Factors for Succcessful Implementation of Project

Abstract

A project plan provides directions for the project team in the successful implementation of a project within an organization. Hightower Global Solutions' company aims goals are to add to the products it offers its consumers, and its sales associates are facing the challenge of keeping up to date with products that are added in the company's portfolio.   The following report involves the company's HighLEARN project, a project which involves developing intranet offering information and support to sales executive while in the field. The report includes various elements in project management such as the project charter, stakeholder analysis, and identification of business requirements, document management, project execution, and finally, project closure.  After the successful completion of the project, the sales associates will be able to log in and access information about products as well as access videos, presentations, and webinars from product specialists securing a seamless process.

Project Initiation

Feasibility

Hightower Global Solutions is a Fortune 500 firm with specializations in financial services technology as well as outsourcing solutions. The company typically has a wide range of products with more than 100 products and services serving a diverse client base, such as insurance companies, mutual fund complexes, and banks. Project feasibility is an important element to consider when considering commencing a project (Serra & Kunc, 2014). According to Mesly (2017), project feasibility allows for appropriate project initiation whereby the project is evaluated in regard to its potential opportunities and risks allowing for the project team to make appropriate teams to complete the project successfully. Hightower Global Solutions' feasibility analysis involves making considerations on the economic, technical, and organizational feasibility of the HighLEARN project and analysis of whether the project is a viable fit for the organization. The HighLEARN project's economic feasibility involves analysis of efficiency of the project as recommenced by Cattani et al., (2011), with Hightower Global Solutions plans to expand the product offering to its clients, the sales leadership however are experiencing concerns on missed opportunities to pitch to new products in the market as a result of the sales teams struggling to get up to speed with all the products offering at Hightower Global Solutions.

The HighLEARN will provide a solution to this problem whereby the sales team in different parts of the globe will be able to log on and acquire comprehensive information about products, access videos, presentations, and webinars with product specialists as well as acquire tips and feedback from peers from blogs, social features as well as forums. As recommended by Kendrick (2013), it is important to consider the time and the cost that the project will take; with HighLEARN proposed to cost $ 1.5 million and take seven months.  The return on investment on the HighLEARN project is expected to be high as it will enable the sales team to keep updated with the product offering as well as continually have training on products and access to product specialists. Kendrick (2013) explains that understanding the products and services offered by a company as well as acquire training on how best to sell them is linked to the improved performance of the sales team.

Technical feasibility is also important as it allows for understanding the processes involves in the project allowing the project team to properly prepare for the resources needed and make appropriate plans (Mesly, 2017). The HighLEARN project involved developing an internet where the sales associates can access training and support for selling the company's products. With a budget of $ 1.5 million and a schedule involving seven months, the project additionally requires human resources to ensure its development and launching. In addition to the project manager, Tony DiBello, Hightower Global Solutions has set out a project team made up of five members who will provide appropriate support such as in learning and development, IT, and providing content for the intranet. The project team does not operate in isolation but acquires support from other members of an organization. Based on this, the HighLEARN project will acquire support from the top management as well as different departments of the company. 

Additionally, there is a need to evaluate the organizational feasibility of HighLEARN, whereby there is a need to determine whether there are appropriate capabilities and resources (Serra & Kunc, 2014). The project meets organizational feasibility as there are adequate financial resources, time, and human resources with appropriate skills such as IT, development and learning, content development, among others. As such, HighLEARN is a good fit for Hightower Global Solutions and will be able to meet the needs of the company.

Strategic Goals

Any project undertaken by a firm needs to be aligned to its organizational objectives and goals (Caroll, 2017). The executive leadership at Hightower Global Solutions is seeking to pursue an acquisition strategy whereby they aim to purchase small companies and expand their product portfolio.  The head of sales, McKenzie, is seeking to develop an interactive portal, which he believes will improve the sales performance of his team. The main focus of the project, as such, is to develop HighLEARN, which will involve a sales training intranet involving an interactive portal for the sales team.  The main strategic goal of Hightower Global Solutions is to expand its products offering through the acquisition of small companies.  With HighLEARN aimed at ensuring that the sales teams have the appropriate capability to sell the product offered by Hightower Global Solutions, the project is aligned to the organizational objectives. 

Project Charter

HighLEARN - This Project Charter ensures that there is an appropriate authority for the project teams to undertake the HighLEARN project. In order to acquire authorizations, the project manager Tony needs a project plan submitted to the Project Sponsor Carroll Bailey, the CEO of Hightower Global Solutions, for approval. The charter includes scope, estimates budget, schedule, stakeholders, project control, schedule, and communications, among others.

Project Scope - The scope of the project is the development of HighLEARN, which involves intranet for use by 350 sales associates geographically dispersed in various areas. The project deliverables are the intranet where sales associates can log on and acquire training, materials on product information, as well as feedback on various platforms such as blogs.  According to Carroll (2017), it is important not only to consider the opportunities of the project but also include the risks involved in undertaking the project.

The Project Manager - The project manager for the HighLEARN project is Tony DiBello and is now provided with authorization to commence the project and acquire access to appropriate resources such as financial resources. 

Summary Milestone Schedule - The project plan will be approved based on the milestone schedule below.

• Portal development: 7 Months
• Infrastructure and Security:  7 Months
• Content Creation and Editing: 1st Six Months
• Documentation: 3rd -7th Month
• HighLEARN Rollout: 7th Month

After approval by the project sponsor, the project will commence, and changes will be approved appropriately. 

Project Budget - The budget is $1.5 million.

Project Timeline and Cost Estimate

The following is the project timeline and cost for the project.

Table One: Project Timeline

Table Two: Project Cost Estimate

Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholders involve those who are concerned with the projects, and they have a direct impact on the success of the project (Wysocki, 2013). Internal stakeholders are the layers who are part of the organization and include the employees of Hightower Global Solutions as well as its management. The CEO of Hightower Global Solutions, Carol Bailey, is one of the internal stakeholders and, together with the top management of the company is concerned with ensuring that the company is successful in meeting the needs of their clients. As indicated by Kendrick (2013), project support by top management is critical to its success, and as such, the support of the CEO is crucial to the project. As such, it is extremely important to ensure that her needs and concerns are addressed.  The concern of the CEO, as well as the rest of the top management,  is for the sales associates to have the capacity to sell the growing product portfolio of the company. 

McKenzie is the leader of the sales team and proposed the project with the belief that having an interactive portal will result in improved sales performance.  DiBello is the project manager of HighLEARN, and his concern is to complete the project in time, quality, and cost successfully. The primary needs for the project manager are resources such as finances and human resources to help him in the implementation of the project. The project team members are also major internal stakeholders with their focus on successfully completing the project. Lock (2007) argues that the project teams should be provided with the necessary resources to complete the project.  The final internal stakeholders are the employees of the company whose concerns are whether the project is a good fit for the company. For instance, the marketing department is cited for having concerns about whether the HighLEARN project is the best option available to the company. Understanding the concerns of employees like other stakeholders ensures engagement to ensure that their concerns are addressed, and they support the project team as they implement the project.

External stakeholders involve those stakeholders who are not part of the organization. The major stakeholders to consider when undertaking the HighLEARN project is whether the needs of the clients will be met. The concerns of Hightower Global Solutions’ clients are for the company to meet their needs and demand. The project team members should ensure that the product details included should provide appropriate details for the clients allowing them to have appropriate information when making their decision to buy.

Carroll (2017) indicates that different stakeholders to a project have different access and interaction levels with the project. For instance, the project manager is a significant stakeholder and is actively involved in the projects and, have a high interest in its successful completion as well as have high power. The following is a summary of the major stakeholders and their interaction with the project.

Table Three:  Stakeholder Analysis

Project Planning

Business Requirements

Hamilton (2004), states that it is crucial for business requirements for a project to be considered in ensuring its successful completion. The Hightower Global Solutions’ strategic approach is acquiring small companies that have resulted in a wide variety of products to its clientele. The sales teams are faced with challenges in keeping up with the products, and the HighLEARN is an intranet focused on ensuring that sales associates are up-to-date with the products and have the capacity to sell the company's products. In considering the business requirements for the project, HighLEARN’s deliverables, inputs, and outputs are analyzed. The following is a list of the business requirements to be met in order to complete the project successfully.

• Portal Development: This will involve the development of the portal, which will be utilized as the intranet. It will involve the development of user interface design, style sheets, theme design, administrative controls: content management, and display and configuration of the code for the portal.
• Infrastructure and security: This will involve providing the portal with necessary infrastructure as well as securing the portal. This will include the development of services, establishing firewalls, integration of systems, the establishment of log-in, and user profiles.
• Content Creation and Editing: This will involve acquiring opinions of sales representatives as well as experts, developing product summaries, case studies, videos by experts with the output content modules for the sales associates, which will be uploaded on the portal.
• Documentation: This will involve developing documents on coding standards and procedures, tests acceptance tests and procedures, and testing the database.
• HighLEARN Rollout: This is the final phase whereby the HighLEARN will roll out with the sales associates able to utilize the portal.

Subject Matter Experts

The requirement of a project needs to be adequately planned and identified. According to Kendrick (2013), when identifying the business requirements, experts are required in order to determine exactly what is required in order for the project to be successfully completed. The current project involves the development of an intranet, and as such, there is a need for IT experts to be involved in the identification of experts. The IT Operations Specialist, the IT Systems and Security specialist, as well as content specialist, were the experts utilized in identifying and listing the business requirements for HighLEARN. Other experts utilized are marketing and sales managers in order to determine the most crucial information for the intranet. Conforto et al., (2014) argues that the use of experts as stakeholders to the project makes sure that the risk of project failure is delimited. The IT and content specialists will utilize a focus group discussion whereby they will discuss what is necessary for the intranet to be online and efficient in providing support to the sales associates.

Standard Requirements

Table Four: Standard Requirements

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