Project Management Plan

Project Management Plan

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Project Management Plan

Part A: Stakeholder Engagement Plan

This document represents a project management plan for a multinational company called Tangle Corp. The objective of this section (A), first, is to create a stakeholder engagement plan which basically lists all the stakeholders who are relevant to the project in a power/ interest graph and coming up with an engagement strategy.

Stakeholders’ Power/ Interest Graph.

The main stakeholders for Tangle Corp in relation to the CRM software deployment include;

CEO

General Manager

CFO

Sales manager

IT manager

Office manager

IT staff

Clients/ Customers

Figure 1, below shows the stakeholders’ level of interest ad input towards the above project and their levels of influence.

Stakeholder

Their interest in the project

Level of power/ Interest into the project

Status of relationship

The CEO

The overall decision maker and initiator of the project. She is the one who will approve the final project management plan for implementation.

Final Approval/ Must be Notified.

High power/ High interest

General manager

The main decision maker. All the other managers and stakeholders below report to him. He is in charge of all research and development activities of the project.

Actual Responsibility/ General Supervision/ Consultation

High Power/ Low interest

CFO

She is in charge of all financial stake and debt control interests of the project. She has influence in all major spending and expenditure on the project.

Actual Responsibility/ General Supervision/ Consultation

High power/ High interest

Sales Manager

He is the main user of the system and champion for the upgrade of the CRM system.

General supervision/ Actual responsibility/ May be consulted

High power/ High interest

IT manager

She is the main focus for the implementation and support of the new system. She is the one who will oversee the whole project from inception to completion.

Actual responsibility/ General Supervision.

High power/ High interest

Office Manager

She is the main user of the system generally for order processing and general administration.

Actual responsibility/ General Supervision/ May be consulted

High power/ Low interest

IT staff

They are the persons who will oversee the change over to the new CRM system. They will be trained on the user interfaces and implementation strategy.

Actual Responsibility.

Low Power/ Low Interest

Clients/ Customers.

They are the final appraisers of the transition, through their improved satisfaction of timely product and service delivery.

Must be Consulted

High Power/ High Interest

Figure 1, (2016)

From figure 1 above it is clearly seen that there is a power interest relationship amongst the stakeholders of the project. All the stakeholders have a reasonable degree of power and level of interest in the project that will enhance efficiency and effectiveness of operations at Tangle Corp. The figure 2 below depicts the power interest graph. This graph simply expresses the appropriate relationships or level of interests the stakeholders have towards the project. The graphs is displayed in four quadrants and depicts the level of interest together with the level of power in terms of how high or low (Amao, 2014).

Figure 2. Power Interest Graph.

High Inform/ Consult Collaborate/ Empower

General ManagerCEO

Office Manager CFO

IT manager Sales Manager

Level of Power Inform Consult

IT Staff Customers

Low

Low (Level of Interest.) High

Figure 2, (2006).

Engagement Strategy

The overall engagement of the project is to develop or provide Tangle Corp with an upgraded and detailed CRM software solution to manage their client and sales information. This will take the responsibility and engagement of all the stated stakeholders, some will come in full time while others at varied stages within the project. The engagement strategy clearly shows all the critical interfaces between the components and will keep track of who must approve what and who reports to who. Figure 3, below displays an engagement strategy for each stakeholder.

KEY ENGANGEMENTS

The CEO

General manager

CFO

Sales Manager

IT manager

Office Manager

IT staff

Customers

Installation of new hardware computer systems.

5

4

4

3

2

2

1

3

Deployment and testing of server software

5

4

 

3

2

2

1

3

Installation of improved virtual private network connections.

5

 

 

3

2

2

1

3

Embracing migration to operationalize the new system

5

2

4

3

2

2

1

3

Upgrading the current computers to handle the new software

5

4

4

3

2

2

1

5

Feeding the current data into the new system

5

3

4

3

2

2

1

5

Creation of new policies and procedures.

5

4

4

3

2

2

1

3

Empowering IT staff through training

5

4

 

3

2

2

1

3

Availing training for operational staff and other user

5

3

4

3

2

2

1

3

Establishment and submission of multi-lingual assistance or manuals to international offices

5

4

4

3

 

2

1

5

Deploying mobile devices to enable remote communication with the new system

5

3

4

3

2

2

1

3

Website interface for online sales and client order management.

5

4

4

3

2

2

1

3

Figure 3, (2016).

1- Definite responsibility 2-General Supervision 3-Should be consulted 4-Should be notified 5- Ultimate Approval

Risks.

The major risks that may arise from this project planning process, is first the junior stakeholders, like the IT staff and the IT manager, who are the more knowledgeable persons in the industry may lack the power and means for their opinions to be heard. This can be solved by setting up a representative committee or structures like opinion boxes where such views can be analysed without any prejudice. The other risk may be lack of appropriate information for decision making on the part of senior management like the CEO, General Manager and the CFO. The best way of sorting this out is by use of training programs on software installation, upgrade and development. Access to numeric, media and literacy training may also assist. Third challenge is the risk of changeover from an old CRM system to a new one while company operations are working optimally. This is basically for the IT department. The company will undergo serious losses if the new system does not work effectively. The project will respond to this risk by having a transition plan whereby implementation will be done in phases (Chopyak, 2013).

Part B: Project Scope and High-Level Work Breakdown Structure

CRM Software Deployment

This section of the paper explains a plan intended to improve the CMR software in Tangle Corp, with the main aim of centrally managing the company’s clients and sales information. The major issues affecting the company’s efficiencies is that the old CMR software system that is still supported, has many old records and information that might not be transferred to the new software system, and that the desktop personal computers in the factory are too old and slow hence they are not able to run the new software. The other issue is that since the sales offices have expanded to different regions, they do not have standard and efficient IT system in each site. It is also not possible to transfer calls from one site to another since phone systems are dissimilar. The other problem is that the company’s website is out-of-date and any internal coordination or any means of obtaining customer information is not supported. All this problems call for the need of provision of effective solutions to the CMR software (Kerzner, 2013).

Major components

Various components have to be introduced so as to provide a more efficient software system. The first one is installation of new computer systems that are able to store and support the new database. This is followed by placement and testing of the server software for the CRM principal database to ensure any errors that might arise are eliminated. The next one is transfer of the daily CRM operations from the old system to the new database; this is after ensuring that all the potential errors in the new database have been eliminated to avoid cases of losing important information upon failures of the installed system (Kerzner, 2013). The other component is ensuring that upgraded computer-generated private network connections between offices are installed so as to facilitate quick and efficient access to the central CRM database regularly. The other component is that the desktop computers in all the factories have to be upgraded in such a manner that they can handle and support the new software to be installed.

Upon effective installation of the new system, the management has to ensure that new policies and procedures are created that support and promote the use of the new system. The IT staffs need more in house training to ensure that they learn the new systems in the company well, through generation of new ideas and better methods for solving the rising problems in the company. Since most of the desktop problems are caused by the users, the users of the system have to be trained on how to use it, and how to maintain it to avoid any failures in future. Tagging to that, it is paramount to create multi-lingual instruction manuals that can be used in international offices (Kerzner, 2013). The other aspect is setting out better mobile devices that are able to remote access the new system, and finally the company website has be to properly interfaced for efficient online sales and customer information.

Work breakdown structure

This structure provides an operational and detailed view of the project, and is essential for effective planning and execution of the whole process. It is a deliverable concerned with categorized disintegration of the work to be implemented by the project team with the aim of accomplishing the desired project objectives and goals (Ellis, 2013).

Level One

Level Two

Level Three

1. CRM Software improvement plan.

1.1. Commencement.

1.1.1. Appraisal and endorsement of proposed plan.

1.1.2. Development of the charted project.

1.1.3. Providing the sponsors with the project charter

1.1.4. Analysis of the project charter by the project sponsors.

1.1.5. Endorsement of the project

1.2. Scheduling.

1.2.1. Establishment of the preliminary or initial scope statement

1.2.2. Project crew determination.

1.2.3. The project crew organize the meetings

1.2.4. Further progress of the project plan.

1.2.5. Providing the company management team with the plan

1.2.6. The project plan is approved by the senior management.

1.3. Execution.

1.3.1. Meetings held by the project developers.

1.3.2. User requirement verification and validation.

1.3.3. Designing the new system

1.3.4. Purchase of new hardware as well as software.

1.3.5. Updating the desktop computers.

1.3.6. Installation of new hardware and software that can support the new database.

1.3.7. Testing of the server software

1.3.8. Installing the new system.

1.3.9. Training all the users of the new system and the IT technicians.

1.3.10. Transferring all the data from the old to the new system.

1.3.11. Going live and utilizing the system well.

1.4.Control

1.4.1. Creation of new policies and procedures that govern the system.

1.4.2. Creation of better manuals for international offices.

1.4.3. Improvement of website interface to promote effective online sales.

1.5. Close out.

1.5.1. Auditing the project.

1.5.2. Implementation of lessons learned.

1.5.3. Updating data on a daily basis.

Project Estimation

Since no single project estimation techniques suits any project, it is important to combine as many relevant techniques as possible, so as to come up with more efficient results. The first technique is obtaining expert judgments before the onset of the project, this will help in ascertaining whether the project will be implemented or not, and if the whole process is cost effective. The second technique used is that of analogous method, this is used to estimate the amount of time needed for the accomplishment of the project (Mathew, 2014). The project is aimed at implementing effective CRM software that can serve 350 members of staff in the company. Knowledge of past similar projects show that it took the company 6 months to fully complete one for 175 people. Therefore, from the results, it evident that it since the complexities of both programs is same and the only difference is the scale of the project, which is twice that of the first one, through analogous project estimation, it will take the company 12 months to fully implement a CRM software that serves 350 people.

The other technique used is that of bottom up method, which uses a comprehensive work break down arrangement in which each chore is estimated individually. With the information, the project manager will be able to choose on what is most required and the costs of the necessities (Mathew, 2014). From the work break down listed, the following were the estimates for each undertaking:

Deliverables

Cost in $

Initiation phase

5,000

Planning phase

10,000

Execution phase

20,000

Control

12,000

Closing out

2,500

Labor

15,000

Total

64,500

Therefore, the total estimated amount of money needed to complete the whole project is $64, 500.

Major Risks

It is evident that even the most judiciously calculated projects will not be free from errors and risks. It is therefore important that project managers use risk planning techniques to identify and reduce the chances of risks occurrence as much as possible. A risk is basically any indeterminate event or situation that might affect the project implementation development. It is also important to note that not all risks encountered are negative; some are positive and considered as opportunities but still held as risks. The first encountered is that the company will face series of financial problems when trying to attend to serious and crucial components in the project. The purchase of new hardware and software, upgrading of the desktop computers and installing the new system will cost the company a lot of its resources (Kerzner, 2013). This includes human capital, resources and time spent. In order to avoid or reduce the occurrence of this risk, the company has to ensure that it maximizes on its profit margins and reduce company expenditures. This means that the company has to improve its marketing and sales techniques in New Zealand, Perth and Malaysia, while maintaining the high sales in Thailand.

The second risk concerns the work break down process. When the structure is in a very detail form, it forces the project manager to micromanage the project which eventually leads to slow implementation of the whole process. In order to avert this problem, the work has to be well structured by competent project managers, so as to ensure that the level of work detail planned is not either too broad or too detail (Ellis, 2013). Technical risks might also occur especially when estimating the project. The use of wrong estimating techniques will definitely lead to wrong estimates which might not practically apply to the project. Risks can be mitigated through various ways. One of them is through avoidance, which involves creation of alternative strategies that have higher probabilities of success. For example, the company can ensure that all project team members wear protective clothing to avoid cases of injuries while working. The other method of mitigation is risk transfer, which entails the aspects of shifting the risks from one project to another (Kerzner, 2013). The company has to ensure that it purchase insurance covers for all the items bought for the implementation of the project. In the event that the bought items were not of the required quality and quantity, the risks will be transferred from the project to the insurance companies.

Part C: Allocation of Resources

Since the documents aims at developing a detailed CRM software solution for Tangle Corp, which will centrally manage their client and sales information, the role of this section (C) of the document is to create a Gantt chart showing the allocation of resources over time to key activities for project 1, that is, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software deployment. The other is to highlight the key milestones and demonstrate how the critical path will look like. And finally to discuss any major risks that may arise from the information in the chart and any possible solutions to the risks.

Gantt chart

The main developments and installations that will take place will follow the bellow systematic process all the way to the final step of order management under the newly installed CRM software system.

Installation of storage computer to store the new program.

Setting out and testing software for server to be used for the CRM core database.

Virtual private network connection installation and upgrading between offices to facilitate a 24/7 central CRM database

Relocation of the daily operations of CRM to the new from the old.

Upgrading and updating of all desktop computers in line with the new software.

Feeding the new system with the records.

Setting up new procedures as well as policies.

Embracing training for all IT staff on the implementation of the new systems and maintenance.

Provision of training to operational staff and other users about operation of the new system.

Ensuring all international offices access the multi-lingual manuals or support materials.

Deployment of mobile gadgets for remote communication with the new system.

Development of a website interphase to enable online based applications such as sales management.

This project process, according to the plan is expected to be implemented within two calendar years. That is the year 2017 and 2018. This will be done in phases and some procedures will overlap in terms of commencement, commitment and completion (Stanley, 2013). Figure 1, below, represents a Gantt chart for Tangle corp.

Tangle Corp

Gantt chart