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IX. Project Management

The success of the project is heavily dependent on the plan and management of each aspect of the project. As progress in implementation is made, project management is a fluid process that can be impacted by a number of external and internal factors. Project management focuses on organizing and monitoring elements that unite to compile the overall project. The project team will be in charge of establishing and managing these project elements, as well as the project schedule. Below, the elements of the project are discussed, the project team is introduced, and an initial project schedule is formed.

A. Project Management

A project is united by different aspects that tie together to form the basis of each stage. Each aspect of the project will need to be planned, approved, and monitored often to ensure the project is successful. Below are further details on how the aspects of project scope, schedule, cost, quality, communication, and stakeholders will be managed during the Salesforce implementation.

1. Project Scope- Maintaining the project scope during each stage of implementation is of the utmost importance. Scope creep can be a dangerous mishap that occurs as the project is underway that can cause the project to fail, if not properly managed. With an approved scope statement describing the project and entailing what will not be part of the project, a scope management plan will be adapted and followed to prevent scope issues at any point. A scope management plan includes the defined requirements, stakeholders, the scope, a work breakdown structure (WBS), roles and responsibilities of those involved in the project, deliverables, and a form of scope control (Roseke, 2020.) To prevent scope creep, a change management plan will be followed to control and approve change in a formal manner. A change management plan will be activated with any requested change in the cost, resources, schedule, or any aspect of scope.

2. Time/Schedule- A schedule will be developed through a top-down approach, meaning it will start with the overall goal of the project and break it down into singular tasks. The time to complete the tasks and priority of each task will guide alignment of the full schedule. Each task will be given a start and end date, that can then be assigned specific roles and costs. The schedule will be monitored and discussed in weekly meetings; changes to the schedule will need to be processed and approved through the change management plan.

3. Cost- The current estimated cost of $50,000 has been determined to include the solution, process changes, and training. A closer estimate of the cost for this project will be made as the tasks, resources, time, and labor is further considered during completion of the WBS. A project budget will then be established through a plan cost management. During implementation, the project budget will be discussed and monitored weekly. Requests for changes will be handled through the change management plan. Changes to the estimated cost of the project beyond 10% will require a budget assessment and approval through all stakeholders.

4. Quality- Quality is determined by how well the project meets the expectations and requirements as defined by the customer of the project. The quality of the project tends to be impacted as the cost and schedule of the project are defined and altered. If the schedule falls behind or costs are cut, the quality of the project may also suffer. To ensure the Salesforce implementation will meet expectations a quality management plan will be consolidated. Through the quality management plan, components of the project quality will be measured to determine their priority (Malsam, 2022.) These identified components of the quality will be considered as metrics in which the quality will be continually assessed. Quality assurance activities that will be applied throughout the project to meet the expectations will also be described in the quality management plan.

5. Communications- A communications management plan defines regular communication throughout the project and plans when unscheduled communications will be necessary. As previously discussed, weekly meetings will be held between the project team and stakeholders to update and monitor the elements of the project. At the beginning, a kickoff meeting will be held the first week of the project to introduce the project, discuss deliverables, and review the project objectives. Between the project team, daily email communication will also discuss progress and important updates. With any issues or changes, a zoom meeting will be held between the project team and stakeholders to ensure all members are informed and in agreement.

6. Stakeholders- As noted, the stakeholders are valuable members in maintaining the success of the project. The stakeholders will be actively involved in updates and determining approval and changes of the project. The stakeholders will first need to be formally identified, and their concerns established (Hartney, 2021.) Stakeholders’ priorities, expectations, and concerns will be documented through the stakeholder management plan. During implementation, the stakeholders’ needs will be individually regarded and updated. To avoid project failure, stakeholders will need to remain engaged and active in all stages of the project.

References

Hartney, J. (2021, June 8). The 10 PMBOK Knowledge Areas. Project Engineer. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from http://www.projectengineer.net/the-10-pmbok-knowledge-areas/

Malsam, W. (2022, April 14.) The Quality Management Plan in Project Management. PM. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/quality-management-plan

Roseke, B. (2020, February 24). Components of a Scope Management Plan. My Choice Software. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from http://www.projectengineer.net/components-of-a-scope-management-plan/