PM Network - December 2015

Lights, Camera, Action!

Check out behind-the-scenes videos of this year’s PMO of the Year winner and finalists on PMI’s You Tube channel.

Call for Awards Nominations

Honor project and PMO excellence in 2016. Visit

PMI.org/Awards

Instant Handoff

A major win for both Navy Federal Credit Union and its project management office was the worldwide release in 2014 of an instant access debit card. Navy Federal customers can walk out of their local branch with a debit card in hand— no need to wait for it to arrive in the mail.

“This was a huge benefit to our members,
those who are being deployed and those who
have already been deployed,” says Kristin
Earley, PMP, Navy Federal Credit Union. “They
were able to get these cards at the times they
needed them.”
But before the new system could go live, the
PMO had to reach deep into its toolbox. The
project called for introducing new hardware at
more than 250 Navy Federal branches world-
wide and training over 3,000 branch employ-
ees on its use. Rather than dive straight in and
risk glitches on launch day, the PMO’s project
lead opted for a different approach.

“We had a pilot that deployed the system
to only nine branches so that we mitigated
the risks before we sent it out to all of the
branches,” Ms. Earley says. “This allowed
us to address issues with the [branch]
integration and rollout activities.”
With lessons learned from the pilot
phase in hand, the PMO supported the six-
month full deployment phase, acting as the
glue that brought vendors and business units
together. That took some serious collabora-
tion and communication.

“We had stakeholders across the world,”
Ms. Earley says. “We needed to get them the
right information at the right time so they
were prepared not only to train their staffs,
but also to receive everything necessary for
the deployment to be successful.”
Standardized processes, a detailed organi-
zational change management plan and clearly
communicated business requirements all
helped keep logistical, technical and training
activities on schedule.

Since the project was completed in December 2014, over 1 million cards have been issued around the world. And the benefits are clear: Members receiving instantly issued cards at branches tend to use them five days faster— and seven times more often in a month, says Cindy Moore, vice president of the PMO.

“There have been some solid business benefits. We like to think of the project as a strategic differentiator.”

“This organization
has demonstrated
its value to the
point where
people are asking
for the PMO. They
will not start
projects unless
there’s somebody
from the PMO
actively engaged
in the delivery of
their project.”