TenStep Systems (TSS) Certification
The TenStep methodology was created and published in May of 2000. It was based on years of experience and professional practice of many project managers, and was the first TenStep methodology product in a family of business methodologies. Today, the TenStep system supports all key areas of projects, portfolios, strategy development, process modelling and project offices management. These business methodologies are translated into over 25 languages and are utilized by over 6,000 companies and consultants around the world.
Global business is becoming more and more diversified. Ironically, the diversity has lead to the need for more and more consistency of business processes and practices. Therefore, more and more energy is invested to ensure the diversified business processes are integrated and consistently applied. It is only through the application of consistent processes that these global organizations can fully leverage their diverse organizations.
It is one thing to say that your organization has implemented and follows standard processes. It is another thing to prove this standardization to senior management. The proof of implementing and following a set of standard processes is through and organization assessment and certification process.
Project management does not differ in this regard. Project management is an important business process. Diverse projects in large organizations cannot be successfully completed on a consistent basis without a common set of project management processes that are utilized by all projects. Although this is a goal of many organizations, the major organizational certifications for project management are relatively young. For example, the OPM3 model from the Project Management Institute and the aPRO model from the USA based asapm organization are all new within the past three years or so. The IPMA organizations in Europe are creating an organization assessment model that is not yet on the market.
The TSS certification is designed to assess an organization specifically in the adoption of the TenStep processes (project, PMO, portfolio, etc.). It will ensure that an organization is implementing good project management processes in general, and the TenStep project management processes in particular. The certification will confirm that your organization is operating in compliance with your own enterprise management system based on the TenStep’s methodology.
TSS makes sure that:
- you have implemented a common and consistent set of project management processes – based on the foundation of standard TenStep processes.
- You are actually utilizing the standard processes on projects that you manage.
- In addition to following standard processes, you are focused on proactively providing deliverables on time, within budget and with agreed quality,
- You are capturing key project documents and key learning so that you can leverage the information at the enterprise level for best practices and process improvements.
TenStep recognizes that organizational processes tend to degrade over time unless there is an ongoing process of reinforcement and improvement. Therefore the TSS certification, like other similar assessment models (e.g. ISO), must be viewed as an ongoing commitment. Each certification is valid for two years before the organization must be re-assessed and re-certified.
Third-party vendor organizations should especially value the TSS. This certification signifies that the vendor is process focused and can apply consistent and repeatable processes on every project. All businesses need to focus on delivering projects within expectations. The business that is TSS certified is one that can show they are reliable and a candidate to be a strategic partner with client companies.
Prerequisites for a TSS Assessment
To be a candidate for a TSS assessment, an organization must meet two criteria.
- The organization should clearly define the scope of the assessment, including the organizations, projects, programs and portfolios that will be assessed. For example, if an organization has 100 projects in its portfolio, it is not likely that only five projects can be assessed while the others are ignoring the processes. On the other hand, it is possible that one large multi-year project that is substantial in its own right may be certified independently. Of course, if one large project is certified rather than an organization, the certification will no longer be valid once the large project ends.
- The TenStep System Model (see below) must have been in operation in the organization for at least three months, but no shorter than five reporting periods of the biggest projects.
Read More About the TSS Assessment Process
The TSS follows a simple, yet rigorous process. Click here for more details.
Please contact Lindsay Hendrix for more information about the TSS certification at Lindsay.Hendrix@TenStep.com
