It seems that the greatest concern when implementing a web based application is the possibility of downtime and lack of availability due to the fallibility of the many systems that come together to serve a website.  Although this problem can never be entirely over come, it can be mitigated.

I can't speak for other SaaS operations, but this is how we have provided a 100% uptime service of our Programme Office Toolkit for the last few years.

Summary points are:

1. We provide Production and Failover services for both Websites and Databases.
2. The Production and Failover services are in geographically remote location and via different providers.
3. Failover web sites can also be used to access the Production database.
4. Backups
   1. Production DB backups taken daily – held locally + transferred to failover + backed up on failover (production is backed up and held in 3 formats daily and held for 2 years)
   2. Production website code is monitored daily for changes and any changes are transferred to the failover server.
5. Servers automatically monitored 24/7/365.
   1. Production - Locally via hosting provider / remote monitoring – alerts via email to 2 IPS office locations (UK/Ireland).
   2. Failover – Remote monitoring only.
   3. Both are automatically monitored every 5 minutes for memory, disk space, processing, connectivity, web response
6. All servers have Raided disk arrays so chances of losing any data is very slim (fire/theft are the only possible occurrences but all server halls have fire suppressant, cooling, UPS systems and full time, 24/7 security staff and secure access).
7. Production servers have a 1 hr replacement of key components so worst case scenario is max 1 hr downtime if not immediately failed over, if it is the website then no time is lost as the failover website is instantly available.
8. Failover servers are covered by a Dell 4 hour response contract.
9. IPS has been hosting with Rackspace (a very high quality and costly service provider) since 2003.
10. Historically never had any problems in past 5 years with POT with over 99.9% availability during client business hours.
11. Failovers procedures tested 4 times a year.
12. The platforms systems / POT3 software have been security and penetration tested by QinetiQ and passed.
13. The only thing we are not in control of is the Internet but all hosting providers have multiple redundancies on Internet connections. We also suggest our clients have redundant Internet connections from different providers.
14. IPS has a bilateral support agreement with another company (who also helped develop parts of POT3) to provide a flexible expansion in staffing capabilities during periods of high development demand should the current staff of either company need additional assistance or specialist knowledge.

Imagine a large heavy ball-shaped stone, thundering after the poorly equipt Dr Jones along a long, dark tunnel.  He's running away frantically, tripping over roots, nearly poisoned by darts and not quite decapitated.  He finally makes it out, only to find his arch rival and a group of Pigmy's with weapons drawn.

Now consider the ball is the project; large and unwieldy.  Its set on its course from the outset and difficult to redirect.

Indiana Jones is the Project Manager racing around, trying not to get flattened but although he's giving it his best effort, his success is more luck than judgment.

Projects are very much like the heavy stone ball, albeit rarely in appearance.  They tend to be difficult to maneuver quickly and time rarely allows for slowing the ball to a stop and resetting its path. 

The successful project manager has to be the one who is not running around frantically, not least because there is little immediate impact the PM can have on the overall direction of the project.  The PMs best chance of a successful outcome is to carefully observe the trajectory of the ball and its speed and ensure the path in front is clear of diverting obstacles. 

There's 3 problems with this approach: firstly it assumes an appropriate amount of time set aside to plan the start of the project, secondly there's a danger you could look as though you're doing nothing as you inspect and observe the largely successful fruit of your initial labour and thirdly you have put in place the necessary systems and processes to give you an accurate report of the health of your project.

Programme Office Toolkit can help provide the PM with accurate, clear and appropriate information with regard the health of your many projects but as Ron Rosenhead pointed out, "It's people who deliver projects", however it's people with perfect communications who deliver successful projects.  Every member of the project team has a different field of view and sphere of influence.  Combined they paint the larger picture.  With this information regarding future bumps, swerves and barriers the project ball can be strategically nudged in plenty of time to successfully maneuver the inevitable obstacles with focused effort.

I'm Lee Porter.  I'm involved in raising the awareness of Programme Office Toolkit (POTv3) to the wider world, particularly to larger corporations and dedicated PMOs.  POT has been in development since 1993 in one form or another but has reach a threshold that deserves a larger audience.  It's power and versatility as an Online Project Management solution makes it a sensible alternative to the current plethora of solutions.

My role at IPS is to improve your understanding of IPS and its software. I'll be maintaining this blog (with the help of Nick Lovelock) and various other social and business networks.  I'll also be looking at ways we can create and maintain a publicly available demo site for POT that clearly shows its best of breed status.  Other than that, there will be plenty of good training videos and guides coming your way and rather a lot more besides. 

If that wasn't enough we are at the crest of a new product launch which is set to be very interesting indeed.  Our newest online solution is intended for small to medium sized companies looking for a software solution to help manage all aspects of their business from Project management to expenses, from absence management to intranets, from document management to Employee reviews. The first release is coming soon and you'll read about it here first.  Subsequent releases will include additional modules and the modules will be inter-dependent (useful, for example, when submitting expenses - they can be filed in the document management system automatically.)

If you would like to discuss any of the above, you can always call me on +44 (0)844 736 1820.

Dear All,

I could just be writing this to myself, so what the heck, I will give it a go.  Why the delay, well I have been heads down into some other work and really not had the time.  But I have paused for a few moments to start, so I will.

Why do we build these systems?  Well the main reason is that during my wanderings across the UK and abroad as a consultant, I have found that lots of 'big' projects get all the attention whilst there are 100's, if not 1000's of smaller 'projects' (bits of work that need to be done) that seem to go languishing in the mire of massive systems (if they have any at all) that are just overkill to manage and report on a small amount of work.

Sometime the licences for the big systems are just not available to smaller projects, the people doing the work are not 'planners' (that is a whole story in its self that I will work on one day), BUT the management need to know from a readily available centralised systems - what is being done (even just a title sometime suffices), who is doing it (aka who has their butt on the line), when is it going to be finished (they can do something else then), any problems (what is holding it up) and what progress is being made (not always a linear approach like MSP). In order to provide this information, I have repeatedly created almost the same system for many other companies, but now we have created something that we will soon be selling as a web based application that will mean we can use our knowlege gained at big corporate companies, to help smaller companies leverage that information without the big bills.

Anyway, this is a start; I will try to carry it on in a while, but happily am on holiday next week with probably no mobile phone cover and definitely no internet access.

Regards Nick