Brandix Lanka Shared Services Center (SSC)

Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo

UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBO FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

Deployment Project For a Shared Services Center (SSC) In Brandix Lanka

Submitted for the fulfillment of requirements as Group Assignment for the module Information Systems Project Management

By Evan Pathiratne

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Executive Summary Brandix (which was founded as Phonix Ventures) was established in early 80s. In Present Brandix Lanka Limited is the single largest exporter of apparels in Sri Lanka for the last five years with an annual turnover exceeding US$ 360 million. Brandix provides over 25,000 direct employment opportunities and equivalent number of indirect employment Opportunities. The market in Brandix Lanka companies operate is characterized by globalization, mergers, acquisitions and consolidation, requiring to standardize operations to stay competitive. The best way of lowering the costs and improving effectiveness and efficiency is by moving some functions to one central location. One way to meet this challenge is for Brandix came to a decision to have company own “Shared Services Center (SSC)” under Brandix ccooperate governance. SSC initial project is to combine 10 “Strategic Business Units (SBU)” units‟ financial operations and in future come up with non financial areas like payroll, purchasing, etc. As companies extend their presence across group, it becomes increasingly uneconomical to maintain a duplicate accounting infrastructure within each SBU of operation. Brandix Board of Directors has also recognized the benefits of implementing a shared services approach. This

report

explores

the

Brandix

Shared

Services

Centers

(SSC)

implementation/establish project phenomenon and in particular Project Management Process. In addition, the report explored the challenges and implications of the centralizing finance to SSC. The key critical factor highlighting is support from senior management is particularly important as this type of project cuts across the power base of the organization and, as with any moving of one set of responsibilities to another location.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4 1.1 Background and Present Situation ......................................................................... 4 1.2 Objectives of the Project ........................................................................................ 5 1.3 SWOT Analysis .................................................................................................... 6 2.0 Feasibility Study ........................................................................................................ 8 3.0 The Scope Management Plan ..................................................................................... 9 3.1 Project Charter ....................................................................................................... 9 3.2 Scope Statement ................................................................................................... 12 3.3 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) ..................................................................... 13 4.0 Time Management Plan ........................................................................................... 19 4.1 Activity Definition ............................................................................................... 19 4.2 Activity Sequencing ............................................................................................. 19 4.3 Activity Resource Estimation .............................................................................. 22 4.4 Activity Duration Estimation ............................................................................... 22 4.5 Schedule Development ........................................................................................ 24 4.6 Schedule Control .................................................................................................. 25 Gantt chart .................................................................................................................. 25 5.0 Cost Management Plan ............................................................................................ 34 5.1 Cost Estimation .................................................................................................... 34 5.2 Cost Budgeting (Resource Requirements) ........................................................... 34 6.0 Quality Management Plan ........................................................................................ 36 6.1 Quality Plan .......................................................................................................... 36 7.0 Human Resource Plan .............................................................................................. 37 7.1 Project organization chart .................................................................................... 37 7.2 Staffing Management ........................................................................................... 38 7.3 Resource Levelling............................................................................................... 39 7.3 The Roles and Responsibilities Assignment ........................................................ 43 8.0 The Communication Management Plan ................................................................... 44 Performance Reporting .............................................................................................. 47 9.0 Risk Management..................................................................................................... 49 9.1 Risk Management Process ................................................................................... 49 Determining the risk impact considers the consequences the risk would have on the project if the risk event occurs. . The Criteria for Risk Impact in Table is a guide for evaluating the risk consequences and determining the risk impact ........ 51 Criteria for Risk Impact ......................................................................................... 51 Criteria.................................................................................................................... 51 9.2 Risk Table ............................................................................................................ 52 9.3 Risk Mitigation, Monitoring, Management Plan ................................................. 53 10.0 Project Integration Management ............................................................................ 58 11.0 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 59

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1.0 Introduction The Brandix is a Group of Companies consisting of more than 10 subsidiaries located in different areas in Sri Lanka. Each of these companies is mainly engaged in producing garment accessories and related printing. They function as factories with separate legal entities headed by a Chief Factory Officer (CFO) and a Financial Accountant (FA). The Board of Directors of Brandix Group has recently taken a decision to launch a project to establish a “Shared Services Center (SSC)” in view of centralizing transaction processing and financial accounting activities in all its subsidiaries.

1.1 Background and Present Situation Each subsidiary is identified as a Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in the Brandix Group. The SBUs run with fully autonomy with related to transaction processing and financial accounting activities. They have their own accounting staff to support these activities. At present a software package called “ACCPAC” is used for financial accounting in all SBUs. The other transaction processing activities are handled by in-house built software applications based on the requirements of each SBU. These practices have led to many shortcomings in strategic information processing and co-operate decision making in the Group.

The following points have been identified as major shortcomings in the present situation. 

Each SBU keeps financial accounts which is a duplication of the same accounting process and a waste of resources.



Increasing volume of transactions



The CFOs and CEOs have to spend a lot of time on financial documents



Each SBU has separate financial staff



Each SBU maintains number of computer systems to process transactions and to keep financial accounts.



Each SBU spend a lot of money on software licenses.

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

Lack of standards and common practices in SBUs



It is very difficult to visualize group‟s resources at a glance.



Wastage of time in collecting financial and operational information from SBUs.

Having considered the above shortcomings, the Board of Directors has approved the “Shared Service Center” project which works towards the establishment of a centralized unit capable of processing all transactions and keeping financial accounts in one location. In addition, it is expected to handle general procurement process of all SBUs which will save in return a considerable amount of time of the CFOs and CEOs enabling them to make use of their time in creating innovative products and services.

1.2 Objectives of the Project The shared services center will be established as another SBU having dual responsibilities of providing services to SBUs and serving information to Board of directors. The main objectives of the shared services projects are, 

Co-operate governance



Standardization of practices and processes of BPUs



Minimization of operational cost in SBUs



Accelerated centralized transaction processing



Improving efficiency and productivity of staff



Competitive advantages

Stakeholders 

Chief Executive Officers (CEO)



Chief Factory Officers (CFO)



Board of Directors



Financial Staff



Project Steering Committee



Project Team

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1.3 SWOT Analysis Strengths 1. Core Competency individuals, Large no of Similar Companies 2. Healthy financial position. Annual turnover increase from US$ 320 and last two years investment LKR 6.6 billion. 3. Human Resources Development- Focused strategy is in place for human resources management and development. 4. High Standard of system and procedures 5. Manufacturing and Product to World Leading Brands in US & UK, Strong brand recognition 6. The Company has a core competence involving its use of information technology to support 7.

Business & Operation. Best CAD/CAM Technology , Enterprise Resources Planning

8. Total Solution operating in Sri Lanka and new Venturing total facilities in India. 9. Group consisting Design to Delivery (Total Service provider) on apparel, Introducing own development, doing Organic & Fair-trade Garments & Practicing Green Manufacturing. 10. Defined company philosophy which implies continuous innovations 11. Brandix Group performance 12. Flexible changing strategies 13. Fast adaptation to emergent trends, markets, and environments 14. Brand building as a model 15. Location of distribution center in US & UK 16. Effective computerized system Weaknesses 1. Only Market depending on to US & EU 2. Only limited products manufacturing for the 3. Business divided to large no of small companies and bargaining powers less on customers and suppliers on individual operating companies. 4. Group decision making difficult to maintain lack of standardize information 5. High cost expands for run separate Departments & Operations.

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6. Increased debt results in lower profits and decline in cash flow 7. Large amount of suppliers which means difficulties to ensure consistent quality and time of delivery 8. Uncertainty of Customer acceptance of the Company‟s products 9. Reliance on Customers of production

External Factors Opportunities 1. More markets focus on Japan, Korea, China, Russia and Latin America countries. 2. Large Volume Purchases from low prices & discounts 3. More Financial Institution Facilities 4. Similar Operation Companies Shire Knowledge & Resources. 5. New Imagine Market 6. Vertical Operation have More Customers 7. Increasing acceptance of the casual workplace trend Threats 1. World Financial Crises 2. Imaging China & India 3. Low Cost Labor Countries 4. Buyers Reduce Margins 5. Reduce Lead Time 6.

Industry is risky because in order to gain competitive advantage you may have to take gambles (prediction of future trends)

7.

Disruption of foreign customers

8. Increasing transportation cost caused by escalating fuel prices

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2.0 Feasibility Study

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3.0 The Scope Management Plan Before the project was officially commences according to standard project management steps a sign off from the project steering committee was required. The used project charter is given below.

3.1 Project Charter Project Title: Brandix Lanka SSC (Shared Services Centre) Project

Project Start Date:

January 18, 2010

Project Finish Date: May 04, 2010 Project Manager:

[Project Managers Name]

Project Objective: Set up the Brandix Group’s Shared Services Centre to cater its Strategic Business Units (SBUs) in terms of financial accounting processing and general procurement supporting with increased efficiency and productivity while playing the role of management information disseminator to support group-wide and SBU centred decision making. Approach: Preliminary identification of problem domain Evaluation of alternative solutions Conduct Feasibility Study In depth Requirement Analysis Development of system based on incremental & iterative software development methodology Establishment of IT infrastructure of the system Quality assurance of the developed system Establishment of Disaster Recovery Site

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Roles And Responsibilities: NAME

ROLE

RESPONSIBILITY Acts as the principal sponsor of

1. [Left out by request ]

the project CEO

Holds top-most responsibility of project Monitor progress of project

2. [Left out by request ]

Delegate authority down the CIO

hierarchy Facilitate Make friendly atmosphere to project team to carry out

3. [Left out by request] 4. [Left out by request] 5. [Left out by request]]

Chief Factory Officers (CFOs)

investigation & observation Assign factory staff to work with project team Provide easy access to factory data & documents Total management of the

6. [Project Manager Names]

project concentrating on best Project Manager

practices in the industry Report progress to stakeholders Release/assign IT staff for the

7. [Left out by request ]

Manager-IT

smooth execution of the project

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Provide necessary hardware & software resources Render expertise knowledge & experience Recruit new IT & supporting 8. [Left out by request ]

staff Manager-HR

Co-ordinate with Project Manager in human resource related issues

Sign-off: (Signatures of all the above stake holders)

1. ………………………………

2. ………………………………

3. ………………………………

4. ………………………………

5. ………………………………

6. ………………………………

7. ………………………………

8. ………………………………

Comments: 1. Initially, this project can be carried out as a pilot project using two three SBUs. – CIO

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3.2 Scope Statement

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3.3 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Tree View of the WBS

Shared Services Center (SSC)

Infrastructure for System

Automated System

Software

Hardware

System Analysis System Design

Live ware

FARS WFS GPS PMS

Communicati on

Building

Furniture

Service Provider Analysis Equipment & Accessories

FARS System Implementation

WFS GPS PMS FARS

System Testing & Integration

FARS: Financial Accounting & Reporting System WFA: Work Flow System GPS: General Procumbent System

WFS GPS PMS

PMS: Performance Measuring System

FARS Installation & Maintenance

WFS GPS PMS 13

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Tabular View of the WBS 1. Preliminary Scope Identification 1.1 Questionnaire Cycle 1.1.1 Develop questionnaire targeted to CFOs 1.1.2 Submit questionnaire to CFOs 1.1.3 Collect all questionnaires 1.1.4 Analyze Findings 1.1.5 Prepare summarized report of findings 1.2 Interview with CEO 1.3 Interview with CIO 1.4 Onsite Observation of an SBU 1.4.1 Study Financial Accounting & Reporting Process 1.4.2 Study General procurement Process 1.4.3 Study current Work Flow System 1.4.4 Establish baselines for performance evaluation 1.5 Accounting documentation review Cycle 1.5.1 Collect copies of documents required for system development 1.5.2 Analyze documents 1.5.3 Archive and secure the collected documents for later use 1.6 Prepare Initial Project Scope statement 1.7 Develop a basic Project plan 1.7.1 Develop Basic Scope Management Plan 1.7.2 Develop Basic Cost Management Plan 1.7.3 Develop Basic Time Management Plan 1.8 JAD Session with Project steering committee 1.8.1 Summarize findings and present basic Project plan 1.8.2 Highlight next steps in project

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2. Background Research 2.1 Industry research on similar projects for benchmarking 2.2 3rd party vendor research and analysis 2.2.1 SSC developers 2.2.2 Software System developers 2.2.3 Database System developers 2.2.4 IT Infrastructure service and support providers 2.3 Analyze findings 2.4 Prepare summarized report

3. Feasibility Study 3.1 Initial Project management team meeting 3.2 Operational Feasibility Report (For CEO) 3.2.1 Prepare a SWOT analysis 3.3 Technical Feasibility Report (For CIO) 3.3.1 Asses capacity for in-house development 3.3.2 Compare In-house Vs Outsourced technically 3.3.3 Recommendations on Tools/Software/Practices required for project 3.4 Financial Feasibility Report (For CEO and CFO) 3.4.1 ROI Calculation 3.4.2 Weighed Scoring Model Calculation 3.4.3 Compare In-house Vs Outsourced financially 3.5 Social Feasibility Report 3.5.1 Asses in-house capacity for change/resistance 3.5.2 Highlight areas of concern 3.5.3 Include possible remedial actions 3.6 Prepare Summarized report for Management Review 3.7 Complete a comprehensive Project plan 3.7.1 Update Scope Management Plan 3.7.2 Update Cost Management Plan 3.7.3 Update Time Management Plan

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4. Project Approval and Commencement 4. 1 Meet up with Project Steering Committee 4.1.1 Present Project Plan 4.1.2 Finalize Changes (If Made) 4.2 Get Project Charter Approval 4.3 Project management team meeting 2 4.4 Allocate Resources /Finish Recruitments 4.5 Finalize Purchases and Vendor contracts 4.6 Setup Design and Testing Environment

5. SSC Development Stage I – System Logical Design and Main IT Infrastructure Setup 5.1 Initial Meeting with Developers and UI Designers 5.1.1 Assign team roles and team leaders -S1 5.1.2 Setup time baselines –S1 5.2 Initial Meeting with Infrastructure Technicians 5.3 Complete Database ER Diagram 5.4 Complete Logical Diagrams of System 5.4.1 USE Case and Activity Diagrams 5.4.2 Class Diagrams 5.5 Main IT Infrastructure Setup 5.5.1 Setup Network Cabling 5.5.2 Setup Redundant Power supply 5.5.3 Setup the Desktops 5.5.4 Meeting with Infrastructure Technicians 5.6 Meeting with Team Leaders and CIO –S1

6. SSC Development Stage II– System UI Design 6.1 Complete Database Development 6.2 Complete UI Development 6.2.1 Design Prototype 6.2.2 Evaluate with Users Target group 6.2.3 Re-Design the prototype 6.2.4 Finalize the prototype with Users Target group 6.2.5 Develop and Finalize the UI 6.3 Meeting with Team Leaders and CIO –S2

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7. SSC Development Stage III– System Coding 7.1 Initial Meeting with Coders (Developers) 7.1.1 Assign roles -S2 7.1.2 Establish Scope/time baselines -S2 7.2 2nd Meeting with Infrastructure Technicians 7.3 Milestone 1 - Develop and Document 7.3.1 Accounts Payable Component 7.3.2 Accounts Receivable Component 7.3.3 Check Documentation M1 7.4 Milestone 2 - Develop and Document 7.4.1 Payroll Component 7.4.2 Reporting Component 7.4.3 Check Documentation M2 7.5 Milestone 3 - Develop and Document 7.5.1 Develop General Procurement Component 7.5.2 Develop Workflow System Component 7.5.3 Check Documentation M3 7.6 Milestone 4 - Develop and Document Performance Measuring System

8. SSC Software Testing 8.1 Unit Testing 8.1.1 Accounts Payable Component 8.1.2 Accounts Receivable Component 8.1.3 Payroll Component 8.1.4 Reporting Component 8.1.5 General Procurement Component 8.1.6 Workflow System Component 8.1.7 Performance Measuring System 8.1.8 Update change logs and system documentations 8.2 Integration Testing 8.2.1 Integration of Financial Accounting & Reporting System 8.2.2 Integration Other Systems 8.2.3 Database Integration

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8.2.4 Update change logs and system documentations 2 8.3 Conduct User Acceptance Testing 8.4 Update changes system 8.5 Update change logs and system documentations 3

9. SSC IT Infrastructure Upgrade 9.1 Meeting Technicians 9.1.1 Establish Scope/time baselines 9.1.2 Finalize DR Site Location and Setup 9.1.3 Finalize Network Architecture Diagram 9.2 Setup Servers (Database, Application) 9.4 Setup In-house Backup Servers (Database, Application) 9.5 Setup redundant internet links setup 9.6 Setup Network Security 9.6.1 Setup Gateway Firewall 9.6.2 Setup Desktop Firewalls 9.6.3 Setup V-LANs on Network 9.7 Complete DR Site 9.7.1 Setup Servers on DR Site 9.7.1 Implement a similar server setup on DR Site 9.7.2 Setup Peer to Peer links 9.8 Finalize Meeting with technicians

10. SSC Deployment 10.1 Implement the SSC System onto Servers 10.2 Check Stability SSC System 10.3 Run backup and restoration drills 10.4 Meeting with project steering committee -SSC

Scope Verification & Control – The integrated change management methodology adopted for this SSC project is described under chapter 9, Project Integration Management.

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4.0 Time Management Plan The team went through the six main processes involved in time management, they were,

Six main processes of Time Management

4.1 Activity Definition Project work packages found in the Work Break down Structure (mentioned under scope management plan) will be further decomposed into „Scheduled Activities‟ as necessary.

4.2 Activity Sequencing This will illustrate the activity attributes earlier identified, such as predecessors, successors and the relationships of each activity

Identified Mandatory Dependencies (Hard Logic)  Any development /coding /testing task will not commence before a meeting is held between the relevant stakeholders as per the project communication management plan (later mentioned in detail)  ER Diagram has to be completed for database development to begin  UML design diagrams has to be finished for UI designing to start  Only after user sign off of the UAT stop the testing and re-design on the system. Identified Discretionary Dependencies (Soft Logic)  Always update the change logs and system documentations after Unit/Integration testing resulted system update has been initiated Identified External Dependencies  Some activities can be affected by lag times that could be caused by late deliveries. (Cabling, server racks, AC equipment etc.)

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Activity sequencing is best shown in network diagramming. Two common techniques for this are the Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)/Activity on Node (AON) and Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) /Activity on Arrow (AOA)

4.2.1 Application of Two Techniques (to SSC Dev Stage 1) 1. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) / Activity on Node (AON) 5.1 Initial Meeting with Developers and UI Designers

5.3 Complete Database ER Diagram

5.4.1 USE Case and Activity Diagrams

5.6 Meeting with Team Leaders and CIO – S1

5.4.2 Class Diagrams

5.2 Initial Meeting with Infrastructure Technicians

5.5.1 Setup Network Cabling

5.5.4 Meeting with Infrastructure Technicians

5.5.2 Setup Redundant Power supply

5.5.3 Setup the Desktops

SSC Development Stage I – System Logical Design and Main IT Infrastructure Setup

Without good project management software it is difficult to define lag and lead in a PDA diagram, at the current stage activity sequencing is only focused (because of this above does not have any duration estimates). PDA gives a much better showing of dependencies between activities such as start to start (SS) and finish to finish (FF).

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2. Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) /Activity on Arrow (AOA)

Complete Database ER Diagram

Initial Meeting with Developers and UI Designers

Meeting with Team Leaders and CIO –S1

USE Case and Activity Diagrams

Class Diagrams

Setup Network Cabling Initial Meeting with Infrastructure Technicians

Meeting with Infrastructure Technicians

Setup Redundant Power supply

Setup the Desktops

SSC Development Stage I – System Logical Design and Main IT Infrastructure Setup

With this technique one can only view the start to finish nature of the relationships. But complex relationships (SS, FS, FF and SF) cannot be shown. This is a more simplistic way of showing the relationships.

As later described under 4.5 Schedule Development section because Microsoft Project 2003 Gantt Charts was used for this project, all the activities/work packages by default came as AON diagrams. This project activity sequencing was completed with the AON method.

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4.3 Activity Resource Estimation At this stage the earlier identified activities were assigned to relevant resources such as coders/testers/QA staff and other relevant network equipment handlers. A combination of below techniques was used to do the resource estimates,

Usage of published estimating Data After the WBS the work package ‘1.1.5 Prepare summarized report of findings’ is completed the project team after analyzing its content will have data related to organizational guidelines, rates and estimates set for previous other projects. (Network Projects, Software development projects-ex: on going ERP project, established price agreements with vendors ) .These amounts will be close to industry estimates for rates for that particular activity. The output from activities ‘1.2 Interview with CEO’, ‘1.3 Interview with CIO’ ,‘1.8 JAD Session with Project steering committee’ will also be valuable when identifying proper estimates. Bottom-up estimating The project team using the earlier estimated individual schedule activities and resource allocations adds them up to come up with a total estimate for the individual work packages. This is an accurate means of estimating provided that the published estimated data gained is accurate. This task will take time because every activity must be assessed and estimated accurately to be included in the bottom-up calculation.

Resource estimate identification is completed during the Human Resource Planning and this Activity Resource Estimating process.

4.4 Activity Duration Estimation After the resources are estimated the duration for each activity can be calculated by several methods. The techniques available and justification of the chosen techniques is given next page.

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4.4.1 Comparison Activity Duration Estimating Tools and Techniques

Expert Judgment

Analogous Estimating

Good-

Good-

Combination

of

Helpful

when

Parametric Estimating

Three-point Estimates

Reserve Analysis

Good-

Good-

Good-

Accurate because

Three estimates

Portion of time

expert

judgment

detailed data about

quantitatively

that are averaged

to the activity

with

historical

the project is not

based (multiplies

to come up with a

to account for

available.

the quantity of

final estimate. SO

schedule risk

steering committee

work by the

should provide an

so risk is

can

rate).Can be used

accurate figure.

considered in estimations.

information

can

be useful.

BadResource

levels,

productivity,

be

Project

updated

with

rough

for network

Can be used when

estimates

before

enhancement

activity duration

into

projects.(Project

uncertainties are

Bad-

project

with limited man

present.

Cannot be

getting

capability

and

in-depth

associated

risks

details.

power needs)

practically

are not focused

globally BadAccuracy concerns because of the top down nature.

BadBad-

The

Hard to correctly calculate work

human hours

because lag times, unexpected

risks

is not considered. Too

mechanical

applied to Optimistic

pessimistic normal

and

estimates

should be done by experience

staff

project.(Will give unrealistic over blown time duration figure)

members or the final figure will be very in accurate.

approach.

4.4.2 Justification of Chosen In the WBS under ‘1. Preliminary Scope Identification’ to complete the activity „1.7.3 Develop Basic Time Management Plan’ analogous estimation was done, because the unavailability of correct data for duration estimates. Parametric estimates for used to calculate time for network enhancement part of the project due to the mechanical nature of its activities. The critical activities such as coding and QA were estimated using reserve analysis because risk associated time is incorporated to the estimate. (Further explained under risk management plan)

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4.5 Schedule Development Project team objective was to a have a realistic project schedule that provides a basis for monitoring project progress. This is an iterative process, and will be aligned with the integrated change management process within the project plan. At this later stage in time management, resources are plugged into the activities earlier identified and the schedule is adjusted accordingly to any discovered resource constraints. Problems that might occur are,  Over allocation and under allocation of team members  Scope /feature creep scenarios that have and impact on schedule

4.5.1 Application of Schedule Development Tools and Techniques Used Techniques Resource Levelling Below states the methods of resource levelling to keep the project on schedule if the above mentioned problems occur.  Initially allocate resources to critical path  Adjust the resource assignments for staff that are under allocated.  Mandatory overtime work imperatives  Split tasks with senior and junior teams (Case with Coding and testing in this project) where the critical components are handling by the experiences members and the operational parts are handled by the junior staff.  Reallocation of slack time staff to critical path tasks  Fast tracking where multiple tasks are performed simultaneously. (Instances this can be used are in Feasibility reports preparations, UML diagram creation activities)

Project Management Software Microsoft Project 2003 was used to create Gantt chart.

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Rejected Techniques What-If Scenario Analysis was not used because n order to get an accurate outcome from such a method complex Simulation techniques such as Monte Carlo analysis has to be used. And a commonly used technique of ‘Crashing’ was not used for the project because this project contained activities of a broader scale. (Ex- from UML diagramming to coding, and Network design to DR planning) and the impacts of crashing if made wrong will alter the wide set of interdependent activities.

The schedule is modelled on correct initial

estimates with reserve analysis backed by a resource levelling plan to be used whenever necessary.

4.5.2 Schedule Baseline After sign-off of the project schedule it will be considered as the final, approved version of the project schedule with baseline start and baseline finish dates and resource assignments.

The schedule baseline generated as the Gantt chart is attached next page.

4.6 Schedule Control Techniques chosen for the project are given below,  Progress reports (Described in-detain under Communication Plan)  Integrated change control system (Described in-detain under Project Integration Plan)  Millstone tracking in Gantt chart  Earned value analysis

Gantt chart Please refer next page

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Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

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Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

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Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

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Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

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Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

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Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

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Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

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5.0 Cost Management Plan There are three levels under this. That is cost estimation, cost budgeting and finally cost control.

5.1 Cost Estimation This is the initial cost estimate provided to the project steering committee for approval, otherwise stated as rough order magnitude (ROM). Initial Cost Estimate from expert judgment was 2.5 Million (Sri Lankan Rupees)

5.2 Cost Budgeting (Resource Requirements) This was after the components of the WBS was identified and post project charter approval. Salaries of Cost related Stakeholders Job Category

Senior (SL Rs.)

Junior (SL Rs.)

Analyst

70,000

25,000

Development

55,000

25,000

Testing

35,000

15,000

Network Technetium

65,000

35,000

* Please note the above figures are hypothetical and due to confidentiality terms within Brandix the true values were not shown.

As the schedule became much clearer a time stamp can be put on each activity as given below.  Requirement Analysis -27 1.5 Months  Development – 9 +12 +10 31 2.5 Months  Testing – 23

- 1 Month

 Infrastructure 20 - 1 Month According to HR plan described later when the team compositions are looked into the total project budget comes to,(Please refer next page)

Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

34

Wages  Requirement Analysis o 1.5 Months x 2 = Rs. 210,000 (Senior) o 1.5 Months x 3 = Rs. 112,500 (Junior)  Development o 2.5 Months x 2 = Rs. 275,000 (Senior) o 2.5 Months x 3 = Rs. 187,500 (Junior)  Testing o 1 Month x 2 = Rs. 70,000 (Senior) o 1 Month x 3 = Rs. 45,000 (Junior)  Infrastructure 20 - 1 Month o 1 Month x 2 = Rs. 130,000 (Senior) o 1 Month x 3 = Rs. 105,000 (Junior)  BUDGET

o Wages = Rs. 1,135,000 Onetime Purchases Network Equipment

Rs. 65,000

Servers (Main + DR Site)

Rs. 760,000

Testing PCs

Rs. 250,000

Other

Rs. 150,000

 BUDGET

o Purchases =

Rs. 1,225,000

TOTAL COST/BUDGET REQUIRED = Rs. 2,360,000 This was below than the earlier budgeted cost of 2.5 million. This meant that the project could be contained within the initial rough estimated fee. Extra Rs. 140,000 could be kept as collateral for possible risk related to schedule/cost creeps that might occur. This added with reserve analysis method of resource allocation ensure that within the project lifecycle costs are controlled. Refer risk management section for further in depth description.

Brandix Lanka SSC Development Project

35

6.0 Quality Management Plan 6.1 Quality Plan Initially the level of quality required and what standard has to be et has to be finalized. Brandix because of the fact it is a garment oriented company does not have internal software standards practiced. SO it was essential to identify what would be the best fit quality needed for the project.

Design of Experiments (A Quality Planning Technique) – With the use of this a team comprising of (steering committee members , required team leaders(QA and development) and project manager can collectively identify what is the most optimal quality needed for the project to succeed The guideline set by this discussion will be transferred to the whole QA team.

Benchmarking Adopt industry recommended SSC development techniques and common computerised accounting systems best practices / similar projects that were completed successfully. Use the standards and methodologies used on those as a baseline for this project.

6.2 Quality Assurance and Control This will be done by the internal QA team. (Refer HR management plan for the composition of the teams) -

Proper measure has been taken to ensure user satisfaction,

-

WBS contains special consideration for UI design, and user familiarity for the interface.

-

Prototyping sessions are included to get the best product required for the users.

-

The QA team comprises of members who have used similar systems

-

UAT test done to confirm user satisfaction before deployment

-

Integration done as a phased approach instead of the whole system at once.

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7.0 Human Resource Plan This plan documents the roles and responsibilities of individuals or groups for various project elements and reporting relationships for each. (Reporting relationships can be groups as well as to individuals). Because the organizational structure affects the way in which communications are carried out HR plan goes together with the communication plan. The three outputs of this process, 1. Project organization chart 2. The staffing management plan 3. The roles and responsibilities assignment

7.1 Project organization chart

Project Organization Chart

Above represents the project hierarchy and reporting relationships. The most senior level is the project steering committee which is reported to by the project management team. Each of the respective team leads will have a team between 4-6 members to wok with. And with the empowerment of the steering committee referential power can be used when necessary

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7.2 Staffing Management Below describes the factors considered when creating this plan, 

Organizational factors The accounting departments of Brandix are affected by the project, Brandix organization dress code and ethics are informal mainly, the project was managed with them guidelines.



Technical factors Type of specialized skills needed to complete the work of the project is considered. Initially the expert knowledge on industry standard software such as tally and Accpac, MYOB is required. Then experienced and junior staff with expertise in VB.net is needed for software development. The UML diagramming is done through rational rose software. And the network technicians should be competent to build a very secure and solid network infrastructure to host the software. ( Cisco certified technicians is a must , CISSP industry certified security consultants are an added advantage)



Interpersonal factors Cultural considerations have to be applied if necessary. And exiting reporting hierarchies of the units has to be kept intact with the project reporting hierarchy as well.

Staff Acquisition This describes how team members are acquired (from inside or outside the organization) and specific skills and expertise. The main teams of the project are given below. 1. Analyst Team 2. Development Team 3. Network Enhancement Team 4. QA Team

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Next page details the staff acquisition plan for each of the four teams. Analyst Team Outsourced to third party consultants Skill set - specialize in developing SSC.

Development Team

Networking Team

Outsourced to third party software development firm.

In sourced within Brandix.

In sourced within Brandix.

Existing Network administrators get involved in setting up the PCs , Servers and DR site.

A team comprising of senior accounting staff members and SSC users.

Skill set – Experience in troubleshooting and handing networking related projects in Brandix.

Skill set – Familiarity of computerized accounting systems and business process.

Skill set -VB.net , UML diagramming

QA Team

Staff acquisition plan for Brandix SSC Project

Staffing management plans use resource histograms drawn in chart form along with Gantt chart in MS Project 2003.

7.3 Resource Levelling Business Analyst Resource over-allocation from 15/02/2010 to 19/02/2010 a.) In terms of percent allocation

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b.) In terms of over allocated hours

c.) In terms of work

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d. e.

f.) Remaining availability the resource from 22/02/2010 to 26/02/2010

Business Analyst-Resource over allocation on 15 & 16 February: (Reference from WBS & Gantt Chart)

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After levelling resources to the selected activities

Steps taken to get more value from the Team

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 Provide opportunity for the junior tam to always work with senior members, (the junior staff will never be working on an allotted component by themselves). This will allow them to mature to the task more effectively and also provide work challenge.  Every team is built with redundancy of expertise. (Each team, is composed of 2 senior members and more than 2 junior members) SO if I staff member is absent/quits the remaining member can resume operation.  Use referential power when necessary, through steering committed feedback updates to project team leaders.  Never use any means of penalizations, but keep staff aware of resource levelling standards that might cause fast tracking of activities and also overtime work requirements if schedule milestones are not met.

7.3 The Roles and Responsibilities Assignment Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) Below details the roles and responsibilities assignment to major activities in the SSC project Legend – A- Accountable ,P – Participant , R- Review required , I- Input Required, S- Sign off required

Item

Team

Team Lead

Project Manager

Complete Database ER

P

S

R

Complete Logical Diagrams

P

S

R

IT Infrastructure Setup

P

S

R

Database Development

P

S

R

UI Development

P

S

R

Implement FARS

P

S

R

I

Implement WFS

P

S

R

I

Implement GPS

P

S

R

I

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Steering Committee

I

43

Implement PMS

P

S

R

Unit Testing

P

S

R

Integration Testing

P

S

R

I

RAM of Main Activities for SSC Project Legend – A- Accountable ,P – Participant , R- Review required , I- Input Required, S- Sign off required

The team leaders should sign off on the activities when they are completed, then it is the project manager‟s responsibility to review the task completed and confirm it. Some special activities related to core system functionality needs input from the steering committee. Conflict Resolution Process The project management team accepts all conflicts as natural to a project and manages them to gets the most positive outcome from it. Depending on the nature of the conflict straight confronting of the problem will be done to eliminate it in its roots and then all parties are satisfied.

8.0 The Communication Management Plan Initially the project team identified the key internal stakeholders of the project. They are senior Brandix executives such as the CEO, CFO and CIO (the project steering committee), and secondly coding, UI design and QA unit team leaders. Communication is important for a project success. Who needs what information, when it‟s needed, Way the information will be handed over properly documented under this. In this SSC project the communication plan is focused into three focus segments.

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Segment I Steering committee Segment II The communication between the existing accounting departments Segment III Between

development, QA, UI design and IT network teams Communication plan focus segments

Below details the contents of each plan, relevant documentations used, meeting agendas, objectives and justification of actions

Segment I (Steering Committee) Input to PM

PM Output

Special Requirements 1. Time and effort Status updates Because of their estimations and progress privileged status required for of project meetings has to activity be scheduled resource before hand with allocation the predefined 2. Change request agendas. Approval Always use summarized information. CEO and CIO were met separately to get individual

Devised Plan  Initial meeting with CEO and CIO,  JAD session  For each SSC development stage a post review meeting is done with CIO. (Refer WBS for frequency of communication) view points from a business

strategic level and at a technological level. JAD session conducted offsite to provide hassle free environment for steering committee and PM to brainstorm project and finalized the basic project plan. Progress reports were not used for this segment, because one-to- one interaction is the best form of communication that can be used for this target group. Segment II (Existing accounting departments) Input to PM

PM Output

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Special Requirements

Devised Plan

45

Information about the current accounting processes carried out. Current operational problems.



Prevent conflicts of interest occurring due to the new system that would have a negative impact on the project team morale.

Message could be  Submit questionnaires to communicated in SBU CFO‟s. both formal and informal manner.

It is the responsibility of the PM to make sure that the project runs smoothly and completes on time and budget. There might be instance of resistance to change that could happen within the company SBUs, and some staff may fear job cuts. The PM would act as the intermediary between Brandix Senior management and enlighten the accounting staff that this project will make overall operations more efficient. (Explained in-detail under risk management plan) .Such a task if not done may lead to a demoralised staff.



The questionnaire approach was chosen for SBU CFO‟s because there are 18 units spread over Sri Lanka, and each unit might have different requirements. The findings from all the collected questionnaires will be used to create a summarized report.

Segment III (Project Operational Teams) Input to PM

PM Output

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Special Requirements

Devised Plan

46

Status of task Manage and completion. communicate Change requests deadlines Manage team morale Transfer top management vision to operation level.

none

 Weekly meetings with the operational teams and pre-scheduled initial meetings with the team leads before a main activity begins.  Performance reports (refer WBS)

This becomes the core of the project communication plan, as this involves the human resources that are into project development. Key preset events of the communication plan Segment

Event

II

Submit questionnaire to CFOs

I

Interview with CEO

I

Interview with CIO

I

JAD Session with Project steering committee

III

Initial Meeting with Developers and UI Designers

III

Post Review Meeting with Team Leaders and CIO –S1

III

Initial Meeting with Coders (Developers)

III

Meeting with Team Leaders and CIO –S2

III

Meeting Technicians

III

Finalize Meeting with technicians

I

Meeting with project steering committee -SSC

Special preparation has to be done in order to get the desired outcome from the above event dates, with relation to the individual segment plans.

Performance Reporting  Progress Reports

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Weekly progress reports, monthly progress reports identify the things that have been accomplished plans for the next progress reports. This is issued in particular time period. Weekly reports to see the developments in the software and the monthly reports are been reported to PM

Formats of Communication Reports 1. Weekly Progress Report

2. Monthly Progress Report

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9.0 Risk Management Throughout this Risk Management describe the top ten risks for project, tracking, mitigating, and ultimately retiring. These include internal and external risks on the Project. This document defines the risk management roles and responsibilities of the Project Team and using through the entire Project.

9.1 Risk Management Process On this the Project Risk Management Processes are using and as per the standard mythologies following paradigm represent the high level process steps of the Risk Management process. Communication is an essential part of the Risk Management and occurs at every step of the process among the Project stakeholders and contractors. 1. Identification of the risks 2. Analyzing the risks 3. Plan 4. Implement 5. Track and Control 6. Continuous Process – Communicate

1.

Identification of the risks

Risk Identification investigates the below top ten risks that could result any impact to the project. These identified risks segmented to two categories. 

Strategic risks o o o o o



De-motivation of staff Reducing span of control of CFOs and CEOs Loosing the flexibility of payment Changing staff‟s attitudes Less Executive and Board level involvement

Operational risks o o o o o

Reluctance to work in the SSC due to performance measuring & welfare and recreational issues Inadequate transition or migration planning Failure to re-engineer processes prior to transition Loss of intellectual property Lack of consideration of technology dependencies

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2.

Analyzing the risks

The identified most critical risk further allocated on analyzed to sub categories. Risk analysis

involves

classification and prioritization of risk items,

providing

recommendations for mitigating and measuring risk items, and reviewing risk item information based on to the Project. The Risk Analyst has done reviewed results of the risk analyses with the Project Sponsors and Stakeholders.

Verify Risk Classification This Risk classification verified all ten Risk items and allocated to the relevant sub category.         

Project Team risk Project Management Risk Requirement Risks Human Resources Risks Process Risk Client Risk External Risk Technical risks Agency risk

 Project Team risk o Less Executive and Board level involvement o De-motivation of staff  Project Management Risk o Failure to re-engineer processes prior to transition o Inadequate transition or migration planning  Process Risk o Reducing span of control of CFOs and CEOs  Human Resources related Risks o o

Reluctance to work in the SSC due to performance measuring & welfare and recreational issues Changing staff‟s attitudes

 External Risk o Loss of intellectual property  Technical risks o Lack of consideration of technology dependencies  Client Risks o

Loosing the flexibility of payment

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Risk Impact Determining the risk impact considers the consequences the risk would have on the project if the risk event occurs. . The Criteria for Risk Impact in Table is a guide for evaluating the risk consequences and determining the risk impact Criteria for Risk Impact Impact Table

Criteria

Negligible

0-3

Marginal

3-7

Critical

7-9

Catastrophic

9 - 10

Risk Impact Table Risk Category Project Team Risks Project Management Risks Process Risk Human Resources Related Risks External Risks Technical Risks Client Risks

Impact 9 6 6 7 3 7 4

Catastrophic Marginal Marginal Critical Marginal Critical Marginal

Risk Probability Risk probability involves considering the likelihood of the risk occurrence on the project and this probability recorded as a percentage from 1 to 99%.

Criteria for Risk Probability Probability

Criteria

High

Approximately a 65% or higher confidence level that the risk will occur.

Medium

Approximately a 35-65% confidence level that the risk will occur.

Low

Approximately a less than 35% confidence level that the risk will occur.

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Risk Item

Risk Category

Impact

Probability

Time-

Rating

Risk Owner

Risk Probability Risk Category

Probability %

Probability

Project Team Risks

50%

Medium

Project Management Risks Process Risk Human Resources Related Risks External Risks Technical Risks Client Risks

70% 40% 80% 30% 40% 60%

High Medium High Low Medium Medium

Risk Timeframe Risk timeframe is very important to this project and time measured according to the project estimated time. Criteria for Risk Timeframe Timeframe

Criteria

Short-Term

The risk is expected to occur within a very short period of time.

Medium-Term

The risk is expected to occur within the near future.

Long-Term

The risk is expected to occur in the far future.

Risk Timeframe Risk Category

Timeframe

Project Team Risks

Long Term

Project Management Risks Process Risk Human Resources Related Risks External Risks Technical Risks Client Risks

Medium Term Long Term Short Term Long Term Short Team Long Term

9.2 Risk Table Next page describes the identified risks in a summarized format

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frame

De-motivation of staff

Project Team risk

Catastroph M ic

LT

H

PM

Reducing span of control Process Risk of CFOs and CEOs

Marginal

M

LT

M

PM

Loosing the flexibility of payment

Client Risk

Marginal

M

LT

M

CFO

Changing staff‟s attitudes

Human

Critical

H

ST

M

PM

Resources related Risks

Less Executive and Board level involvement

Project Team risk

Catastroph M ic

LT

H

PM

Reluctance to work in the SSC due to performance measuring & welfare and recreational issues

Human

Critical

H

ST

M

PM

Inadequate transition or migration planning

Project

Marginal

H

MT

M

PM

Resources related Risks

Management Risk

Failure to re-engineer processes prior to transition

Project Management Risk

Marginal

H

MT

M

PM

Loss of intellectual property

External Risks

Marginal

L

LT

M

PM

Critical

M

ST

M

CIO

Lack of consideration of Technical Risks technology dependencies

9.3 Risk Mitigation, Monitoring, Management Plan

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De-motivation of staff  Mitigation

o Assign a Human Resources expert to analyze any unrealistic situation on the project to minimize chance that the moral & motivation of the project team members will be damaged. o Plan Staff motivation programs with project team to build teamwork 

Track and Control o

Management keeps monitoring the changes, behaviors & moods of employees to provide necessary resources to keep the team motivation zone.



Management Support to staffs to get motivate with provide facilities, once people come up to certain moral address team and work for the project goals to finish.

Reducing span of control of CFOs and CEOs  Mitigation

o Project Manager updates each SBU CFO & CEO about the project progress on each and every meeting. o Project Manager analyzes any gap between Project Team with SBU CFO & CEO about the project provide knowledge sessions. o During the Project time the team have analyze any negative behavior from SBU CFO & CEO team. 

Track and Control o

Keep on good communication with SBU CFO & CEO about the progress on project and identify their vision on Project.

o

Keep track on negative behaviors from SBU and get necessary actions to overcome the problems.



Management Act according to the issues generating from SBUs with steering committee

team.

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Losing the flexibility of payment risk  Mitigation

o Allocate a Financial analyst to identify the requirements on flexible payments on the beach SBU. o Address all the issues with customers & suppliers to finalize agreement on payments. 

Track and Control o

Keep eye on any flexible payment requirements and provide the facilities to do payments without any failures.



Management Providing the top level support to the project team finalize the payments agreements with customers & suppliers.

Changing staff’s attitudes  Mitigation

o Project Manager has to identify the attitude & commitment on each and every staff member. o Provide the facilities to build positive attitudes on their job. o Provide necessary tanning to build their knowledge. 

Track and Control o

Keep track on each employee behavior on the job and control the risk on project.



Management

Provide basic facilities to keep the staff happy on the job. Get immediate action to staff on a conflict issues.

Reluctance to work in the SSC due to performance measuring & welfare and recreational issues  Mitigation

o Project Manager provides awareness about the SSC performance measuring. o Provide a reword system based on to their performance. o Human Resources Team need to identify the staff member‟s facilities changes during the project and provide the welfare facilities.

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



Track and Control o

Communicate every employee on issues with welfare facilities.

o

Keep record on a performance measuring & evaluate.

Management o Management need to address to employee about issues on performance monitoring & welfare problems.

Inadequate transition or migration planning  Mitigation

o Identify wrong translation from process models to implementation plans o List out Mismatch of design method and implementation method/perspective o Provide a training to lack of understanding or misuse of methods in the planning, design, implementation, enactment, evaluation phase.  

Track and Control o Identify each and every step on migration to check any insufficient problem



Management Rearrange the plan changes according Inadequate transitions

Failure to re-engineer processes prior to transition  Mitigation

o Identify significant reengineering process based on to the company innovative and strategic changes in the SSC o Analyze failures on re-engineering and time, resources and process need to identify to success the project. 

Track and Control o All the identified re engineering processes need to track any failures and if highlights any frailer need to get immediate action complete the reengineering process.



Managemento

Executive members support required to do re-engineering processes

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Loss of intellectual property  Mitigation

o Identify any intellectuals‟ properties involving to the projects highlighting to the non authorized persons. o Keep the items safe place 

Track and Control o Keep an eye to members that have permission to the intellectuals‟ properties. (Ex. Program source codes)



Management

Strictly follow the rules & regulation on working team to the project. Lack of consideration of technology dependencies  Mitigation

o Allocate technology expert to identify all the risks that have on this project. o Identify upgrade & new technological requirements o Conduct a workshop to give understand about how important and involved the technology to success the SSC. 

Track and Control o During the project SSC implementation monitor the technological fulfilling the requirements.



Management o

Consider any technological changes to the project

Less Executive and Board level involvement  Mitigation

o Ask for a Visible and strong support from Executive & Board o Conduct scheduled steering committee meetings with Executive and Board 

Track and Control Before confirm a meeting schedule get confirmation from Executive & Board



Management PM always updates to Executives & Board about the project & get Advice

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10.0 Project Integration Management If there is a requirement for a change/change request (a deviation of normal planned objectives/scope) is identified from a progress report (refer communication plan for format used) or from a team leader meeting , the request should pass through a formal process before it is accepted/ rejected. This way with the guidance of the project manager and approval from the project steering committee , adjustments of the project plans can be made to accommodate the change ,with minimum effect to the projects overall goals.

Planning Documents

Change Request

Is Change Acceptable?

No

Yes

Planning Scenarios

Implement Change

Update Planning Documents

Asses the Impact

Yes

Approve Chang?

No

Reject Change

Proposed integrated change control process for Brandix SSC Project

A change review team appointed will evaluate, accept/reject change requests based on provided date from the teams. This change management board will comprise of Project Manager and steering committee.

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11.0 Conclusion

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