LogicaCMG Prepaid Gas Meters - Case Study Example

LOGICACMG’S PREPAID GAS METERS Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s Name University City Date Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Stakeholder Analysis 3 2.1 Identifying Key Stakeholders 4 2.2 Managing Teams 4 2.3 Managing Across External Stakeholders 4 3.0 Management of the Project 5 Implementation phase 5 Pilot phase 5 Subsequent Installations 5 3.1 Technological Issues 6 3.2 Benefits of Planning 6 Reference List 9 APPENDIX 10 LogicaCMG’s Prepaid Gas Meters 1.0 Introduction This report presents a follow-up LogicaCMG’s instant energy project. LogicaCMG is simply a company that is involved with the designing, researching and the producing of the prepayment gas meters, aimed at benefiting the end user and the suppliers. Evidently, the company effectively managed the development of the IT projects through a strategic approach that saw its success. LogicaCMG rolled out a project that effectively, researched, designed and produced prepayment gas meter, which enabled a monetary top up systems that utilized mobile applications. This meter would be sold to companies operating in the energy sector, thus replacing existing meters in the customer’s home that were deemed outdated. This was c complex project since it involved the consolidation of relatively new technologies into the existing energy markets. The company has a large international presence witnessed in over 36 countries, offering significant potential for service to the global consumers. The project is effective with its approach to effecting change in order to meet the divergent market needs, which include planning and accept payments in different currencies. Tentatively, the smart meter could oversee its penetration in less developed countries that lack energy provision structures in enabling the energy to be paid in the advanced systems. In such countries, a pin code can be keyed into the smart meter upon purchase. The seven team members was incorporated, and a wide range of skills was used in the project with an average of the 4 out of 7 (Appendix). The team members’ skills were presented in the Business Change sub-category and Systems Development Industry Model; where limited supportive and specialist skills were presented. 2.0 Stakeholder Analysis The stakeholder plays a significant role in the effecting the success of any project; witnessed through their satisfaction. LogicaCMG measured its success based on the end user feedback regarding the product. Tentatively, the project’s success was realized through consumer feedback. The project’s manager mentioned that the project’s success varies from project implementation. Arguably, he identified that the success factor was linked proper identification if stakeholders, project team and customer involvement. 2.1 Identifying Key Stakeholders Stakeholders are identified as individuals affected by the implementation of the project (Umblea, Haftb, Umble, 2003). As such, the stakeholders are identified into divergent groups in terms of their influence, power and attitude. The company identified their project team and ended users of their deliverables as important stakeholders. Key external investors were identified, where the company placed their senior management team in an important position in the team in support of the divergent stakeholders group. The external stakeholders identified included Telco, the meter manufacturers and the six main utility firms in UK. The external and internal stakeholders were clustered in order to facilitate an easy management cycle. 2.2 Managing Teams The project managers recognized the importance of the project team throughout the presentation of the team approach. This was instrumental given the need to make them understand their roles and duties in handling divergent projects scopes and sections. Before implementing the project, the manager was actively involved in communicating with the team in order to ensure that the project was well understood. As such, the teams were geographically separated by various ages. 2.3 Managing Across External Stakeholders The external stakeholders included subcontractors, prime contractors, suppliers and financial institutions. Controlling the deliverables presented considerable challenges. As such, its management was facilitated by effective communication channels such as website, newsletter, Contrariwise formal and structured contracts were instrumental in facilitating key strategies for the external stakeholders. Evidently, external stakeholders presented increased complexity, where meter manufacturers offered a high bargaining power in making changes that would influence the projects such as not meeting the deadlines or attuning to changes in the specifications of the meter. A dual sourcing strategy was therefore considered. The consumers and energy regulatory bodies were effectively engaged with respect to the development of the project. This was imperative given the nature and scope of the project. Arguably, customer participation was eminent given its direct influence to the customers. Certification from the relevant body, OFGEM, was eminent in ensuring that various aspects of energy conformance were followed. The purpose of including the stakeholder in the project was to understand effectively their present and future needs (Paré and Jutras, 2004). After need identification, the project team should effectively shift the statements of requirements (SOR) into functional units that present the project’s deliverables. In the process of delivering their product, the company focused on consumer experience. They collected vital information online in gathering customer feedback. Constantly searching for information online showcased the need to attune to consumer preference. 3.0 Management of the Project Implementation phase The project’s implementation phase was a success given the relative success of the planning process. The project was typified by a well-defined project plan with respect to the estimated completion time, project quality, and financial budget. Through good planning and research in the pre-implementation stage, it was able to create deliverable milestones to aim for. Evidently, it was broken down the project that centered ion the short-term deadlines. Pilot phase During this stage, the introduction of the device was initiated where possible communication strategies were incorporated in educating the public on the possible usage of the device. This was witnessed by initial installations of the prepaid meters. This pilot project was carried in 95 UK locations that witnessed over 800 SMS sent. During the pilot project 97. 3 percent of the entire read requests were successful in the first-month attempt; where 98 % of the messages were delivered successfully (PR Newswire, 2015). Subsequent Installations Upon the successful roll out of the project, subsequent installations followed to the rest of the populations. By the second quarter of 2005, over 80 million consumers, within the nine T-Mobile markets had been served by the prepaid meters (PR Newswire, 2015). Throughout the process, technological issues were eminent. However, this did not affect the project plan. 3.1 Technological Issues In terms of the technological issues, the prepayment systems contain a centrally placed service on AIX Unix server database, as well as, an application server that incorporates a TCP/IP server. This system comprises of a web interface and an Oracle database that is built in a Distributed Computing Infrastructure. Technical issues such as installer quality, communication set-ups, meter malfunction and billing system interface. Although the installations of the systems were a success, these technical problems were eminent. However, this did not affect the implementation of the project. Given that the project incorporated a dedicated workforce and a highly competent staff; it was able to counter effectively these challenges. 3.2 Benefits of Planning i. Efficient Use of Resource The planning process offers important information on the needs of the top management so as to make informed decision regarding resource allocation in a way that enable objectives realization. Productivity is easily realized in this regard (Hagel III and Brown, 2005). ii. Managing Risk and Uncertainty More often than not risks are inherent in IT projects given the project’s size and complexity. The risks are divergent which include resource, technical, financial and strategic. As such, it offers guidance on risk management plan and deciding the risk’s worthiness (Richards, 2006). This encourages the development of the “what ifs” scenarios where the leading managers can envision potential or imminent risk. iii. Creating Competitive Advantages Planning is instrumental in creating presenting a realistic view of the organization’s present strength and weaknesses with respect to the competitors in the market. It enables the management identify areas of weaknesses and create strategies that can effectively counter such problems. Contractor’s action is significant in helping organizations identify potential opportunities that could have been overlooked (Nokes, 2003). iv. Effective Establishment of Goals Setting goals that offer a significant challenge to the employees is instrumental in creating better performance. The goals must be realistic, and the aggressive allowing the organizations create a preferred organizational settings. 4.0 Critical Analysis It is evident that a well-planned project achieves its intended results given its importance in predisposing various functions. This enables the manager to outline effectively risk associated with the project and create appropriate solutions that counter the development of such issues. Contrariwise, conforming to the stakeholder’s needs is an important aspect of any project. It is evidenced that the project effectively considered the stakeholder’s needs when outlining the various strategic business approach. As such, they offer invaluable insights to the project that can effectively enhance its development and subsequent improvement. Despite the various challenges witnessed throughout the project, it is important to design a mitigation plan in the case of technical problems. Consulting with various firms is important given the need to offer a holistic view of an organization. While the project approach centered on the mitigating the problem, involving relevant parties is important. Reference List PR Newswire (2015). LogicaCMG and T-Mobile Revolutionize Prepayment Metering. Accessed at: Hagel III, J, Brown, J. (2005) Productive Friction. Harvard Business Review, Vol 83, Issue 2, pp82-91 Richards, J. (2006) BCS Debate Identifies Change Management as Key To The Progression Of The IT Industry. Computer Weekly Nokes, S. (2003) The definitive guide to project management: the fast track to getting the job done on time and on budget, London: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Paré, G., and Jutras, J. (2004) How Good Is the IT Professional’s Aptitude in the Conceptual Understanding of Change Management? Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Volume14, pp653-677. Umblea, E., Haftb, R., Umble, M. (2003) Enterprise Resource Planning: Implementation Procedures and Critical Success Factors. European Journal of Operational Research,Vol.146, Issue. 2, pp241-257. APPENDIX The team members brought the following skills Team Member No SFIAplus skills 1 Systems development, Management and operations 2 Business Risk Management 3 Web Site Specialism and Information assurance 4 Consultancy 5 Business analysis and Programming & Software development 6 Systems Architecture and Systems designs Read More