DNV Software supporting PMI and DNV Certification with advanced process-centric web and Smart client applications.
DNV Certification has entered into an agreement with the US-based Project Management Institute (PMI) to develop and deliver tools and services related to their project management maturity model, OPM3 (Organisational Project Management Maturity Model). DNV Certification will run the OPM3 Project Office, offering training and certification for individuals wishing to become authorised assessors for the OPM3 standard, and for consultants wishing to offer services to improve an rganisation’s performance against the standard.
The OPM3 standard consists of:
- Knowledge – Organisational project management Best Practices and Capabilities
- Assessment – Methods for assessing and evaluating Best Practices and Capabilities
- Improvement – Methods and guidelines for improvement of organisational project management maturity performance
DNV Certification has developed a detailed protocol to assess an organisation’s maturity according to the OPM3 standard. This is a detailed question set that assesses an organisation’s level of implementation of over 500 Best Practices and 2000 Capabilities that have been defined within the OPM3 standard.
DNV Software has been contracted to deliver a software solution as part of the OPM3 ProductSuite, supporting the OPM3 standard for certified assessors and consultants. The software solution provides extensive software support for all dimensions of the OPM3 standard.
The tool supports lead assessors in defining the scope of assessments and jobs may be broken down into sub-assessments and assessment tasks may then be downloaded to a Smart client application so that they may be performed offline. Results from audits can then be uploaded to the OPM3 ProductSuite server to produce scores and reports. Results may then be used by consultants.
Says Lene Synnestvedt, the Project Manager from DNV Software: “It was a key requirement that while assessment jobs could be defined on the Internet, assessors had to be able to work offline. This solution uses state-of-the-art Smart client technology for offline work. It is built on DNV Software’s Brix technology, enabling us to bring an advanced solution to the market in a very short time.”
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| Part of DNV Software's project team, from left: Lars Peder Amlie, Technical Architect, Lene Synnestvedt, Project Manager, and Mikkel Skou, Brix Solution Architect. |
Software functionality
The OPM3 ProductSuite consists of an assessment tool and an improvement tool. The software solution will primarily be offered to assessors, consultants, and consultancy firms who analyse project management maturity within organisations. The new products and services will increase assessors’ and consultants’ ability to help organisations achieve the greatest value from the OPM3 standard.
The OPM3 ProductSuite contains webbased services supporting the assessment and improvement methodology. The assessment tool includes a Smart client supporting the on-site assessment process. The Smart client is deployed using the latest ClickOnce technology from Microsoft, requiring users to simply click a link on a web page to run the software.
Advanced solution using Brix technology
The software solution delivers multi-user project collaboration and process support in an internet environment. Within the project team, the activity responsibilities are explicitly assigned to authorised individuals. Each process activity is supported by a software tool. The solution also supports advanced data analysis, graphing and reporting, result aggregation and assessment merging. DNV Software is building the solution on the following modules of the Brix framework:
Brix Workflow Manager
DNV Software believes that integration of people and system will only be successful if you are able to manage the process going on between them. Brix Workflow Manager organises activities and provides integrations with web- and Windows-based Smart client applications. Smart clients are easily deployed and managed client applications
that provide rich interactive experiences and offline/online capabilities. Project management, assessment scoping and results are supported by web applications, while the Best Practice and Capabilities assessment recording tool is supported by a Smart Windows client. Brix Workflow Manager integrates the combined solution, maintaining the activity state (e.g. started, checked-out, checked-in, and verified), responsibilities, assignments and process progress.
Brix Project Management
The Brix Project Management module delivers the lead assessment and improvement project functionality.
Brix Portal
The Brix Portal is a set of web application/portal components that combined with domain knowledge will enable efficient creation of advanced data-driven web applications. The Brix Portal delivers best practice navigation templates, navigation security, menu components, multilanguage support, hosting of Brix workflow processes, graphical templates and several web components. The framework supports a plug-and-play architecture supporting the Microsoft Web Part standard. The Brix Portal is based on ASP.NET 2.0 technology. The framework integrates easily with security frameworks and existing site menu repositories.
Brix Domain Framework
The domain framework implements the OPM3 specific model requirements. The domain logic framework provides services for organisation models, protocols, assessment scoping, aggregation of results (based on configurable rules) and OLAP data analysis. The OLAP services enables users to analyse different dimensions of multidimensional data. The Brix Domain Framework manages ownership of data, making it suitable for multi-user internet deployment.
BrixSecurity
Brix Security is designed for complex internet applications with a large user base. The framework integrates well with common LDAP repositories and existing customer databases. The framework provides a single sign-on solution between the web applications, Smart clients and web services. Data is secured in three ways; only authorised persons may log on to the data, and once logged on they only see the data which is relevant to them based on the organisation they belong to, and their role.
Brix Service Oriented Architecture
The software solution is built using service-oriented architecture principles, with unambiguous interfaces between service components. This architecture delivers an agile software foundation that is easily configured to support different business cases. Comments Bertus Kroondijk, DNV Certification’s business development manager for the OPM3 ProductSuite:
“A key factor for selecting DNV Software to provide this tool was the significant experience they have in providing assessment tools, particularly the Summit software, used in conjunction with a variety of DNV’s management system assessment protocols.”
Dr Jeremy Linn, DNV Software’s Project Director, says the following about the project: “DNV Software has been able to deliver a high-quality, technically advanced solution within a very short time frames to PMI and DNV Certification. We have been able to do this by applying our frameworks, developed and evolved over many years, to support other complex applications. By using our best people to integrate these technologies, we can provide major innovation to the project as well as sound project management.
“We are also highly dependent on the excellent response we get from both PMI and DNV Certification to technical questions and the superior knowledge and ability of the specialists in both organisations. This has been a hugely challenging project both technically and in timescale, and we look forward to the successful launch of the OPM3 ProductSuite early in 2006.”
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For more details regarding the standard: For more information on the ProductSuite: |