Referenced: www.p6academy.com Source: http://coll15.mapyourshow.com In March 2013, Wyoming Dept of Transportation decided to implement Project Management and create a PMO to manage the use of Primavera- which has been in place at WYDOT for over 8 years. Over the last 2 years, we have focused on increased training and changed the way we use Primavera, focusing on creating a tool that drives work and helps with decisions, where before it was simply used as a data entry tool. As a result, utilization of Primavera has increased dramatically, and the number of projects considered "At Risk" was reduced by over 25%. This presentation will review the processes used to achieve these results by covering the status and usage of Primavera 2 years ago, how issues were identified, the changes implemented, how we achieved buy-in, and a summary of the changes made and the results.

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Increasing Utilization of Primavera
through Change Management
Prepared by:
Nicole Alonzo, PMP
Highway Project Delivery Program Manager
Wyoming Department of Transportation
A case study on improving communication
and productivity with Oracle Primavera P6
Session ID#:
@NicoleAlonzo83

2. Presentation Overview
■ Purpose & Goals of the Presentation
■ Brief Introduction to the Wyoming Department of
Transportation
■ Primavera Status Quo as of March 2013
■ Planning to Change
■ Implementing the Plan
■ Results and Outcomes
■ Looking Toward the Future

3. Introductions
Nicole Alonzo, PMP (Presenter)
Highway Project Delivery Program Manager
9 years Project Management experience in IT, Software Development, Healthcare,
and Public Sector.
B.S. in Business Administration
nicole.alonzo@wyo.gov
Robin Grandpre, MBA
Program Monitor
3 years Project Management experience in Healthcare and Public Sector
M.B.A. with emphasis in Project Management
robin.grandpre@wyo.gov
Sue Hopkins
Project Coordinator
2 years Project Coordinator experience in Public Sector
B.S. Management Information Systems & Accounting
sue.hopkins@wyo.gov

4. Purpose and Goals
This presentation will provide a case study for how Primavera is
being used at the Wyoming Department of Transportation,
and how that use has evolved over the last 2 years.
Our use case is unique but we hope you will walk out with an
idea or two to increase utilization at your organization

5. The Wyoming Department of
Transportation:
A Brief Introduction
Where we started.

6. Wyoming Department of Transportation
(WYDOT)
■ Largest Agency in the
State of Wyoming
■ Roughly 2000 employees
▪ Engineering
▪ Maintenance
▪ Highway Patrol
▪ Aeronautics
▪ Driver’s Services
▪ Support Services
▪ Between $250m and $300m
spent annually on highway
projects
▪ 17 different functional
teams work on the design of
these projects
▪ Projects take 1-4 years from
approval to design
completion
▪ All are let to the lowest
bidder for construction

7. Primavera at WYDOT
Status Quo as of March 2013
■ Used and managed by the
Engineering section
■ Used for schedule oversight
only, no budget, resource,
risk info
■ 200+ users with
permissions on all 300+
active projects
■ Old projects not archived to
another system or deleted
■ Just transitioned from client-
based to web-based
■ Minimal training provided,
nothing custom to our
deployment or setup
■ BI Publisher not utilized, all
reporting functionality lost to
user group.
Most projects were behind schedule -
20% were at -100d or worse. The worst
was -529d

8. Project Management at WYDOT
Status Quo as of March 2013
■ Had been attempted on several occasions without success
▪ One “Project Monitor” for all projects
▪ Only invited in on projects that were in total failure
■ Failure in the past decreased buy-in for current attempt
■ Highly inaccurate project schedules meant there was little
trust in the system
■ Only formal project review occurred at quarterly reviews
▪ No schedule review or discussion on milestones, only a “gut
check” by the engineering section on whether or not it would
make it
■ All projects overseen by 20 person committee made up of 19
Engineers and the Project Monitor

9. Planning to Change
Where to go and how to get there?

10. Seeking Feedback
■ Survey sent to all 200+ users
■ Provided opportunity for
anonymous feedback
▪ How often do you log into
Primavera?
▪ When you log in, what do you
use it for?
▪ What changes would encourage
more use?
■ Also sought feedback on our
reporting tool
■ Feedback meeting held with all
in the same room
■ Executive Staff support was key
■ Asked for key areas that needed
changed- what was wrong AND
how to fix it
■ Assigned follow-ups to several
members of committee, not just
the project management team
From the User Group
From the Project Committee

11. Action Planning-
Major Concerns Identified
■ Software is Difficult to Use
■ Lack of Utilization
■ Unrealistic Schedules
■ No Accountability to Deadlines

12. Issue: Software is Difficult to Use
■ Transition from Client to Web
was hard on the user group
■ No Universal User Views were
created, but all users got training
on creating their own (and they
did)
■ Multiple clicks to do things that
used to only require one.

13. Solution: Training & System Setup
■ Custom training developed in-house
▪ Setting views based on our project codes
▪ Fastest ways to access information - reduce clicks
▪ Training done in-house on live system so views would be saved
▪ On-site training offered around the state
■ Custom Universal Views
▪ Only 3 Universal Views
▪ Many “universal” views created by users were cleaned up
■ Unnecessary tabs removed from views
■ Implemented “User Interface Views” to streamline further

14. Issue: Lack of Utilization
■ Half of users only checked their schedules once
a month
■ 10% of “users” had never even logged in
■ 63% had never logged in to the reporting tool
■ Slow response to requests for help, password
resets, etc.
■ Java was not managed at an enterprise level,
leading to many errors for each user depending
on their version
■ No utilization means schedules were out of date,
often showed negative float where there was
none

15. Solution: Follow-Up and More System Setup
■ Custom training was first major improvement for all of these
issues
■ A centralized email address was set up to expedite “help
desk” requests for password reset, java issues, etc.
■ Enlisted IT support to manage Java from an enterprise level,
including pushing upgrades out to users
■ Continuous follow-up with user base to ensure coding is up-
to-date on projects

16. Issue: Unrealistic Schedules
■ All project schedules are based on project templates
that had not been reviewed in 5+ years
■ Not enough schedule templates to match all project
types
■ No review done to customize schedule templates to
each individual project
■ Schedule templates resided in a restricted WBS band,
users could not access or view
■ Lack of utilization compounded this issue - schedules
were unrealistic to start, not updating them made them
worse, which made people use them less…

17. Solution: Template Committee
■ Full review done of all existing templates
■ New templates were created - now have 29 instead of 5
■ Major changes in project templates require review by this 6
person team (instead of 20 person committee)
■ All templates are published in PDF and available for users to
access…
▪ …along with written descriptions of each activity in every
template.
■ Permissions on active projects were locked down to prevent
changes without communication
■ A Data Integrity Policy was implemented that covered
▪ Template Revision
▪ Schedule Revision
▪ Opening and Closing Projects

18. Issue: No Accountability to Deadlines
■ High amount of confusion on “early” and “late” dates -
especially because most “late” dates were in the past
■ No accountability when duration exceeded or deadline
missed
■ Projects were scheduled with no buffer time - and then
rescheduled to remove any buffer when actual deadlines
were known
▪ Everyone knew they would get more time if they needed it
▪ Some projects were designated “Early” to be done in case
additional funding was granted or other projects fell through
▪ Functional Team would often prioritize work internally without
communicating, resulting in unanticipated delays while other
teams waited on work that was delayed/deprioritized

19. Solution: Increased Communication
■ “Early” project scheduling was eliminated. All projects now
have deadlines 6-18 months ahead of contract date (buffer
time)
■ Project Review Meetings implemented on specific projects
that were above a designated Risk Threshold
■ Project Status Reports implemented on High Risk and High
Priority projects
■ Schedule Review implemented at Quarterly Project meetings
to provide follow-up on activity deadlines
■ Escalation Policy implemented for additional accountability
■ Action items from project meetings tracked in addition to
activities in the project schedules

20. Results and Outcomes
Measuring our performance

21. Utilization Increase
■ 75% of users now logging in 2x monthly or more
▪ Compared to only 50% logging in at least 1x monthly
■ 50% of users logging into reporting system monthly
▪ Compared to 63% had never logged in

22. Objections Overcome
■ Increased buy-in to deadlines
■ Participation in the process - attendance at meetings, prep for
meetings has increased dramatically
■ Grudging acceptance of meetings and increased follow-up,
based on the outcomes achieved after these changes were
implemented

23. Outcomes
■ September 2013: 65 Projects with -100d float or worse
■ December 2014: 5 Projects with -100d float or worse
■ WYDOT had biggest year ever in terms of productivity, putting
$200m worth of future work “on the shelf” in FY 2014, while
staffing and funding levels were at historic lows.

24. Looking to the Future
The only constant is change…

25. Next Round of Changes
■ Utilize Additional System Functionality
▪ Risk Reporting
▪ Resource Loading
■ Custom Dashboards
▪ Within Primavera
▪ Executive Dashboards in our Reporting Tool
■ Formal Project Close-Out Process with Lessons Learned
■ Focus on Further Streamlining User Experience
▪ Team Member Application
▪ Or- Integrate with PeopleSoft for Actuals

26. Opportunity for Q&A

27. Please complete the session
evaluation
We appreciate your feedback and insight
You may complete the session evaluation either
on paper or online via the mobile app

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functionality of Oracle Primavera products, while offering a forum for peers to
share their experience and knowledge in the use of Primavera.
■ Educational opportunities across the Primavera product suite
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■ Call for presentation opening April 27th
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■ 3rd Thursday of the month at 1:00 pm ET
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membership.
■ Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the Oracle Primavera products,
with no dues for membership. All members can vote on matters brought before
the OPSIG. Membership requests may be reviewed by the OPSIG board.
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