Fiction Corporation Project Plan

Fiction Corporation Project PlanFiction Corporation’s planned Data Center relocation is being viewed not only as an integral part of the move to new headquarters but also as an opportunity to improve the existing infrastructure and correct any security flaws at the same time. In order to initiate such a project there are several areas that need to be addressed:

Project scope – details the core objectives of the project along with requirements for the project to be considered a success

Project schedule – detailed breakdown of the timelines required for each component of the data center relocation

Project teams – the personnel required to successfully complete the project as required

All of these need to be appraised in conjunction with the specific requirements of Fiction Corporation as well as the functions and capabilities of Big-Proj.

The scope of the project entails the successful relocation of Fiction Corporation’s data center to the new headquarters, and this is to be completed within an overall time frame of 30 days and a capital budget of $500,000. The importance of connectivity and ongoing business operations with remote retail and customer service environments depending on the availability of the data center mandates that such a relocation project be completed with absolute minimal impact to employees and customers so the project plan will need to be developed in order to co-ordinate budget, timeline and resource challenges given the disparate services and infrastructure that need to be implemented at Fiction’s new headquarters and provide enterprise levels of availability and reliability going forward.

In order to initiate the project the initial project plan & scope needs to be designed and verified in accordance with the outlined requirements – most importantly of all are the constraints and requirements concerning timing and budgets as there are essentially fixed elements of the data center relocation.

With this in mind, the project plan should be created along a 30 day schedule and cost items included should not exceed the stated $500,000 – these will be the key elements which underpin the project plan and structure the course of the various functions and operations which will need to be completed. In creating the project plan it also becomes necessary to use the guidelines of PMBOK® so that the required process and knowledge areas are also included. The process groups that make up the Project Plan will follow the structure laid out below:

Initiating

Planning

Executing

Monitoring & Controlling

Closing

Each of these process groups will also necessarily include elements of the knowledge areas

Project Integration Management

Project Scope Management

Project Time Management

Project Cost Management

Project Quality Management

Project Human Resource Management

Project Communications Management

Project Risk Management

Project Procurement Management

In this way, Fiction Corporation can have confidence that the project plan is being devised and carried out in accordance with the highest levels of industry standard methodologies.

In creating the project plan in regard to the relevant process areas these are sub-divided into further groups and task related functions to provide a high level overview which can then be viewed in far greater detail by drilling down into each individual task. The Work Breakdown Structure for the Relocation Project is outlined below to show the various function and requirements that need to be completed in order to ensure the success of the project.

As outlined through the WBS the proposed project is to be completed within 30 days and assumes that Saturdays and Sundays are not regular working days in order to reduce the potential cost implications of the project. In order for this schedule to be maintained then the immediate necessity is for the completion of the project scope and validation of the requirements in the shortest possible timeframe to ensure that there is sufficient time before the principal elements of this project which are the planning phase, and most specifically the execution phase which details the physical relocation, configuration and validation of services. This is further reinforced once completed by ensuring that standard backup and disaster recovery functions are implemented and operational as well as the production of professional documentation regarding the new infrastructure. Finally the project plan incorporates a review of the steps taken and lessons learned.

Work Breakdown Structure

Resource Names Task Name Duration Start Finish

Project Manager 1 Stage 1 – Initiating 3 days Mon 07/01/13 Wed 09/01/13

Project Manager 1 Project Initiation 3 days Mon 07/01/13 Wed 09/01/13

Project Manager 1 Scope Definition 3 days Mon 07/01/13 Wed 09/01/13

Project Manager 1 Confirmation of Requirements 2 days Mon 07/01/13 Tue 08/01/13

Project Manager 1 Confirmation of Personnel 2 days Mon 07/01/13 Tue 08/01/13

Project Manager 1 Stage 2 – Planning 5 days Thu 10/01/13 Tue 15/01/13

Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2 Technical Readiness 5 days Thu 10/01/13 Tue 15/01/13

Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Assess hardware & services 5 days Thu 10/01/13 Tue 15/01/13

Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2 Full inventory of systems 2 days Thu 10/01/13 Fri 11/01/13

Project Analyst 4 Current service provision 2 days Thu 10/01/13 Fri 11/01/13

Project Manager 1 Assess new location 3 days Thu 10/01/13 Sat 12/01/13

Contractor 1,Project Analyst 1,Circuits[1] Circuit provision 1.5 days Thu 10/01/13 Fri 11/01/13

HVAC[1],Contractor 1,Contractor 2 HVAC 2 days Thu 10/01/13 Fri 11/01/13

Cabling[1],Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Project Analyst 3 Cabling 1.33 days Thu 10/01/13 Fri 11/01/13

Contractor 4,Power[1] Power 4 days Thu 10/01/13 Mon 14/01/13

Project Manager 1 People Readiness 1 day Thu 10/01/13 Thu 10/01/13

Project Manager 1 Notifications 1 day Thu 10/01/13 Thu 10/01/13

Project Manager 1 Employees 1 day Thu 10/01/13 Thu 10/01/13

Project Manager 1 Customers 1 day Thu 10/01/13 Thu 10/01/13

Project Manager 1,Relocation costs[1] Stage 3 – Executing 15 days Wed 16/01/13 Tue 05/02/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Technical Readiness 15 days Wed 16/01/13 Tue 05/02/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Hardware migration 15 days Wed 16/01/13 Tue 05/02/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Installation 13 days Wed 16/01/13 Fri 01/02/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Testing 11.38 days Wed 16/01/13 Thu 31/01/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Routing & Switching 7 days Wed 16/01/13 Thu 24/01/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Cut over 3.25 days Wed 16/01/13 Mon 21/01/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Testing including verification of T1 links with Remote Sites 8.13 days Wed 16/01/13 Mon 28/01/13

Contractor 1,Contractor 2,Contractor 3,Contractor 4,Project Analyst 1,Project Analyst 2,Project Analyst 3,Project Analyst 4 Cancel old circuits 1.63 days Wed 16/01/13 Thu 17/01/13

Project Manager 1 People Readiness 1 day Wed 16/01/13 Wed 16/01/13

Project Manager 1 Notifications 1 day Wed 16/01/13 Wed 16/01/13

Project Manager 1 Employees 1 day Wed 16/01/13 Wed 16/01/13

Project Manager 1 Customers 1 day Wed 16/01/13 Wed 16/01/13

Project Manager 1 Stage 4 – Monitoring & Controlling 5 days Wed 06/02/13 Tue 12/02/13

Project Manager 1 Operations 5 days Wed 06/02/13 Tue 12/02/13

Project Manager 1 Backup 2 days Wed 06/02/13 Thu 07/02/13

Project Manager 1 Disaster recovery validation & documentation 4 days Wed 06/02/13 Mon 11/02/13

Project Manager 1 Full site documentaiton 4 days Wed 06/02/13 Mon 11/02/13

Project Manager 1 Stage 5 – Closing 2 days Wed 13/02/13 Thu 14/02/13

Project Manager 1 Post Relocation 2 days Wed 13/02/13 Thu 14/02/13

Project Manager 1 Lessons Learned 2 days Wed 13/02/13 Thu 14/02/13

Project Manager 1 Collate support issues 4 days Wed 13/02/13 Mon 18/02/13

Project Manager 1 Document Lessons Learned 2 days Wed 13/02/13 Thu 14/02/13

Project Manager 1 Planning ahead 1 day Wed 13/02/13 Wed 13/02/13

Project Manager 1 Scope for improvements 2 days Wed 13/02/13 Thu 14/02/13

Having defined the Work Breakdown Structure and overall components of the project plan it is also necessary to details the resources that will be required to complete the project as well as provide detailed costs for each section based on the outlined budget to ensure that costs are monitored and in line with Fiction’s expectations.

Resources are those necessary entities which are required to carry out and complete the project tasks and comprise people, equipment and facilities. For the Fiction project plan there are several resources outlined that need to be in place to ensure the successful completion of the project in line with the various aspects of the project, and each resource will necessarily have a cost associated.

In terms of managing a project of this scope the resources will need to include those responsible for approvals and stewardship of the project as well as those involved in procuring goods and services which will be used in the project. The quantity of personnel whether employees or contracted to perform the physical hardware moves should also be included in this aspect as well.

The below resource sheet outlines the necessary resources that need to be involved in this project along with the differing costs for each type of resources and whether they are materials or physical people to be engaged in this project along with the likely utilization of each type in terms of hourly requirements.

For this specific project, the resources have been separated into two disparate categories, Human Resources and Capital Resources – these mirror the expected split between the personnel pool (ensuring that sufficient persons are available throughout the duration of the project) and the tools/infrastructure required to implement the desired services within the projected timeline and including all elements defined in the project scope.

Resource List

Resource Name Cost Type

Project Manager 1 $63,200.00 Work

Project Analyst 1 $49,725.00 Work

Project Analyst 2 $48,825.00 Work

Project Analyst 3 $48,425.00 Work

Project Analyst 4 $48,825.00 Work

Contractor 1 $24,920.00 Work

Contractor 2 $24,866.67 Work

Contractor 3 $24,226.67 Work

Contractor 4 $25,080.00 Work

HVAC $30,000.00 Material

Cabling $20,000.00 Material

Power $15,000.00 Material

Circuits $25,000.00 Material

Relocation costs $50,000.00 Material

The outline of the resources consists of the following:

Big-Proj Personnel:

Project Manager

Project Analyst 1

Project Analyst 2

Project Analyst 3

Project Analyst 4

The project will be managed by a PMP certified Project Manager and the team all have experience with successfully completing similar projects within other corporate organizations as well. In addition to the core term, contractors will be utilized in order to successfully complete many of the tasks, such as the cabling and physical relocation of equipment.

Based on the current evaluation of the project, this will require 4 contractors to be available as per the project schedule and breakdown, additionally there are several resource items which are broken down as one-off costs:

HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning) – based on the number of servers listed by Fiction that require relocation to the new premises

Cabling – running of sufficient cabling to ensure full connectivity within the new data center

Power – provision of mains electricity in the data center

Circuits – initial cost for new telephony & network circuits

Relocation costs – to include costs of transportation, packaging and other costs involved in the relocation of hardware and physical equipment from the previous location to the new headquarters.

Having analyzed the detail and requirements, the resource provision gives a cost based on the current synopsis as follows:

Human Resources = $358,093.34

Capital Resources = $140,000.00

Total = $498,093.34

With the work breakdown structure and resource sheet having been produced above the next steps involve monitoring and controlling the project plan. Given the timeline and budget that make up this project it is essential that each aspect of the plan is adequately monitored and controlled.

If the timeline stretched over several months then it would have been feasible to have regular meetings involving each and every element of the project team but due to the need to maximize the time spent by each member physically working on the project there will need to be an amended monitoring and control mechanism in place. While monitoring will be used to evaluate the progress and status of the project with control aspects being used to ensure that the overall focus is maintained in keeping with the scope of the project and should there be any risks associated with this that sufficient corrective action can be taken.

The monitoring schedule will need to be less formal than for those projects with a longer timescale and will be best served through an approach whereby within the 5 distinct stages of the project plan there are midpoint reviews and appraisals of the current status which are co-ordinated by the Project Manager. These will need to be performed in as flexible a manner as possible so as not to disrupt the essential and critical operations of the business process which will be ongoing at each time.

With a comprehensive overview of daily progress in some instances, specifically regarding cost and budget especially should there be any unexpected occurrences that emerge throughout the duration of the project. In this way, any changes that are required can be reported back to Fiction management and necessary discussions and/or approvals gained at the earliest opportunity.

Throughout the initial three phases of the project monitoring and analysis of the current status should be used in order to determine the ongoing feasibility of operations in line with the desired expectations but once the infrastructure and service elements have been successfully relocated to the new headquarters building then the role of monitoring becomes more concerned with evaluation as to the outcome and effectiveness of the project and analyze ways of potentially improving future developments.

Additionally, the baseline that was determined when composing the scope of the project and outlining the requirements should be measured at the end of the project so that detailed conclusions can be reached as to the effectiveness of the steps taken throughout each phase of the project plan. These elements are also closely tied in to the need to provide control of the project which will ensure not only that each of the requirements is kept in mind but that whatever issues or changes may occur throughout the project the delivered end result remains as close as possible to that determined during the outline and decision making process that occur in the initial discussions concerning the scope of the project and the requirements explicitly outlined by Fiction corporation.

It is necessary to ensure throughout all aspects of the Project Plan that the four basic project elements: resources, time, money and crucially, scope are simultaneously managed in an effective manager in order to deliver the data relocation as per Fiction’s requirements.

While the projected timeline for the project can be viewed as relatively short, provided that the scope of the project is correctly and accurately defined then the relevant steps can be planned to ensure the completion within budget and on-time and without failing to meet Fiction’s complete expectations. One of the benefits of a project of this nature and timeline is that scope creep is less likely to be an issue, whereby a significant number of small amendments are made to the scope of the project which eventually lead to a substantial change in the nature of the project when they are taken as a whole and accumulated to the project.

Due to the concise requirements outlined this is not expected to present an issue, and would be capture accordingly with the monitoring and control elements of the project plan should there be any changes that need to be introduced by Fiction corporation directly and it should be clear that if any changes to the scope are required once the project is under way then this will necessarily require an adjustment to the other key elements which make up the project, namely the budget, timeline and resources that are required if it is to be completed successfully.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Duncan, W. R. (n.d.). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Philadelphia: Project Management Institute.

Schwalbe, K. (2008). Introduction to Project Management.

Ward, J., & Peppard, J. (2002). Strategic Planning for Information Systems. John Wiley & Sons.