Project Management Training Case Study:

A Sterling Success!

Sterling Commerce is a wholly owned subsidiary of SBC Communications (NYSE:SBC), the global leader in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), e-business integration, community development and Web commerce solutions.  It provides an array of products and services designed to meet the growing market demands and business needs of companies around the world.  

A Structured Approach

As a leading e-business solutions provider, Sterling recognise effective project management as a key contributor to business success and supports the company goals of helping the company focus towards obtaining customers, retaining customers and improving customer profitability by prioritising and managing key projects.  In the light of this recognition, Sterling embarked on a programme of training as part of a structured approach to develop a common language and methodology for project delivery, and develop a project management framework and internal project management course for employees.  This would provide staff with the required project management knowledge and skills to increase successful project delivery.

Culture

Sterling devised a structured approach to ensure successful implementation of a project management culture within the organisation.  This involved the following basic steps:  set-up a PSO; train a selected group of Project Managers to develop their knowledge of PMBok®; create a team from these Project Managers to develop the project management framework and training course; create a ‘train the trainer’ course  to create project management trainers within the organisation; deliver training to Project Managers and project team members (150 out of 250 employees trained over a six month period); and maintain the continuous development of the Project Management Framework.

Developing the Framework

PMProfessional provided the initial PMBok® training to the initial set of seventeen Project Managers, which was followed by a mentoring service providing tactical consultancy to assist with the development of the Project Management Methodology.  PMProfessional Learning has formed a strategic alliance with Sterling regarding the continued development of the framework, ensuring that the development provides a framework that is uncomplicated, easy to adopt and understand and aligned with current best practice.

"PMProfessional Learning is proud to be associated with Sterling Commerce in this successful vernture through the provision of training and consultancy services aimed at ensuring delivery of business benefits at the best possible return on investment." said Carl Karshagen, Principal Consultant for PMProfessional Learning.

The Sterling Commerce European PSO takes pride in the results achieved thus far and have embarked on a major training exercise within the business to enlighten all project related personnel, including sales staff, on the framework.  This framework has been adopted in its current form as the basis for a common language and approach to managing all projects within Sterling, irrespective of their location.