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Donna

Project Management Recommedations

Here are some recommendations for running a smooth Project.

·         At the end of each milestone, the stakeholders should electronically sign-off on the documents (such as Scope, SOW etc) to avoid scope creep. If new requirements come in after a project phase is signed off, changes will go through a formal change control process. This is not to say that we stop work on a project phase until it is signed off. Work will continue as scheduled while the sign-off process is in progress.

·         All documentation, emails, notes, drawings, meeting minutes, action items, stakeholder contacts, project plans etc. for a project should be stored on the Share Point.

·         It is not necessary to scan in a new copy when they are signed, but we can identify that they’ve been signed electronically.

·         Templates should be created for all project documents done by the Directors group for consistency. We have some very good examples used here already.

·         Minimum set of project documentation  by phase all to be stored on Share Point (or some other intranet area accessible by the whole team):

 

o    Project initiation Phase: done by PM/PMO formally start a project. At this point, the Projects group will assign an IT PM to the project, create the Share Point site and be the focal point for the PM/PMO group. Initial scope will be delivered to IT by the PM/PMO group. If this is an upgrade, this should include the current production environment and the projected production environment.

o    Project definition Phase:  Scope is finalized between PM/PMO group and IT PM (and team). This is to include all final production environment drawings, infrastructure designs, urls, hardware requirements, desired delivery date and if possible priority. Impact analysis should be done. Integration plan should be done. (Basically a Functional specification for the system should be done during this phase). Communications plan with stakeholders, email addresses, phone numbers, meeting times and status report times will be done by the IT PM.

o    Customer contact list should be provided by PM/PMO group. Initial schedule for IT done by IT PM (and team) and communicated to PM/PMO group. PM/PMO group signs off on Definition phase. Any requirements past this phase will go through a change review process which may change assumptions for delivery date or resource needs. Functional plan signed-off as well.

o    Design phase: Microsoft Project Server schedule with resources defined and checked for resource allocation across other Microsoft projects to ensure correct number of resources is available. Project Plan is written by IT PM to include Objectives, Scope Assumptions/Constraints,  Procurement plan, IQ, pointers to supporting documentation (such as test cases, specialized requirements, schedule, milestone sign-off times, completion criteria, screen shots, post upgrade tasks, risk assessments and contingency plans,  installation plan, sustaining work plan etc.). Hardware to be procured should be well defined and more than one vendor should be available to get hardware from. Hardware should be staged at HDC. The Project Plan is now available for PM/PMO to review with customer and sign-off.

o    Implementation Phase: Finalize business process flow. Follow project plan, update project schedule daily with work accomplished and remaining work for each task (all IT members). IT PM to do Earned value analysis (once or twice a week) to make sure we remain on schedule.  Complete required documentation and design any training needed. Weekly meetings should have minutes with action items and roadblocks identified and assigned to be worked.

o    Testing Phase: unit testing by IT (or QA group), performance/stress testing done in house.  UAT should be simulated in house as much as possible before customer installation using customer agreed upon test cases and criteria. Testing reports and results should be written up and put on Share Point. Deviations from expected results should be examined by IT manager to decide if rework or retesting is required. These results should be saved on Share Point.

o    Installation /UAT Phase:  This should be done at customer site. All hardware should be installed and verified before UAT begins. User acceptance testing should use pre-agreed upon testing criteria that was used in house by QA team. Verify all test results. Log and address any deviations from expected results. UAT signed-off by customer and plans signed-off for addressing any deviations.