SME Technologies has the experienced project management resources, the methodology, and the successful track record to enable the successful delivery of your projects. We guarantee delivery in accordance with the project objectives, budget estimates and delivery timeframes. There is no doubt that there have been a lot of well publicised, high profile project failures where cost and timeframes have had incredible blow-outs. So to minimise the risk of these unacceptable blow-outs SME Technologies focuses on the “Management” aspect of Project Management. That is, we spend time, up-front, to plan out every aspect of the project and where there is risk identified we implement strategies to nullify or mitigate that risk.
There are a lot of project management methodologies being practised by different organisations these days including SELC, SDLC, PEFM, Prince2 and Agile however the main management framework underpinning all these methodologies is PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) and it is on this framework we build our project management plans. We then apply these to whatever delivery methodology that the client prefers within their organisation. We will apply Agile methodologies where feasible and Waterfall methodology where necessary however at all times we identify where the project can be progressed utilising multiple overlapping delivery streams with a view to expediting delivery. Any delivery strategy will be (and must be) influenced by known dependencies, constraints and risks.
PMBOK identifies the following project components (not in any particular order) that require careful planning and management:
1. Project Plan – Development of a Project Plan that includes details of how each of the PMBOK components will be managed. This plan is essentially the “project bible” and requires approval by the Project Sponsor prior to the project kicking off. This document determines how the project will be managed and will include details of all the following PMBOK components
2. Financial Management – Development of project cost estimates; business case approval; project budget approval; and ongoing monitoring and reporting of spend
3. Risk & Issue Management – identification and qualification (likelihood/impact) of all project risks; development of a Risk Log and identification of mitigation strategies; development of an Issues Log with resolution strategies identified; communication of risk and issues to the Project Sponsor
4. Vendor Management – selection of appropriate solution or support vendor if required; ensuring external vendor contract meets project requirements and/or business as usual support; agreement of vendor delivery milestones; agreement of dispute resolution process
5. Quality management – Development of a plan to ensure highest quality of the various project deliverables; Detail Test Plan to validate quality of new solution before it is deployed; develop Project Governance Plan to ensure visibility and approval of decisions made and actions taken
6. Stakeholder Management – Identification of all parties impacted by a project (either directly or indirectly) and agreement with those parties as to their respective roles and responsibilities; agreement as to the interactive communication required between the project and the stakeholders; identification of key stakeholders who should form the Project Steering Committee, and the responsibilities of this committee
7. Scope Management – document the scope of the project and confirm acceptance by the stakeholders. Any changes to scope must be managed through the Change Management process
8. Change Management – document change control process; communication of impact of accepting and/or not accepting a Change request; ensuring any changes have agreed management approval; documenting and tracking changes in a Change Log; understanding and documenting the impact that the project will have on current business processes; current business resourcing; and potentially the current business culture
9. Resource Management – development of a resource plan identifying: key resources required and back up plans; resource oliday periods; resource transition strategies for different phases of the project; communication to resources to ensure their active participation and understanding and commitment to their specific responsibilities
10. Time Management – Development of Project Timelines and detailed Project Schedule to identify target milestones and target dates; seek acceptance of the Project Timelines from stakeholders and project resources taking into account complexity of solution, risk, issues and dependencies; provision of regular reporting to identify progress against targets as per the Communication plan
11. Communication Management – Development of a Project Communication plan for the project that includes: breadth and frequency of communication to the Project sponsor, Steering Committee and stakeholders, requirements for regular face to face meetings to discuss progress against target for project milestones, cost actuals against estimates, changing risks and issues; plus communication requirements to the broader company
At SME Technologies we have the expertise and the experience to thoroughly understand the business requirements and therefore to determine the project objectives and delivery strategies. Based on this agreed understanding we will plan each component of the project for overall success.
Do feel free to contact us to discuss your specific business needs.