TSI's Project Management Discussion Blog

The Phones are Coming, the Phones are Coming!

Tim Bergmann — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:32:27 +0000

The Phones are Coming, the Phones are Coming! In previous blogs we have advised you to watch this space for new and different products from TSI. TSI recently made an alliance with Axis Teknologies in Atlanta. Axis adds telecommunications expertise to the TSI line of project capabilities. Axis is an industry recognized leader [...]

Holiday Sale Alert

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:57:26 +0000

Do you want to take some training so that you can get ahead in your job? But, do you need a little spending money left over for holiday expenses? Then look no further, because we think we have a solution for both your needs. TSI is announcing their 2009 Holiday Training Sale. We have self-study and [...]

Watch this Space for more Information

Tim Bergmann — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:18:12 +0000

TSI is about to launch some new courses, some new products and announce some new pricing strategies. Watch this space for more information in early November. Subscribe to our newsletter here to make sure you are the first to be notified.

Fall 2009 – Changes and Savings Abound

Tim Bergmann — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:39:10 +0000

Study Now for your PMP Certification - Our Fall Sale Price for the Ultimate PMP Exam Prep Course saves you $400 from our normal low price! We now have two versions of our Online PMP Exam Course – starting at $197. And we have lowered our Ultimate PMP Self Study Course to our lowest price ever! at $279.

Hello – Can You Hear Me Now?

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:52:24 +0000

TSI recently introduced a whole group of new products to address studying for the PMP Exam for the PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition. We are working hard to develop additional new products for PMP certification candidates and for experienced project managers who already have their PMP or other project management certification. TSI is re-introducing classes for PRINCE2 [...]

Get Retrained

Tim Bergmann — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:31:24 +0000

Parade magazine (in your local Sunday newspaper), recently printed an article on “5 Steps to Take if you Lose Your Job”. This article was written by Gerri Willis from CNN and had five very concise suggestions for action in case you find yourself unemployed. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently unemployed. These five steps (paraphrased) [...]

Save Time – Make More Money

Tim Bergmann — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:18:23 +0000

PMBOK 4 is just around the corner. Time is now of the essence. If you need PMBOK 4 materials or if you simply want to use the best materials – TSI is here to help. Why spend all of your valuable time developing a new course for your organization when you can have one already developed [...]

Economic Price Adjustment

Tim Bergmann — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:24:11 +0000

When you hear the term “economic price adjustment” you usually think, uh-oh – another price increase. Well we here at TSI are pleased to tell you that this is not the case. The PMP Exam will change on July 1, 2009. It might get harder or it might not. In the interim we are interested in [...]

$700,000,000,000 and No Scope Statement!

Tim Bergmann — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:45:06 +0000

Watching the news lately and seeing all the “bailout” money being distributed to failing corporations like a big “money-storm”, it makes me wonder. What are they thinking? We, the American taxpayers, through our elected representatives, have violated one of the most basic concepts in project management. We have granted authority to spend $700,000,000,000 – and no [...]

TSI is Seeking Training Partners and Contract Instructors

Tim Bergmann — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:02:04 +0000

True Solutions Inc., (TSI) is currently seeking qualified experienced training partners and contract training instructors. TSI is currently nearing production of our exclusive “Ultimate PMP Exam Prep” course and Guide that has been updated to reflect the new PMBOK Guide® Fourth Edition. We are seeking partners in key cities like: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, [...]

PMI® Announces PMP® Deadlines

Tim Bergmann — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:18:58 +0000

TSI wants to let everyone know that PMI® has defined the deadlines for testing under the PMBOK Guide® Third Edition. The PMBOK Guide® Fourth Edition will be officially released to the public on December 31, 2008. The last day to test under the Third Edition will be June 30, 2009. Now, I can almost hear the great “yawn” from the audience. “What”, [...]

Denver’s PMI Leadership Meeting

admin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Denver, October 18, 2008 late at night in the same hotel room I’ve been in (just to sleep) for about a week. I have to say that PMI has done it again. Another great Leadership Meeting here in the mile high city, Denver. Year after year, country after country, the Project Management Institute has put [...]

Green Learning

Tim Bergmann — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:26:41 +0000

I just drove into the office this morning after filling up my car at the neighborhood gasoline pump. Like everyone in America this morning, I am dismayed by the high cost of gasoline – a new record price – and the overall cost to fill up. (And I don’t even own a gas-guzzling SUV or [...]

Everything is on Sale in Vegas

Tim Bergmann — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:20:44 +0000

TSI wants to remind everyone that we are having another Ultimate PMP Exam Prep and Ultimate CAPM Exam Prep class in Las Vegas, Nevada, September 12-17, 2008 Not only will you get the best in classroom training to prepare for your PMP or CAPM exam, you can now get also get the best in adult [...]

Rethink and Retool

Tim Bergmann — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:35:44 +0000

Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America recently announced that Toyota would be consolidating truck manufacturing at some plants and using a new plant in Mississippi to produce Prius automobiles in the U.S. In the announcement he stated that Toyota was using this as an opportunity to [...]

Thousands of Hours of Boredom

Tim Bergmann — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:32:10 +0000

The news media reported on Monday, July 7, that Barack Obama’s chartered campaign aircraft experienced elevator problems in flight from Chicago and made an “unscheduled” landing in St. Louis. Unfortunately, the mechanical description in the press reminded me of the catastrophic airplane crash involving Alaska Airlines off the coast of California several years ago. To [...]

Gas Prices Exceed $10.00 Per Gallon

Tim Bergmann — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:52:24 +0000

This morning one of the alleged US experts on petroleum has been interviewed by one or more media outlets and has predicted that gasoline could reach $12-$15 per gallon in the United States. While I think this expert is wrong about gas prices in the US; in other parts of the globe there could be [...]

Planning a Project

Tim Bergmann — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:05:31 +0000

Did you know that one of the most common causes of project delay, overspend and customer dissatisfaction is the lack of proper project planning? The “Project Planning” phase is one of the most critical phases within a project. Within this phase, the people, resources, finances, suppliers and tasks must be correctly scheduled, in order for the [...]

Ten Steps for Practical Business Continuity Planning

Tim Bergmann — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:41:40 +0000

Business Continuity Planning is a complicated, sometimes difficult endeavor for an organization. One of the challenges that colors the process is that Business Continuity Planning is still in the formative stages. BC experts who are working today are often the same individuals who performed Disaster Recovery planning on early mainframes and self published their findings. While there is always a definite need for Business Continuity Planning, there are many barriers to success. This paper describes a methodology at a high level that can facilitate success for Business Continuity Planning by applying proven project management, program management and business continuity best practices in a coordinated manner.

Business Continuity Planning superseded the concept of Disaster Recovery around 1994-1995 after the Hurricane Andrew experience in Florida. During this widespread disaster event, some companies found that they had protected their infrastructure (Disaster Recovery), but had failed to protect the company (Business Continuity). This initiated an evolution from Disaster Recovery thinking to Business Continuity thinking.

Simply stated, Business Continuity deals with all of the elements of the company:

Infrastructure (Buildings, communications and computing)
Sales
Fulfillment and customer service
Human Resources
Security
Risk scenarios

To oversimplify, Business Continuity deals with the organization holistically; in the past Disaster Recovery only dealt with a small portion of the organization.

But there are some definite challenges to Business Continuity. First of all, in order to address a problem, the organization has to recognize that a problem or need exists. Many organizations fail to plan for Business Continuity due to various reasons, such as lack of resources, lack of budget and lack of interest. Many organizations suffer from the vision that “It won’t happen here” and fail to take adequate precautions to protect the enterprise.

Think about it: how often have the officers and directors of a company that failed into bankruptcy been criminally or civilly prosecuted for the failure? Sometimes, usually in cases of fraudulent activity there have been prosecutions; Enron, Tyco and Worldcom would be recent examples of criminal prosecutions. But while these prosecutions have been very public events, there are very few corporate leaders who suffer this fate.

Houston – we have an opportunity.

Tim Bergmann — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:53:56 +0000

TSI recently embarked on an e-mail campaign which touched over 40,000 professionals in the southern and southeast United States. What we found was somewhat surprising. There appears to be an unfulfilled need for a really good PMP Exam Prep course in the Houston area. So, in order to respond to this need, TSI is announcing that [...]