A project manager’s job is to deliver a defined scope on time and on budget.  This expectation comes from the overall project leadership, the business community and the IT organization.  To do this an SAP project manager needs to know:

• The project goals and success criteria

• The tasks to be performed

• The dependencies between the tasks

• The resources and skills needed

• The key milestones and critical deliverables

Coordination, execution, review and sign-off throughout the project lifecycle requires marshaling different resource types at different times including business team members, functional consultants, ABAP developers, PI/XI developers, the Basis team, technical infrastructure, network operations, production support, training teams, etc.  A great project manager needs to be comfortable and confident interacting with different audiences, communicating in their language and using terms and jargon they understand.  A great project manager has a rolling horizon always looking a week, a month, a quarter or more into the future anticipating needs and planning ahead.  A great project manager lives with the belief that fire prevention is far more desirable than firefighting.

A great project manager monitors critical tasks and recognizes when to be flexible and when to dig in. There is constant negotiation, evaluation of information to separate the important from the inconsequential, and refinements to keep the project on track.  A great project manager knows to cultivate team member engagement, motivation and drive and maintain a common vision of the end goal.

DataXstream project managers understand all of this.  They live it every day.