The Implementation of the Customer Relationship Process within Huanghe Technology - Assignment Example

Project and Programme Management Table of Contents Table of Contents 0 CRM Systems – Project Brief 1 Purpose: 1 Project Definition: 1 Outline Business Case: 3 CRM Systems – Project Initiation 4 Purpose: 4 Project Definition: 4 Business Case: 5 Project Management and Team Structure: 6 CRM Systems: Project Plan 10 Purpose: 10 Plan Description: 10 External Dependencies: 11 Lessons Incorporated: 11 Monitoring and Control: 12 Budgets: 13 Schedules: 13 Role of Project Manager 0 Bibliography 2 CRM Systems – Project Brief Project Name: Date: Release: Draft/Final Author: Owner: Client: Document Number: Purpose: The main purpose of this Project Brief is to provide detailed explanation of the various elements of the implementation of the Customer Relationship Process within Huanghe Technology. Project Definition: Huanghe Technology currently requires a project which can help resolve the issues within the company. Here a Customer Relationship Management project is being proposed to meet the needs of the company. This project aims at integrating three main elements of the business, i.e. the Customer support, Sales Team and Technical Team. Further details of the project are presented below. Project Objectives: The main objectives of the project are as listed below: a) Development of an Enterprise Team to meet the needs of the business clients b) Development of a Core Technical Team to meet the technical needs of both business clients as well as the SOHO customers c) Development of the Core Sales team which will deal with the details of sales as well as the financial aspects of all customers d) Development of Customer Service Team to face customers and provide the necessary customer support e) Development of a central database to hold complete records of all the sales made via all the channels. This will include both retail as well as the direct channels. f) Finally, to implement an Information System and to integrate the four function groups, i.e. enterprise team, core sales, core technical team and the customer support teams. Project Scope: The project has a limited scope and it caters to the European markets. The system will be implemented in the Huanghe UK office. Constraints and Assumptions: There are two main assumptions and constraints in this project. Firstly, it is assumed that all the sales information from the retailers can be got and integrated to the information system on a daily basis. Secondly, it is assumed that the company will be willing to invest in the technical development of the information systems. Outline Business Case: Huanghe Technology has being receiving a number of complaints from the customers relating issues relating to the equipments not working from SOHO customers and also a number of calls being lost between the call centre and the sales teams. Also the SOHO customers have faced lack of technical support from the company. The company is currently being run in three separate parts which are each managed by different people and all act independently as separate units and with different operations culture. The main issue of the business clearly is a lack of integration among the three parts of the business. Here due to the lack of integration, the impact has been on the customers and the service provided to the customers. CRM Systems – Project Initiation Project Name: Date: Release: Draft/Final Author: Owner: Client: Document Number: Purpose: The Project Initiation document provides a clear view of the direction of the project as well as a clear view of the roles of the various individuals in the project. This helps in developing a strong and firm foundation for the proposal before the company can make any further commitments on the project. It also helps provide the users and interested parties with a clear and detailed view of what the project is about and also how the project will be managed. Project Definition: The main aim of the project is to achieve an integrated system of the three main elements of the business, i.e. customer service, technical support, sales support. The aim is to ensure that the customers are provided with the required support and the company has as well developed customer relationship project along with a complete integrated database with details of all sales made by the company through all channels. The business case below will provide a detailed overview of the case and will also detail what is expected from this project. Business Case: Huanghe Technology is a Chinese enterprise which deals with the designing, manufacturing, and selling of computer network equipments. The company has had rapid expansion of the business which in turn has led to development of three different and independent units. Although Huanghe Technology has very effectively implemented latest technologies and has also seen intense growth, the lack of clear support for the customers. The company is currently being faced with issues like lack of proper customer support, lacking technical support and also numerous call drops between the customer care and sales teams. Hence it is crucial that the company implements a project to help develop an organized and effective approach to resolve this issue. The main focus of the project is on the customers and their needs. It is also important to note here that the company caters to two main markets, i.e. the business clients for network systems and the SOHO customers or the small scale customers. The Business clients are all catered to directly by the company. However in the case of the SOHO customers, the company uses two channels to meet the needs of the customers. Here the first channel is through retailers like Tesco and the second channel is the direct channel, i.e. directly from Huanghe Technology. With the intense growth that the company has had over the years, little or no attention has been paid to the development of integrated systems where all the information of the sales of the company is tracked. The company’s lack of integration and lack of clearly and well developed standardised corporate culture has led to the confusions. Hence with the lack of integration and a single focused company culture, there is a imbalance between the teams which in turn clearly is impacting the customers and the revenues of Huanghe Technology. Hence the main aim of the project is to develop an integrated system for the company along with a sound customer relationship management system to help cater to the needs of the customers. Project Management and Team Structure: The project will consist of the main project manager, and three separate modules, namely, Information Systems Team, Resources Management Team and the Training Department. The role description of each of the above mentioned teams and the project manager have been discussed below: Project Manager: Role Descriptions Report To Project Manager The Project Manager will be responsible for the overall project. This individual will need to have a holistic view of the project. All decision making regarding the project will be made by the individual. Here the project manager will integrate all the information got from the three main modules, i.e. Information Systems team, Resource Management Team and the Training Department to make informed decisions for the project. The manager will be responsible to deal with outsourcing for the development of the information systems. Board of Directors or the Heads of the UK Operations Information Systems Team: Team Role Descriptions Report To Information Systems Team (IS) Team Lead The IS team lead will be responsible for the technical aspects of the development of the Information systems for the company. This individual will be responsible to get and assimilate information from the team members and to provide a complete view of the IS team. Here the team lead is expected to gain complete information regarding the outsourced company, the technical needs of the IS systems and provide clear information to the project manager. Project Manager Team Members (3-4 Members) The IS team will include a total of 3 to 4 members. These individuals will be assigned specific roles pertaining the development of the information systems. For instance, one member will be responsible to keep in touch with the outsourced company, while the second member will be responsible to assimilate and gather all the requirements for the information systems and the third member will be responsible for the technical aspects of the information systems. The fourth member will be an all-rounder and will participate in all the activities of the team and stay updated on all aspects. Information Systems Team Lead Resources Management Team: Team Role Descriptions Report To Resource Management Team Lead The Resource management team lead will be responsible for correct allocations of all resources and also for ensuring that the culture of the company is standardized. Here the manager will be responsible for all the staffing requirements of the company and will also need to develop teams which provide a good mix of cultures as well as strong teams to ensure customers get the best from these teams. The team lead will gain all the information from the team members. The role of the team members is as discussed below. Project Manager Team Members (3-4 Members) Here this team will also have 3-4 members. The main role of each of these members will be pre defined and each of these members will need to report to the Resource Management team lead. The roles of each member will differ, however together all information from these members will assist the team lead make more informed decisions. For instance, the first member will be responsible to gain complete information of all employees within the company and to analyze the expertise of each employee. The second member on the other hand will be responsible to develop the staffing requirements of each team. The third member of the team will be responsible for dividing the employees into the respective teams based on the information of the other members of the resource management team, and so on and so forth. Resource Management Team Lead Training Department: Team Role Descriptions Report To Training Department Team Lead The training team lead will be responsible for developing the training program for the employees on the information systems. Here the team lead will work closely with the information systems team and resource management team leads, to gain a clear idea of the technical aspects as well as the employee teams. The lead will also be responsible to ensure that the customer facing team is completely trained on the basics of all the products. Here it will also be important that the core technical and core sales teams are trained on the information systems. The lead will also be responsible to ensure that the enterprise team members are provided with complete detailed training on raising tickets and dealing with the clients. Project Manager Team Members (3-4 Members) The team will include a three to four members. Each of these members will be responsible for individual tasks. For instance, one of the team members will be responsible to develop the training schedules for the employees and to ensure all the training requirements are met. While the second member will be responsible to train the enterprise team members. Similarly another member will be responsible to train all employees on the use of the information systems. Together the main objective of the team is to ensure that all employees of the company are completely trained, and well versed with the use of new systems as well as the role of their respective teams. Training Department Team Lead CRM Systems: Project Plan Project Name: Date: Release: Draft/Final Author: Owner: Client: Document Number: Purpose: The Project Plan provides a clear view of the various factors that can impact the project and also includes a detailed discussion of the monitoring and control process of the company. Here a detailed discussion of the schedule and the lessons incorporated are also provided. Plan Description: The Project plan provides the management with a complete overview of the project by detailing several essential aspects like the external dependencies, budgets, schedules and monitoring and control. Each of these have been discussed below. External Dependencies: There are two main external factors that have a possible impact on the project: a) The IS systems development company: Since the development of the Information Systems is being outsourced, hence any delays or changes by the outsourced company can have a major impact on the overall project. b) Demand for the products: The project is being developed based on the current demand for the products. Hence the demand of the products requires remaining the same during the transition period as well. Changes in the demand can also impact on the project. Lessons Incorporated: Based on literature that has been presented over the years, it is evident that change can prove to be difficult both for the company as well as its employees. It is crucial to understand the possible issues that can arise due to the cultural changes here in the case of Huanghe Technology. Here in the case of Huanghe Technology, the company does not have a clearly set down culture, in the current condition, the company used three different cultures. Hence any changes to these or even incorporating each of these together can prove to be very disruptive. Hence it is crucial that the project manager pays a lot of attention to the cultures and focuses on developing a well balanced approach to the change management to avoid dysfunctional stakeholder behaviour. The second important aspect that needs to be considered here is the Information Systems and its implementation. A number of possible issues can arise with the implementation of the information systems. As explained by Halonen & Paavilainen (2005), the implementation of IS lead to organisational changes and a number of times these changes in the work process and structure have can lead to stress and also change resistive behaviour. The authors explain that a few possible issues with the implementation of IS in companies can include: “conflicts, social dynamics, lack of knowledge or lack of sharing it, user participation, management problems, resistance to change and, commitment to an IS project” (Halonen & Paavilainen, 2005). Hence based on the various available literatures the main focus of the manager here will be to develop a smooth transition for the employees. This will not only allow better acceptance to the change but will also help in better overall results of the company as well. Monitoring and Control: A through monitoring and control system will be in place for the project. On a regular basis, i.e. either daily or weekly, the Project Manager and all the Team Leads, will need to fill out project status reports. This will help keep track of the progress as well as ensure that the development and implementation is on schedule. Secondly the Team Leads and the Project Managers will have weekly meetings to discuss the progress for the week and to raise any concerns, issues or required changes. Based on the feedback from the weekly meetings, the Project manager will make any necessary changes to the project. Budgets: An approximate budget has been included here for the project. The development of information systems £50,000, training processes £25,000, additional resources £30,000. These are approximate figures and provide a basic overview of the approximate expenses that the company can expect. Schedules: The schedule for the project is presented in the following gannt chart. The project is estimated to begin on the 2nd of May 2011 and last till 31st of October 2011. Gantt Chart               CRM Systems Implementation Huanghe Technology Project Lead: Project Manager Today's Date: 2/9/2011 (Wed) (vertical red line) [42] Start Date: 5/2/2011 (Mon) Role of Project Manager Project Managers play an important role in the overall success of a project. It is the task of the project managers to deal with several different elements and aspects of the project like integration, scope, time and cost, quality, resource management, communication, risks and also procurements management (Nelson & Aaron, 2005). Although project plans are developed keeping in mind all the minute details and taking into account the various scenarios and possible issues, in reality there are still chances that the project manager might be faced with more differences that the actual plan assumptions (Dooley, 2010). While dealing with the project there are numerous chances where the planned areas might not execute as planned. Hence the role of the managers needs to ensure that if any changes are present that need to be incorporated, three main elements are considered, i.e. time, scope and cost. It is also crucial that all changes are documented, to ensure that the overall documentation is complete and accurate (Finch, 2010). Managers need to also take into consideration the impact any possible change might have on the employees and the overall culture of the organisation as well. All attempts need to be on ensuring that the culture is not affected very drastically. Implementing any form of change can also bring about a number of resistances from the employees; hence it is for the manager to focus on the communication elements of the changes to the employees (Barron & Barron, 2009). This will help cover any changes that might occur in reality as compared to the project plan. When a manager is faced with a different reality as compared to the project plan, it becomes crucial that the manager undertakes all the roles like communication management, cost and time management, resource management, procurements management and most importantly integration management (Hiatt & Creasey, 2003). Doing so allows the manager to not only manage the issue but also gain the trust of the employees. This will help in a smoother transition as well. Hence it is clear that the mangers is responsible to make the overall project a success and this can only be done when the processes and people support the change. Hence the managers act as change management agents here in this scenario (Nelson & Aaron, 2005). Since organizational changes are very deep-seated stakeholders of the company also tend to be impacted with any change in the project plan. Hence the manager is obliged to communicate with the stakeholders and provide them with complete details of the changes as well. Bibliography Barron, M., & Barron, A. R. (2009, September 29). CNX. Retrieved February 6, 2011, from Project Execution: http://cnx.org/content/m32189/latest/ Dooley, J. (2010). Cultural Aspects Of Systematic Change Management. Retrieved September 9, 2010, from Well.com: http://www.well.com/user/dooley/culture.pdf Finch, C. (2010, July). Solving the Project Execution Problem: Technology Alone Won't Do It! PM World Today – Viewpoint . PM World Today. Halonen, R., & Paavilainen, J. (2005). Hierarchical Model of Problems in Implementing Information Systems. Retrieved February 6, 2011, from http://www.pacis-net.org/file/2005/193.pdf Hiatt, J., & Creasey, T. (2003). Change Management . Prosci Research. Nelson, K., & Aaron, S. (2005). The Change Management Pocket Guide . Change Guides, LLC. Read More