Recommendations for The Accounting Software Installation Project

Abstract

This paper discusses the case study of a software installation project which originally started out on a positive note, but in the short period of six months was in danger of failure. The project manager, Ms. Karin Chung, was responsible for installing accounting software throughout the company, and decided to use a partnering approach between six contractors and the different company divisions to complete the project.

As a consultant hired to evaluate the project, several areas will be discussed in this report, such as:

• Steps that must be done for the project to be successful.
• Methodology used for tracking progress.

Current project status, constraints, associated costs, and project time-frame:

The project is now on hold, awaiting the results of the upcoming meeting with the stakeholders. There are three types of resource constraints: People, Materials, and Equipment. With the current case information, the constraints to the project are the individuals involved (people), specifically, their availability and commitment. There are no indications of materials or equipment constraints, since most of the case study text discusses the events that have influenced the project time-frame so far. Equally, the associated costs (value of money used on the project) are not mentioned anywhere in the text, so calculating the Return of Investment (ROI) is impossible to obtain. As the hired consultant, the project's overall status can be in a stage of re-evaluation, as we need to step back to assess the standing issues, generate possible solutions, and formulate a plan of attack to resume the project. The remainder of this document will be dedicated to the discussion of the project's future.

Steps that must be done for the project to be successful:

Even though Karin Chung decided to take the partnering approach, there were several mistakes that caused the current problems to arise. The primary problem was the lack of communication between the contractors, task force members, and the key division representatives. The first thing that must be established is a system of communicating the current project status, outstanding and completed tasks, and issues that need resolution (such as dependencies and compatibility problems). Due to the geographically diverse group of the stakeholders, the recommended communication method would be Real-time Status Reports, which provides information that is more flexible, trimmed to the needs of the recipient, isn't geographically limited, and is instantly available and actionable (instead of waiting for a physical meeting to take place before an issue can be discussed and resolved). Modern technology allows team members to collaborate online and communicate instantly with video chats and/or instant messaging, giving Karin immediate access to productivity data.

Real-time Status

Reports requires a “Communications Plan”, so when preparing the plan, Karin must consider the location and time zones of all participants and communication preferences, describing every aspect of the real-time approach, to include:

• Format and timing of status reporting
• Raising and escalation of issues
• Response times for decisions / updates
• Locations of key documents – issue logs, change requests, action logs, etc.

How the information is provided by the Real-Time Status:

Report can vary widely and depends on how data must be shared amongst the team, the project manager, and stakeholders. Once Karin adopts and implements the Real-Time Status Report, she will take care of the second major problem that the project is facing: determining who is in charge. All parties assumed that Karin's approach to project management was effective, and as a result, nothing was changed in the way the different “spheres of responsibility” were managed. Unfortunately, most of the parties shared a belief that trust could be built by aligning objectives and improving communications, but that wasn't the case. Karin needs to assert her role as the project manager and take a more active part in the overall progress of the contractors and the task force members. Despite having signed a partnering charter that assured they would work together, they soon forgot the spirit of the collaboration and worked in separate “spheres of responsibility”. This brings us to the third major issue: re-establish the partnering agreements. All participants must be re-acquainted on what the true purpose of this partnership agreement means to all sides, and it is Karin's responsibility to remind everyone throughout the project's entire life-cycle in order to ensure compliance. Re-acquainting all parties on the purpose and significance of the partnering agreement, will help resolve the next major issue: trust in all the participant roles and responsibilities.

Methodology to be used for tracking progress:

Some project managers prefer to make the project's current status available using custom software that displays a simplified Tracking Gantt Chart, which only shows planned/actual dates and delays. However, due to the complexity of this project, there must be additional information included in the Gantt Chart, such as dependencies, outstanding tasks, and resources assigned.

Conclusion

The Accounting Installation Project is in the critical stage: the partnering agreement is about to collapse due to the lack of communication, failure to collaborate, and lack of overall control of tasks. The current project status was presented, constraints, associated costs, and project time-frame, the steps that must be done for the project to be successful, and the methodology used for tracking progress. The recommendations presented in this document will help Ms. Chung to take back control as the project manager and reinforce the partnering agreement.