Don’t be afraid to tell me my baby is ugly!

 

CEO Pat Lucey speaks on newstalk FM about how he set-up Aspira ten years ago following the closure of Motorola. This was his burning platform that inspired him to take the entrepreneurial leap to set-up Aspira with his colleague Colum Horgan.

Pat talks about the culture change from a multinational environment,  where you are somewhat protected from the trials and tribulations of the economy, to having to deal with the challenges and demands of running your own business. However, both Pat and Colum came from family businesses, so were aware of both the risks and commitment required, to make Aspira the success it is today.

Both the combination of their multinational experience, where there was a huge investment in people and their backgrounds of growing up in family businesses gave them the confidence and ability to lead their own company. Aspira employs nearly 100 people and has offices in both Dublin and Cork.

Pat advises that creating a new business takes more than just a good idea. You need to investigate thoroughly and look at all the available supports out there, including Enterprise Ireland, which is very helpful to Aspira. Importantly you need people to tell you ‘your baby is ugly’, if the idea is not good enough.

Don’t be reluctant about giving negative feedback. People often just casually say ‘oh, that’s a great idea!”, as they are afraid of upsetting budding entrepreneurs! So don’t be afraid to tell people their baby is ugly!

World Recognised Project Management

If you could have a qualification with the power to open doors for you into multiple industries as diverse as IT to Engineering to Big Pharma and more, in any country across the world where you wish to work, would you let that opportunity pass you by? Neither would we.

 

Not everyone is cut out to be a project manager. It takes a certain level of determination, grit and sheer force of will to oversee and guide a long and complex set of interdependent tasks to completion inside an allocated budget. This is what makes it so fulfilling as a career. Great project managers are detail-oriented, have excellent organisational and perceptive, pragmatic planning skills.
 

For driven individuals wanting to embark on project management as a career, the time is definitely now. Project management job opportunities are plentiful and the supply never seems to meet the demand. That’s why it’s such a bankable and dependable career choice.

 

However, it is absolutely essential to have a professional – and industry recognisable – credential to your name to secure a lucrative role in Project Management. When it comes to Project Management training; what differentiates Aspira from all the rest is simply this: our training is more than a credential – it is effective, insightful and will give you actual techniques and templates to work with in your project management career. That’s why Aspira’s project management training is such a beneficial device to help enhance your ability to make the transition into project management.

 

Our industry experts have crafted a diverse set of project management course options which cater specifically to the differing needs of those in search of powerful incisive training. Whether you are looking for an introduction to project management essentials or become a recognised Project Management Professional (PMPTM) certified by the PMITM, or are looking to train your staff to be the best Agile Scrummasters on the market, Aspira has precisely what you need in our range of project management training options

 

All of our courses use the latest edition (5th Edition – March 2013) PMBOK Guide® as the core reference. By the end of our courses our trainees leave with a detailed understanding of Project Management terms, concepts and methodologies. Trainees are presented with real world project challenges providing opportunities to exercise their knowledge and skill before completing the course. Aspira project management training results in competent and confident project managers armed with all the skills and abilities required to effectively and methodically manage any project.
To talk to us today about the project management course that best suits your needs, you can contact us on: training@aspira.ie or direct call on: +353 21 235 2550

Enterprise Project Management Systems (EPMS)

In the fast-paced world of project management, there is a plethora of enterprise project management systems (EPMS) and tools available. Enough, in fact, to make any strategist’s head swim. When seeking out the most appropriate EPMS system for your business, you need to really be able to compare and evaluate systems in a like-for-like manner, and see beyond the sales guys’ baffling jargon and obtuse answers. If you have never purchased an EPMS system before, this is made all the more complicated as you don’t know quite what to look for, and what you might need going into the future. The icing on this complex cake is, of course, that apart from determining suitable functionality, you need to be able to estimate and align the costs across all the options available to you, and this is never straightforward if you are navigating the sales process for the first time.

Evaluation of EPMS Systems
This multitude of challenges is why Aspira offers EPMS evaluation and implementation services. Our seasoned industry experts will power past the sales presentations and get into the nitty gritty of what you will need your EPMS system to do. Due to our extensive experience and objective point of view, we can give you an impartial like-for-like comparison of all the leading EPMS tools as part of our EPMS Evaluation service and cover with you:

What licence fee structures are out there.
The pro’s and cons of using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model against purchasing and hosting the hardware yourself.
Functionality included out-of-the-box in all leading EPMS tools.
Functionality that can be easily configured by a system administrator role versus needing an experienced professional or developer to implement.
Functionality that is available at additional cost.
Estimation breakdowns across all your potential EPMS tools.
Alignment and ranking of EPMS tools according to your goals, requirements and budget.
Where optimizations to your business processes may be made due to the functionality of certain EPMS tools.

Implementation of EPMS Systems
Once you have selected the most appropriate EPMS tool for your enterprise needs, Aspira is pleased to be able to offer you our EPMS Implementation service. Our system integration teams are veterans at realizing business vision when it comes to implementing project management systems. Not only can we implement leading tailored project management suites, we have routinely achieved solid EPMS implementation and integration across major ERP platforms – whether it be Oracle, SAP, JD Edwards or Navision – our flexible and dynamic teams can ensure your EPMS becomes an essential part of your project management process.

At Aspira we understand that to deliver successfully for you is not just to get a system up and running, and that the selection of the right implementation partner brings a wealth of benefits such as:

An optimally configured system that meets your current and future functional needs with the least amount of customization, resulting in lower operating and maintenance costs.
A highly utilized system that becomes a deep-rooted and essential tool for your organization. Bad implementations end up being a waste of money as employees create manual processes to compensate for the lack of system flexibility.
A lower Total Cost of Ownership resulting from a highly resilient and accurately scaled architecture and infrastructure delivery.
Integration according to your established IT principles such as using ESB, EAI or SOA integration methods.
Streamlined business processes that can result in time, resource and cost savings.

Aspira understands that businesses need to see real return on investment whether they need an EPMS Evaluation or EPMS Implementation service. We are proud to stand over our abilities to deliver quality implementations that can result in real returns and real cost savings on top of better business processes. We can boost your business to achieve your business vision and bring viable EPMS to bear in your organization.

For more information on Aspira Services, visit our website on http://aspira.ie/ or send us a mail today on: info@aspira.ie

Risky Project Management

Project Risk Management is an essential activity often marginalised to the early phase of a project and subsequently neglected as projects develop. This type of risk management is a mere box-ticking exercise by ineffective project managers leading to perplexed project teams, pricey and perpetual delays – even cancelled projects. The irony here of course is the risk posed to the project by poor risk management is high and not easily fixed.

 

Detailed risk management must play an important role over the full lifecycle of any project – risk is not static or finite, nor can all risk be predicted at one time – therefore artefacts such as a Risk Register, Risk Assessment Plans and Risk Management Plans produced as part of the due diligence need to be maintained as living documents for risk to be mitigated.
 

Too often a risk management plan consists only of the identification of risk – as though its identification will automatically negate it happening. Good risk management details and documents all the known risks to a project but great risk management is able to identify the potential ripple effects of those risks if realised, and detail appropriate preventative mitigation plans as well ashighlight further risk which may be incurred out of the mitigation plan itself.

In addition, with the best will in the world, sometimes the risks do realise, and if there is no contingency plan in place, then the project team is left scrambling and the risk management has ultimately failed.

 

Aspira’s expertise at risk management is unparalleled and our approach is not easily replicated.

Our Risk Management Framework considers:

  • Review of risk management policies and procedures and offer solutions to strengthen your risk exposure.
  • Provide in depth risk identification, with full detail of the secondary risks posed.
  • Conduct a detailed risk analysis, identifying potentially impacted business and technological functions and plans.
  • Prioritize risk based on key criteria – financial, customer impacting, business critical – whatever the key criteria for the success of the project is. Aspira’s expertise in project management means our project managers are well equipped to support projects in terms of; prioritisation, to guiding influence, and to accurately estimate effort and budget.
  • Creates risk mitigation plans, addressing how those risks will be treated – how they will be mitigated to prevent them happening, and the plans that needs to fall into place if they do.
  • Identify your impacted stakeholders – this goes far beyond your standard RACI matrix – this outlines your key stakeholders and the impact that risk realisation may have on their interests in your project.

 

If your project requires a solid risk management foundation, an inflight risk assessment or a review of how risks were dealt with, Aspira has the expertise to expedite your risk management plan and limit your exposure.

 

Aspira’s Risk Management has resulted in our clients being able to:

  • Achieve complete business buy-in on the decision for projects to proceed based on complete risk assessment, offering confidence in budget stability.
  • Competently budget for contingencies based on the prioritisation of risk and their likelihood to occur.
  • Allow Project Managers to focus on the day to day project tasks rather than risk mitigation planning.
  • Save time and budget by having plans in place which can be immediately executed if risks do realise.
  • Allow project managers to immediately brief senior execs on the impact of a risk before it has happened.
  • Improve communication and allow for key stakeholders to be identified quickly.
  • Stop work backlogs and resource inefficiencies by concentrating on key high risk areas.
  • Complete projects smoothly engaging whether engaging in risk mitigation or risk treatment plans.

For more information regarding services Aspira provide, you can contact us from the website or send us a direct mail to: info@aspira.ie

The Hare And The Tortoise: A Case For Slow Project Management

For many years now, I have read this book at the behest of my young son (who is a huge fan of the tortoise) and despite numerous attempts on my behalf to change the story /ending on the fly, to add an element of the unexpected, the demand is always there to ensure that tortoise always wins, which of course he/she does every night.

Recently I started to wonder what does this fable offer project management and watching Trump attempting to launch a huge amount of his promised policy decisions in a quick initial burst of activity, the thought came to my mind of the need maybe to adopt an approach that I might term “Slow Project Management” and that maybe by slowing down as a project manager you might actually complete the project faster!

As mentioned in a recent post, the start of a project is the most critical (particularly in terms of requirements and the business analysis role). Taking some time out and slowing down is also just as important to the Project Manager, especially at the start of a project.

One simple way to do this is to treat the project kick-off process with as much care as possible and don’t be afraid to re-run or have a number of phased project kick-off meetings if you are not entirely satisfied with the outcome of the meeting and what you want to get out of it in terms of setting the project up for a good start.

Another effective method that we often use in Aspira as project managers, is running our “Pre-Mortem” workshop in the initiation phase of a project where we imagine the project as a failure and then working backwards to understand how it might have failed and documenting into a RAID or a similar tool that output of that process. This is run separately to kick-off meetings and again, although it does take some extra time, we find the process does help to identify potential future problems and allow mitigations to be planned and hence improve project success.

Taking such time outs along with increased reflection will perhaps protect against the over confidence of the “Hare” project manager and in the long run get you the destination faster.

Good Night, Sleep Tight!

For more information on Services Aspira Provide go to our website at www.aspira.ie. Alternatively, if you have any queries contact Aspira directly by emailing us on info@aspira.ie.

 

Created by:      Jerry Giltenane

Company:         Aspira

Position:          Professional Services Director

Rationalising Requirements

One of the most common issues that teams come across as part of a project is the problem of scope creep. This is defined as uncontrolled changes or continuous growth of a project’s scope. This can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented or controlled.
This can be easily implemented incorrectly however; one could assume that defining a project’s scope is as easy as stating what a project will entail, the features required, systems involved etc. This is in fact correct but is missing a key detail of requirements gathering and outlining project scope. One of the key things to properly defining requirements and avoiding issues such as scope creep or conflict within the team, is to do the above, define requirements for what the project will entail but also define what the system will not include, features which are out of scope, areas that have been highlighted or proposed in the past but have been rejected. These are of equal importance as the definition of the actual included requirements because it avoids two major issues; the first being scope creep as previously mentioned and the second is lack of clarity. Clarity on what the project will actually be, what will be delivered, when it will be delivered, how it will be operated and how it will look and feel. Achieving this is possible by all stakeholders involved having a clear and defined picture of what the project will and won’t include.
Problems can very easily arise when people misinterpret requirements. This can very easily happen when all a stakeholder has is a definition of what the project requirements are, without the clarifying presence of what the project will not include. This can lead to wasted time, longer testing cycles and disagreements within teams over varying interpretations of what requirements actually mean.
By clearly defining requirements that are in scope and out of scope, we can avoid these pitfalls in our projects.
Aspira offer a range of courses in both Project Management & Business Analysis. These courses provide a structured approach to requirements gathering and provide valuable project management tools and techniques to support the creation of a detailed project plans, that are based on accurate business requirements. To find out more about Aspira’s public and private courses go to our website now. http://aspira.ie/events/

Created By:        Stephen Pearse

Company:           Aspira

Title:                  Software Engineer

The First Nine Minutes

Recently I was listening to an interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield, when he was asked about how he personally coped with the risk of sitting in the shuttle, facing blast off and a stint of 6 months in space. His answer was interesting in that he noted that the vast majority of the risk that he and the mission faced occurred during a typical 6 month mission was in the first 9 minutes! Of course should anything go wrong within those first 9 minutes, then it would have tragic and severe impact both on the astronauts and the mission.

In many respects space travel is the ultimate project, however I would argue that in most earth based projects, that the first “Nine Minutes” may even be a biggest risk to a project.

It is in the early stages of a project that the key tasks of gathering, understanding and approving the requirements to allow the scope of the project to be clearly and correctly defined is undertaken. The big difference though between the first 9 minutes of a shuttle mission and your typical project start phase is that in most cases, mistakes or errors in the initial stage of a project (particularly in requirements) will not become apparent until the end or towards the end of the project and end up being very costly in terms of rework where as in the case of Chris Hadfield, issues become more apparent quickly and dramatically.

One might think that the importance of good requirements management is well known and common sense , but in reality, research shows (no alternative facts here) that the rate of project failure attributed to poor requirements is actually increasing. This PMI Report notes that “inaccurate requirements gathering” as a primary reason for project failures grew from 37% in 2014 from 32% in 2013. This is somewhat surprising, given the rise in the numbers of project managers being certified as well as increased project training and better tools.

It is clear that more emphasis must be put on the requirements phase of a project and indeed the PMI have also recognised this in terms of their new BA certification programs as well as the growth in the importance of the IIBA and their CBAP certification path. Having taken the CBAP certification a few years ago (primarily because I saw at first hand the frustration of incomplete, incorrect and poorly managed requirements), it certainly drove home the importance of work of a BA and the tester, as both these roles are becoming more and more important in today’s more world of more complex projects across more borders, timezones and cultures. Indeed in my view today’s project manager must understand intimately such roles and how they interlock. They must also study and undertake certifications such as the CBAP and indeed testing certifications to ensure that the project does not fail during those vital early stages due to a more mature approach to requirements and test management.

This Article was created by: Jerry Giltenane, Professional Services Director at Aspira.

The Most Accurate Technology Prediction – Fifty Years On

The most accurate prediction in the field of computing was made in 1965 by Gordon Moore, then of Fairchild Semiconductor and later a founder of Intel.  He made the audacious suggestion that the density of transistors on integrated circuits would double every 18 months. Amazingly, device physicists and process engineers have managed to make good on Moore’s prediction over the past 50 years.

This exponential rate of progress – the fact that everything about computing continues to double at fixed intervals, is what makes it so difficult to predict the future of computing technology. There’s nothing else like this, in any other field. If transportation technology had improved at the same rate as information technology over the past 30 years, then a car would be the size of a mobile phone, cost €100, go 100,000 miles per hour, and travel 150,000 miles on a tank of fuel. A Boeing 747 would cost hundreds of dollars today, rather than hundreds of millions. Ridiculous? Not in computing, where today’s €500 laptop personal computer is vastly more capable than the $3 million building-sized institutional computer of just a few decades ago.

So what do we expect will happen over the next 2-5 years?  I believe Big Data will continue to drive consumer behavior and technology evolution.  The ability to manage, manipulate and interpret massive quantities of raw data in real-time, converting data into information, and Information into intelligence, is where our focus will need to be.

Data Storage, Encryption & Backup Services

Your data is the lifeblood of your business. Regardless of industry, data is the key ingredient for  your business’s strategy, marketing, financial analysis and more; in all likelihood your business has invested heavily in information and technical architecture to optimise your data management.

Therefore, any IT manager or CIO can appreciate the absolute necessity for stable and secure data storage, encryption and backup services. To lose access to your data – even temporarily, can have huge costs both in financial terms and in terms of the company’s reputation. And, in this age of instant broadcast via social media, any perceived loss of customer or billing data, any operational hiccups, or worse –  any compromise on the security of the data –  would be a PR nightmare to manage for any company.

Not all storage and security services are the same. It is essential that you entrust your data to a source that has the capability to deliver real business value by understanding the stakes and the business maturity to protect your brand and market share while ensuring the highest calibre service for your operational efficiency.

Aspira has the breadth of infrastructure, the technical expertise and the ability to offer true scalability for Enterprise grade data storage, encryption and backup services.

Aspira ensures you remain fully compliant with European data protection legislation with our advanced data storage and encryption methodologies, so you don’t need to constantly keep abreast of changing regulations. All the hassle is outsourced to us.

We offer total end-to-end encryption using a first-rate industry algorithms and the highest level SSL standard providing total protection and security across the data lifecycle. You can be confident in your data encryption security even while that data is in transit.

Where Aspira truly adds value is in our ability to deliver your precise set of requirements. Our security analysts and data architects will work with you to identify the optimum design for your business.

We will work with you to:

  • Specify your required data location
  • 30 days, month, quarter, annual data retention requirements
  • Identify key European data protection regulations that may specifically impact you apart from the top level directives.
  • Provide the right level of encryption for your business’s data.
  • Define your data storage requirements in terms of volume and the frequency of data transfer.
  • Scale the solution to your budget and your needs, both currently and including your forecasted growth.
  • Enable your own unique customised encryption key.
  • Provide online and offline data access supported across multiple clients.
  • Determine the required identity management and user role configuration specific to you
  • Activate and provide audit logs for full traceability on CRUD changes or backup restores.
  • Configure your required backup schedule.

…and much more.

 

Aspira delivers time and again our customised, streamlined Enterprise grade data storage, encryption and backup service, which has proven it itself and its value time after time as a true safety net for businesses across all sectors.

Contact Aspira today to discuss your particular set of requirements and see what benefits our service can deliver for you.

Business Showcase

Describe the company – the elevator pitch…

Aspira is a Consulting and Managed IT services specialist – an Irish company that delivers an International impact.  We provide expert consultancy in Project Management and Business Analysis, and as part of our Managed IT Services, we offer Software Development and Test Management solutions. It is a very broad service offering, backed by a world class team based in Cork and Dublin.

How are you different?

We differ from the norm in three key ways – our intense client focus, the deep expertise of our team, and the breadth of our service offering.

Aspira has an unremitting focus on identifying and meeting client needs – it’s what drives our day-to-day work practice. And since our clients really appreciate that effort, it makes it a very fulfilling place to work. Secondly, our team has a vast range of expertise – the people working in Aspira are seriously smart,….

 

Follow this link for the full article: http://irishtechnews.ie/business-showcase-aspira/

Are your project management practices questionable?

Are there key KPIs your business’s projects are just not meeting, time and time again? Are high priority projects regularly missing deadlines? Perhaps your projects are meeting most of their timelines but the project management practices are questionable, with little to no structure and a huge dependency on the skill and talent of the individual project manager?Aspira’s Project Capability Assessment is the perfect solution to enabling a substantial supportive structure around your project management processes, by identifying the strengths and transforming any shortcomings.

Project Management training and certification crafts individuals into excellent project managers. However it is possible and probable that the organisation’s project management framework does not align completely to the PMPTM or PMITM methodology. That being said, an organisation needs to have a mature and supportive project management framework in operation to create the ideal conditions for a PM to operate within – this is the scaffolding that supports the mason while they work. Maturity alone is not sufficient – countless organisations have mature but constraining processes which restrain operational effectiveness – year after year of working within a stagnant status quo.

This is why Aspira’s Project Capability Assessment service has proved extremely popular and effective. Aspira’s experienced project management experts conduct an assessment that will establish an independent and objective capability baseline revealing the true potential and opportunities that your PM framework provide for improvement, as well as cementing in the strengths that currently exist. True insight into your organisation comes from those who know it best; your key resources participate fully in our assessment process, maximising business buy-in to achieve ultimate success.

The Project Capability Assessment delivers a full detailed review of your current framework, methodology, skills and capability and outputs a set of clear achievable recommendations – short term quick wins as well as medium and long term mandates. Whether you are taking the first steps towards implementing a set of lean, standardized Project Management practices or already have mature, detailed processes in place – possibly operating your own Project Management Office –  it is essential to realistically assess the processes by which you select and deliver projects and then to compare this with best practice, highlighting where improvements need to be made.

Customers across Ireland trust Aspira to deliver operational effectiveness and achieve tangible, measurable improvement. Contact Aspira today to discuss benefits a Project Capability Assessment can deliver to you.