Creating Business-savvy
Project Managers

After recognizing a need for a performance improvement plan for their project managers, HP Services partnered with ESI for project management training in order to reduce the number of troubled projects, increase operating margins and provide for a flexible project workforce. Since partnering with ESI in 1996, HP Services has recognized not only strengthened project management skills but also increased business competencies.

Several years ago, HP Services realized that to stay competitive in a relentlessly competitive marketplace, changes were in order. The company's business was becoming more project-focused, and HP Services recognized the need to standardize its project management practices.

HP Services implemented a performance improvement plan for its project managers worldwide. The objectives were clear: reduce the number of troubled projects, increase operating margins and provide for a flexible project workforce. After a thorough needs analysis, HP determined that an outside training provider was needed to deliver the kind of comprehensive project management training required.

Standardizing Projects Worldwide
Ron Kempf, Director, HP Services Project Management Competency Development and Certification, explains: "As we reviewed projects, it became clear that we needed to train our project managers in fundamental project management practices, but we also needed to provide them with a pragmatic approach for executing projects. We wanted an approach supported by proven tools and techniques, so our project managers would have a common frame of reference, allowing them to form new teams or join existing teams anywhere in the world and immediately go to work."

HP Services selected ESI as its training vendor in 1996 because the company exceeded all the criteria HP Services required-training based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^®), public classes in addition to e-Training, highly qualified instructors and an international reputation. "We needed a training partner with established international experience," Kempf says. "ESI told us of their experiences in international training, especially with respect to cultural considerations, and that was important to us. It was clear that ESI had the experience we needed. No one even came in a close second."

Designing a Comprehensive Program
With HP Services, ESI developed an integrated program that would meet the needs of the original 1,200 project managers through training in fundamental project management practices. (The number has since grown to more than 3,500 project managers in 170 countries and even more project support staff.) Through the ESI program, HP Services is able to offer its project managers a series of courses based on a standardized and universally accepted set of project management practices, the PMBOK^®. The program leads to a Master's Certificate in Project Management from The George Washington University, ESI's academic partner for more than 20 years.

This well-rounded course of study prepares HP Services' project managers for certification as Project Management Professionals (PMP^®) by the Project Management Institute (PMI^®). "Being able to develop PMPs is critical to us," Kempf says. "Increasingly, offering PMPs has become a key evaluation factor in the bid process, and now it's essential to winning new business." HP Services had 12 PMPs in 1997; today, it has more than 3,100.

ESI continues to expand its curriculum, so HP Services is now able to offer relevant advanced courses to accommodate the growing number of program "graduates," who require a higher level of training. "We offer 250 course sessions annually around the world, and ESI's delivery capability and curriculum are major contributing factors to the success of the program. ESI has brought significant expertise and guidance in helping us design, develop and deliver our project management training program," Kempf says. Since ESI offers its training in public classroom sessions, on-site sessions and e-Training, HP Services' project managers all receive consistent content, tools and techniques.

Understanding the "Business" of Projects
"Before we had ESI training in place, we conducted project reviews in business units around the world, and we found that in some cases, our project managers did not fully appreciate or implement risk management practices, change control or financial management. They understood they needed to bring a project in on time and they knew they had to satisfy the customer, but they didn't realize they had profit and loss responsibility for their projects. Yet they were on the front lines of managing our business," Kempf explains.

HP Services complements its project management training in areas such as risk and contract management with training in selected business competencies, such as conducting effective negotiations, delivering presentations and managing financial aspects of a project. "Not only are we developing more effective project managers, we are strengthening their business competencies as well," Kempf says.

As a result of this two-pronged approach to training its project managers, HP Services has seen a marked increase in project management knowledge, skills and abilities being applied in its business units worldwide. ESI's training program has helped HP Services reduce the number of troubled projects and heightened its project managers' awareness of managing toward increased margins. Kempf says that this performance improvement initiative has resulted in 70% of their projects running at or better than budget (well above the industry average of 50%) and has increased margins by as much as 50% in some cases.

"ESI's training earns high praise on post-course evaluations," Kempf says. A clear majority of course attendees indicate that the training is directly relevant to their work and assert that the knowledge and skills acquired were a contributing factor in their efficiency and productivity.

Another result of the training has been a new confidence in the managers' abilities to perform complex project activities, Kempf says. "Project managers are more open to taking over troubled or leaderless projects. Because our project managers are now using a consistent approach to project management, assuming control midstream of a troubled project is less of a problem than it might have been in the past," he says.

Other, less-tangible benefits have come about as part of the HP/ESI partnership. "Our employees recognize and appreciate that they have significant career-development opportunities here, and as a result, they are highly motivated. HP Services' commitment to career development has given us a long-term advantage because we save hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on training, recruitment and orientation. Having well-trained project professionals on the job every day gives us a competitive edge in the marketplace, and ESI's project management training program has helped us to achieve that."