Designing a Customer Care and Values Training Programme for Personnel - Case Study Example

Running Head: PROJECT FOR DESIGNING A CUTOMER CARE TRAINING PROGRAMME 1 Project Management Name Institution Profession Course Date Designing a Customer Care and Values Training Programme for Personnel Project’s Team Selection In order to carry out this project it will be necessary to have a system for staff selection so as to have the right people in the project team (Cerrato, 2001). The team members should have the relevant skills required for developing a programme for training personnel on customer care and values. The team should have enough experience in running of a fire and rescue services organization. A recruitment process needs to be carried out by the person tasked with that role. The positions to be advertised need to have appropriate job description that must include job title, location, responsibilities and the working conditions expected. Job specification for each position must also be well elaborate to guide the applicants on the positions that they qualify for. The assessment of the candidates shall be based on the information provided in the application form and the results of individual interview for each selected applicant. The individual who will have the responsibility of carrying out the recruitment is the overall Project Coordinator who will have been identified by the project sponsors (Kemp, 2004). The positions to be advertised by the coordinator include the Project Manager, the Human Resource Manager, the IT manager, the Public Relations Manager, the Assistant Project Manager, the Finance Manager, the Operations Manager, and a Human Resource Consultant. The objective in coming up with these positions is to have a lean and competent team for the project. Other factors to be considered will be the financial implication of having such a team, and the amount of resources that the sponsor is willing to put into the project team. Project Idea The organization that is sponsoring this project has comes up with the project ideas of developing a customer care and values training programme for the personnel. The Project Manager will be tasked with the mandate of developing a Project Proposal based on the project idea. The proposal will be submitted to the organization’s Board for approval and will be the final draft of the Project Initiation Document (PID). Project Initiation Document The PID will contain the following contents all based on the nature of the project. The contents will be; Aim, Objectives, Benefits, Costs, Business Case, Tasks, Precedence Chart, Staffing, Risk Management Plan, and Documents Management Plan. Aim: the aim of this project is to develop a customer care and values training programme for personnel working in the Fire and Rescue industry. Objective: this project will apply to the human resource department with the scope covering the customer care personnel. The objective of the project is to develop a values training programme for the customer care personnel working in a Fire and Rescue organization. The programme shall be in operation by July 2011. Benefits: this project will see an improvement in customer interaction with the customer care staff (Pinkerton, 2003). The long time benefits will be increased customer satisfaction which might eventually lead to an increased customer base. Economic benefits in the organization will be experienced in the organization in the long run. Costs: the total project cost will include all costs from the start of the project to the end. The cost in this project will be calculated using the estimated period of completion as 60 days from 1st April 2011 to 30th June 2011. Cost Analysis Material costs $ Personnel Costs Rate Days $ Computers 2000 Project Manager 300 60 18000 Stationary 500 HR Manager 200 60 12000 Others 1000 HR Consultant 500 60 30000 Software 1500 Project Coordinator 250 60 15000 PR Manager 200 60 12000 Asst. Coordinator 150 60 9000 Finance Manager 180 60 10800 Operations Manager 180 60 10800 5000 117600 Material……………………5000 Personnel…………………..117600 Sub Total……………………122600 Contingency @ 10%..............12260 Total Costs…………………$134860 Business Case: the programmed to be developed will aim to increase the value of the customer care staff by teaching the relevant skills for handling clients. If this project is not implemented the organization risks losing a considerable number of clients due to poor services in handling clients. This will mean loss of revenue by the organization. Precedence Chart: the precedence chart will be prepared by the Steering Committee showing all the tasks to be performed in the project and the order of accomplishing the tasks. This helps in the effective use of resources. Project Milestones Duration in Days   Planning your idea 1 Team Selection 1 Decide on activity 2 Meet with group(s) involved to discuss 1 Decide on funding 1 Drawing the budget 2 Discuss the budget and funding 1 Sending the budget proposal to sponsors 14 If bid approved:   Inform participants of tentative details 1 Presenting the final project proposal in a seminar 1 Inform participants of the confirmed details 2 Confirm if funding is available 3 Project initiation 2 Project implementation 60 Payments and invoicing 5 Staffing requirement: every team member has a role to play in the project. Project Manager – the role of the project manager is to oversee the overall management of the project from initiation to implementation. He also oversees the recruitment of the project’s Steering Committee and provides status reports to the project sponsors. Project Coordinator – he is concerned with the day to day running of the project. He updated the project Manager on the progress of the project. Assistant Coordinator- he may sit in for the Project Coordinator as they work hand in hand. Operations Manager- concerned with the technical operations of the project such as overseeing installation of machines and equipment. Finance Manager – in charge of finance distribution and also prepares the necessary financial reports. HR Manager – in charge of all the staffs welfare involved in the implementation of the project. Hires and fires the relevant workers. Supervises the implementation of Human Resource Policy in the project HR Consultant – an expert in the field of customer care in the fire and Rescue organizations. Tasked with the mandate of giving professional advice to the project team in the development of the customer care programme Public Relations Manager – in charge of giving official communication to the public concerning the status and progress of the project Risk Management Plan There will be a continuous risk assessment in the whole period of the project. The assessment shall be done monthly and mitigation measures taken where there is a possibility of risk. The Project Manager shall oversee the assessment and ensure that status report on the same is written. The mitigation approach will be discussed and agreed by all the members of the Steering Committee. The project Manager will recommend monthly contingency measures to the steering Committee as the situation may dictate Document Management Plan The Steering Committee shall ensure that all the necessary documents are carefully managed. It will be necessary for the committee to follow the progress of the project closely so that if there is a final document produced as a project report for customer training, then the final version should be harmonized. Compiling the Funding Bid The project team will decide where the funding proposal will be placed. The sponsor organization shall be made to understand that a thorough budget has been agreed on by the Steering Committee (Pinkerton, 2003). This approach will be appropriate since the donor organization will have confidence in the project. The team will also compile a funding draft that will accompany the project summary. The team will discuss the possibility of placing the bid to any other donor organization if the main sponsor does not fund the full project. What would follow is the awaiting of the notification from the sponsors. Budget Approval Once the Steering Committee have discussed and agreed on the project’s budget, the budget will be forwarded to the potential sponsors of the project who shall either approve the budget or suggest changes (Cerrato, 2001). The Project Manager will then inform the participants on whether the budget has been approved or not. If there are any changes on the budget they shall be communicated to the participants and the Steering Committee in due time. Project Briefing and Training The Steering Committee shall arrange for a project’s implementation briefing and training. This will be administered to all the project’s participants in a form of a seminar (Lock, 2008). The presenters shall be experts and professionals from the corporate sector and specifically the IT sector and Business Administration. These experts shall shed light on how to implement a project in developing a strategy that would reduce the sickness absence from employees. Project Initiation The Project Manager shall confirm about the funding approval for the project and then announce the commencement date for the project and remind the participants of the projects goals and time frame. Issue Management The information that is contained in the project plan is likely to change as the project progresses. Any changes in the project plan are likely to impact on the time factor, human resource and finances (Heerkens, 2007). Any changes in the Project Plan should be effected through the following process: The Project Manager must document and authorize any change in the Project Plan. The project Manager will perform an evaluation of the change and determine whether it will have any impact in the overall running of the project and then recommend it to the Steering Committee for further review and decision making. The Steering Committee should deliberate on the issue and agree whether to approve it, modify it or even reject it. If no consensus is reached the issue will be forwarded to the Project Sponsor with a summary of the issue for final decision. The Project Sponsor reviews the issue and gives final decision The Project Manager informs the person who raised the issue of the final stand taken by the committee or the Project Sponsor. Communication Plan It will be important to continuously pass on information on the progress of the project to the concerned parties including the Project Sponsor and the participants. It is also crucial to inform the beneficiaries of the project on its progress and the benefits they are likely to experience upon completion. This will inspire them to participate fully throughout the project duration. Communication Methodology This illustrates the way information is passed on from one level to another Vertical/Top-Down: all the participants in the project should feel that the top management is concerned about the implementation of the project (Lock, 2007). The executive management of this project will always communicate to the people at lower levels and find out their views on the project and whether they are experiencing any problem. To implement this, the Project Manager will be meeting all the project participants at least once a week and evaluate the progress and give feedback. Bottom-Up: the participants in the project will be free to inform the steering committee or the Project Manager on any changes that may occur in the changes or any expectations they may have. Horizontal: participants at all levels should be free to communicate to one another on the best implementation methods of the project or any changes they expect in the project. Communication Updates There will be timely updates on the progress of the project. Monthly Status Reports: the Project Manager shall present monthly status reports to the steering committee (Kemp, 2004). Also to be included in these reports is the summary of work done in the previous month, the summary of tasks to be completed in the following month, and any other issue that may have come in the course of the month. Monthly Steering Committee Meeting: this is status meeting that shall be held at least once in a month where the Project Manager will be meeting the steering committee to discuss the status reports that are sent to each member before the meeting is held. Internet: Project Manager will be posting current information on the project’s website where all participants can access it. Project Handover Once the time allocated for the completion of the project elapses the Steering Committee shall assess the project and check whether it has been completed as per the specifications. The Committee members shall consult with the Project Manager to approve the project. The Project Manager will then approach the Project Sponsors who will be invited to the Project site to assess the project. Once the Project Sponsor approves the project with the help of the experts, the Project Manager will have the mandate to officially close the project and pass a vote of thanks to all the people involved in the completion of the project. Project Re-evaluation After the closure of the project, the Project Manager shall appoint a team to be performing some regular project evaluation to ensure that the project is effective and that it is running as expected. This evaluation shall be done until the team reports back to the Project Manager that they are confident that the project will operate without further supervision (Haynes, 2002). Once the Project Manger is convinced on the Authenticity of the project he shall then disband the committee and thank them for their work. References Cerrato, C. (2001). Model for the Evaluation of Project Funding in Emerging Markets. London: Universal Publishers. Haynes, M. (2002).Project management: practical tools for success. New Delhi: Cengage Learning. Heerkens, G. (2007). Project Management: 24 Steps to Help You Master Any Project. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Kemp, S. (2004). Project Management demystified. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Lock, D. (2007). Project Management. New York: Gower. Lock, D. (2008). The Essentials of Project Management. London: Oxford University Press. Pinkerton, W. (2003). Project management: achieving project bottom- line success. California: McGraw- Hill Professional. Read More