ISY2004 Planning Phase of Purchasing an Enterprise System for Timesheets Assessment Answer

Course: ISY 2004 Information Systems Project Management

Assessment: Project Plan Part 2

Introduction

This assessment is in continuation of the previous Time Inc. Assignment 1 Case Study. After preparing the case for purchasing an enterprise system for timesheets in order to tackle resource optimization and quality related issues, the project sponsor, Reliance Industries, has approved the submitted Project Plan (as delivered in Assessment 1).

This report marks the planning phase of the project by providing a formal project report for the project sponsor based on the project planning documents. The project report will explicitly state the assumptions made, Gantt chart, cost involved, resources required etc.

Assumptions

1. The budget is USD 2,500,000
2. The project has to be completed within 8 months duration
3. The project will receive resources, internal and external, as required
4. The approvals and other requests will be completed as per deadlines
5. The external vendors will deliver as expected
6. The project will receive support from all the software centres such that Project Champions and the teams formed will co-operate. For this purpose, a conference call will be held with the 15 centre MD’s and the point will be driven by the global head, Anurag Mehta to communicate the importance and urgent requirement of the project.

Work Breakdown Structure

As the name suggests, a work breakdown structure breaks down the project into smaller tasks or components such that it assists in monitoring and delivering the project. Hence, WBS is deliverable-oriented and is one of the key requirements for any project management related team so that the entire team stays on same page. In other words, WBS breaks down the scope of a project and deliverables of the project into smaller components that are easily measurable and well defined (US Department of Energy, 2012).

The following is the WBS for current project is hand, that is, getting Project Champions & teams formed for 15 software centres and implement the selected Timesheet System:

Gantt Chart 

A type of bar chart, Gantt chart explains a project schedule graphically. The chart is named after Henry Gantt, who designed Gantt charts around 1920’s. Apart from schedule, the Gantt chart also indicates critical tasks, status of currently scheduled activities etc. (Wallace, 1922). Following is the screenshot of Gantt Chart from MS Project:

Network Diagram (Critical path diagram) 

Due to space constraint, the boxes indicate task number only (boxes have been collapsed). The red boxes indicate critical tasks:

It can be seen that critical tasks are in red:

The critical tasks are training of users and IT maintenance, transition of the system from special to standard projects and identifying further projects for expansion. This is because there is no slack in these tasks and any delay will lead to extension of project beyond 8 months.

Milestones

Milestones are nothing but a tool in project management whereby certain tasks are marked along specific points of time during the project duration. The objective of doing this is to ensure monitoring of the project and typically the milestones are important events in the project duration that can change the course of project. The milestones can also have zero duration (Harned, 2017).

Following are the identified milestones for the project:

1. Finalised nominations & teams to be approved by Anurag: As it has been identified that Anurag Mehta, global head has keen interest in the project and if he wants, the project course can be changed. It becomes important to keep Anurag in loop and ensure that his feedback is incorporated at right points. Hence, this milestone indicates communication regarding the formation of Project Champions and teams for all 15 software centres. 
2. Finalised vendor to be approved by Clinton: This milestone indicate CIO’s suggestion/approval before hiring external consultant who will help in identifying timesheet programs suitable for the company.
3. Gain agreement with major Stakeholders on the preferred Time Sheet system: This is an important milestone as without the agreement from majority stakeholders, the project will not go ahead.
4. Discussion with Anurag/Clinton regarding Vendor: This milestone indicates incorporating CIO and global head’s experience with respect to final negotiations with the vendor for Timesheet system.
5. Report to Anurag wrt Trial Run Status: This is an important stage in implementation and if any changes are required, the trial run will indicate need for the same.
6. ROI & Customer Satisfaction Report to Anurag & Clinton: These are reports of interest for the management and hence, must be shared with both of them. In case they feel that more value can be added or some parameter is off, it can be taken care off before the system is implemented for standard projects.

Resources Table

The following are the resources employed for the purpose of this project:

Project Budget

The following is the cost involved in the abovementioned project (resource-wise). It can be seen that the total cost is $2,076,000 which is lower than the approved budget of $2,500,000:

The following is the cost involved in the abovementioned project (taskwise). It can be seen that the maximum cost is at implementation stage where licenses will be taken and used by the centres:

RACI Table 

RACI is an acronym for:

• R: Responsible
• A: Assistance
• C: Consulted
• I: Informed

The main stages of project can be presented in RACI table as follows:

Potential Risks

Some of the risks associated with the project are:

1. Natural disasters or calamities
2. Delayed identification of systems by the consultant
3. Issues with the licensed software
4. Expenses exceed initial budget or unexpected costs arise
5. Late completion of the project
6. The sponsor interferes

Probability/ Impact Matrix for potential risks