Keeping track of all the players in a project—and how they move around like chess pieces—is precisely why the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) is a widely used tool in CA PPM.
The OBS captures a project’s organization, typically starting at the top of the hierarchy with the project sponsor and key stakeholders. When presenting the OBS, consider the organization or group requesting the project and their sponsorship and authority levels. The OBS’s hierarchical structure allows aggregation or rollup of project information to higher levels.
Unlike chess, there are no fixed rules in an organization: change happens all the time, and organizational change can be difficult and time-consuming to track. Knowing this, we have to ask ourselves:
- Do we have the proper resources to make these changes?
- Who is responsible for making the changes?
- How much time does it take?
But managing your OBS doesn’t have to be a losing game. The OBS Adapter PWP makes the OBS even more accurate—and up to date—and useful—by automating the process of loading OBS data from external systems into CA PPM. Not only that—it also automates synchronization of OBS structures in multiple systems, and synchronization can be on a scheduled or ad hoc basis.
The adapter uses OBS attributes and values extracted or loaded from a customer’s information management systems. Extracted files are obtained through database or web services queries, or directly, as flat files.
And there’s more! Defined, user-configurable scripts automate the process of normalizing data and populating the resulting values into staging tables. Staging tables map the source attributes to the target fields in CA PPM. Attributes and fields commonly used include:
- OBS Code
- Parent OBS Code
- OBS Name
In addition, three portlets are configured to monitor and diagnose errors during operation:
- Activity Tracker
- Processed Transactions
- Error Logs
You can learn more here, and a list of technical prerequisites for this PWP is available at CA Support online (log in required). This is a central repository that will help you identify compatibility of CA Technologies products with operating systems, other third-party software products, and certification standards and regulations.
Here are a couple of questions I’m frequently asked:
Is it compatible with and supported in SaaS environments?
Yes, it is. In fact, all PWP global delivery components are SaaS compatible and supported.
Can I download it from support.ca.com?
No, but you can get it quickly by contacting your CA sales representative or account manager for a quote.
Find out about other PWPs for CA PPM here. Readers interested in more detail can check out DocOps.
Reach out to CA Services for information about CA PPM release upgrades/implementations and individualized business outcome references and analysis.
What challenges have you faced with organizational breakdown structures? Feel free to post in the comments section of this blog, or contact me directly via email.