Fulcrum Business Solutions, a leading solution provider for Microsoft Enterprise Project Management, attributes a large degree of its successful implementations to a commitment to methodologies that balance organisational needs, people and technology.
People are in fact the fulcrum (fulcrum: is defined as a "leverage point") of the company`s business, proven by the fact that it employs two of the three Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) in SA, with specific qualification in the Planning, Deploying and Managing Enterprise Project Management Solutions Exam (MCP 70-281).
"In fact, at the time of writing, Fulcrum is the only organisation in SA that has TWO certified MCPs for EPM," stressed Dries van der Colff, one of the successful candidates to complete the certification.
Microsoft Certified Professionals stand apart from other IT personnel through their demonstrated expertise with Microsoft products and platforms to colleagues, employers and - most importantly - to themselves.
Our investment in training and certification ensures the broadest possible understanding of building robust, customer-centric solutions.
Nico Oosthuysen, EPM architect
An independent study, conducted by Burlington in 2003, found that companies with at least 25% of their staff holding Microsoft certifications experienced:
* 15% increase in projects deployed on time and on budget
* 17% decrease in spend on ad-hoc external IT support
* 18% decrease in frequency of downtime
* 14% increase in IT end-user satisfaction
This certification exam measures your ability to plan, deploy and manage Project Server in an enterprise project management solution.
Successful completion of the Planning, Deploying and Managing Enterprise Project Management Solutions Exam, shows that the MCP has the skills to:
* Plan an enterprise project management solution deployment
* Planning includes security of the solution, capacity for the EPM server infrastructure, distribution of servers, client deployment, integration with the existing environment and a migration or upgrade plan.
* Implementing an EPM solution
* Define the EPM solution deployment, implement the Project Server supporting components, configure the distributed Project Server environments, install Project Server, implement customisation components and configure the client computers.
* Configuring an EPM solution
* Configure the Enterprise Global Template, create the Enterprise Resource Pool, configure Project Server security, configure Administrative Options, configure Administrative Settings and Views, modify organisation-specific options and migrate project data.
* Creating a management and operations plan for the EPM solution
* Create policies for account and resource management, create data management plan, create a Project Server monitoring and maintenance plan and create a disaster recovery plan.
* Troubleshooting Project Server
* Diagnose and resolve issues regarding connectivity and authentication and resolve installation issues.
This certification demonstrates a commitment to service excellence and a compliance with international standards.
Dries van der Colff, technical director
Dries van der Colff, Technical Director at Fulcrum and one of the two MCPs to have completed the exam, said: "Any Microsoft EPM partner should have at least one person on board who is a Certified MCP for Enterprise Project Management to demonstrate a commitment not only to service excellence but also to the fact that companies in this country should demonstrate compliance with international standards."
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The Fulcrum Group of companies is a black empowered organisation, with 40% of the group owned by Primary Capital, a black owned company headed by Lawrence Magobotla, now Chairman of the Fulcrum Board. Andre Wolmarans, founder of the group, holds the position of CEO.
The Fulcrum Group is comprised of:
Fulcrum Business Solutions - a certified Microsoft business partner focused on delivering Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solutions and other related offerings to large corporate organisations with formal project management offices, to small businesses with single project managers.
Fulcrum Solutions - focused on the delivery of highly technical and often highly confidential solutions in the military space.
In addition, Fulcrum is a certified K2.Net Workflow partner, with the skills and experience to integrate enterprise project management and workflow solutions.
Fulcrum`s mission is to extend EPM to the business management arena and deliver a spectrum of project solutions and services to obtain project excellence. The opportunity for integration of core business applications and project management services represents the next wave in the business.
Fulcrum is undoubtedly the premier EPM player in the South African market, based both on the completeness of the offering as well as the number and size of implementations to date.
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