Information Systems Seminar
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Sheration Harrisburg Hershey • 4650 Lindle Rd • Harrisburg PA

Reception: Wednesday, September 14 from 6-8 pm
PAMIC and the Information Systems Committee is hosting a reception the evening before the roundtable. This is an excellent opportunity to socialize in a relaxed setting with your peers and members of the Information Services committee. Opportunities like this do not occur very often, especially for those dedicated to Information Services. Please plan to join us — you will not be disappointed!

AGENDA

7:30 am - 8:30 am
Continental Breakfast and Registration

8:30 am - 9:30 am
Keynote Address
Tom Mochal, PMP, PgMP, TS, PM, ITB, MC, President, Ten Steps
Tom will speak on the importance of Project Management, associated roles and responsibilities, why projects fail, and the struggles and pitfalls in establishing a successful Project Management culture. TenStep, Inc. specializes in consulting and training in business methodologies. They help organizations implement their goals and strategies through the successful execution of projects. This includes successfully implementing solid project management practices, setting up and running Project Management Offices (PMOs), and establishing portfolio management processes.

9:30 am - 10:30 am
The SDLC: A Recipe for Project Success
Dean Kimball and Traci Ducceschi, Project Managers in the IT Division at Penn National Insurance Co.
Projects fail for many reasons. As projects become larger and more complex, it becomes more important to follow a defined set of project
management guidelines to keep them on track. Learn about the Systems Development Lifecycle and how it can make the difference in the ultimate success of a project. Reasons that projects fail will be reviewed along with the techniques that can be employed to increase success. The Waterfall and Agile project methodologies - two of the most popular project methodologies utilized in the SDLC today - will be compared to help in the selection for different types of projects in different environments.

10:30 am - 10:45 am : Break

10:45 am - 11:45 am
Vendor Management
Peter Kraynak, Insurance724
This session will provide a Best Practices approach to vendor management in your pursuit of effective IT systems as a middle-market property and casualty insurance carrier. We will cover the most effective way to work with vendors during your system evaluation and selection phase, how that sets you up for proper preparation and negotiation of your vendor contracts, as well as a guide to conduct on-going vendor management for success. It will also include a pragmatic approach to putting together your budget, the Do’s and Don’ts of Off-Shore Management, and the top 5 Project Management techniques/tools to optimize your implementation and maintenance process.

11:45 am - 12:50 pm : Lunch

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Formalized Project Management—Mutual Benefit’s Ongoing Journey
John Noey, Project Leader and Jeff Smeltzer, Systems Architect, Mutual Benefit Group
Two Project Management Professionals (PMPs) certified through the Project Management Institute (PMI) will present Mutual Benefit Group’s journey from an ad hoc process to a more formalized, and accepted, project management methodology. The session will include valuable lessons learned along the way to getting Corporate, Management and User commitment to formalized project management processes and activities, including user requirements, risk assessment, communication plans, critical item reviews, and formal celebration/closure. They will share MBG’s Project Portfolio Management and IT Governance disciplines with respect to Project Management.

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm
Project Management Panel Discussion
Melissa Farber, Project Leader/IT Business Systems Analyst, Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company
Kurt Bauder, Project Manager/Senior Business Consultant, Weidenhammer Systems Corporation
Jeff Smeltzer, Systems Architect, Mutual Benefit Group
Traci Ducceschi, Project Manager, IT Division, Penn National Insurance
James Aberant, Scheduling Manager, Henkels & McCoy
After listening to our Keynote speaker, Tom Mochal, and three sessions on various aspects of project management, attendees have the opportunity to ask questions of a group of panelists who work within project management areas of their given companies. The floor will be open for discussion on real world project management issues and concerns. Ask our panelists about their experiences, their do’s and don’ts, and best practices.

2:45 pm - 3:00 pm : Break

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Roundtable Discussion
As part of the conference, we are planning a roundtable discussion. This is a great opportunity to talk openly and frankly about topics that are of interest to the majority of the group. We will begin the roundtable with introductions and then proceed to open up the discussion to topics that you think would be of interest. We are asking you to please feel free to send any topics that you would like to discuss in the roundtable session. We will then summarize and prioritize these based on your input. There is space on the registration portion of this flier to add your roundtable topic.

REGISTRATION FEE

$125 Members / $150 Non-members

REGISTRATION DEADLINE

September 8, 2011

CANCELLATION POLICY

A full refund for this seminar will be given if a cancellation notice is received on or before September 6, 2011 minus a $25 processing fee. Cancellations received after this date will not be eligible for a refund.

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