E-Mail Upgrade Project - Essay Example

E-Mail Upgrade Project 1.0 Overview The Ohio Department of Human Services (ODHS) needed to upgrade its existing e-mail software. ODHS was using Version 7.0 of an e-mail software called Globalupgrades (a Worldviewupgrades product). The version’s support would have been phased out in another one year. ODHS evaluated several upgrade options to its existing e-mail software provided by different vendors, and finally selected Worldview Glocalcom product. The upgrade project was completed in 10 months as against a planned schedule of 9 months. Though there was a cost overrun, the upgrade project met the requirements of the users. This report deals with the lessons learned during the software upgrade implementation project. It identifies the several success criteria used for evaluating the project performance. The lessons learned report evaluates the project performance from the point of view of the success factors, schedule, and cost. 2.0 Project Success Criteria Three success criteria identified for the project in the project charter are given below. 2.1 User Satisfaction: The primary goal of the e-mail upgrade program is to meet the increased expectations of the existing users. The work requirements of the users have increased over the years, and they need to have more features and higher reliability in their new e-mail software. The upgraded software should have better features than the current e-mail program, and should be able to meet the increased value-added job requirements of the users. The new software should have higher reliability and security to ensure better repeatability and data integrity in the users’ work area. The primary objective new e-mail software is to meet the requirements of the existing users and satisfy them. The project should score over 80% in the post-implementation user satisfaction survey. 2.2 Integration with existing software: The next most important success criterion of the project is flawless technical integration of the new program with the current e-mail software. The existing data and processes should be successfully migrated to the new upgraded software without any technical glitch; the new upgraded software should blend seamlessly into the existing one without any loss in data and user complaint. The new installed software should clear the Quantified User Acceptance Test. 2.3 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR): There should not be any IPR or patent right violation. This is important because the vendors of the upgraded software and earlier software could be different. The new vendor should indemnify the ODHS from any litigation pertaining to such violation. Apart from indemnification, such IPR disputes could lead to delay in project execution; it is therefore, in the interests of ODHS that disputes of this nature should not arise. 3.0 Lessons Learned ODHS has compiled this Lessons Learned Report to document its learning from the execution of this project (Project Management Institute, 2004). 3.1 Cost: Cost Performance Index (CPI) is defined as CPI = EV/ AC, where EV = Budgeted amount for the work actually completed during a given time period, AC = Total cost incurred in the accomplishing work during a given time period. In this case, the EV is 1.25M, and AC is 1.56M. Therefore, CPI = 1.25/ 1.56 = 0.80. This is less than unity, which indicates a cost overrun. The Cost Variance (CV) is EV – AC, i.e., 1.25M – 1.56M = (-)0.31M. This is negative, which indicates a cost overrun. Actually, 14,960 manhours were used in this project as against the budgeted 12,000 manhours. This also indicates cost overrun. However, part of the cost overrun can be attributed to the additional time overrun on the project. The increase in cost is 24.8%, and the increase in manhours is 24.7%. It is evident that the increase in project cost is primarily owing to the increase in manhours required for the project. This is a significant increase from the budget. Worldview contract was completed within established cost. Therefore, the cost increase is entirely because of increase in project manhours consumed by ODHS. 3.2 Schedule: The project was executed in a period of 10 months as against the budgeted time of 9 months. This is an increase of 11.1% from the budgeted time schedule. Out of the five key deliverables, one was delivered 30 days late and another was delivered 10 days early. It appears the deliverable delayed by Worldview was on the critical path and caused the project to get delayed from the originally budgeted 9 months to the actual 10 months. 3.3 Performance: The project performance has been mixed. There was some overrun in time and cost. The contract management was good, as there was no increase in Worldview’s costs. However, one of the deliverables of Worldview was delayed thus delaying the entire project. The internal manhours of ODHS were not controlled effectively, which led to an increase in the project cost. However, the fact that Ohio Department of Corrections decided to opt for Globalcom product shows that Worldview’s product had been able to meet the technical requirements of the customer. The users also reported satisfaction with the upgraded software. The only technical glitch seems to be that Globalcom product’s spam filter requires a different network configuration than is currently in place for the network. This introduces additional scope into the project, which will require additional budget and schedule. The Project Human Resource Management was less than adequate. There was an attrition rate of 20%, with compensation being the primary cause of attrition. The higher consumption of manhours coupled with low compensation rate seems to indicate low productivity among the employees of ODHS. 3.4 User Satisfaction User satisfaction seems to be high. Users have reported that they are very happy with the new e-mail system. It is understood that after getting feedback on this project execution, the Ohio Department of Corrections plans to deploy the Globalcom product for their organization. This is perhaps the most important testimony of user satisfaction. 3.5 Integration The integration of the upgraded software with the earlier e-mail software seems to have been mostly successful. The satisfaction of the users bears testimony to this fact. However, the problem with the spam filter will require reconfiguration of the network, which indicates the integration was not completely successful. 3.6 Intellectual Property Rights There does not seem to have been any disputes related to IPR. This criterion seems to have been met successfully. 4.0 Summary The project seems to have been a moderate success. Project Management Integration was average. The project charter was developed effectively. The project objectives were clear and the project conceptualization was good. This is evident from the fact that project generated high user satisfaction. The project management, planning, execution, and closure were managed professionally, but there was an overrun in both time and cost. Project Scope Management was average. The scope changes were kept at a minimum. There was however, a need to reconfigure the network and upgrade the infrastructure at Mahoning County causing a change in the project scope. Project Time Management was average. Though most of the deliverables by Globalcom were on time, there was a delay of 30 days in one of the deliverables. This deliverable was on the critical path and delayed the entire project by the same amount. This could probably have been avoided had there been more effective resource planning. Keeping the delivery of the critical deliverable unchanged, some other non-critical deliverables could have been delayed without affecting the overall project schedule. The schedule overrun was about 11%. Project Cost Management was average. There was no cost overrun in Globalcom’s execution cost. However, ODHS’s own manhour cost was not controlled effectively, and there was an overrun of about 25%. Part of the cost overrun is attributable to the extension of schedule as described above. The rest of the cost overrun occurred owing to low productivity rates and poor Project Human Resource Management. This is also evidenced by the 20% attrition rate during the project execution. Project Quality Management was excellent. The project seems to have generated high user satisfaction, and has been able to meet most of the technical requirements. Other related organizations seem keen to duplicate this model. The only shortfall in this area seems to be the scope increase caused by the need to reconfigure the network. Project Communications Management seems to have been good. A project of this scale could not have been executed without a proper information dissemination system and coordination between the stakeholders. Project Risk Management seems to have been average. There were no major changes in project scope, cost, schedule, and quality. However, the project manager does not seem to have realized the potential risk associated with poor productivity and probably enough was not done to mitigate this risk. Project Procurement Management was excellent. There was no increase in the cost pertaining to Globalcom owing to good contract management, and most of the deliverables were delivered on time. Overall, this seems to be well executed project meeting most of its success criteria. There were shortcomings in some aspects of the project management process, but the overall outcome was positive. 5.0 Bibliography Project Management Institute. (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. 3rd ed. Pennsylvania. Read More