PMI Eastern Iowa Chapter

The February 9th presentation will be “Earned Value Management System (EVMS: How Can It Help You On Your Projects?)” presented by Sung Soon Stultz, from 7:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at the Clarion Hotels and Convention Center, 525, 33^rd Avenue, Cedar Rapids SW. The Clarion Hotel and Convention Center phone number is (319) 366-8671.

Have you ever had projects that were over budget or behind schedule or both? How soon did you know this information? Could you have done something about it if you had known earlier? Does the impact of being over budget or behind schedule impact your future contract awards, future of your business, or the future of your job? If you have ever had any of these concerns / issues then you need to understand WHAT Earned Value is and more importantly HOW earned value can assist you in making timely informed decisions on your projects.

This presentation will cover very high level of Earned Value. The objective of the presentation is to get you interested enough such that you will delve more into this subject area and then implement them into your project management disciplines.

Sung Soon Stultz is the Director of Lean Electronics, Proposal Cost and Program Planning and Control (PP&C) for the Government Systems Business Unit of Rockwell Collins, Inc. Ms. Stultz is responsible for providing overall leadership and guidance to Government Systems in its Lean Electronics implementation and is responsible for ensuring Pricing and Project Management policies and procedures, disciplines and evaluations are followed and completed for all Government Systems projects and programs.

Ms. Stultz joined Rockwell Collins in 1979 and has served in various functions at Rockwell Collins including Industrial Engineering, Business Systems Analysis with major focus on systems implementation to satisfy Earned Value Management Systems, Finance and Engineering.

Ms. Stultz received a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems, Science and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Business Administration from University of Iowa.

 Cost: Chapter Members, $10; Guests, $15RSVP:  Please confirm no later than Thursday, February 4th, to programregistration@pmieasterniowa.org; use FEBRUARY REGISTRATION in the subject line. Cancellations must be received by COB, Friday, February 5th to avoid being charged as a no-show for this chapter event.

 Program Schedule:
7:15 - 7:30     Registration, breakfast, and social time

7:30 – 7:40    Ice Breaker – Meeting your Colleagues

7:40 - 7:50    Opening by chapter president / chapter officers

7:50 - 8:40    Presentation / Discussion

8:40 - 9:00    Final announcements and wrap-up

9:00— 9:45  Chapter Focus Group Meeting

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The PMI Eastern Iowa officers are hard at work planning our third annual Professional Development Day. Please mark your calendars for October 21, 2010. Our event theme this year will be “Exploring Opportunities”. Work is underway to confirm speakers. This year we will also be instituting a cancellation policy for those of you register, but then have a conflict for attending the event.

For the October 21, 2010 PDD event, the policy for cancellations and refunds will be as follows:

• 30 days or more calendar days in advance, a refund of 90 percent of the cost of the PDD registration will be issued by check to the registered participant. An alternative to cancelling and losing funds will be to notify the chapter that a substitute person will be attending the event in your absence.
• 16 to 30 calendar days before the event 75 percent of the cost of the PDD registration will be issued by check to the registered participant. An alternative to cancelling and losing funds will be to notify the chapter that a substitute person will be attending the event in your absence.
• 8 to 15 calendar days prior to the event 50 percent of the PDD registration will be issued by check to the registered participant. An alternative to cancelling and losing funds will be to notify the chapter that a substitute person will be attending the event in your absence.
• 7 calendar days or less before the event forfeits 100% of the PDD Registration fee. An alternative to cancelling and losing funds will be to notify the chapter that a substitute person will be attending the event in your absence.
• For registrants that do not attend the event, and have not followed the outlined cancellation policy listed, no refunds will be provided.

The PMI Eastern Iowa Chapter is a non profit organization, and we are working with limited funds. In order to provide an outstanding facility, speakers and refreshments, we count on registration fees to assist in providing you and others a high energy, quality event. Thank you and we hope to see you at PDD 2010 on October 21, 2010. For questions or changes to your registration, please contact the Vice President of Education at education@pmieasterniowa.org.

We look forward to providing another high energy quality event! Thank you for your support!

Sue Prymek Vice President of Education

We have a chapter member who has expressed interest in organizing a PMI Certification Study Group in the Iowa City area.

Beth Anne Pigge, is a new member to our chapter. She is looking for other members who are interested in getting together and studying to prepare for taking the PMP certification test.

If you are interested in studying for the exam (target taking it by April or May) please contact Beth Anne at elizabeth.tingley-pigge@cigna.com and she will form an email list and contact all that are interested to find a mutually agreeable meeting time and location.

If you join the group, plan on using the Rita Mulcahy, PMP Exam Prep Sixth Edition Kit.

Good Luck!

VP of Education certification

Monthly newsletters for 2010
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

All chapter members are invited to contribute to the newsletter. Please use the Contact page to contact the Director of Newsletter to arrange submission of an article, a notice to general chapter members, an event announcement, or other newsletter appropriate items.

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Are your team members lacking their normal enthusiasm? Are they running out of steam and getting burned out? If your team members are showing signs of diminished morale, here are some tips to use for re-energizing them and getting your team members back on track.

1. It may be time for some team building. On one project I started a weekly contest called Integrated Master Schedule Super Team Member of the Week. I bought dollar prizes, and made certificates, and each week I would look at the list of team members that provided their inputs to the schedule on time and accurately I would make this award. After two weeks, there was a renewed enthusiasm from most team members, and they all talked about wanting to be the next Super Team Member of the Week. Cost was $1 per week.
2. Model good behavior. As project manager, you can inspire your team members with providing them an example to model.
3. Schedule a team activity that is not focused on the project. You could schedule a team potluck or snack day. This allows time for team members to focus on a small event that doesn’t center on your project issues and allows for some team building. Team members will be able to take time to connect with each other.
4. Take the time to compliment and appreciate all the efforts your team member have expended on the project and ensure that they know you are aware of the accomplishments that have occurred, and try not to focus on the negative.
5. Create weekly team goals. This could occur at your status meetings on a regular basis. Get team buy in and ideas for what the top three goals for each week should be, and then see if the resources assigned to complete those goals need assistance with other activities that will allow them to succeed in completing those team goals for the week.

These ideas are low cost and easy to implement. You have to be willing to try new things to keep your team energized!

VP of Education Sue Prymek

A Webinar from University of Wisconsin-Platteville
“Using Knowledge Management for Effective Project Management” by Dr. Ginger Levin, PgMp, PMP, CAPM.

For Chapter Members only.

Our chapter is trying a new venue for training and offering PDUs. During the month of December, all chapter members will be able to log on to a taped webinar that was first presented in October, 2009 by Dr. Ginger Levin.

Dr. Levin has a Ph.D from George Washington University and has over 35 years of real world project management experience. She is also the only person in the world with the distinction to hold every certification that the Project Management Institute offers.

The webinar will discuss why knowledge management is important and provide guidelines and best practices for integrating lessons learned into project management for improved results.

Logon details have been sent to all chapter members via email. The logon information will be valid from January 1—January 31st, so you can choose when to listen to the webinar according to your schedule.

Length = 1 hour. The cost to you is $0.

The PDU Title is UWPKMPM1. PDU = 1.

Note: A live webinar for our chapter members is scheduled for January 21st, 1:00 pm CST. Mark your calendars!

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