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2. 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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3. 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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4. 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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5. 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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6. 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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7. 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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8. 8

9. 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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10. 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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11. 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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12. 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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13. 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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14. 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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15. 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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16. 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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17. 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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18. 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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19. 19

20. 20

21. 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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22. 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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23. 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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24. 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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25. 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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26. 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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27. 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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28. 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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29. This chart created with Microsoft Excel illustrates the planned human resource usage
of the project.
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30. 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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32. 32

33. 33

34. 34

35. 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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36. 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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37. 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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38. 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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39. 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.
39

40. 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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42. 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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43. 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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44. 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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45. 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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46. 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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47. 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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48. 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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50. 50

51. 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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52. 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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53. 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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54. 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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55. 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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56. 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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57. 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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59. 59

60. 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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61. 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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63. 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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64. 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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65. 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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66. 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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