4-CONSULTING E-ZINE

In our periodical this month, we return to the important matter of project management by looking at a report on the failure rates of IT projects. The Standish Group in the USA, a leading IT project management research company, reports in its 15th annual survey (2009) that less than 33% of all IT projects actually completed on time and budget and with the anticipated benefits. We look at the report and consider some reasons why things are so bad.

There are many pressures on employers during periods of recession, down-sizing and change. One of our HR consultants looks at how we help employers to meet their HR legal obligations by using one of the UK's leading business legal advisory services.

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Project Management - Failing to Perform

A report, published in April 2009, by the Standish Group shows that less than one-third of all IT projects that start actually come to a completion on time and budget and with the the expected deliverables and quality. The report shows that, over fifteen years of surveying IT project management, the profession has been unable to make any really significant improvement in its success rates. The high level of failure represents a huge waste of money for shareholders, a huge waste of time for staff and results in low confidence by executives in the prospects for future ICT investments.

To read the complete article, visit:

www.4-consulting.com/News/Ezine_17/Ezine_17_01.htm

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Meeting Legal Employment Obligations

When businesses have to down-size or restructure, there are important legal duties for employers relating to changes in their workforce or conditions. At a time of financial pressure, many companies, and SMEs in particular, can find it difficult to meet their statutory employment requirement. We are often asked for assistance and Mary Leishman describes how we use and adapt a leading UK legal advisory subscription service to create a cost effective HR function for businesses.

To read the complete article, visit:

www.4-consulting.com/News/Ezine_17/Ezine_17_02.htm

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Making the Most of Word and Excel

Our regular "tricks and tips" features offers practical advice on getting the most out of your word processor and creating better spreadsheet workbooks.

To read the complete article, visit:

www.4-consulting.com/News/Ezine_17/Ezine_17_03.htm

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Recent Successes

Since our last edition of the e-zine, we've been busy working with some new clients and returning to work with some old clients. We undertook an IT governance review for Maclean Electrical, one of the UK's largest distributors of electrical components to the energy and public highways sectors. Subsequently, we've been commissioned to provide much more support to the company. Elmwood College in Fife invited our head of Public Sector Consulting to assist them in their strategic planning round. We have undertaken IT reviews at CJ Lang in Dundee and assisted the auditors of DC Thomson & Co Limited in a post-implementation review of the company's new ERP system. We were delighted when Creative Scotland asked us back to help them in the next stages of planning for the merger of Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. We've also had some success in getting on to public sector procurement framework contracts over the last few months.

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Our Associates
Since our last edition, we are delighted to have Stephen McCafferty join us from Standard Life where he was HR Director for a number of years.

We are always interested in developing our pool of consultants and, if you think you might be interested in joining us, please give Ralph Leishman a call on 0131 668 2112 or drop him an email at Ralph.Leishman@4-consulting.com.

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Tell us your view

Last time, in our readership poll, we asked if you the government should bail out UK banks. You responded very clearly with a strong "YES" vote.

We hope that you will take a moment to answer the following question:

Do you believe the government's recent assertion that the UK will be out of recession by the end of 2009?

Answer our question and let us know – all responses are confidential.

If you would like to suggest a topic for future e-zines or have any comments about this one, please send it to: ezine@4-consulting.com.

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For more information about 4-consulting visit our web site at: www.4-consulting.com. Please feel free to forward this e-zine to a colleague.

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