Due in 12 hours - Individual: Testing and Quality Assurance

The accomplishment of a project extremely depends on upon the communication. As the same way, blood streams all over the human body supplying oxygen gas to the body is the same way the case with communication in a project management process. A smartly designed communication plan is the life stream of the project. The importance of communication in a project management is likened to the importance of the blood flow in the heart. The same way the heart plays a critical role in the distribution of oxygen all over the body, the project manager too plays a vital role in the distribution of information from stakeholders to its employees and project members.

According to Ying and Pheng, project communication management can be defined as the inclusive process necessary to ensure appropriate and timely generation, collection, distribution, retrieval, storage and ultimate disposition of project information (Ying & Pheng, 2013).

It is therefore very important for Brewton Business project management team to come up with an effective communication strategy to effectively disseminate information during the implementation of its ERP system project. The project manager is required to plan procurement and communications activities and create an all-inclusive suite of project plans that are set out on a clear project roadmap. Planning will assist in the reduction of uncertainty, increasing the understanding of the project objectives and goals to accomplished and enhances resources efficiency.

The primary task of a project manager is to influence workforce to take action. This calls for an ability to communicate in a style proper for the individual concerned. In case communication in the project is of poor quality, the project is more to fail likely. Taskforce working within a project frequently communicate but the quality of the communication ought to be of good quality.

The direction and purpose of the project lie on the capability of the project manager to channel information to the partners within the project. The project manager needs to create an active communication amongst the project stakeholders by staying into contact with people and passing information between different individuals and between them and the funding body.

For the project leader to do this, they must familiarise with the functions of each line of the organisation and should have an understanding of the technology deployed. Additionally, they ought to have strong communicative and interpersonal skills.

Communication channels

For Brewton Business ERP project management, the following communication channels are purposely intended to be used:

i. Upward communication

This kind of communication involves communication from the lowest positions in the Brewton Business to the highest positions. It used in case the management needs to evaluate the overall performance of the project that they are responsible. It comprises use of messages or memoranda about problems and performance.

ii. Downward communication

It involves the managers of Brewton Business communicating downline to subordinates. It provides control and direction for project team members. It consists of information like goals and missions of the organisation, feedback to juniors on their performance.

iii. Lateral communication

This kind of communication takes occurs between departments in Brewton Business or project manager and their peers. Communication is the form of reports on the activities of the departments.

Documentation

For smooth performance and maintenance of Brewton Business ERP application, documentation of the system is necessary. Typical documentations will include technical documentation and user manuals. These documentations will be available both online and in hardcopy. The hardcopy will be availed immediately after the development process.

Change Control Process

According to Land Change control refers to the process of handling suggested alterations to items that have been beforehand designated as permanent. This implies that an object only becomes subject to change control once it has been signed-off, kept in a standard and stored under configuration control (Land, 2008). The objective of the change control is to guarantee that if signed-off object is altered then

· All stakeholders are made aware of the changes that happen.

· There is an audit trail which links an alteration to a configuration object to a reason for its alteration, and which registers the participation of and authenticity of those stakeholders concerned with the alteration.

· All participants have a chance to take part in control of any subsequent alterations.

For a change to be considered successful, a proper change control process must be undertaken. A proper change control process requires methodologies for handling suggestions for altering any configuration object and level of expertise required to modify the configuration object.

During the setup of change control process in Brewton Business ERP project management, each object item will go through system, unit, integration and acceptance tests, an advanced level of authority is required to support the alterations. This is known as the promotion of a configuration item. The same way that, project team leaders sign off unit tests, coders sign off unit tests, and project leaders sign off integration tests, is the similar way that change approval necessitates a level of authority parallel to the status of the configuration item.

Outsourcing

According to Sparrow, outsourcing denotes to an arrangement in which a company offers services for another company. Outsourcing is a movement that is becoming more common industries and information technology for services that have been taken as fundamental to managing a business (Sparrow, 2012).

Similarly, Brewton Business not an exception from benefiting from the advantages of outsourcing. Therefore, this company has made a strategic plan to outsource from IBM Company for storage space of their ERP system once it is developed. This will be of importance to our business since IBM will be providing maintenance and security services to our information. Our focus will be mainly on the business. However, a challenge comes that every benefit must accompany some costs. This outsourcing requires a lot of cash to be implemented.

References Land, S. (2008). Managing Knowledge-Based Initiatives. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. Sparrow, E. (2012). Successful IT Outsourcing: From Choosing a Provider to Managing the Project. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Science & Business Media. Ying, Z., & Pheng, ‎. S. (2013). Project Communication Management in Complex Environments. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Science & Business Media.