While we are behind schedule on the development of version five of the Best Practices and Benchmarking (BP&B) manual, we are working hard to make up time so that we can report on the status of updating the manual and discuss new material that will be included in this release at the Executive Conference.
There have been several questions regarding both the review and updating process, as well as what the next steps in the process are. The new material developed is being fully reviewed by the committee. We are in the process of considering final comments and completing formatting updates. CSIA’s legal counsel Mark Voigtmann is also thoroughly reviewing the entire document. Once these two steps have been completed, we will survey a sampling of both end-users and partner members regarding their recommendations on CSIA Certification audit points. The committee will use this feedback to recommend audit changes to the CSIA board of directors. Pending board approval, the BP&B Version 5 beta release will then be ready, and will be made available to any CSIA members with an upcoming Certification audit for their review and use. We will be looking for volunteers for pilot audits, so please keep this in mind if your Certification is up for renewal. Once the pilot audits are complete, the committee will again gather feedback, from both the members and auditors, before preparing the final release of BP&B Version 5.
I will be facilitating one of the "unconference" sessions at the CSIA Executive Conference to discuss the changes that have been incorporated into the BP&B Version 5 manual. Please plan to join me—It should be a lively discussion on best practices!
In addition to the work being completed on the BP&B manual, CSIA has held several webinars on BP&B. CSIA has also been working with ISA to develop and present comprehensive project management training. The first complete series of training sessions recently wrapped up, and we have received some great feedback on improvements to make them even more useful to both SIs and project managers.
If you have an interest in joining us on the BP&B committee or have any comments regarding what we can be doing to make your CSIA experiences better, please contact Eric at eschaefer@stonetek.com.