It is becoming widely recognised that the key to project success lies in following a good project governance process. Some excellent methodologies are now available - such as PMBOK, CMMI, Prince2 - but the problem remains not so much how to choose a methodology, but how to put it into practice.

Xylogy is a new technology that brings project methodology to life, allowing any chosen process to be moulded into a system that governs projects from start to finish.

This system goes beyond ordinary project management. It allows you to define, manage and review every stage of a project.

Xylogy makes sure everything that needs to be done is done, and done properly, with built-in quality checks at every step along the way.

The benefits of Xylogy

• Rapid and lasting deployment of process
• Reduced cost of training
• Reduced audit costs
• The right level of governance for the right project
• Every participant can keep track of their own responsibilities
• Interaction between all parties

The features of Xylogy

Conducting reviews
Regular reviews are essential to a healthy project. With Xylogy, you build each series of scheduled reviews right into the process which governs the project. The reviews themselves are based on customised templates.

This means that running a review meeting with a satisfactory outcome is a step in the project lifecycle that cannot be ignored or overlooked.

Checking progress
Progress checks can be built into the reviews automatically, or added at any stage. You can set up the checks that are appropriate to your methodology, with rules about how to conduct and pass them.

Dealing with issues
An issue can be anything that needs to be dealt with: a problem, action, risk or decision. Issues are associated with projects and dealt with in various ways.

Issues can be related to a review series, and are automatically flagged in review meetings until resolved.

If an issue is assigned to you while you are outside the office, you will receive email notification including a direct link, enabling you to log onto a website and deal with your issue.

Project documentation
Xylogy has tools to produce all the documentation required for a project; but if you prefer to produce the documents externally, you can simply attach those files.

Xylogy gives you the whole picture
Xylogy manages fundamental project activities to maintain an auditable repository of project information. It provides:

• A consistent view of performance across all projects.
• A complete record of every item of project information and its history.
• A concise management outlook of each project with forward estimates backed up by reliable evidence.

Xylogy helps you to

• Define what exactly has to be done
• Produce and review the appropriate project documentation
• Communicate with all stakeholders
• Know how to judge when each stage has been satisfactorily completed
• Know what is needed to move to the next stage
• Recognise early when things go wrong

Xylogy involves people
Each participant in a Xylogy project has a finely-tailored set of access privileges which give them exactly the level of access required. Xylogy users take ownership of:

• Tasks
• Issues
• Review meetings