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Developing the project charter is the first objective to moving forward with IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises Legacy system upgrade. Receiving a signature on the charter from the project sponsor indicates that the reason for the project are acceptable and align with the Enterprise goals and strategic objectives, the formally authorized project documents the first requirements that appease the stakeholders needs and expectations, according to PMBOK, 2008, the latter justify and authorize the project as acceptable to proceed. The purpose and defense of this project according to (PM610 course materials 2011), meet the demands of our client base, including, reducing the number of days for outstanding accounts receivables. In addition to, improving Today’s customers way to view his or her accounts on line in real time, and communicating with the Enterprise in real time to resolve billing issues efficiently, and afford the customer the ability to ask questions online. The results of the Legacy system upgrade through a (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) SWOT analysis shows the upgrade will lower the operating cost of IRTC via this Web based technology, improve customer satisfaction by providing customers the options to pay on line, and the creation of several new positions designed to give IRTC a leading edge in the market place.

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The project sponsors in this endeavor for IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises upgrade are held responsible for providing the financial support in currency, or in kind, for instance, for example, providing behind the line assistance to project stakeholders internal and external to the organization. According to Kerzner 2009, project managers and line managers are the same in light of a project. Therefore, when leadership is required to keep the project moving via advice or council the project sponsor provide motivation to the line managers and project manager to ensure each keep his or her promise. When the Chief operating officer, director of billing , or customer service director perform in the ladder capacity they take on the role of project sponsor. According to Kerzner 2009, a project is capable of succeeding without the commitment of a project sponsor “as long as work flows smoothly” Kerzner, 2009 p. 19. However, in events of a crisis a project sponsor is the necessary tool to keep the project flowing efficiently.

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The need for improved quality according to Kerzner, 2009 surfaced prior the recession of 1982. In other words management processes were deemed as poor after the ladder event. According to Kerzner, 2009 the recession prior to the years 1984 through 1994, management in high technology organizations never understood the need to shortening a product development time and the contrast between project management. The drive for faster product development, quality products, minimum defects and rejections and lower contractor profits are all customer driven. Some of the things that can negatively impact the external customer includes: Salability according to Kerzner, 2009, salability indicates the balance between quality and cost, and produceability according to Kerzner, 2009 produceability translates to the ability to produce goods with available technology and labor, at a reasonable price. IRTC’s responsibility is to develop a Web based Legacy system upgrade that will function and meet the customer needs at a low cost and high technology level.

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The change management plan describes the formal process of “documented procedures that defines how project deliverables are documented and will be controlled, changed, and approved” PMBOK, 2008 p. 428. the communications management plan “communicates the needs and expectations for the project” PMBOK, 2008 p. 429. the communications plan also depicts how and what format information is presented to stakeholders, when and where the communications will take place, and who is responsible for each type of communications. The cost management plan according to PMBOK, 2009 this document outlines the established activities, criteria, planning, structuring, and controlling the project costs. Cost performance baseline is a timed phased budget according to PMBOK 2009, used as a comparison tool for actual expenditures to planned expenditures. Human resource plan according to PMBOK, 2009, documents how roles and responsibilities, reporting relationships, and staffing management is handled in the project structure.

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Procurement management plan according to PMBOK, 2009, identify how procurement processes from the inception through the contract closure is managed. Risk management plan according to PMBOK, 2009, outlines how project risk management is structured and managed on the project, even though the causes of risk varies, which cause the project manager to place risks in multilple categories.

Scope management plan: this document according to PMBOK, 2009, identify how the project scope is defined, developed and verified. The scope management plan also identify how the work breakdown structure is created and defined, which determines how the project scope is managed and controlled by the project management team. The scheduled management plan according to PMBOK, 2009, lays out the guidelines for activities and governing the project schedule

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To ensure that the customer receive a product that is delivered and accepted by the customer the knowledge areas of project management must prevail. Therefore, in the environment of project management combining the characteristics of unification, consolidating tasks, clarification and articulation of tasks, and integrative actions according to PMBOK, 2009 are key to project management and successfully managing the stakeholders expectations, and delivering the project on time within budget, and delivery that is acceptable to the customer. In the end the benefits to using a project management plan covers a document that formally authorize the project, followed by the benefits to using the project plan including documenting the actions necessary communicate all subsidiary plans. Directing and managing the project execution, monitoring and controlling the project tasks, performing integrated change control in the event a change request is requested by following the organization’s methodology, and finalizing the project or phase.

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The scope statement is an documented understanding between the customer, the project team, the sponsor, and all high level stakeholders. The scope specifies a basis understanding of the project for the purpose of bringing about communications among stakeholders and for placing authorities and regulations for the project management team. The scope statement incorporates the project to the business objectives and goals, and clarify the parameters of the project to the degree to which it extends including any of the fundamental units on which the project is based; Also: approach, deliverables, milestones, and budget. “The scope statement is a summation of all deliverables required as part of the project. This includes all products, services, and results” (PMBOK, 2008 p. 426).

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Executive summary: “Your company, IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises, is upgrading its legacy billing system. The system was installed originally ten years ago” (Course materials PM610). To meet the objective of the IRTC strategic business goals including lowering the operating cost of the daily activities, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce the number of days for outstanding accounts receivable, “IRTC will be doing a major upgrade for the new web-based version of the system. The time frame for the upgrade is predicted to take 16 through 20 weeks. The finish product will bring about many changes to the existing business processes, including changes to current jobs, and the formation of new job positions. Business objective: reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce the number of days for outstanding accounts receivables. Project description: This is an integrated web- bases version of the system, in addition to the mainframe legacy system update. Deliverables include: customers ability to access his or her bill on-line and accessing a customer service agent on line as needed.

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Project approach via Risk assessment: The following high level risks have been identified during the preliminary risk assessment by the IRTC steering committee. “The person with the most experience on the package and current training /documentation will not be available to the project due to other projects” PM610 Course Materials, Planning, Execution, and Closure 2011; The project duration is estimated at more than 20 weeks; The number of departments the upgrade will affect is more than three; The project staff is slated by over 90% contractors and /or contractors commitment is not expected prior to start of project. Constraints: There are many processes, standards, guidelines, laws etc. required by the Federal & State government which the company must adhere to once known.

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IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises is issuing a request for proposal (RFP) for the design, development, and implementation of the new web-based database system upgrade. The goal of the upgrade is to implement new work solutions for the internal end users and integrate technology that will meet the demands of the clients for this project. The vendor selected will have the responsibility of building, designing, testing, and integrating the system into IRTC business processes. The following personnel and team resources are required to ensure that the objectives are completed: Project manager; Business analysis; Technical architects; Programmers or testers and Instructional designers.

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The personnel listed above are required to complete this project. The project manager provides oversight to the project. Including accountability for establishing the project charter, developing and managing the work plan, securing appropriate resources and delegating the work and ensuring successful completion of the project on schedule, and within budget. All team members report to the project manager for work packages. The project manager handle all administrative duties, interface with the project sponsors and owners and have overall accountability for the project. The business will communicate the business processes to the technical architect so the programmer or tester can proceed with the design of the new web based system. The instructional designer will provide the training needs for the end users. The IRTC support staff will serve as support to the contractors via clarifying business processes.

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The project sponsor provides executive team approval and sponsorship for the project. The project sponsor has budget ownership for the project and is a major stakeholder in the project. The project owner provides policy definition to the project team, resolves all policy issues with the proper policy owners in order to provide clear and concise definition. Makes final decisions and resolve conflict or issues concerning the project. Steering committee: provides assistance to the project manager in resolving issues that arise beyond the project managers jurisdiction. Monitors project progress and provides necessary tools and support when milestones are in jeopardy. The working team member analyze, designs, and overall improves or replaces the business processes, and communicate the best practices for business processes, and identifying the organizations impact areas. Project manager: All team members report to the project manager.

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The check points and milestones will receive close monitoring on a weekly basis by the project manager and project owner to ensure vendor has successfully completed the work packages planned for the week. The steering committee meetings are scheduled weekly this schedule may change as the work progress. The project manager will provide monthly written status reports to the project owner on a monthly basis and distribute the project team meetings minuets. IRTC and the selected vendor will schedule periodic meetings and review to ensure the project risks and associated mitigation actions are monitored and controlled in accordance with the risk management plan. Issue management: Project related issues are tracked, prioritized, assigned, resolved, and communicated as outlined in the project management procedures. Change management: The control procedures will follow the outlines of the change control board to ensure that a change is necessary, overall avoiding scope creep and project rebaselining. Communications management: The project owner will receive notification via email or in person on all urgent issues. Issue notifications will include time constraints, and impacts, which will identify the need and urgency for service.

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The project sponsor and project manager approve the scope statement. Project changes are approved by the project sponsor. Project deliverables are approved and accepted by the project sponsor, project manager, and the key stakeholders. The purpose of this approval process is to ensure that the objectives of the organization are followed through. Failure to place the previous constraints in place most often leads to a customer who is not satisfied with the deliverables because of the potential of rebaselining the project, which ultimately push the finish date back and increase the cost of the project.

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The purpose of this document is to provide a vehicle for documenting the initial planning efforts for the project. It is used to meet a satisfactory level of agreement between the project manager and the project sponsors on the objectives and scope of the project before significant resources are committed and expenses incurred. “The signature of the people above relay an understanding in the purpose and content of this document by those signing it. By signing this document you agree to this as the formal Project Scope Statement” Paul A. Sevigny 11/28/2007. In the end the scope statement addresses seven questions according to Kerzner 2008, as follows: who, when, what, where, why, how, and how many.

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Requirements The requirements for this project were identified by the CIO of IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises with suggestions and recommendations provided by the project team members to provide the level of detail needed to properly cost and implement the project. A rough order magnitude dollar figure was provided to identify an initial baseline for planning the project and was then adjusted based on project requirements. Meetings with the Billing Department Head, Customer Service Department Head and IT Department head helped clarify the objectives furture. Define Scope The scope of this project is to upgrade IRTC’s legacy billing system to a new web based architecture that interfaces with the legacy billing system and customer service systems. The web based system will allow customers to view and pay bills online and access a billing agent when needed. The web based system is expected to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. Verify Scope A contract proposal will be developed by the project manager providing detailed requirements for acquiring human resources from the vender Control Scope All scope changes will be coordinated with the project manager, project sponsor and customers. Scope changes will be submitted in writing with cost estimates for approval by the customers prior to implementation. The scope changes will be addendums to the construction contract.

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Human resources management is an important part of the IRTC Billing System Upgrade Project. This human resources management plan describes the roles and responsibilities that will be fulfilled and a rational for the staff that are going to fulfill each position. The purpose of this human resources management plan is to achieve project success by ensuring the appropriate human resources are acquired with the necessary skills, resources are trained if any gaps in skills are identified, team building strategies are clearly defines, and team activities are effectively managed. The vender will play an essential role in supplementing this project and has been contracted to provide an additional skilled programmer, a technical architect, and a technical writer since IRTC team members lack proficiency in such skills. All of the vender team members will be utilized on an as needed consultant basis as determined by the project team and schedule and will only be utilized under project critical circumstances and to develop IRTC team members skills as necessary to ensure the quality and integrity of the IRTC system upgrades.

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The key human resources that will be utilized on the IRTC Billing System Upgrade Project include: Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Customer Service Department Manager, Billing Department Manager, Vender, Team Leader, Business Analyst, Technical Architect, Quality Assurance, Software Engineers, End User/System Tester, and Technical Writer. IRTC’s technical writer will be unavailable for the length of this project thus IRTC has contracted with the vender for technical writing. As mentioned the vender will also provide an expert technical architect to aid in the design stage and a seasoned programmer to supplement IRTC’s programmer when necessary. The chart shown is an organizational chart that displays the primary human resources that will be utilized in this project as well as the level of authority of each member. Each of these roles will be explained in greater depth in the roles and responsibilities section of this human resource plan. However, some key items of note is that the Customer Service and Billing Departments will play a role in providing the end user and project with critical requirements identification. Quality Assurance has authority over the Software Engineers and End User, and the Team Leader has authority over all other project members as shown.

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The chart shown is a project responsible, accountable, consult, and inform (RACI) chart. It is a type of responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) that is used to show the connections between activities and project team members. In the top row you can see the critical human resources of this project as well as the individuals who will play these roles (to be discussed later). Overall the primary persons responsible for activities are identified by the letter “R”. However, there are also many individuals who do not have primary responsibility but are none the less accountable for each activity these are shown by the letter “A” above. If a member is accountable for a specific task they are tied to the project team for that activity and should provide aid as necessary to ensure the activities success. Cells that have the letter “C” requires the responsible member consult with the indicated individual prior and during the activity. Finally, cells that have the letter “I” require that the participant be informed of the progress and made during each activity to reduce the likelihood of conflicts or absent communication between project stakeholders.

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Role: Project Sponsor Authority: The Project Sponsor has full control over the project and must approve project scope changes and provides go/no-go decisions where there is particularly high risk. Responsibility: The Project Sponsor is the person or group that provides the financial resources for the project, champions the project, and authorizes project scope changes, and plays a significant role in the development of the initial scope and project charter (Global Standard, 2008). Role: Project Manager Authority: The project manager has authority over all project team members and all resources allocated to the project. Responsibility: The Project Manager is responsible for the overall success of the Project. The PM must authorize and approve all project expenditures. The PM is also responsible for approving that work activities meet established acceptability criteria and fall within acceptable variances. The PM will be responsible for reporting project status in accordance with the communications management plan. The PM will evaluate the performance of all project team members and communicate their performance to functional managers. The PM is also responsible for acquiring human resources for the project through coordination with functional managers. The PM must possess the following skills: leadership/management, budgeting, scheduling, and effective communication.

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Role: Team Leader, Terry Authority: Has authority over project team. Responsibility: The team leader creates an environment of trust, open communication, and creative thinking between project team members (Crow, 1999). The team lead is responsible for coordinating team logistics, setting team schedules and organizing team member meetings. Finally the team lead is able to provide status reports of team progress and activities that have project on the schedule and is responsible for keeping the project manager informed. Terry is assigned as the projects team leader because of her background involvement in past system upgrades. Terry has vast technical capabilities and has played the role of software developer and tester on many projects. Terry is enthusiastic and has shown excellent management and communication skills in prior projects. Role: Business Analyst, Robin Responsibility: The business analyst understands what the business does, determines how to improve existing practices, determines steps needed, creates functional specifications, and implements the technical design of a new system (Babcock, 2007). The business analyst is responsible for the creation of graphs, charts, and must analyze the changes that are being implemented and their impact on IRTC organizational goals. Robin is assigned as the systems analyst for this project because of her outstanding role as systems analyst in the last two IRTC upgrade projects.

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Role: Software Engineer, Chris Responsibility: The SE is responsible for gathering coding requirements for the Project. The SE is responsible for all upgrade design, coding, of the upgraded software. The SE is responsible for the timely reporting to the Team Leader and PM as required by the communications management plan. The SE is responsible for programming, designing, testing, checking, and maintaining the IRTC Billing System Upgrade Project. The software engineer must have good communication skills and be able to work well with the business analyst, end user, and quality assurance team members. Chris is assigned as the lead software engineer / web programmer for this project. Chris has an undergraduate degree in computer science and has vast experience in web programming and software systems testing. Role: Quality Assurance, Pat Responsibility: Quality Assurance responsibilities include maintaining the project library and repository of project metrics, verification of project plans by affected by the group, review of processes and process requirements, preparing a QA plan, ensuring project requirements are clear, verifiable, and testable, coordinating audits and informal code reviews, observing end user system testing, and inspecting project reports. Pat is assigned as the Quality Assurance team member due to his past experience with IRTC projects.

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Role: End User Responsibility: The end user/system tester is responsible for ensuring that the desires of the Customer Service Department and Billing Department are articulated (Dean, 2007). The end user/system tester is also responsible for verifying that the finished project meets all of the expressed requirements. The end user is responsible for articulating requirements, thoroughly testing requirements, ensuring requirements are satisfied, and ensuring Customer Service and Billing Department staff is qualified and able to accept the system, and must promote and teach the system to users. The end user will provide a written contract of requirements and the qualifying criteria to the project stakeholders for delivery approval and approval of installation procedures. The end user will review existing business practices, and develop procedures/policies as required to support the new system. Jan is assigned as the end user for this project. Jan has prior experience with similar web based billing system projects and has extensive knowledge of the features, requirements, and functions the new system requires. Role: Technical Architect Responsibility: The technical architect is responsible for working with the project team in designing an end product that can be utilized easily, effectively, productively by the Customer Service and Billing Departments. The Vender will provide this position.

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This chart created with Microsoft Excel highlights planned project activities and the amount of human resources that will be expended. It provides an outlook on expected costs assosiated with using FTE’s vs. Vender staffing for the project.

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This chart created with Microsoft Excel illustrates the planned human resource usage of the project.

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Performance Reviews: The project manager will review each team member’s assigned work activities at the onset of the project and communicate all expectations of work to be performed. The project manager will then evaluate each team member throughout the project to evaluate their performance and how effectively they are completing their assigned work. Prior to releasing project resources, the project manager will meet with the appropriate functional manager and provide feedback on employee project performance. The functional managers will then perform a formal performance review on each team member. Recognition and Rewards: Upon successful completion of the project, a party will be held to celebrate the success of each team member with the team members’ families present. Upon successful completion of the project, any team member who satisfactorily completed all assigned work packages on time will receive a certificate of thanks from the CEO. Team members who successfully complete all of their assigned tasks will have their photo taken for inclusion in the IRTC corporate newsletter. IRTC will provide free family movie tickets for the top two performers of the project.

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IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises is upgrading the legacy billing system. The system has been through nine (9) upgrades before. The new upgrade will affect changes to IRTC business processes as they are switching to a new web-based version of the system, in addition the mainframe legacy system update. The project is expected to last 16-20 weeks; however, everyone has agreed that a formal scheduling process should be completed which may change the duration estimate (Colorado Tech University Online, 2011). The changes will streamline business functions, change existing jobs, create new positions, affect both the billing and customer service departments, improve customer satisfaction and reduce the number of days for outstanding accounts receivables.

The purpose of this presentation is to provide IRTC will a formal scheduling process that will offer them a roadmap for completing the new legacy billing system. It will offer the Project Sponsor (the Director of the Billing Department), stakeholders and project team a picture of the project’s status throughout the project lifecycle. One tool that will be used in the establishment of a project schedule is the Critical Path Method (CPM). Critical Path Method calculates the theoretical early start and finish dates, and late start and finish dates, for all activities without regard for any resource limitations, by performing a forward and backward pass analysis through the schedule network (Project Management Institute, 2008).

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Information on the schedule comes from the Project Charter and the project scope. The legacy billing system has been upgraded within a 9-12 week period; the duration was dependent on the vendor’s schedule. It is estimated that this new billing system will last from 16-20 weeks; however it is expected that in following a formal schedule will result in a longer time frame. Apparently, the past upgrades did not follow a formal scheduling process plan.

The project baseline will be from 16-20 weeks, not to exceed 26 weeks (approximately six (6) months). The vendor and his team of trainers and technical writers and technical architects will be on board for 8 weeks. This will be enough time to take care of all training and instructing needed to have IRTC staff proficient on the new system. From that estimation, even we accept the vendor’s software add-on that supports the integration of our existing customer service system with the billing system’s customer service function, that still keeps us under budget of the $100,000 allocated for vendor resources.

Roles and responsibilities will be established for the following participants in the schedule management plan. These participants play a significant role in the creation of the schedule and its management: Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Team Lead, Project Stakeholders and Business Analyst.

Project Sponsor: The Project Sponsor is a sitting member of the executive committee and the approval authority for the Legacy Billing Upgrade Project. The Project Sponsor is responsible for approving any requested schedule changes. Additionally, the Project Sponsor will provide status updates to the Executive Committee in monthly meetings.

Project Manager: The Project Manager has overall responsibility for schedule management on the Legacy Billing Upgrade Project. The Project manager is required to submit a weekly schedule status update to the Project Sponsor by close of business every Friday. The Project Manager is responsible for chairing the bi-weekly project team schedule meeting; for leading the project team in identifying and quantifying any schedule impact event which may result in schedule variance and reviewing all schedule change requests prior to submitting them to the Project Sponsor for approval.

Business Analyst: The Business Analyst will participate in all bi-weekly project team schedule meetings. He/she will assist the Project Manager in identifying and quantifying scheduling impact events. The Business Analyst will be responsible for identifying any potential schedule impacts and submitting the appropriate schedule change request to the Project Manager for any IT-related project function.

Team Leader: The Team Leader will participate in all bi-weekly project team schedule meetings. He/she will also assist the Project Manager in identifying and quantifying scheduling impact events. The Team Leader will be responsible for identifying any potential schedule impacts and submitting the appropriate schedule change request to the Project Manager for any team-related project function.

Project Stakeholders: Stakeholders identifying potential schedule impact events will work with the Project Manager and Team to determine if a schedule change request is necessary. Schedule status will be communicated to Stakeholders at the monthly project status meeting.

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) will be used to provide a framework of the schedule activities and the project milestone established. It represents verifiable products, services or results pertaining to the project schedule. It will provide a consistency on the estimates of scheduling strategy and monitoring and controlling of schedule. Decomposition is the subdivision of project deliverables into smaller, more manageable component or activities, which are the effort needed to complete a work package. Designated milestone include: project kickoff; completion of the new IRTC website; completion of the customer service and billing database; integration of vendor software add-on with legacy billing system; vendor training; and project sponsor approval

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The project schedule will be developed using a variety of tools and management software from Microsoft Project. By using Microsoft Project, project deliverables will be identified in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the WBS dictionary. Activity list will identify the specific work packages which must be performed to complete each deliverable. From the activity list, estimated activity durations will be established. These activity durations will be used to calculate the number of work periods required to complete work packages (Project Management Docs, n.d.). As noted earlier, this project has a time from of 20-26 weeks; budget, resources, time, cost and procurements have been allocated to meet the demands of each. Adherence to these time durations is very important; deviations could result in schedule changes which must be handled through a formal change process.

Once a preliminary schedule has been developed, it will be reviewed by the project team and any resources tentatively assigned to project tasks. The project team must agree to the proposed work packages assignments, durations, and schedule. Project durations may be affected or developed depending on resource calendar, enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets. The resource calendar provides information on which resources (e.g., people, equipment and material) are potentially available during planned activity period for estimation the utilization of those resources. Enterprise environmental factors include but are not limited to availability of the resources and skills needed; this information often kept in a project management information system (PMIS). Organizational process assets may include but are not limited to the following: existing activity planning-related policies, procedures and guidelines that are considered in developing the activity definitions and lessons-learned knowledge base containing historical information regarding activity lists used in previous similar projects (Project Management Institute, 2008).

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Maintaining constant awareness of the schedule is important because it allows the Project Manager and team to understand and provide the status of the project at any given time. However, this awareness is also necessary to allow the Project Manager to identify potential impact events and address these events by adjusting resources, funding, or submitting appropriate schedule change requests.

The Legacy Billing Upgrade Project will be monitored and controlled by the Project Manager and team. Bi-weekly project schedule meetings, which will be chaired by the Project Manager, will be conducted to provide schedule awareness. All project team members will be required to report the status of their assigned work as it relates to the schedule at this meeting. This will allow the Project Manager to fully understand the status of the project schedule and provide him with the opportunity to shift or re-allocate resources, funding, or submit schedule change requests as necessary (FAST Project Plans, n.d.).

As each schedule task is completed, the team member responsible for the work will provide an update to the Project Manager notifying him of such. This will allow the Project Manager to track schedule status in real time in order to provide status updates to the Project Sponsor or Stakeholders as necessary with current information. Additionally, as interim project deliverables are completed, they will be presented to the Project Sponsor for deliverable acceptance.

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Changes are going to occur during a project’s life cycle. Just because the changes occur, they need not be implemented without evaluating the impact they will have on the project. A formal change process must be followed in order to avoid unnecessary schedule changes, changes in the schedule which may be inadequate or fail to account for schedule impacts, or a lack of awareness across the project team of any changes which may have been made (FAST Project Plans, n.d.).

For the legacy billing system all proposed schedule changes will follow a formal process which is agreed by the project sponsor, i.e., the director of the of the billing department. The project sponsor is the one that sets the boundaries for the changes; therefore, all change requests must be approved by him. Any change requests that does not meet these boundaries may be submitted to the project manager for approval (boundary conditions set below). While it is the project sponsor that approves the change request, any member of the project team may request a schedule change once it has been determined that a boundary condition has been exceeded. The change is submitted to the Project Manager who reviews the change request with the project team. This review includes an evaluation of the impact the change request will have on schedule, cost and scope of the project. If it has been determined that the impact falls within the boundary conditions established, the change request may be approved or denied by the Project Manager and any changes needed may then be implemented in accordance with the Change Management Plan. If the impact exceeds the boundary conditions, the change is forwarded to the Project Sponsor for approval. Once approved, the project manager is responsible for adjusting the schedule and communicating all changes and the impact of those changes to the project team, project sponsor and stakeholders (Project Management Docs, n.d.).

Boundary conditions for the Legacy Billing System are as follows:

a) The proposed change is estimated to reduce the duration of the design teams work package by 10% or more, or increase the duration of their work package by 10% or more.

b) The change is estimated to reduce the duration of the overall schedule baseline by 10% or more, or increase the duration of the overall baseline by 10% or more.

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IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises is upgrading the legacy billing system. IRTC will follow a formal scheduling outlined in the Project Time Management Plan. This formal scheduling process will offer a roadmap for completing the new legacy billing system. It will offer the Project Sponsor (the Director of the Billing Department), stakeholders and project team a picture of the project’s status throughout the project lifecycle. Information on the schedule comes from the Project Charter and the project scope. The legacy billing system has been upgraded within a 9-12 week period; the duration was dependent on the vendor’s schedule. It is estimated that this new billing system will last from 16-20 weeks; however it is expected that in following a formal schedule will result in a longer time frame.

Roles and responsibilities will be established for the following participants in the schedule management plan. The project will be Decomposed into smaller, more manageable component or activities with designated milestone as follows: project kickoff; completion of the new IRTC website; completion of the customer service and billing database; integration of vendor software add-on with legacy billing system; vendor training; and project sponsor approval. The Legacy Billing Upgrade Project will be monitored and controlled by the Project Manager and team. Bi-weekly project schedule meetings, which will be chaired by the Project Manager, will be conducted to provide schedule awareness. All project team members will be required to report the status of their assigned work as it relates to the schedule at this meeting. All proposed schedule changes will follow a formal process which is agreed by the project sponsor, i.e., the director of the of the billing department. Any change requests that does not meet the established boundaries may be submitted to the project manager for approval. While it is the project sponsor that approves the change request, any member of the project team may request a schedule change once it has been determined that a boundary condition has been exceeded.

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The budgeting process for IRTC Manufacturing Enterprise will include a portion of the three methods that follows to estimate the cost to complete the project budget. Beginning with the bottom up approach it is the method of estimating a unit of work, in other words a unit of work is broken down into more details at a lower level an more descriptive pieces of work, which are forwarded to vendors to provide quotes according to PMBOK, 2009 this technique is known as bottom up estimating. The second technique is analogous estimating according to Greene, 2008, which use contractor expertise to verify the cost of a work package. The last technique of the budget process is parametric estimating, according to Greene, 2009 parametric estimating use historical data gathered from previous projects to estimate the cost to perform a work package or section of work.

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IRTC corporation determined a fixed budget for the legacy system upgrade. However, one of the most often used methods to create a budget follow the method listed in builderau.com, first the document make note that a budget should always receive labeling as an estimate, until it has been authorized and approved. The process help manage expectations and prevent miscommunications from being signed off on. On large projects such as IRTC legacy system upgrade on person does not make the budget. According to builderau.com the following stakeholders should offer input to the budget process: lead developer, project manager, and high level stakeholders.

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Bottom up estimating is the generic name for analogous estimating or roll up estimating. In other this process requires the customer to retrieve three quotes for a service or commodity. Expert judgment estimating is the process of consulting with experts in the subject area to obtain price quotes to build the budget. However, most experts charge a consulting fee for services rendered. Parametric estimating is a form of budgeting process where the client use historical data gathered from other projects to build price quotes for work packages this budgeting process. Either of the processes listed offer a certain degree of accuracy for the budget building process. Moreover, once the cost are outlined it is time to obtain more accurate figures, Using a project manager most often make the cost of completing a project budget line up with real cost estimates.

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Project cost and projects are two separate entities. The project cost are not defined totally by the monetary amounts, actual amounts including shipping and taxes, for software items used on the project must total onto the bill to ensure that appropriate baselining is achieved. Likewise contractors and vendor resources used for IRTC are totaled in hours, not dollar figures. Once the costs are laid out the next step is to identify the risks and assign a percentage reflecting how much each rick factor may affect the project overall, or portions of the project. Each of the delivery teams needs to have a certain percentage of risk value assigned to as insurance to make the team proactive, including the ability to cover occasional overtime etc. The budget for IRTC then is the total costs as calculated in the total cost figures and the total risk percentage of that cost. The budget is not an invoice contrary the baseline for the project budget.

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The risk assessment and assignment is highly important to a successful project. According to builderau.com without risk assessment the crisis that inherently happen over and over on a give project will affect the projects bottom line. To handle the escalations the values selected for the work packages should have contingency built in to the price estimate and not considered a part of a sales markup according to builderau.com. Risk represent actual costs incurred over the course of the project. The associations of the project requires careful planning, such as obscurity of the technology used, planning time shortages, number of development teams, number of modular components, product dependencies such as third party software, and any unknown. As risks escalate the resolution is to add a scope and a percentage to each item.

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All project have a certain amount of risk potential involved that is most often contributed to human error. People contract illness, people take vacation, people attend training, have court appointments just to name a few of the contributing factors that may cause project failure. From my personal experience no one is an expert in a subject matters. Therefore, a percentage needs assigning to this area beyond other considerations. According to builderau.com an average 10 developer six month project justifies a risk assessment of 5% of the total project cost. According to builderau.com it is normal for the overall risk assessment of a project to total between 20 and 30 percent. According to builderau.com when you suspect the numbers are too high do a comparison in the company to other projects to verify did other projects actually fall within budget. In the end a client is mush happier when you complete a project within budget, and too high risk values can cause sticker shock, revealing inexperience etc. however, by following the guide lines that builderau.com outlined you can rest assured that your project team, drivers, and client will enjoy the benefits.

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Project description: A group of teachers wants to take a world tour starting in Mumbai India, and ending someplace in Europe. The objective is to persuade the ACME company to offer world tours to meet the demands of the clients. The strategic analysis of this event would give the company the edge over other companies in town because the other company’s charge $500 more that the customer is willing to pay. The teachers research shows that the company could make $700 profit and still undercut the closest competition. The intangible benefits include the agents who attend this trip will gain experience booking travel in Europe, and that will the company with other prospects that has showed interest in other destinations. Conclusion it is the best interest of the ACME company to fund this project.

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Risk as they “Is a measure of probability, and consequence of not achieving a

defined project goal.” A project management plan does not go further without

preparing a risk management assessment. First we have to identify the risks, and lists

them to determining any new risk that is laying there in wait. A risk assessment starts

with looking at all the areas of interest that represents the intended project. See

Scenario, (CTU, 2011). Using a “Risk Flow Diagram,” we can see above the different

steps to take in doing this assessment; which begins with identifying the risks – good

or bad negative or positive. The advantages of doing this assessment is to see what

there is, that might be of a good advantage to the project and/or organization. Other

level show that things can be added to or be updated or to pay close attention to; as far

as the levels of risks there are out there to take. Of these levels there are steps to be

taken at certain times. There contingencies that have to be met of which certain

adjustments may be made to benefit the project cycle or budget, or all who are

working on the project that can be added or left out at needed. (Using specific project

risk assessment software can help to sort and define those risks where it can be

documented and stored as data for future use). (Kerzner, 2010;)

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Working on a project plan means knowing all the High/negative and Low/positive risks there are for the time of the project, and present time. It is without a doubt that the first thing to do is to ask questions- and how we are going to do that? Communicate within those within our environment and our external forces who are our customers, suppliers, and our competitors. (2011)

Risks can be a hazard to us or it can be an opportunity; it also has variability. (2011).The responsibility also comes from the upper management and lower management; to give a breakdown of what their normal risks are; not forgetting customer relations and what is being done to lower those risk which can eventually save any disaster at a later time. (2011). Beyond the initial risk assessment, given by management, we have to be disciplined to be able to work in difficult situations; and not to get caught up with other distractions, so we can identify other risks and list those risks. We must also be able to keep in tune with the customer’s needs, and other daily operation and the scope of the project process. (2011). There are certainty risks and uncertainty risks that are the two categories that control the aspect of risk management; one we know of or can see, to work with have more confidence in, and it is more predictable .(Kerzner, 2010) Last but not least, all compliance of the Sarbanes Oxley Act must be taken met as an added confidence and ethical value to the organization. (2011)

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A risk analysis is the evaluation of the activities of things that happened and the things that are liable to happen in the period of the project . (2011). We have to expect that there is a probability of a risk happening on a daily basis is just as the opposite not happening; therefore in order for us to determine the possibility of those basis, we have to evaluate the presumptions. To determine the probability of an incident can happen, we list the probability of risks categorizing, and adding that up, and giving a percentage of that probability for by using a basic formula; and later more intricate, to calculate; by the intervals of the incidents happening with dividing the events by intervals plus 1 and determine the percentage (average ) of time an incident can happen.

Thus: Formula= p (Ri) = (1/1+ti). See video (Youtube, 2011) A risk analysis helps us to determine our profit and loss ( Kerzner, 2010), in

going into this project, or any other proposed project; the objective is to go for profit- not loss.

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After the WBS is done, these two charts can be used to check on the status of

tasks done or to be done in order to determine the risks that may or not cause

unnecessary risks to the project. As one can see the GANTT chart shows where

specific notation are documented as our guide for our plan to be initiated. The PERT

diagram shows the fish diagram, of how the specific the tasks to be done, when, what,

and how it should be done which includes also the timeline of such task will be done.

In order to make reasonable decisions such steps must be made to dispel unnecessary

doubts. (2011). The difference between the two models are that THE PERT Chart as

is best described thus:

A PERT chart is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. PERT stands for Program Evaluation Review Technique, a methodology developed by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s to manage the Polaris submarine missile program. A similar methodology, the Critical Path Method (CPM) was developed for project management in the private sector at about the same time. (Tech Target, 2011) the PERT chart has connected lines and dots that states what the next steps are; which might not be directly connected which might be a few weeks from the last do a broken or dotted line at the last task and at the start of the new task. (2011). The GANNT chart is also a matrix and it lists tasks on a vertical axis that are listed vertically. IN every row a task is identified by name of label, and is done in a horizontal form with columns, identifying what level of task is needed to do a task and the provider of the task. There are periods for the tasks to be done, e.g., year, week, month, or date, time, and year. In the graphs following the text portion horizontal bars are made for connecting the time and period of the start and ending of a task. (2011).

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A SWOT analysis is used to determine the risks involved when preparing a

project plan; for the benefit all the stakeholders involved. It is an examination of the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. If a SWOT analysis is not done we will not be able to determine our budget, timeline, and staff that will be needed in order to reduce costs, and there must be enough to pay our vendor and/or consultant if needed, and I feel the add-on program may not be needed when adding up the net per hour salary for the staff including the vendor’s staff it may be not enough based on the time the vendor has given us. We will have to look for another vendor who can do it for less time and also at a lower cost.

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In our SWOT analysis of our project plan we try to determine the effectiveness in our organization, base on our past and present decisions. (2011) This method of analysis is used to understand the ways of business strategy. This method is a basic method that is simple, to understand and follow. Is usually done as a 2x2 matrix, and is used worldwide for as a good method for presentation, and reviews. (2011). In the two categories we can see that the opportunities are good; but unsure, because there are possibilities that might happen that can enhance the functions of business at IRTC. in the Threats column we see that they are also a possibility, of happening, because they are a certainty; due to the facts of the history, and account of present conditions at IRTC.

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In this risk management plan we can see that there are different methods and steps taken to get every part of the project put together by team effort and the knowledge of a good project manager; who along with other management team has to work together to achieve an effective outcome. (2011). Our next step is to document our task, and put them together in a document to be reviewed by the sponsor and management; before it can be approved for the project. It will be a good advice not to get to overwhelmed and caught up with too much distraction; but use a level head and work with the team to obtain a quality plan that that meets all requirements for approval. ( (Kerzner, 2010). Some training on leadership for the staff will be good recommendation. (DIR, 2011).

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A PM will spend at least half, if not more, of their time communicating with various individuals throughout the project. Their communication is performed through speaking, facilitating, listening, and writing. In order to be sure there is proper communication before, during, and after the project, the PM will need to develop a communication strategy and system. This system is what the PM will use to gather and distribute information and report the project results. Additionally, they will communicate how the project will be closed out and share the lessons they have learned to help others (Project Communications Systems, 2011). During the planning stages, the PM will determine the following: the audiences, content, frequency, and mechanisms. Other information will also need to be communicated such as the schedule, budget, utilization, and other status components. It is important for the PM to identify what tools and techniques will be used to capture and report the metrics, and the frequency for which it will be performed. Lastly, they will need to determine how the results will be applied and communicated to the stakeholders of the project (Project Communications Systems, 2011).

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Schedules are developed for projects to include what work needs to be completed on the project, when it will be completed, how long it will take, and who will be performing the work. The schedules are comprised of the tasks, dependencies between the tasks, durations, start and end dates, and the assignments. The projects are set-up in one of three different general relationship models. These are finish-start, start-start, and finish-finish. Most likely, the finish-start model will be the one mostly used in IRTC’s new project. Each of the people involved in each of the tasks will not only need to know what they are to accomplish, but will need to know other’s tasks as well so they can determine their finish times and other requirements (FAQ: Defining Project Schedules, 2011). In order to communicate this information, the PM will need to develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) which will list all of the work that must be performed in order for the project to be complete. The WBS for IRTC should be based on the phases of work. This WBS will also be referred to for the bases of detailing the schedule and other estimates. The milestones of the project will also be communicated in this schedule. This consists of critical points in the project as well as the hand-offs between the project’s phases. There are other charts, such as the Gantt chart, Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT), or the Critical Patch Method (CPM). Each of these communication models depict the schedule and estimates associated with them (FAQ: Defining Project Schedules, 2011).

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The communication between the PM and the sponsor regarding the budget will be done through telephone, meetings, email, and other face-to-face encounters. Anything discussed in the meetings or in person will need to be recorded by the PM, so they have hard copies of the resources should they need it for clarification or to refer to at a later point. (Determining Project Costs, 2011). The budget forecast is also important for the PM and the sponsor. This information is used in the control cost process. Its purpose is to provide information regarding the additional funds which are expected to be needed for the amount of work remaining. It can also be used, in turn, to develop an estimate for the total completion (PMBOK, 2008). It is important that is information is communicated between the PM and the sponsor. They will use it to develop other budget forecasts, and they will use the information to determine if anything within the budget needs to be changed and how it will affect the project’s scope and schedule.

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It is important to keep the team and other project stakeholders informed of what is being performed during the project and whether or not it is meeting the scheduled standards. Reporting the performance is the process of collecting and distributing performance information. This information pertains to status reports, progress measurements, and forecasts. This data will be collected periodically and will be analyzed to compare the information. The data collected will be communicated in the project’s progress and performance update and will also be used to forecast project results (PMBOK, 2008). The PM will need to be sure the performance reports include the right information which is appropriate for each audience. There are many formats available ranging from a simple status reports to more elaborate reports. A simple report will show information about the percent complete or for status dashboards monitoring the scope, schedule, costs, and quality. More elaborate reports include analysis of past performance, current status of risks and issues, work completed during that period, work to be completed next, summary of approved changes, and other relevant information which needs to be reviewed and discussed. This general information will be shared with the team and end users whereas the more elaborate reports will be discussed among the PM, sponsor, business analyst, vendor, and the senior management (PMBOK, 2008).

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There are many tools and techniques used to communicate the gathered information. There can be individual or group meetings, video and audio conferences, computer chats, and other remote communication devices. There are many tools available to IRTC to communicate this information to the stakeholders. The PM can distribute the information using hard-copy documents, manual filing systems, press releases, or shared-access electronic databases. The electronic communication and conferencing tools, like e-mail, fax, voicemail, telephone, video and web conferencing, websites and web publishing tools. Other electronic tools for project management such as project management software, meeting and virtual office support software, portals, and collaborative work management tools (PMBOK, 2008). The PM will decide which interface is the most appropriate for their desired audience. They may use different combinations depending on what information is being communicated and to whom it is communicated. The PM will need to ensure the audience is aware of the type of communication that will be used, so they are able to keep tabs on the information as stay informed.

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The type of information being shared will also be contingent on who is receiving the information. The stakeholders should be notified when issues are resolved, changes are approved, and the general project status updates. Project reports are the formal and informal reports which describe the status of the project and the lessons learned along the way. There will be issue logs, project closure reports, and other outputs from the different areas of the project. Project presentations will provide the team with information in a formal or informal setting. The other project’s stakeholders can also be involved so long as the information is relevant to their needs. Project record are used as correspondence in the form of memos, meeting notes, and other documents which describe the project. The information needs to be relevant and presented in an organized manner. The project records can also be maintained by the project team in a notebook or other register (PMBOK, 2011). The feedback from the stakeholders is also important information to be communicated. They will have input concerning the project’s operations. This feedback will be distributed to the team and will be used to modify or improve future performance of the project. The lessons learned documentation records the causes of the issues, reasoning behind the corrective action chosen, and other types of lessons learned about the information distribution. The lessons learned documentation needs to become a part of the historical database to be used by both the project, and the performing organization (PMBOK, 2011).

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