Program Management Plan (Page 14 of 61) in pdf

Geospatial LoB Program Management Plan

filtering critical information from project documents (e.g. meeting minutes, work plans) and stakeholders

into a comprehensive snapshot of document content, conversation, and correspondence.

4.3.1

Internal Communication and Status Reporting Roles

The PMO uses a variety of tools, activities, and coordinated processes as it facilitates communication

among internal stakeholders. The Managing Partner Team, work groups, and the FGDC Coordination

Group support the communication process by submitting meeting minutes, work plans, document review

comments, action items, and issues in a timely manner so Grant Thornton can update project plans and

produce accurate Status Reports.

4.3.2

Internal Communication and Status Reporting Tools

While a formal Communications Strategy and Implementation Plan addresses the needs of the larger

stakeholder community, the tools mentioned below helps Grant Thornton facilitate open, inclusive

dialogue and information sharing among the Geospatial LoB Managing Partner Team, Geospatial LoB

work groups, and the FGDC Coordination Group.

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Meetings, Calls, and Online Collaboration - Pre-arranged in-person meetings, conference calls, and

online collaborations represent primary modes of internal communication. These meetings and calls

involve active participation and feedback from stakeholders and provide a semi-structured forum for

project-related discussions. In some cases “Ready Access” or another similar online collaboration tool are

used to facilitate discussion among a geographically dispersed participant base. Any dialogue, discussion

topics, decisions, action items, and issues get captured using a meeting minute template as referenced in

Section 4.2.1 and as shown in Appendix F: Meeting Minute Template. Upon content validation, the

PMO disseminates the meeting minutes, adjust action item or issue databases, then posts meeting

documents on QuickPlace, an interactive online portal for sharing, storing and, managing project

information and documents. Additionally, the PMO keeps a master schedule of all FGDC Coordination

Group, Managing Partner Team, and work group meetings to assist in providing program management

support to these key stakeholders.

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Briefings - Briefings provide overviews of critical information, currents issues, next steps, or

recommendations, and often call for audience response, comment, or future action. Briefings provide

additional structure to meetings and conference calls by offering a point of focus for internal

communication. The PMO archives briefings on QuickPlace for later use. Appendix I: Briefing Template

provides and example of a briefing template.

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Status Reports - On a bi-weekly basis, the PMO compiles information from key project areas and

produces Status Reports. Status Reports provide current information regarding where project components

Last Updated 6/19/2008

Program Management Plan Page 14