Several years ago, Siemens Enterprise Networks (SEN), a subsidiary of Siemens Information and Communication, the network services division of Siemens AG, was shifting its corporate strategy from selling hardware to selling integrated solutions. While proving to be a successful strategic move for the company, the decision to become a solutions provider also added a great deal of complexity to the company's standard installation projects. In some cases, this shift in strategy drastically changed the nature of work people performed and greatly increased the need for expert project management. Kandi Miller, Vice President of Information Management, stated, "project management was important if we were going to remain competitive."
Siemens also lost a significant contract to a competitor, in large part due to a shortage of installation managers with project management certification. "There were projects we wanted to bid on and we couldn't because the first requirement was about project management capability," explains Sheila Dummer, Manager of Knowledge Management and Project Management for SEN. "It became clear that project management must become a core competency for our managers and team members."
Siemens Enterprise Networks decided to measure the project management competencies of their employees and overall organizational project management maturity by benchmarking their findings against their competitors and found that there was room for improvement.
Process Improvement Plan Includes ESI TrainingAfter measuring the company's project management maturity, and finding room for improvement, the company's executives devised a process improvement plan to increase the success rates of its projects. The first step was to set up a project management office that could oversee this new professional development program. The second step was to compile a list of competencies that would apply to job functions and assess what training was appropriate. After completing this list of competencies, Siemens discovered that more than two-thirds of these positions required project management knowledge at some level.
Siemens Enterprise Networks' executives recognized that the company would need a formal training program. "We knew we had to educate our people on the fact that project management is a discipline – a methodology that works consistently across the board and around the world," says Dave Ellebrecht, Vice President of Professional Services.
Siemens evaluated vendors using criteria that included the effectiveness of training, its adherence to the PMBOK®, ability to support global implementation, cost and the ability to support Siemens' internal programs. After extensive research, Siemens turned to ESI International, convinced that ESI met all of the criteria needed for a successful training program. As the training partner for this critical initiative, ESI could provide Siemens with tailored, industry-specific project management training, as well as a full complement of follow-up services to help Siemens measure the program's success.
Dummer says the initial goal of this process improvement plan was to raise the company's level of project management competency to a level equivalent with their competition. To achieve this goal, the company started to require that everyone involved in projects begin taking ESI's courses. Other goals included an increase in the number of managers with internal Siemens project management certification and, ultimately, PMP® certification. The training from ESI would help employees achieve this goal. The increase in project management knowledge and certification would help Siemens win bids from companies that required proof of project management knowledge and keep current customers by completing projects successfully.
Project Management Competency Tied to Job GoalsSiemens' new corporate project management office coordinates the company's overall professional development program. "We developed the PMO to create standards and ensure people are implementing the techniques and methodologies they learned in class," explains Dummer.
Executives are now measured annually on their own and their team members' project management competency and their achievement of goals set in the training program. The goals are tied to the completion of a set of internal certificates that are built around the ESI classes, internal courses on management development and on quality and process improvement.
Everyone involved in projects is required to take one of ESI's flagship courses, Managing Projects in Organizations, Managing Software Project Management or Managing Information Technology Projects, which provides the foundation for subsequent project management training. Project leaders must complete ESI's full curriculum to earn a Master's Certificate in Project Management, awarded by The George Washington University, and top-level project managers are required to earn PMP® certification. Since its inception two years ago, nearly 3,000 managers and project employees, including personnel from other Siemens divisions, have participated in this initiative.
ESI's Assessments Measure Training SuccessSiemens measures the success of the training program using ProjectFRAMEWORK®, ESI's maturity model that evaluates the company's organizational project management capabilities. This assessment tool also identifies areas for improvement, establishes a baseline against which to set objectives and gives Siemens a roadmap for improvement.
ESI trained two Siemens employees to perform this assessment annually. These employees conducted the test before the implementation of the development program and again a year later. Within the first 12 months following the launch, several groups improved their test scores significantly. This improvement in scores is statistically linked to each group's successful participation in ESI's training program.
Project Success Rates and Certifications IncreaseSiemens estimates that the project success rate has increased by 30%, in large part due to the expert training received from ESI, as well as the work of the PMO, which has standardized processes allowing for the immediate application of new project management competencies. According to Siemens, the number of people testing for the PMP® has also increased dramatically due to the popularity of the professional development program among the company's project managers. Dummer adds, "Siemens Enterprise Networks has seen a corporate culture change that has developed as a direct result of training provided by ESI."
In this day of downsizing, belt-tightening and doing more with fewer resources, project management has proved invaluable to the progressive business tactics of Siemens Enterprise Networks. By providing their project employees with the opportunity to increase their project management knowledge, Siemens Enterprise Networks has realized its goal of providing complex customer networking solutions to their customers successfully.