AI for Project Management

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming a practical assistant for project managers, rather than replacing the project manager, AI can automate repetitive administrative activities, analyze large amounts of project information, generate project documentation, identify patterns and risks, and provide information in a form that is easier for project teams and stakeholders to understand.

A project manager can therefore use AI throughout the project life cycle—from stakeholder communication and team development to requirements management, planning, delivery, measurement and risk management.

The objective of this article is to demonstrate how commonly available AI and automation tools can be combined into practical project-management workflows. The approach follows the eight Project Management Performance Domains and focuses on using AI to reduce administrative workload while allowing the project manager to spend more time on leadership, decision-making, stakeholder management and strategic activities.

The key principle is:

Project Information → AI Processing → Analysis / Automation → Management Insight → Human Decision → Project Action

AI-generated information should be treated as decision-support material rather than automatically accepted as fact. Project managers remain responsible for validating information, protecting confidential project data, obtaining stakeholder approval and making the final management decisions.

The following document will describe how AI tools can be applied to eight project management performance domains, as shown in the figure below.

1. Stakeholder Performance Domain

AI-Assisted Daily Meeting Summarisation

Effective stakeholder communication is one of the most important responsibilities of a project manager. Project meetings can generate a significant amount of information, including decisions, questions, concerns, commitments and follow-up actions. Manually converting meeting discussions into formal minutes and action lists can be time-consuming.

AI can assist by automatically converting meeting information into a structured summary. A typical workflow can use Make.com as the automation platform. Make.com can connect different applications and services together and transfer information automatically between them.

How the AI workflow works

A typical daily meeting workflow can be structured as:

Meeting → Meeting Transcript / Notes → AI Summary → Decisions → Action Items → Responsible Person → Due Date → Follow-up

The meeting transcript or meeting notes are supplied to the AI workflow. The AI analyses the content and identifies the key information.

The output can include:

  • Meeting summary
  • Important discussion points
  • Decisions made
  • Outstanding issues
  • Action items
  • Assigned owners
  • Target completion dates
  • Issues requiring escalation
  • Follow-up topics for the next meeting

Make.com can then automate the movement of this information into another application, such as an email, spreadsheet, task-management system or project workspace.

Benefits to the Project Manager

This approach reduces the administrative effort required after meetings and creates a more consistent record of project decisions and actions. It can also reduce the possibility that important actions are forgotten because they were discussed verbally but never formally recorded.

The project manager should nevertheless review the AI-generated meeting summary before distributing it to stakeholders, particularly when the meeting contains sensitive information, contractual commitments or decisions with significant project consequences.

2. Team Performance Domain

Team Skills Gap Identification and Custom Development Plan

The Team Performance Domain focuses on the people required to deliver the project successfully. A project manager needs to understand not only who is available, but also the collective skills, experience and capability of the project team.

AI can help transform individual team information into a structured skills analysis and development plan.

Claude for Skills Analysis

Claude can be used to create a structured project-management skills template. For example, the project manager can ask Claude to create a spreadsheet containing fields such as:

  • Team member
  • Current role
  • Technical skills
  • Project-management skills
  • Industry experience
  • Years of experience
  • Skill level
  • Relevant certifications
  • Development requirements
  • Training priority

Once the template has been created, relevant information can be populated for each team member.

The original workflow also identifies a LinkedIn Profile Scraper as a method for extracting publicly available professional skill information. This information can then be incorporated into the team’s skills dataset.

Identifying the Team Skills Gap

After the information has been collected, AI can compare the required project capabilities with the team’s existing skills.

For example:

Required Project Skills
→ ERP implementation
→ Data analysis
→ Project planning
→ Software testing
→ Change management

Existing Team Skills
→ ERP: Strong
→ Data analysis: Intermediate
→ Project planning: Strong
→ Software testing: Limited
→ Change management: Limited

AI can then identify the potential gaps and suggest development activities.

Custom Development Plan

For example, a development plan can include:

Team MemberSkill GapDevelopment ActivityPriorityTarget Date
Member AData AnalysisPower BI trainingHighMonth 1
Member BTestingSoftware testing workshopMediumMonth 2
Member CChange ManagementChange-management coachingHighMonth 1

AI can also create an interactive visualisation showing the team’s collective skills and experience. This gives the project manager a high-level view of the team’s capability and areas requiring attention.

Important Consideration

Information obtained from professional profiles should be handled carefully and in accordance with applicable privacy, employment and organisational policies. The AI output should support—not replace—the project manager’s assessment of an individual’s actual capability.

3. Development Approach and Life Cycle Performance Domain

AI-Assisted Requirements Management and Traceability

Requirements management is particularly important in software and technology projects. A project may contain hundreds of requirements distributed across business documents, specifications, meeting notes, user stories and technical documents.

AI can help the project manager convert this unstructured information into a structured requirements management process.

Step 1 – Extract Requirements with ChatGPT

The project manager can upload the relevant project documents to ChatGPT and ask the AI to identify the requirements.

For example:

“Review the attached project documents and create a complete list of functional and non-functional requirements. Assign a unique requirement ID and identify the source document, requirement description and priority.”

The AI can organise the information into a structured requirements table.

Possible fields include:

  • Requirement ID
  • Requirement description
  • Requirement type
  • Source
  • Stakeholder
  • Priority
  • Acceptance criteria
  • Status

The project manager should then review and validate the extracted requirements with the appropriate stakeholders.

Step 2 – Requirements Traceability Matrix

PMI Infinity can provide a workflow to identify as a tool for producing a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM).

A requirements traceability matrix establishes relationships between requirements and the activities required to deliver and verify them.

A simplified structure might be:

Requirement → Design → Development → Test Case → Test Result → Acceptance

This allows the project manager to determine whether every important requirement has been addressed.

Step 3 – Generate Test Cases with ChatGPT

Once requirements have been identified, ChatGPT can help generate preliminary test cases.

For example:

“Write a test case for Requirement R001. Include test objective, preconditions, test data, test steps, expected result and pass/fail criteria.”

AI can generate a structured test case that can subsequently be reviewed by the testing team.

Step 4 – Verify Requirements Against Test Cases

The project manager can ask ChatGPT to compare the test cases with the requirements matrix.

The AI can identify:

  • Requirements without test cases
  • Test cases without corresponding requirements
  • Potentially duplicated tests
  • Requirements with insufficient test coverage
  • Missing acceptance criteria

Step 5 – Claude Dashboard

The resulting requirements and test-case data can be provided to Claude to create a dashboard-style visualisation.

The dashboard can display:

  • Total requirements
  • Requirements by priority
  • Requirements completed
  • Requirements outstanding
  • Test cases completed
  • Test cases failed
  • Requirements without test coverage
  • Overall traceability status

Claude can also provide a shareable dashboard so that project stakeholders can review the information more easily.

The overall workflow is:

Project Documents → ChatGPT → Requirements → RTM → Test Cases → Verification → Claude Dashboard → Stakeholder Review

AI can significantly reduce the administrative effort involved in requirements analysis, but requirements and test cases should always be validated by appropriate business and technical experts.

4. Planning Performance Domain

Specialised Industry Automated Knowledge Feed

Project planning does not occur in isolation. Changes in technology, regulations, competitors, suppliers, market conditions and industry practices can affect project assumptions and decisions.

An automated industry knowledge feed can help the project manager continuously monitor external information.

Make.com Automation

Make.com can be used to create an automated information-collection workflow.

The process can be:

Industry Sources → RSS Feed → Make.com → Information Collection → AI Processing → Project Manager

RSS feeds can be obtained from sources such as:

  • Google search/RSS sources
  • Feedspot
  • Feedly
  • Industry publications
  • Specialist news sources

The project manager selects topics relevant to the project—for example:

  • Manufacturing technology
  • ERP systems
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Regulatory changes
  • Supply-chain developments

The automation can periodically collect new information and deliver it to a central location.

AI can then be used to summarise the information and highlight items that may affect the project.

Example

Instead of manually checking ten industry websites every morning, an automated workflow can collect new articles and produce a short daily briefing:

New Industry Information
→ AI Summary
→ Potential Project Impact
→ Recommended Action
→ Project Manager Review

This turns external information into a continuous source of project intelligence.

5. Project Work Performance Domain

AI-Assisted Project Presentation Development

Project managers frequently need to transform large amounts of project information into presentations for management, sponsors, customers and project teams.

AI can accelerate this process by separating the activities of information analysis, content creation, presentation design and feedback management.

Step 1 – Analyse Project Documents with ChatGPT

The project manager can attach relevant requirements or project documents to ChatGPT and ask it to identify the main objectives and key messages.

For example:

“Review the attached project documents and create an outline for a management presentation. Identify the project objectives, current status, key milestones, major risks, issues, achievements and next steps.”

ChatGPT can convert detailed documentation into a logical presentation structure.

Step 2 – Create the Presentation with Gamma

The resulting outline can be transferred to Gamma, which can transform the content into a presentation deck.

A typical structure could be:

  1. Project Overview
  2. Business Objectives
  3. Scope
  4. Key Requirements
  5. Project Timeline
  6. Current Progress
  7. Risks and Issues
  8. Financial / Resource Position
  9. Next Steps
  10. Management Decisions Required

Gamma can help turn the structured content into a visually organised presentation.

Step 3 – Collect and Process Feedback

After stakeholders review the presentation, their feedback can be collected and provided to ChatGPT.

ChatGPT can convert unstructured feedback into a checklist:

FeedbackRequired ActionOwnerPriorityStatus
Add project milestone chartUpdate slide 5PMHighOpen
Clarify project riskRevise slide 7PMHighOpen
Add resource informationUpdate slide 8PMOMediumOpen

The revised checklist can then be used to update the Gamma presentation.

Step 4 – Multilingual Presentation

AI can also assist with producing presentations in multiple languages. The project manager can translate the approved presentation content while preserving the structure and key messages.

This is particularly useful for international project teams and multinational organisations.

The complete workflow becomes:

Project Documents → ChatGPT → Presentation Outline → Gamma → Stakeholder Feedback → ChatGPT Checklist → Gamma Revision → Multilingual Presentation

6. Delivery Performance Domain

AI-Assisted Data Cleaning and Analysis

During project delivery, project managers often receive information from different sources and in inconsistent formats. Expense records, invoices, spreadsheets and transaction information may require cleaning before they can be analyzed.

Expensify, Alteryx and Excel AI can be used as tools that can contribute to this process.

Example – Expense Data

An expense process may begin with receipts or expense slips.

The information can be:

Expense Slips → Data Extraction → CSV → Data Cleaning → Analysis → Project Expense Report

For example, the dataset may contain:

  • Employee
  • Date
  • Expense category
  • Supplier
  • Amount
  • Currency
  • Project code
  • Approval status

AI-assisted analysis can help identify:

  • Missing information
  • Duplicate transactions
  • Incorrect formats
  • Unusual expenses
  • Inconsistent categories
  • Data-entry errors

Alteryx

Alteryx can be used as a data-preparation and workflow platform for combining, transforming and analysing data.

A project team can build a repeatable data-cleaning workflow so that the same process can be applied whenever new data arrives.

Excel AI

AI capabilities within Excel can assist with analysing structured project data and identifying patterns or anomalies.

For example, a project manager could analyse monthly project expenditure and ask questions such as:

  • Which expense category has increased most?
  • Which project phase has the highest expenditure?
  • Are there unusual transactions?
  • What is the trend in monthly spending?

The objective is to move from manually processing raw data toward a repeatable data → information → insight process.

Expensify                                Alteryx                              Excel AI

e.g. extract expense slips data      input .csv for clean         – Analyze Data

7. Measurement Performance Domain

AI-Assisted Project Performance Measurement and Management

The Measurement Performance Domain focuses on understanding project performance and using information to support management decisions.

AI can assist the project manager with project documentation, action tracking, reporting and performance communication.

Microsoft Copilot – Project Charter

The project manager can use Microsoft Copilot workflow to create a project charter, for example, providing the available project information and use a prompt such as:

“I am a project manager and I have recently been assigned to a new project. Review the attached project information and create a project charter.”

The AI can organise the information into sections such as:

  • Project purpose
  • Business objectives
  • Scope
  • Major deliverables
  • Stakeholders
  • Roles and responsibilities
  • Timeline
  • Key milestones
  • Assumptions
  • Constraints
  • Risks
  • Success criteria

For the example Legacy Employee Onboarding Software Replacement project, Copilot can be asked to finalise the charter and include the timeline, key milestones and responsibilities.

Action Items

Copilot can also help identify action items from project information.

A structured action list might include:

ActionOwnerPriorityDue DateStatus
Confirm requirementsBusiness LeadHigh10 SepOpen
Complete system designTechnical LeadHigh20 SepIn Progress
Prepare test environmentIT TeamMedium25 SepOpen

This makes project information easier to monitor.

Copilot for Presentations

Once the project charter and performance information have been prepared, Copilot can assist in creating PowerPoint presentation content for management reporting.

The project manager can use the presentation to communicate:

  • Project status
  • Milestones
  • Deliverables
  • Issues
  • Risks
  • Decisions required
  • Next steps

Microsoft Loop – Project Workspace

Microsoft Loop can be used to create a collaborative project workspace.

A project workspace can contain:

  • Project documentation
  • Task lists
  • Project plans
  • Meeting information
  • Action items
  • Project notes
  • Communication information

The workflow is described as:

Loop Workspace → Project Folder → Project Files → Task List → Project Plan → Whiteboard → Teams → OneDrive

Microsoft Whiteboard

Whiteboard can be used to create a communication plan in a visual or tabular format.

For example:

StakeholderInformation RequiredCommunication MethodFrequencyOwner
SponsorProject statusPresentationMonthlyPM
Project TeamTasks / IssuesTeamsWeeklyPM
CustomerMilestonesMeetingBi-weeklyPM

Microsoft Teams

Teams can provide the communication environment for the project team.

It can support:

  • Team discussions
  • Meetings
  • File sharing
  • Project announcements
  • Collaboration
  • Follow-up communication

OneDrive

OneDrive can be used as the central document-storage location for project files.

A structured project folder might contain:

01 Project Charter
02 Requirements
03 Project Plan
04 Meeting Minutes
05 Risks and Issues
06 Reports
07 Testing
08 Project Closure

Project Closure and Lessons Learned

At the end of the project, AI can help the project manager organise project information into a closure report.

Possible sections include:

  • Project objectives achieved
  • Deliverables completed
  • Outstanding items
  • Schedule performance
  • Budget performance
  • Quality performance
  • Major issues
  • Risk outcomes
  • Stakeholder feedback
  • Lessons learned
  • Recommendations for future projects

The lessons-learned information can then become organisational knowledge for future projects.

8. Uncertainty Performance Domain

AI-Assisted Project Data Synthesis and Dynamic Risk Dashboard

Projects operate in conditions of uncertainty. Risks, assumptions, issues, changing requirements, resource constraints and external events can all affect project outcomes.

AI can help project managers combine information from multiple sources and transform it into a more useful risk-management view.

Step 1 – Gather Project Data

The first step is to collect appropriate project information, such as:

  • Risk register
  • Issue log
  • Project schedule
  • Budget information
  • Requirements
  • Meeting minutes
  • Progress reports
  • Stakeholder feedback
  • External industry information

Step 2 – Clean and Prepare the Data

The original workflow proposes using ChatGPT and Claude to help prepare and synthesise project data.

The AI can assist in:

  • Standardising terminology
  • Removing duplicate information
  • Categorising risks
  • Summarising issues
  • Identifying relationships between risks and project activities
  • Preparing structured datasets

The project manager should verify the data before using it for management decisions.

Step 3 – Create a Dynamic Risk Dashboard

The cleaned data can then be used to create an HTML-based dashboard.

Using HTML and Canvas can create the dashboard. For example, a risk dashboard could contain:

Overall Risk Status

  • Number of open risks
  • Number of high risks
  • Number of medium risks
  • Number of low risks
  • Risks increasing in severity
  • Risks requiring immediate action

It could also provide visual information such as:

  • Risk matrix
  • Risk trend
  • Risk category
  • Risk owner
  • Risk response status
  • Open versus closed risks

A dynamic dashboard has an advantage over a static report because the underlying data can be updated and the visual presentation can reflect the latest information.

Step 4 – Automated Project Reporting

The final stage of the workflow uses ChatGPT with Google Apps Script to automate email distribution.

A possible process is:

Project Data → AI Analysis → Risk Dashboard → PDF Report → Google Drive → Apps Script → Automated Email

The project manager can prepare a PDF report and store it in Google Drive. Google Apps Script can then automate an email containing the report as an attachment or provide access to the relevant report.

This can create a recurring reporting process without requiring the project manager to manually prepare and distribute every report.

Example Automated Risk Reporting Cycle

Daily / Weekly

  1. Collect latest project information.
  2. Update the project dataset.
  3. Clean and prepare the data.
  4. Analyse risks and issues with AI.
  5. Update the dashboard.
  6. Generate the project report.
  7. Produce PDF output.
  8. Store the report in Google Drive.
  9. Automatically distribute the report.
  10. Project manager reviews significant changes and takes appropriate action.

The key benefit is that AI and automation can reduce the time spent preparing reports, allowing the project manager to focus on interpreting the information and managing the underlying risks.

Conclusion

From AI Tools to an AI-Assisted Project Management Workflow

The examples in this document demonstrate that AI can be applied throughout the project management life cycle rather than being limited to generating text.

The eight Project Performance Domains provide a useful framework for identifying where AI can support project-management activities:

Project Management DomainAI / Technology ApplicationPrimary Benefit
StakeholderMeeting summarisation + Make.comReduce communication administration
TeamClaude + skills analysisIdentify skills gaps
Development Approach & Life CycleChatGPT + PMI Infinity + ClaudeRequirements traceability and testing
PlanningMake.com + RSS feedsAutomated industry intelligence
Project WorkChatGPT + GammaFaster presentation development
DeliveryExpensify + Alteryx + Excel AIData preparation and analysis
MeasurementCopilot + Loop + Teams + OneDrivePerformance management and collaboration
UncertaintyChatGPT + Claude + HTML/Canvas + Apps ScriptRisk analysis and automated reporting

The greatest value of AI in project management is not simply the ability to generate documents. Its greater potential comes from connecting AI tools together into repeatable workflows.

For example:

Capture Information → Clean Data → Analyse Information → Generate Insight → Visualise Results → Communicate → Automate Follow-up

This approach can transform the project manager’s role from spending excessive time on administrative work toward spending more time on leadership, stakeholder engagement, problem solving, risk management and strategic decision-making.

However, AI should remain an assistant to the project manager. Human judgement is still essential for validating requirements, interpreting project information, assessing risks, managing stakeholders and making decisions. Confidential project information should also only be provided to AI services in accordance with the organisation’s information-security and data-protection policies.

The objective is therefore not “AI replaces the Project Manager”, but:

“AI augments the Project Manager.”

By combining project-management expertise with AI, automation, data analysis and visualisation, project managers can create a more efficient, data-driven and responsive project-management environment.

ITPM Training Material

IT project management (ITPM) is the process of managing the plan, organization, and accountability to achieve information technology goals. Since the reach of IT spans across most of a business or enterprise, the scope of these projects can be large and complex. The magnitude of IT project management often means that it’s more than just applying knowledge, aligning skills, and using regular tools and techniques to drive a project to completion. In this page, we will introduce you the ITPM Process (traditional and scrum) and Methodology.

Questionnaire of Telecom and Multi-party Conference Requirement

In order to select an appropriate telecom and multi-party conference requirement, first thing first, we have better collect user opinion about those, so we ask users to fill-in the following questionarie as a survey.

Section 1. one-on-one phone audio call

For example:china-telecom-phone

Item Question Answer (yes/no) Remark and your comment
1.1 In PRC, do we require a phone audio call to communicate between internal phones ? I think it is essential.
1.2 In PRC, do we require a phone audio call to communicate with external China phone/mobile ? I think it is essential.
1.3 In PRC, do we require a phone audio call to communicate with external IDD phone/mobile ? I think it is essential.

 

Section 2. instant messaging feature

For example:wechat-pict

Item Question Answer (yes/no) Remark and your comment
2.1 In PRC, do we require instant messaging software (as similar as wechat, QQ) between our internal user communication ? Currently, “wechat” is widely used by many people in China.
2.2 In PRC, do we require instant messaging software (as similar as wechat, QQ) to transfer file between our internal user ? Currently, “wechat” is widely used by many people in China.
2.3 In PRC, do we require instant messaging software to use or to connect to external third party instant message software (e.g. wechat) ? Currently, “wechat” is widely used by many people in China.

 

Section 3. one-on-one phone video call

For example:video-conf-phone

Item Question Answer (yes/no) Remark and your comment
3.1 In PRC, do we require phone video call to communicate between internal phones ? Not a popular function
3.2 In PRC, do we require a phone video call to communicate with external phone/mobile or other external video communication system ? Not a popular function

 

Section 4. audio conf of multi-party (e.g. someone hold a dial-in meeting and allow others to call-in)

For example,voip-phone

Item Question Answer (yes/no) Remark and your comment
4.1 In PRC, do we require an audio conf system setup for usage between HK/PRC conf rooms ? I think it is essential.
4.2 In PRC, do we require an audio conf feature setup in each office phone, or who need it ? I think it is essential.
4.3 In PRC, do we require toll free service to allow external parties to call in for joining conference meeting ? Who need it ? Where will be the calling party from ? Can setup toll free service.
4.4 In PRC, do we require an audio conf software (other than using phone) to call to external third party audio conf system (e.g Skype) ? Not a popular function

 

Section 5. video conf of multi-party communication

For example:vc-device

Item Question Answer (yes/no) Remark and your comment
5.1 In PRC, do we require an video conf system setup for usage between sites,  or, connect to external party’s video conf system ? Can setup Video Conf system between sites, and its quality depends on site to site network performance (such as MPLS).
5.2 In PRC, do we require an video conf system setup to connect to external party’s video conf system ? Not a popular function
5.3 In PRC, do we require an video conf feature setup in each office phone, or who need it ? Not a popular function
5.4 In PRC, do we require an video conf software (other than using VC device) to call to external third party audio conf system (e.g Skype) ? Not a popular function

Comparison between Skype free and business version

Introduction

I did some research on “Skype for Business” and compared it against “Skype free version”.  To summarize, “Skype free version” is great for small group of users. “Skype free version” is free to use (good to support up to 25 users in small organization), unless you want to buy credit to make calls to landlines and mobiles. On the other hands, there are three main benefits to use ”Skype for Business” as compare to “Skype free version”:

  1. It is better integration with Office 365  (referring to appendix 1 for detail)
  2. It has security control over your company’s communications (referring to appendix 2 for detail)
  3. It can be used to hold large meetings (up to 250 people).  (referring to appendix 3 for detail)

“Skype for Business” lets clients add up to 250 people to online meetings, provides enterprise-grade security, allows to manage employee accounts, and is integrated into Office apps. Its usage is no additional cost for “Office 365 Business Premium”.

Appendix 1.  You Can Use “Skype for Business” with Office Apps

One of the big advantages of Skype for Business is that it integrates well with Office 365. Skype for Business allows you to send Instant Messages or start a voice or video call directly from a Word or PowerPoint document. You can schedule meetings from within Outlook, present documents, share your screen and even grant permission for someone else to control your desktop remotely. Skype for Business is sold with Office 365 plans for small business, such as our Office 365 Business Premium.

Appendix 2.  “Skype for Business” Has Added Security Features

Skype for Business is designed for companies, not consumers. An administrator can assign Skype permissions. For example, this version of Skype could decide that only salespeople could use it to make international calls instead of leaving the option wide open to the entire staff. The administrator can also deny access to a person who leaves the company to work somewhere else. This allows the company to maintain control over its confidential documents and communications.

Appendix 3.  “Skype for Business” is Better for Large Meetings

 If you’ve used the consumer version of Skype for business meetings, you’ve probably noticed that you can’t have more than 25 people on a conference call. That’s fine if you’re running a small meeting. But, try getting 100 people together for a company-wide webinar and it’s a different story. When you use Skype for Business, you can invite up to 250 people to a meeting. This means it’s a lot easier for you to conduct large-scale presentations or big conferences. And your participants don’t have to be on Skype for Business to participate. All they need is an internet connection and a browser.

Appendix 4. More featured on “Skype for Business”

If you have already purchased the Office 365 Business Premium plan, here are the add-on licenses to get more Skype for Business features.

To add this feature Here’s what you need to buy
Audio Conferencing
Buy 1 Audio Conferencing license for each person who is going to schedule or host a dial-in meeting. Attendees do not need licenses.
Audio Conferencing add-on
Once you buy the license, Microsoft will be your audio conferencing provider.
Toll-free numbers for dial-in access to your conferences, and the ability to dial out from a conference to add someone by calling any telephone number in the world Communications Credits
Phone System 1. Switch to a different Office 365 for business plan. If you have Office 365 ProPlus, or Skype for Business Online Plan 2 we recommend upgrading your plan to an Enterprise E5 plan to get cloud voice features. If you upgrade to an Enterprise E1 or E3 plan, you’ll see the option to buy the Phone Systemadd-on.
2. Phone System add-on
3. Calling Plans: buy a Calling Plan from Office 365.
Or, use the telephone service from your existing provider.
Calling Plans 1. Switch to a different Office 365 for business plan.
2. Phone System add-on
3. Calling Plan: you can only buy this after you buy the Phone System add-on.

Benefit of Cloud Computing

We all know that Cloud computing delivers servers, storage, database, network, software and more over the Internet. But WHY are so many business moving to the Cloud?

It’s because Cloud computing is providing the following 10 benefits to you and your company.

1. Flexibility 6. Work from anywhere
2. Disaster recovery 7. Document control
3. Automatic software updates 8. Security
4. Capital-expenditure Free 9. Competitiveness
5. Increased collaboration 10. Environmentally friendly

Most importantly, one of the key missions for adopting Cloud computing is to create the best digital experiences for our customers by providing the best and latest app to your target audiences, no matter for external and internal parties.

For more information about benefit of Cloud computing, please feel free to download our whitepaper “10 Benefits of Cloud computing By ICG Academy”.

Recommend Computer Room Temperature

What temperature is right?

tempatureGeneral recommendations suggest that you should not go below 10°C (50°F) or above 28°C (82°F). Although this seems a wide range these are the extremes and it is far more common to keep the ambient temperature around 20-21°C (68-71°F). For a variety of reasons this can sometimes be a tall order.

How do you maintain the right temperature?

Purpose built server rooms are well insulated for fire precaution reasons and air conditioning is essential. In many companies however the maintenance of the air conditioning is separate from the running of the servers. If the air conditioning fails you might not be the first to know. You may even be the last.

Even if everything is working the temperature may fluctuate during the day, from season to season, and there is always the possibility of localized hot-spots around equipment giving off lots of heat.

Don’t be tempted to think that just because you have an air conditioning unit that is up to the job that you are safe. People working in the server room sometimes switch the air conditioning off and forget to turn it on again. Sometimes they leave doors open. Servers run hotter at some times of the day than at others, air conditioning systems sometimes run at lower power at night etc.

What if it’s night time, your air conditioning is running at low power, and your webserver suddenly starts to work hard because the west coast has woken up? Now your machine heats up and your air conditioning can’t cool it enough. Exactly this scenario has been know to happen. Many intermittent faults and slow downs can be traced to overheating.

Replacing old equipment can introduce a new set of problems. Newer machines run faster and often run hotter as well, increasing the burden on the air conditioning systems even more. If you’ve recently introduced new servers or modern switches, it might be time to examining your air conditioning unit to make sure it can still keep up.

Another thing to look out for is the scenario where you turn up the air conditioning unit during the day, in order to ensure the right environment in your server room, but then don’t switch it down during the night or weekends. During the day there might be a lot of activity into and out of the server room. The server room door being opened all of the time lets warmer air into the server room thus necessitating the air conditioning system to be turned up high. At night and at the weekend, without the same level of activity, you may be running up large energy bills for no reason.

How are you going to monitor the temperature?

You need to monitor the temperature in your server room all of the time, especially at night and weekends when nobody is around. A number of systems are available for this purpose, the Temperature Monitor range from OPENXTRA offer good products at reasonable prices. You need to measure temperatures at different points in the room to get an idea of where the hot spots might be. You need temperature measurement to be automated and reliable, so a network attached device is ideal. The device must support alarms, via a number of different methods like email or SMS. You should be able to set the system up and then be alerted when something is wrong.

Information Source: https://www.openxtra.co.uk/kb/environment-monitoring/recommended-server-room-temperature.html

Introduction of ITIL v3 Framework

WHAT IS ITIL?

ITIL is the most widely adopted approach for IT Service Management in the world. It provides a practical, no-nonsense framework for identifying, planning, delivering and supporting IT services to the business.

ITIL3

ITIL: OVERVIEW AND BENEFITS

ITIL advocates that IT services must be aligned to the needs of the business and underpin the core business processes. It provides guidance to organizations on how to use IT as a tool to facilitate business change, transformation and growth.

The ITIL best practices are currently detailed within five core publications which provide a systematic and professional approach to the management of IT services, enabling organizations to deliver appropriate services and continually ensure they are meeting business goals and delivering benefits.

The five core guides map the entire ITIL Service Lifecycle, beginning with the identification of customer needs and drivers of IT requirements, through to the design and implementation of the service into operation and finally, on to the monitoring and improvement phase of the service.

Adopting ITIL can offer users a huge range of benefits that include:

  • improved IT services
  • reduced costs
  • improved customer satisfaction through a more professional approach to service delivery
  • improved productivity
  • improved use of skills and experience
  • improved delivery of third party service.

ITIL USERS

ITIL has been adopted by thousands of organizations worldwide, such as NASA, the UK National Health Service (NHS), HSBC bank and Disney™. ITIL is also supported by quality services from a wide range of providers including examination institutes, accredited training providers and consultancies, software and tool vendors and well known service providers such as IBM, Telefonica, HP and British telecom (BT).

A comprehensive qualifications scheme offering a variety of training courses and certifications has been developed against the guidance. This scheme can help organizations to effectively implement ITIL, achieving success by ensuring that employees have the relevant knowledge, skills and techniques, but most importantly, ensuring the entire organization is using a common language and are fully invested in the process.

ITIL Best Practices also underpin the foundations of ISO/IEC 20000 (previously BS15000), the International Service Management Standard for organizational certification and compliance. Organizations can therefore implement ITIL to achieve organizational certification.

Common Feature of IT Service Management tool

Common Feature of IT Service Management Tool as below:

  • Fully configurable CMDB
  • HelpDesk and Incident Management
  • Service and Contract Management
  • Change Management
  • Configuration Management
  • Automatic SLA management
  • Automatic impact analysis
  • CSV import tool for all data
  • Consistency audit to check data quality
  • Data synchronization (data federation)

IT Routine Work Highlight

IT Routine Work

  • Check Daily Backup
  • Perform Monthly Backup for permanent storage at least 3 years
  • Check the archive and life email client database (.pst file which should not bigger too big, especially outlook 2003 or lower version .pst file should not larger than 2G size)
  • Perform Monthly Email Archive in outlook server
  • Check Backup of ERP system, and clean-up log file if necessary
  • Handle ERP, HR, Email, Share File System, CCTV, Printer, network and phone line routine support
  • Backup machine O/S, VMWare Machine Databases at least quarterly
  • Perform Off-Site Backup Storage
  • Reboot servers at least quarterly
  • New Staff computer preparation for email account creation, share-drive access right, printer, door access card, phone
  • Staff Exist Preparation for email transfer/deletion, backup computer data
  • Handle Ad-Hoc IT project

IT Critical Document:

  • password list
  • Inventory list
  • Internet/External Support contact list