Project Launch Process L030
Blog: Biz-Performance, David Brown
Select Path
DEFINITION
SUMMARY
- he scope and size of the business processes and business area involved,
- the complexity of organisational factors,
- the flexibility and complexity of the probable systems solution,
- the scope and extent of systems integration required,
- legal and commercial requirements of the client organisation,
- the type of industry,
- the type of application,
- the environmental culture,
- the importance of the systems to the organisation’s business,
- resource availability and constraints,
- skills and experience of internal and external staff available, particularly in respect of experience with package-based solutions in the area concerned,
- financial constraints and budget,
- time constraints and budget,
- cost vs benefit issues,
- risks involved.
PATH PLANNING GUIDANCE
DEPENDENCIES
- Review / confirm ToR, Scope, Objectives (L010)
- Review / confirm business needs and anticipated benefits (L020)
- Produce Path Plan (L090)
RECEIVABLES
- Project Constitution or other definition of project scope
- Definition of Business Needs and Anticipated Benefits
DELIVERABLES
- Skeleton high-level “Path Plan”
TOOLS
- Path Templates
- Process descriptions
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TASKS
Processes and Paths
- its definition,
- a summary of its purpose and content,
- planning information concerning when it should be used and how it relates to other processes,
- details of deliverables, receivables, tools and materials,
- detail of the issues and approach.
This detail may be coupled to an example sub-plan for the process. This is known as a “Process Plan” or “mini-plan”.
Path selection
Column 1
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Column 2
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Column 3
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Column 4
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New paths for use with integrated packages.
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“Full” paths – these are the most complete way of doing things – but beware, it would never be normally to plan in every option.
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Short ways of doing things. These paths illustrate how a minimal subset of processes can be chosen
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By-passes – these are paths where the full normal work does not have to be done for some reason – normally because it has already been done.
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Project Model
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Full Requirements
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Catalogue Requirements
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Validate Requirements
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Design / Prototype / Construct
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Full Selection
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Short-form Selection
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Confirm Selection
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Readiness & Rollout
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IDDI
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Brief Delivery
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Implement Only
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Factor
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Comments
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Scope and size of the business processes and business area involved
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The larger the scope of the business needs, the more likely it is that a “full” approach will be required to cope with the degree of complexity.
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Complexity of the organisation
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Short approaches rely on a single source (or a manageably small number of sources) for information and decision making. Conversely, a large number of decision makers with overlapping interests can make progress very slow and require formal techniques to reach consensus.
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Size of client organisation
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A small organisation may not have sufficient staff resources for involvement in a full approach
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Scope and integration
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The number of applications or modules to be implemented and the extent to which they need to be integrated with other systems.
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The complexity of the application(s)
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The more complex the applications or modules, the more likely a full process will be needed.
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The type of applications
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Different applications or modules generally need different skills and different approaches; for example, fixed assets systems generally require a large effort in collecting new data, whereas payroll systems will normally involve the custom development of fully automated conversion of existing data.
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Importance to the business
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Where the system is vital to the competitive position of an organisation a full process is likely to be desirable.
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Legal and commercial requirements of the client organisation
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Many organisations are required to follow specific approaches either by law or according to their internal standards or normal practices. For example, this is particularly common with public sector organisations where regulations usually require a demonstrably fair approach rather than one which is quick and cost effective.
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Industry
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Many industries or types of organisation have specific preferences based either on their peculiar needs or simply on the custom within the industry. For example, banking and financial sector clients generally place much greater emphasis on testing, security and control aspects of the work, whereas manufacturing clients generally prefer to try things out in practice before buying.
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Environmental Culture
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Which approach suits the culture of the organisation? Will they benefit most from a collaborative approach or a directive approach? Do people expect to be consulted or receive orders? Will the staff readily accept the project and work with the team for the benefit of their employers, or are they more likely to resist the project?
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Time constraints and budgeted time/effort
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If time is limited then a Short Form / Brief Delivery path is more likely to be favoured.
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Financial Constraints and Budget
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If the client has a limited budget then a Short Form / Brief Delivery path is more likely to be favoured.
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Resource Constraints
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Which human resources can be made available for the work? For example – how many user managers and user staff can be made available; how many IT staff?
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Application / package / module skills and experience of the internal and external staff available
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If the available experience of the application area and/or package modules is limited then a Short Form / Brief Delivery path should be avoided if possible as there will be no suitable material on which to base this approach and the risk of serious error is significant.
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Cost vs Benefit vs Risk
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Very often the best value for money is not given by the most complete solution. In business, commercial risks can be taken in the hope of maximising profits. It is possible to weigh the expected costs against benefits, and to factor in considerations concerning any increased risks involved in more rapid approaches.
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Allowing for complexity
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