Short Description:
Senior Project Manager with +10 years of hands on experience in day to day management of technical implementation and complex change management pertaining to Student Information System replacement in K12 arena
Complete Description:
seeking an experienced hands on Project Manager to coordinate the implementation and rollout of a replacement Student Information System (SIS). We are currently in the process of selecting a vendor to provide a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) SIS which will be customized and configured to fit DCPS requirements. The Project Manager will be in charge of the detailed day to day management and planning for this project including the coordination between DCPS and vendor resources, milestone status tracking and reporting, and identification, prioritization, and escalation of issues impacting successful delivery. Detailed project planning and requirements gathering will commence before the vendor has been selected and well before the vendor team starts work.
This an extremely high-priority and high-visibility project, critical to the success of reform efforts underway and planned at DCPS and will require the marshaling and directing of considerable resources and the inclusion of a very diverse set of stakeholders at all levels of the organization both at schools and the central office.
It should be noted that while this project has a major technical component, the critical factor for success is change management in terms of moving our school based users off the current system and on to the new SIS and the associated data transfer. The project manager will therefore need to play a critical role in ensuring that this aspect of the project is successful, focusing on end-user training, support, and over-communication to school based staff.
Position Responsibilities:
• Leading the day to day management, planning, and tracking of all phases of design, implementation, and planning for this project through the execution and delivery of the SIS for elementary and secondary schools, concluding with project transition to DCPS user and technical support resources and project close
• Communicating the plan, roles, constraints, milestones, and critical path to all team members and project stakeholders.
• Applying standard project management and delivery methodology and project tracking standards in order to build effective plans and deliver quality solutions.
• Leading project team status meetings to ensure that project milestones are met, dependencies are tracked, and issues & next steps are proactively identified
• Providing management and DCPS leadership with a regular summary of project and outstanding deliverables status especially with regards to issues affecting timeline
• Prioritize work for project team and effectively triage project team response when capacity is a challenge
• Facilitating discussions with appropriate leadership and stakeholders to negotiate key decisions related to the project constraints (time, cost, scope) while maintaining overall delivery timeline
• Coordinate Requirements gathering activities and provide hands on support to Business Analysts in requirements elicitation, documentation and validation
• Ensuring that project is fully documented (eg. Standard Operating Procedures, business rules and definitions, training and user support materials, etc)
• Managing all project cross-functional resources, including vendor team, and ensuring proper knowledge transfer
• Supporting Director of Applications by ensuring various operational elements that affect financial and resource forecasts are on track; including but not limited to:
o Up-to-date accuracy of project plan for the duration of the project
o Vendor and contractor resource management (eg, time-sheets, deliverable, etc)
o Accurate Level Of Effort and Estimate To Finish reports
Professional/Educational Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree required
• Must have a successful track record of at least 8 years of progressive experience of complex technical project management, problem solving, rollout, and transition management.
• At least 8 years of related work experience with implementing ERP or administrative software systems; preferably K12 Student Information Systems.
• At least 8 years of personnel management, contract management and demonstrated experience with interacting with all levels of a project team with the ability to persuade and build consensus.
• Demonstrated experience in project status reporting for an executive level audience
Strong Candidate will have
• Advanced degree is a plus.
• Successful work experience in K-12 administration is strongly preferred
• Ability to communicate in a positive and professional manner, both verbally and in writing.
• Strong organizational skills, be detail oriented, and have the resourcefulness and perseverance to lead a team in overcoming challenges
• Strong listening and information gathering skills to ensure accurate gathering of requirements and identification of issues
• Strong leadership skills and the strength of personality to manage expectations of stakeholders as well as accountability of project team and resources
• Previous or current hands on technical experience in web application development is a plus
• Very strong with documentation and enforcement of policies and procedures
• Keen sense of maximizing return on investment, focusing on the pragmatic 80% solutions rather than a fruitless quest for perfection
• Strong self-starter and ability to work independently and creatively
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to translate high level technical and business initiatives and goals into discrete tasks and specific timelines and hold both core project team and supporting resources accountable in meeting that timeline
• Excellent communication skills, especially the ability to actively listen and draw out the true needs rather than the stated wants of any given stakeholder
Skills:
Skill
Required / Desired
Amount
of Experience
Expertise Rating
Experience and a successful track record of progressive experience of day to day complex technical project management
Required
10
Years
3 - Expert
Experience with implementing ERP or administrative software systems
Required
8
Years
3 - Expert
Experience implementing K12 Student Information Systems
Desired
2
Years
2 - Proficient
Experience and a successful track record coordinating vendor, consultants and implementation partners
Required
8
Years
3 - Expert
Must have excellent communication and project status reporting skills experience
Required
8
Years
3 - Expert
Experience and a successful track record developing and maintaining accurate and up to date project plans
Required
8
Years
3 - Expert
Experience and a successful track record leading business process improvement initiatives
Desired
4
Years
2 - Proficient
Experience and a successful track record leading change management initiatives
Required
8
Years
3 - Expert
Experience and a successful track record managing project risks (identification, communication, and mitigation)
Required
8
Years
3 - Expert
Bachelor's Degre
Required
Master's Degree
Desired