Junior Project Manager or Admin Assistant? Thoughts

N2IT

Customer Responsibilities:

• Assist in the understanding of our customer’s purchase order requirements, systems and process requirements to add value and build customer loyalty
• Assist with coordination of required documentation submittals, product status updates, shipping releases, and shipping confirmation to meet the project schedule.
• Identify, build, and maintain relationships with the Project Manager and the customers’ purchasing, expediting, and operations staff.
• Assist in the tracking, and submittal of required documentation to customers.

Corporate Responsibilities:

• Embrace and reflect Companies Core Values.
• Achieve basic knowledge of the products and services that Companies deploys at customer sites.
• Understand the process, tools, systems, and technologies necessary to assist in order fulfillment and support required schedules.
• Effectively document and communicate project status to the Project Manager.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Understand Companies and our Principal’s key differentiation and value proposition to our customers.
• Work with the Project Manager, Process Management, and other equipment sub-suppliers to obtain correct documentation, order management releases, and communicate changes or additional customer requirements.
• Assist with expediting orders for Process Management and other sub-suppliers, as required, in order to maintain schedules and meet customer expectations.

Internal Responsibilities:

• Perform all duties defined by the PPS manager.
• Complete the assigned tasks required for successful order completion. Track and communicate project information as defined by the PPS manager. Assist in reviewing all order related questions from order entry detailers, pricing departments, or project team members.
• Responsible for order entry process and completion; work with Project Manager for resolution or correction.
• Maintain invoicing and billing for Installed base contracts, support and parts, maintain yearly spreadsheets of contracts to be billed and insure timely and accurate monthly billing of contracts.
• Maintain project data within the Companies business system and issue monthly project reports.
• Set up new projects in time accounting and create checklists for all projects to verify information by project and type
• Plans and coordinates project scheduling, budgeting, and administrative tasks.
• Supports the project staff by facilitating project logistics such as meetings, conference rooms, conference calls, etc.
• Takes meeting minutes and action items during meetings and performs basic follow-up.
• Assists in development of presentations.

N2IT

Parts sounds like Project Coordination, but other parts sound very admin assistant.

Deathmage

Sounds like a ton of jumbled words to make it look serious :P

colemic

Of the two choices I would go with Admin Assistant... but Coordinator seems a better fit

N2IT

@Colemic LOL Totally AA position.

I was looking for PM position and saw this and laughed. Before I went to deep I wanted to get the members at TE opinion.

Thanks.

datacomboss

It's more project coordinator. I've seen a lot of organizations that have really nice job descriptions, but in practice the PM has very little influence or power and is a glorified AA with very little PMI, Agile or Prince PM standards being used when managing projects.

N2IT

@ Data I start seeing those red flags I run like he!!. While I can influence people pretty heavily it's never the go to card you want to use 24 - 7. I'm PM'ing now in a matrix environment and it's not fun. The functional has all ownership and power. Yet I am expected to deliver.

datacomboss

Being a healthcare IT consultant I'm faced with similar issues and it really does suck. Doctors like to run the technology until it breaks and then blame you for not making them upgrade/replace sooner.

The more things change the more they stay the same. I've been in IT since I graduated college in the 1990s and I remember the days when IT hungered for a seat at the table but despite CIOs and CTOs being the norm, companies always try to figure out ways to commoditize us. More so than any functional group.

paul78

@datacomboss - maybe so - but I am one of those people that believe that IT in many ways is a commoditized service. I don't see that as a negative. Depending on the business, the business function is ultimately accountable and should have the ownership and power.

@N2IT - that job description looks exactly like an administrative assistance for an PMO org - just with more flowery words. You could replace some of the PM'ish words with other disciplines and it would still be an administrative assistance role. But that said - those are great roles for entry level.

datacomboss

paul78 wrote: »

@datacomboss - maybe so - but I am one of those people that believe that IT in many ways is a commoditized service. I don't see that as a negative. Depending on the business, the business function is ultimately accountable and should have the ownership and power.

Yeah, but IT is strategic to the delivery of those business functions.

paul78

@datacomboss - The same is true for most business services. The key IMO is to align with the business goal regardless of role whether IT, sales, HR, finance, etc. I look at business success as a team sport.

@N2IT -sorry about taking the thread offtopic. But I didnt think you would mind.

N2IT

Never do Paul! As far as I am concerned all my threads are open forums!