1. My paper is based on our corporate experience in the application of Internet Technology to develop an Intranet for a project-based enterprise.
2. The objective of a project-based enterprise centres around the collection, storage, manipulation and presentation of project information to those who need it, when they need it, how they need it and where they need it.
3. The need to meet specific and stringent requirements of managing multiple projects drove us to consider building an Intranet.
4. Our requirements, however diverse they may appear to be, are all related to the management of Project Information consisting of the following categories:-

Scope	-	What needs to be done; the project’s end objective makes it a unique or relatively infrequent undertaking.
Quality	-	To what standard specifications and quality of human performance to achieve the result.
Time	-	The schedule and sequential order of tasks.
Cost	-	How much the tasks/project will cost.
Risk	-	What is the degree of certainty of the result.
Human Resources	-	What kinds of people are needed.
Contract/Procurement	-	What commitments must be procured, or what resources must be contracted for.
Information/Communications	-	How do all these people communicate to perform at the necessary level, to the quality of project needed, at the cost expected, and by the date required? This is managerially complex due to objectives conflicting with constraints.

5. Clearly, in today’s dynamic and fiercely competitive marketplace, the project manager needs the power of vision, people and technology to efficiently deliver projects in ever-shrinking time frames.
6. Slow reaction to changes puts him at the risk of losing not only projects, but position and possibly clients.
7. In addition, clients are demanding higher levels of customer service. In fact, service has become a key differentiating factor.
8. To meet these challenges, the Project Manager must find ways to work more efficiently, increasing his productivity, while at the same time controlling costs. He needs people to do the critical thinking, while smart technology does the processing.
9. The smartest technology of choice to make that possible is the Intranet. As many project managers have already found, Intranets offer robust solutions to the demands of the marketplace. They improve organisational efficiency through streamlined business processes, more effective communication and a higher level of collaboration.
10. Extended Intranets (Extranets) broaden the Intranet Solution to key individuals outside the company such as business partners, clients, field engineers and contractors.
11. As a result, Intranets and Extranets help tighten relationships with employees, clients, contractors and business partners to contribute to an organisation’s bottom line and increase its competitive edge.
12. The Project Management Information System (PMIS), has made us much more productive than we ever were without it. It was a good opportunity to move to client/server; the obvious gain has been the ability to readily access information whenever one needs it.
13. It didn’t take long before we had a lot of our own data in the system. That allowed us to begin testing the system and learning it very quickly, which facilitated rapid implementation.
14. Involving our end users in the testing really helped our success. Our users were training as the system was being tested, so when we went live, everyone was already fully trained.
15. Other benefits achieved through the Intranet Solution are: Greater company efficiency; Reduced cost of operations; Greater integration between departments; and ability to expand the system as the company grows.
16. Detailed results include:-

	Time spent reconciling project accounts has been reduced at monthly and quarterly reporting.
	Time spent answering queries dropped since information is available on-line and does not require looking through hard copies for the latest update.
	If a hard copy profile of a project proposal or company is required, it could be produced in less than five (5) minutes.
	Our organisation has transformed from hierarchical, paper-driven model to electronically based, networked and synergic.
	Our leaders have transformed from warriors who demand respect to facilitators who encourage self-respect. Instead of issuing commands and control, they now empower and coach us.
	Our attitudes have changed from power by hoarding information to power by sharing information.

	It is 100% Internet-based Client/Server application. It uses an Internet Browser as client and constructs the servers from application specific customised middle-ware and SQL Server (Back end, transactional and document servers).
	PMIS is built on revolutionary technology of Internet based Object Oriented Programming, complete with Intelligent Agents, and Object Oriented Programming behaviours which create scalability.
	The structure combines the power of relational database, distributed processes, and the script-based object-oriented Notes programming environment to easily access data over the Intranet.

Member, Nigeria Society of Engineers
Member, Computer Association of Nigeria
Member, Internet Society

	Principal Consultant - Afri-Projects Consortium (APC)
	B. Eng. (Civil), M. Sc. (Struct) - Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
	Professional Bodies

Professional Associations

Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE)

Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS)

Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM)

Council of Registered Engineers (COREN)

Four other professional associations and eight International Agencies

Employs 114 professionals and 93 support staff

	Internet/Intranet.
	Documents Management.
	Knowledge Management.
	Collaboration/Personalization.
	Workflow.
	Business Process Management.
	Policies/Procedures Management.
	Integration/Documentation.

	Physical Client/Server Network with fast Ethernet backbone designed around a 3-tier Hierarchical Network architecture.
	n-tier logical architecture with a distributed-components implementation.

Three (3) Servers

** Primary Domain Controller (also runs SQL Server relational database).
** Backup Domain Controller (also the GroupWare Server)
** Application Server and Web Server (based on the Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0).

	All Servers run the Windows NT (V4.0) Operating system
	Lotus Domino (Advanced) Server (V4.5) orchestrates the GroupWare services, the documents repository and then provides the Workflow infrastructure.
	MS SQL Server 6.5 is the corporate relational database server.
	Our applications are built as business components, which represent discrete business processes within the enterprise.
	A multi-threaded Project Server running as a middle-tier business service, manages all project transactions.
	The HTTP server is Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0.

Client  Interface:

** WEB Browsers.
** User specific interface.
** Lotus notes client, adapted to suit some user requirements, suitable for certain categories of      users.

DACON - Data on Contractors and Consultants

**  Database designed to capture essential information on consultants and contractors               registered with the Clients.
**  Information search engine
**  Data Entry via Keyboard, fax machine, Scanners, Internet using Teleform. The process of  creating, distributing and reading information from HTML-based forms has been automated with TELEFORM Internet Solution.
**  Certificate based access control and user authentication.

Security Features control access to the network and information through the use of :-

**  Access Control List (ACL) Authentication.
**  Public/Private Keys securities.
**  Data Encryption.
**  Digital Signatures.

**  Automated tracking of critical project indicators.
**  Performance forecasting and trend Projection.
**  Early warning systems.
**  Information broadcast.

	Exhaustive project planning function.
	Distributed Project Monitoring Concept.
	Information for Project Control

	The Implementation of our Intranet for Project Management was conceived as a result of the necessity to simplify our work processes.
	As a result, we had to devise ways of using technology differently.
	What we have shared today was borne out of an overwhelming need, which eventually resulted in something different and effective for our operations.

	Miss Ifeyinwa Obi - my able PA/Secretary
	Engr. Sunny Osaje and Ibrahim Tizhe - my Resource Consultants
	Engr. N. A. Rafindadi - our team leader
	Mal. Salihijo Ahmad - my mentor
	Engr. Abdurrahman Dahiru - my Managing Consultant (MD)
	APC, who provided the environment

 

Finally, praise be to Allah, who made everything possible