Project Management Plan

Project Management Plan

Introduction and Executive Summary

This project aims to update the software for shipping, receiving, and inventory management in 15 computers to perform these organizational tasks. The update is expected to be completed between 12. 00p.m to 6.00 p.m. The project stakeholders are the sponsor, shipping company customers, employees, and the manager. The project will be completed using a work breakdown structure to ensure all activities are completed within the established schedule. The main activities in the project have been identified as the configuration of the system, deployment of the system, migration, testing for functionality, and upgrading all customization. The project will also follow the agile methodology, dividing each activity into different phases. Every phase must be completed before the project team moves to the next. The human resource plan will include ensuring that the project team is qualified to complete the project by determining the human resource needs, recruitment, selection, compensation, appraisal, selecting teams to complete the project, setting goals for the team, creating a schedule for the project, distribution of tasks among team members and assessment of the completed tasks to ensure they contribute to successful project completion. The communication management plan will include using a project calendar and work breakdown structure to communicate with the project sponsor, a news center to communicate with employees, a project newsletter to communicate with customers, and a project organization chart to speak with the project manager. The risk management plan will eliminate scope creep, budget issues, unmet expectations, code issues, and adverse user response risks. Project control will be achieved through output control mechanisms, behavior control mechanisms, and input control mechanisms.

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Project Management Plan

Work Breakdown Structure

Level	WBS Code	Task Name
1	1	Configuration
2	1.1	Setting Navigation sets
2	1.2.	Emailing Customers
2	1.3	Setting New Message bases
1	2	Deployment
1	3	Migration
2	3.1	Migrating content to the new system
3	3.1.1	Customization toolkit
3	3.1.2.	Importing files
2	3.2.	Removing obsolete files
3	3.2.1	Analyze and remove logging results
3	3.2.2	Back up files
2	3.3.	Setting up Support Sites (Interfaces)
3	3.3.1.	Set up Interfaces in 10 languages
1	4	Functionality Testing
1	5	Upgrade of Customizations
2	5.1	End-user customizations
3	5.1.1	Update emails from the support console
3	5.1.2	Update serial numbers
3	5.1.3	Check for errors
1	6	End

Project activities

1. Configuration of the system
2. Deploy the system
3. Migration
4. Test for functionality
5. Upgrade all customizations

Sequenced activity chart

Human resource plan

• Determining needs
• Recruitment
• Selection
• Compensation
• Appraisal
• Selecting teams to complete the project
• Setting goals for the team
• Creating a schedule for the project
• Distribution of tasks among team members
• Assessment of the completed tasks to ensure they contribute to successful project completion
• Project completion and acknowledging employees who participated

Communication Management Plan

Project Sponsor

• Project Calendar

A project calendar outlines the non-working and working days in the project and the times the project team will be working on the project. According to Dow & Taylor (2015), a project calendar for better time management in the project completion process will help complete the project within the timeline provided by the project sponsor by visualizing each team member’s tasks. Project calendars are categorized into base, project, task, and resource calendars (Dow & Taylor, 2015). A base calendar creates calendars for the project’s resources, programs, and tasks by displaying the days and hours needed to work on the project.

• Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure is a categorized outline of the tasks needed to complete a project by breaking down the project’s structure into manageable deliverables (Andler, 2016). Every deliverable is given a series of functions or tasks that can be broken down into smaller tasks to meet the project’s needs. The duration of every task is planned based on its required initial and following tasks.

Employees

• News Center

A new center combines communication tools such as email, company updates, and memos. This tool can pass the most critical information about the project, such as progress and how it could affect employees. A specific news center can be used to communicate details about the project to avoid miscommunication.

Customers

• Project Newsletter

A project newsletter is used to pass information about different aspects of a project, such as project schedules, engagement opportunities, and upcoming work. It is also used to communicate the benefits of the project and the rationale for implementation (Andler, 2016). Project newsletters may also include information about the challenges encountered by the project team and how they have been overcome.

Project Manager

• Project Organization Chart

A project organization chart is a visual diagram displaying the project team and their roles. It enables the project manager to monitor the roles of every project team member and predict the need for more team members to complete the project on time. It also helps project team managers reassign tasks during the project implementation process based on the distribution of team members meeting similar functions within the project.

Risk Management Plan

Potential risks for the project and for the portfolio to which the project belongs

Software development and update projects are complex and include various risks that must be effectively managed for the overall project’s success. One of the potential risks for the project and the portfolio that the project belongs to is code issues. The software update requires developing a code for a design that should be installed for shipping, receiving, and managing inventory. Cost issues are common in software update projects due to the likelihood of quality problems, including logical errors and bugs that limit the software’s functionality. The second potential risk is unmet expectations. In every project, stakeholders’ expectations pressure the team by dictating the final product’s timeline, the expected quality, and the project completion timeline. In the software update project, unmet expectations could arise from inaccurate estimations of the project’s cost, outcomes, and deadlines. The third risk is budget issues. According to Gonen (2012), budget issues dictate the availability of resources needed to complete a project. Software update budgets may change due to project scope changes, mainly if the project team’s spending is not effectively monitored. Another risk is negative responses from the software users. Software users may sometimes not be pleased with the updates, significantly if they complicate the system’s usability. Therefore, how users embrace the software updates dictates the project’s success.

Another significant risk is scope creep. Wu (2020) defines scope creep as adding extra functions or features of a new product, work, or requirements that are not authorized. The leading causes of scope creep are lack of clarity on project specifications, lack of stakeholder involvement, and ambiguous definitions of the project scope. Wu (2020) argues that the causes of scope creep can be categorized into different types. The first type is overlooked requirements. It includes missed project requirements due to underestimating the project’s complexity, inadequate planning, late involvement of project stakeholders, poor analysis of the project requirements, and green-field projects. The second type is functionality enhancements. It includes the software developer’s upgrades, enhancement requests from the project drivers, the desire to avoid conflict or pleasing customers over meeting the project’s goals, gold-plating, consolidation of many projects, and a perfectionist mindset of project stakeholders. The third type is changing requirements, including influences from the government, emerging opportunities, competitive positioning, third-party supporting systems, products and technologies, and trend and market changes.

Then, likelihood and impact analysis of the identified risks

The code issues and unmet expectations risks are highly likely to occur because the project team is pressured to complete the software update on 15 computers within six hours and create enough time for the projector sponsor to accept the deliverables. Therefore, the team may overlook some essential details, resulting in code issues and failing to update the software on all computers on time. The main impact of code issues is software failure. If the software update process is not completed as required, the computers may not function as expected, thus delaying the shipping, receiving, and inventory management processes. Scope creep and budget issues risks are also highly likely to occur because the project stakeholders have set a small scope for the project without considering any unexpected events that may arise within the update process, such as incompatibility of the software update with the software that has already been installed in the computers and their operating system. This may increase the technicalities of the project, increasing the project budget. Scope creep may also arise due to underestimating the complexity of the project. The project team has been given six hours to complete the software update process, thus creating a tight schedule for them. Therefore, if there are foreseen challenges, the project scope may increase, resulting in scope creep. A negative response from the software users is less likely to occur because users have already been informed about the software update. However, they may be reluctant to embrace it if it is technical and requires additional skills and expertise that they may not have. Negative responses from software users may also occur if they are not involved in the software update process. They may feel that the organization is prioritizing its needs over their welfare.

A plan for managing responses to portfolio and project risks

The project’s success will be dictated by the ability to manage the risks identified above. The agile methodology to manage the project will address scope creep risk. According to Bin Liaqat et al. (2012), the agile method includes breaking a project into various phases and completing each stage before moving to the next. It emphasizes prioritizing interactions and individuals over tools and processes, responding to change over following a specified plan, creating functioning software over detailed documentation, and creating the collaboration of software users over negotiating contracts. The methodology eliminates scope creep by maintaining constant cooperation between the project team and stakeholders and continuous improvement in every phase. The code issue risk will be managed by frequently testing the code throughout the software update process, resolving logical errors and bugs as soon as they are identified, and setting the standards that code developers should observe. The risk of unmet expectations will be managed by clarifying the likelihood of the project’s estimations to enable stakeholders to set realistic expectations and avoid putting too much pressure on the project team. The risk of negative responses from users will be managed by sending surveys to get their opinions on the software update, testing the software before releasing it, and creating an assistance program to help users learn how to use the updated software.

Project Control Plan

One of the control mechanisms for this project will be output control mechanisms. According to McBride (2008), output control mechanisms are the mechanisms that are intended to determine whether or not expected project outcomes have been achieved or specify the project outcomes that need to be completed. The desired project outcome is to update the shipping, receiving, and inventory management software on 15 computers. Therefore, the output controls will include accepting the updated software, meeting functional requirements, overcoming project constraints such as schedule or budget, and completing the milestones within the project. The second set of control mechanisms will be behavior control mechanisms. They are intended to control the project team’s behavior by reporting on how they perform or constraining their performance within the project. This project’s main behavior control mechanisms will be change control procedures, project scheduling, and regular reporting on the project’s status. The project will follow a specific schedule established during the project planning process. The schedule will involve completing tasks in the work breakdown structure based on their urgency and role in the ‘project’s success. Project team members will be expected to adjust their behavior in completing the tasks within the project to ensure that the project is completed within the specified schedule.

Change control will include managing the changes within the project, such as adjusting the project’s timeline to meet the needs of the project stakeholders. It will also involve changing team members’ roles within the project based on their skills and expertise. The third set of control mechanisms will be input control mechanisms. McBride (2008) defines these mechanisms as the procedures for recruiting the project team. In this project, the input control mechanism will include offering specific training to project team members and recruiting them based on their expertise. All project team members will be trained before they embark on the project to familiarize them with the basics of the new software, equip them with the skills required to update the software, and test it to ensure it is ready for use.

References

Andler, N. (2016). Tools for project management, workshops, and consulting: A must-have compendium of essential tools and techniques. John Wiley & Sons.

Bin Liaqat, H., Rizwan, M., Qureshi, J., & Shahid, M. (2012). An enhanced software project management methodology is accompanying Agile and CMMI. International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 4(6), 734-742. https://doi.org/10.7763/ijet.2012.v4.474

Dow, W., & Taylor, B. (2015). Project management communication tools. Dow Publishing LLC.

Gonen, A. (2012). Selecting a response plan under budget constraints. Risk Management – Current Issues and Challenges. https://doi.org/10.5772/50202

McBride, T. (2008). The mechanisms of project management of software development. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(12), 2386-2395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2008.06.015

Wu, T. (2020). Scope management – Defining scope and determining requirements. Optimizing Project Management, 125-135. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003001119-13

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Create a Project Management Plan in which you include the following:
The WBS created (from Wk 2)
The activities defined (from Wk 2)
The sequenced activity chart or diagram (from Wk 2)
A human resource plan (from Wk 3)
A Communication Management Plan (from Wk 4)

Develop a 700- to 1,050-word Risk Management Plan in which you include the following:
Potential risks for the project and for the portfolio to which the project belongs
The likelihood and impact analysis of the identified risks
A plan for managing responses to portfolio and project risks

Write a 350- to 525-word Project Control Plan in which you briefly discuss control mechanisms for this project.

Create a 175- to 350-word introduction and executive summary for the plan, and place them at the beginning of your completed Project Management Plan.

Format your project plan consistent with APA guidelines.