ACT COMMUNITY BENEFIT AWARD
Proudly Sponsored By

I am delighted to announce that the ACT Government have again partnered us in sponsoring the ACT Community Benefit Award for 2006. ACT Government have been an active supporter of Community based projects, whilst recognising the need for Best Practice Project Management. Please see below for further details on the criteria required for a Community Benefit category submission.

I would also like to recognise our Gold sponsor for 2006:

as well as our Bronze Sponsor for 2006:

CHAPTER COUNCIL ELECTIONS

In a couple of months, the ballot will be opened for anyone wishing to run for the ACT Chapter Council. If you are interested, and are able to volunteer approximately 8 hours per month to the Chapter, please contact the Chapter Administrator to register your interest.

AIPM 30th ANNIVERSARY

As I've mentioned in previous newsletters, the AIPM are celebrating their 30th Anniversary this year. There are number of special celebration activities in the pipeline, the April Forum being the centrepiece.

Also, if any members have any pertinent historical information / stories they'd like to impart, please contact the Chapter Administrator.

PMAA 06 SPONSORS

We still have silver and bronze sponsorship packages available for those organisations that are thinking of sponsoring this event. If you are interested, please contact the Chapter Administrator for further details.

Event participation by members is also greatly appreciated and is the most subtle form of sponsorship. Start working on the boss now to take a table or two and build the PM team, a table for 10 is $1100, surely the team is worth that much? Heck, if they are going to spend a grand, why not spend five and be a Bronze sponsor?

Don't miss it.

Paul Black

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The ACT Community Benefit Award

A special Project Management Achievement Award exists for ACT projects that provide a benefit to the community. The award is for:

The project that delivers the best overall benefit to the ACT Community

The award is sponsored by the Department of Treasury, ACT Government.

Projects entered for the ACT Community Benefit Award may also be entered in up to three of the seven Project Management Achievement Award (PMAA) categories. These categories are explained in the PMAA Submission Guidelines brochure, which can be accessed through the AIPM’s PMAA site at http://www.aipm.com.au/html/pmaa.cfm. If the submission wins the overall ACT award or if it wins a category award then it will be automatically forwarded for inclusion in the judging for the National competition.

General Terms and Conditions for Submissions

The general terms and conditions for submissions are explained in the PMAA Submission Guidelines brochure. The additional terms and conditions for the ACT Community Benefit Award are defined hereunder.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria for submissions shall be generally as outlined in the PMAA brochure, and for eligibility for the ACT Community Benefit Award, primary consideration will be given to projects which:

• contribute to or provide benefits for residents of the Territory; and
• make a contribution to social, economic or employment growth in the ACT; or
• provide a pathway for the growth of ACT businesses in emerging markets with significant flow-on benefits to the ACT.

Judging

Judging for the award shall be as outlined in the PMAA brochure, except that ACT Procurement Solutions shall provide a representative who will advise the judging panel on the project’s benefits to the ACT community.

Submission Closing Date

The submission closing date is 1st June 2006, as stated in the PMAA brochure. Submissions for the ACT Community Benefit Award shall be clearly marked on the front cover:

“Submission for the ACT Community Benefit Award”

Awards Ceremonies

The award will be presented at the ACT PMAA ceremonial dinner held in Canberra on 30th August 2006. National awards will be presented at the National PMAA dinner held in conjunction with the AIPM National Conference in Sydney in September 2006.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should follow the guidelines in the PMAA brochure. In addition, the submission should include comments on:

“Benefits of the project to the ACT, via creation of employment, social or economic benefits including spin offs, new business opportunities or other factors likely to impact the Territory.”

For further information, please contact Helen Briggs on (02) 6258 0344 or act_chapter@aipm.com.au.

The submission process is currently open and this year is very exciting, given the changes in the submission guildelines making it far easier to collate a submission from existing project documentation. Remember, there are 3 primary fields that you can submit in:

Projects
Individuals
Students

The seven (7) project categories within the projects category also offers a multitude of options for all classifications of projects.

NOTE: If you are currently preparing a submission, could you please notify the ACT Chapter Administrator, so that we can ensure you have full access to all the mentoring facilities available in order to complete your submission.

The Gala Night has been confirmed as Wednesday 30th August, again being held at the National Convention Centre, main Ballroom. Invitations and ticketing information will be issued around June, so if you would like to attend, or gather a corporate table together, now is the time to start thinking about this.

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Our monthly Forums are held on the last Wednesday of every month, at the Canberra Club, 45 West Row, Civic, commencing at 5:30pm until 7:30pm. Drinks and cocktail food are served, and members are more than welcome to bring a guest. For all RSVP's please contact the Chapter Administrator.

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ACT Chapter membership is still increasing

Do not forget your renewal of AIPM membership. Only 60 days left to pay membership dues so that you can claim membership in your 05/06 tax return.

I did not realise that the status of the Australian Institute of Project Management as the prime association in project management is widely recognised. During a recent visit to Western Australia, I spoke to a number of people from diverse backgrounds/employment categories who had heard of the AIPM. Never one to miss an opportunity, I went into marketing mode extolling the benefits of membership. The “soft sell” may have promoted sufficient interest to consider joining. Prospective new members should be directed to the AIPM website membership details. Most new members are joining so they can gain recognition of their skill set and expertise through RegPM certification.

I have provided membership information to a number of junior managers who see gaining RegPM certification as a means of improving their employability and attractiveness at job interviews. In the Defence arena, it is pleasing to see an increased level of interest in AIPM membership and RegPM assessment in Divisions outside the Defence Materiel Organisation.

Continue the great work of spreading the benefits of joining AIPM. Each and every one of us is an ambassador for the AIPM and as such can spread the word on the benefits of membership in our professional institute. Don’t forget you can bring a mate/friend/prospective to the next function to introduce them to local Chapter members.

See you at the next Forum, John Jacobi

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The Forum this month focused on PMAA 06 Submissions and how they will be judged. We had presentations from Markus Meier-Lindner, the AIPM Corporate Services Manager, who highlighted PMAA changes from 2005 – 2006, Peter Dechaineux, Chief Judge, who explained what the judges will be looking for as they assess the submissions and gave some tips on how to present competitive entries and Michael Young, ACT Councillor, who discussed directions for Student Awards. In addition, Paul Black, ACT Chapter President, inter alia, noted that this is the AIPM’s 30th year anniversary and advised that there were some activities coming up to mark the occasion. There were about 55 attendees and quite a few questions of clarification. The main theme was that it is not too late to submit, it is not that difficult and the investment to prepare the submissions pays dividends, whether the Submission is a winning entry or not, way past the PMAA Award Night, as was attested to by Collin Howell and Mike Kennedy from Centrelink’s IT Category winning team and the PM for last year’s overall winning entry from Defence, Shane Kingston.

Changes from PMAA 2005 – 2006

Markus advised that, in addition to there now being 6,500+ members in AIPM, the:

• Category 5 “Small Projects” value is now <$500,000;
• a Category 7 “Community Service and/or Development” has been added;
• submissions are to be a maximum of 22 pages; and
• the focus is to be on application of best practice and innovation rather than the process only.

From the Chief Judge

Available Awards - Peter advised that, in addition to the seven principal categories available to the ACT contenders, there are also awards for:

• ACT Community Benefit;
• Overall ACT Project;
• Individual; and
• Student Medal.

Also, High Commendations may also be awarded if merited. All award winners, and High Commendations go forward for judging in the National competition. The ACT Community Benefit Award winner will go forward for national judging if it also wins the Overall ACT Project award or one or more of the seven national categories.

Judging Panel

This year the Judging Panel comprises Peter Dechaineux (Chief Judge), Nigel Huckstep, John Jacobi and a Guest Judge, to be announced.

Eligibility for Assessment

Peter noted that Projects will be eligible for assessment under the seven national categories and the Community Benefit Award, Individuals can be assessed in their capacity of Program Director, Project Manager or Project Team Member and Students will be assessed for the Student Medal.

Each project may be submitted in up to three categories, however, there must be at least three submissions in a category before it is considered for assessment. The judges may recommend to the submitter/s that a project also be included in a relevant category that needs additional submissions to make that category eligible for assessment. Submissions for the ACT Community Benefit Award should also be entered in one or more of the Project categories, e.g. IT or Regional Development.

There are no minimum numbers of entries for Individual or Student Medal Awards, however, awards will only be made if the submissions merit them!

Judging Process

Each judge separately assesses each submission, after which the judges meet and agree consensus results, which are communicated to the PMAA Project Manager. Following the Awards Night the judges will debrief entrants, if requested.

Project and Individual Assessment Criteria

Projects will be assessed to determine the:

• extent to which the submission conforms to the Submission Guidelines;
• demonstrated level of achievement and/or innovation in project management;
• demonstrated management of issues or challenges; and
• the value of the lessons learned.

What the Judges are Looking for

General – Follow the Guidelines for Submissions. A number of excellent projects, obviously well managed, have failed in the past because the submissions did not follow the Guidelines. The principal focus is on how the project was managed – NOT the product of the project.

Section One - Provide brief details for each of the data requests.

Section Two - Project Summary. In about 250 words briefly mention the product of the Project (no more than a few lines) and summarise the management aspects contained in the body of the Submission. Note that this summary will be used for the audio visual presentation on the Awards night.

Section Three - Project Performance. The success of the project should be quantified or qualified by comparing expected and achieved outcomes. Include detail in Section Four.
Section Four – Best Practice and Innovation. This, the body of the Submission, should concentrate on management aspects and NOT the product of the project. There are three Parts to this section:

Part One - Achievement and Innovation

Describe how outstanding achievement and / or innovation in four project management processes or systems were applied either to a particular phase of the project or throughout the project life cycle. Describe the benefits achieved.

Examples of achievement could include:

• early delivery of a project, where this is to the advantage of the client;
• cost savings;
• higher than expected client satisfaction;
• use of a risk management strategy that identified risks and prevented them becoming major issues;
• successful management of difficult external influences, e.g. political, and environmental; and
• rapid re-assignment of project resources to meet unexpected demands.

Examples of innovation include:

• use of an alternative plan or process to effectively overcome a difficulty that emerged;
• effective use of the media;
• use of Integrated Project Teams;
• novel use of information technology to keep stakeholders informed;
• for simple projects, the use of simple tools and techniques, e.g. Excel spreadsheets, rather than complex tools and techniques, e.g. high-end project management programs;
• for complex projects, the integration of the Contractor’s schedule information with the Project team’s schedule management tool;
• the use of incentives to improve Contractor performance;
• the development of communications systems and management procedures that encouraged close cooperation of potential adversaries, e.g. contractual relationships;
• innovative team building techniques and/or recognition of participation of team members;
• development of new processes or techniques that were subsequently adopted by the organisation as standard processes/techniques; and
• the tailoring of risk management processes, which specifically met the needs of the Project without undue expense or management overheads.

Part Two – Issues and Challenges

Highlight the two most significant risks – issues - challenges that emerged and the methodologies used to address/overcome them.

Part Three – Lessons Learned

Describe one lesson learned during the course of the Project. Make recommendations that, if adopted, would result in improved project performance across a range of projects undertaken by the organisation. The lesson learned should have applicability across project management in general.

Section Five – Checklist. Check and double check that all of the Submission Guidelines have been met.

If you are interested in receiving the Powerpoint presentation that Peter Dechaineux presented on Judging, or the Submission Guildelines, please contact the Chapter Administrator for a copy.

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Please Note: Hard copy certificates will be sent to those who are listed below, within 2 weeks of the newsletter publication date. If you received your membership or certification in the months listed, and received electronic confirmation from our National office, and your name is not listed below, please contact the Chapter Administrator.

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If there are any errors in the above lists, please notify the Chapter Administrator.

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Managing Projects in a 24/7 Response Agency

Guest Speaker
Major General Peter J Dunn, AO
Commissioner, ACT Emergency Services Authority

Peter Dunn is the Commissioner of the ACT Emergency Services Authority. The Authority consists of the ACT Ambulance Service, ACT Fire Brigade, ACT Rural Fire Brigade and ACT State Emergency Service.

Peter has been involved in operational response organisations throughout his career and prior to assuming his current appointment Peter was responsible for all management and logistics information systems in the Defence Materiel Organisation. These systems represented some of the largest systems operated by Defence worldwide.

Leading up to his information systems work Peter served as an officer in the Australian Army. Immediately prior to his retirement from the Army at the rank of Major General, Peter managed the merger of the Defence Acquisition and Logistics organisations, which created a group responsible for the expenditure of some $7.5 billion annually. Before this appointment, he established and then led the Defence Personnel Executive where he was responsible for the development and implementation of strategic personnel policies for the three Services and Defence public servants.

Peter has been involved in a number of major reviews of Defence and Army structures and budgets and he also led an extensive review into ownership of the Defence Housing Authority. He was also responsible for moving some 6,000 personnel (soldiers and their families) from the southern states of Australia to Darwin.

In the earlier part of his military career Peter commanded a number of the Army’s combat elements. These commands culminated in his leading the Army’s 1st Brigade, a mechanised brigade that also contained the Army’s airborne force.

Peter has been awarded the Order of Australia (Officer), Minister for Defence Commendation, Order of Australia (Member), Mentioned-in-Dispatches.

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You should have all recently received a "Member Details Confirmation" sheet in the mail. Can you please review this, and ensure that we have all your current contact information. If you did not receive a letter, please contact me.

For those of you that attend our regular monthly forums, you will notice that we have provided feedback forms on every table. Could you please take a minute at the next forum you attend, to complete one of these feedback forms, as this will help us in preparing the agenda's for future forums.

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