high level of analysis

High-Level Feasibility Analysis - Project #1 (IT Conversion)

The first project we will provide a high-level feasibility analysis for is based on the IT Conversion_PMS case study. As mentioned previously, the completion of this project is imperative to the short term, and potentially long term, success of our company. Without a new IT systems infrastructure to migrate business manufacturing and marketing operations to, there will be significant immediate and near-term costs to absorb when our former parent company ends its IT platform services. By replacing the current third-party program management team with a more capable and efficient team, we should be able to reach our unmovable deadline, and realize significant benefits from our project’s success.

In global economy that is increasingly reliant upon information technologies to deliver high-speed connection and communication capabilities, it would be irresponsible to company stakeholders to remain beholden to another organization’s IT platforms and infrastructure, if a goal of our company is to be fully independent. This independence will allow us to develop, enhance, and reprioritize IT solutions to ensure that our platform will consistently support our company’s strategic focus and provide our business goals the agility that is increasingly necessary to stay competitive in a dynamic global marketplace. Keeping future projects in mind, we also believe successful implementation of this project will provide valuable lessons learned, and will contribute to the establishment of best practices that can be utilized in forthcoming enterprise transition projects.

Making this transition on time will save $2M in annual service fees to our previous parent company, but more significantly, would prevent massive opportunity costs related to marketing and manufacturing management disruptions. A gap in service would be devastating to our company’s credibility, image, and source of revenue. As a result, timely delivery is the most significant driver of this project’s requirements.

To implement this project, we estimate some significant direct costs for hiring the experienced personnel necessary to deliver a successful development of and migration to an enterprise IT platform. Because we are dealing with an unmovable deadline, we’ve also considered the possibility of overtime and other project crashing costs. We’ve already made an investment in the infrastructure hardware and equipment, but there is the low probability that the original design plans and estimates made by the previous program management team will not be compatible (or seen as infeasible) by the incoming team. In the unlikely scenario that we have to start development from scratch, there will be additional costs related to design and construction. However, these costs have been determined to be reasonable (and relatively low) when the projected benefits of the project’s success were considered.

With our company’s current priority of moving to an independently operated and managed IT platform, we find this project to be completely feasible. While the associated costs are significant, we have full confidence in the value of the projected benefits, and believe the project scope takes into account the full spectrum of requirements to complete this project on time. We will hire a new project team made up of consultants (experienced in IT conversion), and they will immediately assess the currently delayed program so they can develop an effective IT migration management plan. With an informed project management and scope management plan developed, we believe on-time delivery of IT systems integration is even more feasible. We expect rigorous stakeholder communications,  well-established baselines, and properly managed project elements to significantly reduce our current project timeline, and deliver project success.