Enterprise Environmental Factors v/s Organizational Process Assets

1. One way to look at the difference between the two is that it is very difficult to change Enterprise Environmental Factors(EEF) during the course of your project so you (the !") has to live with thes. #ou have to understand$accept$use these whether you like it or not. For e%mple& !olitics Organi'ational culture (ovt. or )ndustry standrads "arket place conditions *ompany +ork ,uthori'ation -ystem and so on. -o most of these you can not change and you will have to use them$live by that. )f you look at the Output of the processes you will find that EEF gets updated only twice & .uring .evelop !roject team / "anage project team. ,lso in the above list +ork ,uthori'ation -ystem seems to be confusing and we may think we might change it but usually you just follow$use this. On the other hand Organi'ation process assets(O!,) are often updated. for future projects and also in the current projects. 0hese are assets to the organi'ation which can be used on the projects. 0hese are often in the form of 1documents1 like plan lessons learned policies procedures templates 2istorical information etc. )f you look at the Outputs of the process you will find that O!, gets updated 3uite fre3uently. -o if you a project and learn some lessons then you update the O!, so that it can be used in the future projects. )n the e%am remember that +ork ,uthori'ation -ystem is an EEF not O!,. 4esides both EEF and O!, goes together as far as input is concerned. 5. Enterprise environmental factors are internal and e%ternal environmental factors that can influence a project6s success including& Organi'ational culture Organi'ational structure )nternal and e%ternal political climate E%isting human resources ,vailable capital resources 7egulatory environment Financial and market conditions

Enterprise environmental factors are an input to 18 of the 95 processes. Organizational Process Assets Organi'ational process assets include any of the organi'ation6s process assets that may be used to ensure project success. 0hey generally fall into two categories& !rocesses guidelines and procedures such as& organi'ational standard processes standardi'ed guidelines templates 0he corporate knowledge base such as lessons learned historical information past project files () call this& 0he 7epository of (oodness) Organi'ational process assets are an input to :9 of the 95 processes. Example ,s we started the project to develop !");,*! (,gile !ractitioner) courseware for organi'ational process assets we leveraged our course book templates that are used for all of our course materials. )n addition as we developed our approach we took into consideration the lessons learned from our past courseware development projects.

7egarding enterprise environmental factors we took into consideration the market demand for ,gile certifications the e%pertise that resided in our immediate development team and the resources that were available to us. Summary Enterprise environmental factors are the internal and e%ternal influences on our project such as the corporate culture or the financial environment. Organi'ational process assets are the procedures guidelines templates that we can use on our project as well as the corporate knowledge base such as past project reports and lessons learned. :. Enterprise Environmental Factors and Organi'ational !rocess ,ssets two fre3uent inputs to the 95 project management processes. 0hese two inputs are often confused for one another and in this movie we<ll address them both to ensure that you feel clear about the differences between the two. ,gain this is important because they appear so often within our processes including as outputs when updates to them occur. =et<s go ahead and begin with Enterprise Environmental Factors. ,ccording to the !"4O> (uide Enterprise Environmental Factors are internal and e%ternal environmental factors that influence the project<s success. 0his itself encompasses several factors just as it sounds including the environment that the project must function within. -ome broad e%amples of Enterprise Environmental Factors include& organi'ational structure and culture infrastructure resources so know that personnel information is found here and commercial databases. ?ow that you have a high level understanding of Enterprise Environmental Factors let<s look at a few e%amples more closely provided by the !"4O> (uide. +e<ll look at them in categories of )nternal Factors E%ternal Factors and also 0ools and -ystems. @nder the category of )nternal Factors we have& Organi'ational structure which ) mentioned earlier along with )nfrastructure such as the e%isting facilities and capital e3uipment. ) had also mentioned already personnel. 0his includes the skills disciplines and knowledge of human resources as one item along with personnel administration. -o for instance the organi'ation<s human resource department efforts along with guidelines on managing the resources. @nder E%ternal we have governmental or industry standards commercial databases marketplace conditionsA and under 0ools and -ystems we have !roject "anagement )nformation -ystem or also known as !")- and the company work authori'ation system. For these items under 0ools and -ystems notice once again that we<re referring to the systems themselves not the data inside of them. ?ow let<s look at Organi'ational !rocess ,ssets. )<ve already provided you the !"4O> (uide<s definition that<s& B,ssets that belong to the organi'ations involved in the project which influence the project<s success.C -ome high level e%amples of these assets are& policies procedures and guidelines from within the organi'ationA formal and informal plans and other templatesA lessons learnedA and historical information from previous projects. One of the big recurring themes of the !"4O> (uide is that we don<t reinvent the wheel every time. )nstead we build on what we have and make it more efficient by learning from our e%perience. 0his is why you<ll fre3uently see lessons learned used throughout the project management processes. +e<re also constantly documenting lessons learned. =et<s go ahead and take a little bit more detailed look at what Organi'ational !rocess ,ssets are which are already on your screen. @nder +ork !rocesses and !rocedures we have standards of the processes and policies of the organi'ationA how to tailor these items to your projectA guidelines for performance measurement and work instructionsA templatesA several types of re3uirements including communication re3uirements guidelines for closing a project. +e have several procedures as well such as financial control procedures change control procedures risk control procedures and work authori'ation procedures. @nder *orporate >nowledge 4ase we have the following& project files that have been archivedA historical informationA the lessons learned knowledge base that ) referenced earlierA and several databases such as issue and defect management databases configuration management

knowledge base financial databases and process measurement database. ,s ) mention database what )<m referring to is also the information from within the databases that belong to the organi'ation. 7emember this is specifically talking about assets ; things that the company or the organi'ation owns. ,nd that covers all you<ll need to know about Enterprise Environmental Factors and Organi'ational !rocess ,ssets. 0o make sure that you don<t confuse these items with each other you<ll find a document within your +ork Files titled O!, versus EEF that highlights the two side;by;side for easy reference. ,nd that brings this movie to a close. 9. #ou need different approaches to deal effectively with the cultural political and legal environments the project is operating within the organi'ation. 0he Enterprise Environment Factors (EEF) include all policies practices procedures and legislation that e%ist both inside and outside of the organi'ation that will impact the way you manage a project. 0his ranges from environmental anti;discrimination and occupational health and safety legislation to the choice of project management system used by the organi'ation its personnel management policies and !")6s *ode of Ethics. -ome elements of the EEF are mandatory some represent good practice others cultural normsA regardless of the nature of the factor you have to work within the physical and cultural environment to be effective. 0hese are very important inputs in case of project planning. #ou must know the organi'ational culture norms and policies for your project success. 4elow are some e%amples of the enterprise environmental factors& Organizational culture, processes, and infra-structure Product standards (as a project manager you should know this obviously) uality standards ! important one to know "overnment standards #arket standards and conditions $odes of conduct %taffing guidelines &eviews and training records 'ork authorization systems Political unrest Organizational communication channels &isk databases Project management information systems (P#(%) ! )utomation tools like schedule tool

Enterprise environment factors are so important that they can enhance or reduce the project management options and positively or negatively impact the project success. 'hat are the organizational process assets* "ost organi'ations have developed a range of templates contracts registers and assessment tools to assist in the management of the project. Organi'ations have also ac3uired knowledge in the form of lessons learned and the organi'ation6s knowledge base that can be very useful. 0herefore Organi'ational !rocess ,ssets would include virtually anything the organi'ation has ac3uired that you can use in the management of the project. 0hey are formal and informal plans policies procedures and guidelines. 7eally these are very important inputs for a planning stage. #ou can6t even start planning without organi'ational process assets on your table. )rrespective of the nature of the project whether it is long term or short term project you have to consider the O!, as an important input for your planning. +hat are the e%amples of O!,D =et me provide a list of O!,&

%tandardized guidelines Proposal evaluation criteria 'ork breakdown structure templates Project schedule network diagram templates &isk templates Organizational standard processes Project closure guidelines +efect management processes ,essons learned and historical databases $hange control procedures -inancial control procedures Project files

7emember that O!, is so important to be considered otherwise your project success can be affected if you ignore the same. ,n ideal project manager will always include all these information in their project planning. 2e or she can seek the help of !"O (!roject "anagement Office) to get all these information. 2e or she can seek the advice of the identified key stakeholders as well. 0hey are always there to help you but you need to understand the importance of EEF and O!, before seeking any help. $onclusively, ( can say you ! you use organizational process assets to improve the management of the project. )nd you manage the project within the constraint and guidelines established by the enterprise environmental factors. /oth can be updated if any change is implemented in your project. E.