Pmi sa newsletter jan feb 2015 issue ver2

South Africa PMI Chapter Newsletter

To All the Gauteng Branch Supporters!

May 2015 be a year for all your wishes to

come true!

In order to keep the branch growing and to

improve our service to you we have the

following changes and new appointments

for 2015:

• Karen van Deventer will be the new

events lead in charge of members

meetings for Gauteng. She is also

planning to start with a member

meeting in Pretoria.

• Taka Sande will be responsible to create

an electronic newsletter which we will

be circulating in future.

• Lynn Keeys will be handling the special

projects, and here we want to look at

project managers in the less known

fields, like the film industry and theatre.

• We will be launching an outreach

program this year. This is headed by

Louis Meier. We are still in the early

stages but we will keep you posted as

decisions are finalised.

(continued on page 2)

January/February 2015 Edition

In This Issue:• To all the Gauteng Branch Supporters 1

• Upcoming Events 1

• 33 Years In PMI SA Chapter 2

• Call for Volunteers 2

• Gauteng Branch Organogram 3

• Outreach Portfolio 3

• Port Elizabeth Branch 4

• Cape Town Branch 5

• Member Profile: Louis Meijer 6

• Chapter Contact Details 6

• Fraud And Corruption 7

• Events Lead - Karen van Deventer 7

• Project Humour 9

• Certification Dinner in Pictures 10

• Gauteng Branch Events 11

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• 19 February 2015, February Members

Meeting Johannesburg

• 14 & 15 March 2015, PMP Prep Workshop

• 17 March 2015, Gauteng Volunteer's Meeting

• 19 March 2015, March Members Meeting

Johannesburg

• 14 April 2015, Gauteng Volunteer's Meeting

• 16 April 2015, March Members Meeting

Johannesburg

(See full details on the back page)

How does a project get to be a year late? One day at a time. - Frederick Brooks

Check our web site www.pmi.org.za

This Issue is Sponsored byThis Issue is Sponsored by

To all the Gauteng Branch Supporters

(continued from page 1)

• Suneel Kumar Burra will be taking over

the Volunteers function from 2015 as

Wikus Engelbrecht will be moving into

another role.

• We have been battling in the professional

development space for quite a while to get

a worthy replacement for Gert Meiring and

I am happy to announce that we finally

convinced Jannes Haasbroek to take this

role on for us. We will be hosting PMP

Examination Preparation Workshops, our

Last Bridging Workshop, Professional

Development Days as well as a Change

Management Workshop.

• And last but not the least; Raja

Amirthalingam also joined us to improve

our marketing for PMI in South Africa.

As you can see we are planning a busy and

challenging year. If any of the items

mentioned above seems interesting to you,

feel free to contact myself or any of the other

volunteers for more information.

All the best for 2015 from the Gauteng Branch

Team!

By Annabe Jacobs, Gauteng Branch Lead

Editorial Note

An editor is a person who is in charge of and

determines the final content of a newspaper,

magazine, or multi-author book, by preparing

(written material) for publication by correcting,

condensing, or otherwise modifying it.

In matters of accuracy, we almost always defer

to the author.

By Taka Sande

PMI South Africa Chapter Newsletter, Jan/Feb 2015


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Call for Volunteers

Our chapter is seeking volunteers to help with

marketing efforts, member profiles and

articles for our newsletter, community

outreach, and other activities. PDUs are

provided.

Contact your local branch for more

information.

33 Years In PMI SA Chapter

by Carel Van Zyl, PMP

As qualified engineer I became a PMI

member in 1982, seeking more knowledge in

a discipline that was still relatively young. At

that stage I already had acted in leadership

or lesser roles such as troop leader in the

military, as corporate level PM to develop a

modern airport, design manager for a glass

container factory and a nuclear level plant. I

also complete my MBL paper in PM.


Do you have a newsletter article to

submit? Please forward to Annabe at

[email protected].

Gauteng Branch Organogram

Outreach Portfolio

Through the Branch’s outreach programme we aim to extend the visibility, reach, and influence

of the Gauteng Branch, and the SA Chapter.

The way we will do this is to engage with students and learners, and NGO’s. We will also reach

out to various business sectors that employ project management but may not necessarily be

affiliated to PMI. These sectors could include manufacture, advertising, event management, arts,

and sport, to mention but a few.

We will also actively engage with other chapters globally to share information and experiences

associated with Outreach. This will also include deepening our relationship with PMIef.

We are planning a strategic workshop during December 2014 where we aim to set both our

overarching purpose for the portfolio, but also to set out goals for 2015.


3PMI South Africa Chapter Newsletter, Jan/Feb 2015


News From Port Elizabeth Branch

The PE Branch is a just over a year old now

and going from strength to strength! Our

objective for 2015 is to expand our

member base and reach into more

industry silo’s by hosting events and

inviting interesting and experienced

speakers. 2014 saw the Chapter welcome

wonderful speakers whose topics ranged

from Ethics in Project Management to the

differences in the PMBOK editions.

Branch Meetings Information: Our 2015

calendar is to be decided upon but at last

meeting we had pegged 22 Jan 2015 for

our first Chapter meeting for 2015

Key Events: The PE Chapter will be hosting

an event open to the public where we will

present a speaker and an introduction to

who PMI.org is. The planning of this event

is in progress and is planned for Feb 2015.

Venue: Dimension Data, 2 Alan Drive (Cnr

Alan Drive & William Moffett Expressway),

Fairview, Port Elizabeth

Contact: Until further notice we will be

meeting at the below venue and RSVP’s

can be sent to [email protected]

Volunteers: PE branch has four volunteers.

There is still room for more volunteers and

new ideas.

By Janine Pearton

General Manager

BTech IT | CAPM | ITIL | PMI.org PE

Chapter Lead

Map of Port Elizabeth

by Tsunami Studios



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People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. - Thomas Sowell

A Couple at the 2014 Certification Dinner

(See Page 10 for more pictures)

Do you want to sponsor our next

Newsletter? Please contact Annabe for

conditions at [email protected].

News From Cape Town Branch

We are still at infant stage at the Cape

Town branch and do not have a lot of

information to submit.

We had our first meeting on the 27th of

November which was a pre-launch

familiarisation with PMI SA, associated

chapters and a discussion on the outlook

for 2015.

Our CT portfolio is made up of only me at

the moment but we have had interest from

a couple of Capetonians to volunteer so

we will be able to make up an organisation

chart and biography's after the pre-launch.

Branch Meetings Information - Cape Town

Chapter Official branch Launch on January

27th 2015. Opening Erik Barnard Speaker

Lee Roy Chetty Topic: Inter-generational

equity in the South African Mineral and

Resources Industry

Key Events – Next meeting scheduled for

the each second month from January 2015

depending on attendance and feedback.

Contact: Erik at [email protected]

By Erik Barnard

Outreach Portfolio (continued from page 3)

Without pre-empting the outcome of this

workshop, the underlying primary driver for the

leadership of this portfolio is broadly to train,

mentor and empower individuals at student and

learner level, but also to add value through

project management application to the activities

of NGO’s, whose causes PMI and its local chapter

support.

The Outreach team will work closely with other

areas of Branch activity. These include special

projects, professional development, marketing

and communication (newsletter).

If you are interested in the work of this portfolio,

we encourage you to volunteer to become

involved in this worthy cause. We would also

welcome motivations for involvement of the

portfolio with particular NGO’s.

If you are interested, we encourage you to

become involved soon so that you can

participate in the strategic workshop and plan

the activities for 2015.

By Louis Meijer

PMI SA Chapter Newsletter

We hope you are enjoying our first newsletter. It will be published bi-monthly. The objectives is

to;

• Promote the PMI SA Chapter

• Foster professional development through PMI resource

• A means of communication for the chapter members

• Retain current members by facilitating active engagement and providing a vibrant community

• Attract potential members

Please submit your content for the next issue before 20 March 2015.



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6

What is Your Take on Fraud And Corruption by Karen van Deventer

Fraud and corruption are topics of much debate while increasing both

globally and locally and no organization is immune to the threat.

Fraud is an every changing risk and we as project managers have the

responsibility to manage the risk. A first start is to implementing Project

Fraud Risk Management Policies.

There are various types of fraud and at this stage I list top 5 common types

of Fraud from companies all over the world. (Source:

1. Theft of stock – a time honored way to make a “fast buck”. The perpetrator will over a period of time

abscond with a number of items from the warehouse, and resell these to friends, family and members

of the public. So long as the stock losses are within tolerance, then it is possible for this “scam” to

remain undetected for a significant period of time.

2. Falsifying supplier invoices – This is a little more daring. One case example on record involved a senior

manager who had some substantial renovation work carried out on his house. He then arranged for the

invoices from the contractor to be sent to the company, posing as costs for work carried out on

company premises.

3. Fictitious invoicing – where there are poor accounting controls and insufficient segregation of duties in

the Financial & Accounting department the fraudster, if suitably positioned, can arrange for invoices

(for services never delivered) from connected parties to be passed for payment.

4. Falsification of expense claims – an old favourite with both senior and junior staff. Common “ruses”

include; inflating mileage claims, entertaining friends and relatives at the company’s expense and

claiming for expenses never incurred by stating that “the receipt must have been mislaid”.

5. Transactions that are not “arm’s length” – when a well-run company asks for tenders for a service

contract with a third party they usually obtain at least three closed quotes. The best value quote should

then be selected. When the system does not run effectively, there is an opportunity for friends and

relatives of the purchasing department to send in quotes that are accepted; bypassing the quotes from

reputable suppliers. “Arm’s length” also applies to sales transactions where the purchaser bribes the

salesman in return for a favourable contract.

South Africa PMI Chapter Contact Details

Chapter General: [email protected]

Chapter Administration: [email protected]

Chapter President: [email protected]

Chapter Membership: [email protected]

Chapter Volunteering: [email protected]

Chapter Communications: [email protected]

Gauteng Branch Events/RSVP: [email protected]

Gauteng Branch Lead: [email protected]

KZN Branch Administration/Events: [email protected]

KZN Branch Lead: [email protected]

PE Branch Lead: [email protected]

33 Years In PMI SA Chapter - Carel Van Zyl (continued from page 2)

PMI SA Chapter in the 1980’s was dominated by the building industry. Mainframe computers

were fed with punch cards and printing done with chain printers. Advanced data communications

was by way of telex and the fax was not yet in use and Xeroxing only just available. Hard copy

letters in envelopes were mostly the only formal communication method and IBM golf ball the

standard typewriter. In PMI we were deciding which critical path method, by way of activity on

the node or on the arrow, was the best approach. PMBOK was only adopted mid 80’s. I became

PMP # 213 in 1988 thanks to the insistence of my mentor and friend Kaay Koch who worked at

EMS.

Through the years PMI SA Chapter was one of my favourite memberships, especially when RSA

was allowed back into the international PM world after Mandela’s release, after which SASOL

won the world prize for PM on the Polypropylene plant in Secunda, ESKOM later won it for the

regional substation in the South Cape and SASOL again on the Benford Stack replacement, all

case studies that won world acclaim for the innovation and approach of our PM’s. The

management of the Chapter went through stages and presidents and vice presidents and

branches that came and went. The Chapter kept a low profile for a number of years to allow

PMSA to get on its feet, but eventually had to turn on the energy again to serve its members.

Today I get much satisfaction being a participating member of both voluntary organisations.

Now, in early retirement, I am working as a hands-on PM on paid-for appointments and my own

investment projects. I spend time on a number of mentorships including of resident engineers,

project managers, MBA students and generally in the two PM organisations where I serve at

board level.

Frustration in my industry lately is that as PM we cannot always choose our own team members,

not forgetting stakeholders who became more aggressive and demanding. We are with overly

zealousness being held responsible and liable for any mishap on our projects, not only technical

but also for health, safety, environmental and legal challenges. Labour, corruption, theft,

hijackings, blackouts, politics and a myriad of other un-controllable risks make it difficult to

deliver projects on the timings thought out in board rooms and by financiers. To survive in this

environment PMs have to be awake and as well-prepared as possible.

My general advice to aspiring project managers in the South African scene is that they should in

early life already become well versed in computer technology, electronic media and

communication, data storage and information systems. They should progress from being good

team members to excellent leaders who can formally and informally communicate effectively,

not only in their projects and companies, but also volunteering industrywide. They should

progress from achieving PMP as early as possible, to also collecting real experiences and tracking

case studies in their chosen field of operations. They should actively make use of the materials

and systems they can access through their membership on the internet.




7

Project Humour



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33 Years In PMI SA Chapter - Carel Van Zyl (continued from page 7)

They should also look at the other registrations available for project managers. Nothing is wrong

if they also get themselves career coaches and mentors, legal advice and develop their own style

and reputation.

I am not for one moment sorry I chose to become a PM after already being an engineer, and of

becoming a member of a very well-functioning PM association.

Certification Dinner in Pictures



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“I never read. I just look at pictures.”

― Andy Warhol

Gauteng Branch Upcoming Events

Date Time Event Venue

19 February

201517:30

February Members Meeting

Johannesburg. Presented by

Project Link

Auditorium, Building 3, The Woodlands, 20

Woodlands Drive, Woodmead

14 & 15 March

2015

PMP Prep Workshop; PMP

prep for candidates ready to

take their PMP exam

Contact;

Tebogo on [email protected], or

Annabe on [email protected]

17 March 2015 17:30 Volunteer's meeting (1 hour)Deloitte, Building 33, Taurus Boardroom, 20


19 March 2015 17:30

March Members Meeting

Johannesburg. Presenter;

Evra Consulting

Auditorium, Building 3, The Woodlands, 20


14 April 2015 17:30 Volunteer's meeting (1 hour)Deloitte, Building 33, Taurus Boardroom, 20


16April 2015 17:30April Members Meeting

Johannesburg

Monthly networking sessions for project

managers

09 May 2015 TBAProfessional Development

Day

Create awareness of PMI and the

certifications they represent

21 May 2015 17:30May Members Meeting

Johannesburg


managers

06 June 2015TBA

Forum with Project

managers from the film,

arts and advertising

industry

Share project management knowledge

with other in different industries.

18 June 201517:30

June Members Meeting

Johannesburg


managers

16 July 201517:30

July Members Meeting

Johannesburg


managers



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For more information on Gauteng branch events contact:

Annabe on [email protected] or

Karen on [email protected]

Pmi sa newsletter jan feb 2015 issue ver2

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