relationship to project management for your ‘PDU Audit Trail Folder’

Click to register for Become an Expert Google Searcher in an Hour