Case: One of your major company products is losing ground to a competitor based solely on price. To fight this, a change in business model is required so it’s decided to off-shore all software maintenance work to India, lowing the amount of work at your facility. You need to provide early retirements for 5 people and layoff 10 others over the next 4 months.
Executive Summary
The company is initiating offshore work in India to lower the quantity of work and regain the price advantage in the market. Total cost or budget for the project is $58,752. In this four-month project, different stakeholders are Project Owner, Project Sponsor, Project Manager, and Steering Committee Member with six team members. Financial constraints, employee resistance, poor response, insufficient scheduling, and the high cost of training are a major risk. A comprehensive risk register has been illustrated accordingly. Project resources are all key stakeholder, including several team members, capital, and material things. Gantt chart, variance analysis, status report, and communication matrix have also been elaborated in this project management progression.
Project Charter
Project Starter: Change in Business Model
Project Start Date: December 30, 2017, Project Finish Date: May 30, 2018
Budget Information:
The project management aims to allocate $58,752 budget for all activities. The half budget will be for training and development of employees in India, and the half cost will be for maintenance of the software.
Project Manager: Name & Email
Project Objectives
The objective of this project is to initiate cheap operations to come up with the lowest price of outputs in the competitive market. Another objective is to change the whole business to integrate with the market, human resources, and production.
Success Criteria
The key success factors of the project are to conduct all key activities efficiently. Reducing the sum of work at the facility is a big challenge. However, with some good employee strategies, the project management can gain the success. To enhance the visibility of customer acceptance, it seems imperative to run all activities or phases of the project professionally. The project management is expected to depict 8 out of 10 rating (Neelankavil, 2015 ).
Approaches
- The intentions are to start or offshore operations in India and consider reasonable labor to decrease the overall cost of operations
- The firm will adopt new technology to reduce the work of employees at the workplace
- The project management is looking to reduce the number of employees. For this purpose, it has to offer early retirements for five employees and layoff of ten other employees over the next four months
- Training and development approach is necessary for a limited number of employees in the company, as he aims to reduce employee expenses and make them effectual and efficient, as far as the cost of production is concerted
- The inclusion of new technology and experts in the company is a lucrative approach to redefine work roles and responsibilities.
- To justify the outsourcing in India, the management will develop success measures to evaluate the performance of the firm
- The cultural integration is a key factor in this business model transformation, as it can help all employees to work at the same agenda, set by the project management in India.
- Performance, productivity, impact on cost will be measured annually (Willcocks, Lacity, & Sauer, 2017 ).
Roles & Responsibilities
| Roles & Responsibilities | |||
| Name & Signature | Role | Position | Contact Information |
| Mike | Project Owner | HR President | |
| John | Project Sponsor | Training & development manager | |
| David | Project Manager | Project manager | |
| Adam | Steering Committee Member | Supplier Management Director | |
| Johnson | Team Member | Production manager | |
| Peter | Team Member | Curriculum designer | |
| Ricky | Team Member | Training assistant | |
| Julia | Team Member | Software developer | |
| Walton | Team Member | Software developer | |
| Bishop | Team Member | Software developer | |
| Comments
The project manager, along with the collaborations of all key project stakeholders will be looking to reduce the amount of work, overhead expenses, and risks. Increase in staffing flexibility is vital, and it is the main theme of this particular project development.
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Team Contract
Code of conduct
The code of conduct enables the project team to work successfully. In case of any issue in this business reformation or outsourcing, team members are liable to share information with each other. Cultural values and business objectives of the company must be retained in this project. The project team is responsible to maintain the focus on the project tasks to produce better and results according to expectations (Note, 2015).
Participation
Reducing the quantity of work at the workplace to reduce overall cost will need prominent collaborations. Project management will consider the participative decision-making in HR practice (retirement & layoff). In addition, the participation of stakeholders will help to develop some new training traits and modern workplace approaches to meet goals and objectives.
Communication
There is a need for integrated communication systems, and when off shoring the software maintenance, modern IT tools can be used to contain project meetings. Phone and video conferences can be efficient to share project information. Through meetings and information technology tools, it seems easy for project management to create the project schedule, identity issues, and risk, and evaluate the performance (Ruhe & Wohlin, 2014 ).
Problem Solving
To reduce risks, the management can take help from production and human resource experts. The success is based on different ideas, derived from project participants and experts to identify the issues timely and develop alternative or solutions. Identifying problems and solutions at the right time is also a key success factor (Note, 2015).
Meeting Guidelines
Despite having modern information technology tools, face to face meetings cannot be ignored. The project manager will hold a meeting every Friday with team members to evaluate the work in progress and performances of employees. A big advantage of these meetings is the change, which can be initiated according to shared information (Sedera, Gronau, & Sumner, 2015 ).
Stakeholders Analysis Matrix
List of Stakeholders
- Project Owner
- Project Manager
- Project Sponsor
- Steering Committee Member
- Production Manager
- Training and Development Manager
- Curriculum Designer
Stakeholders Analysis Matrix
Network Diagram and Critical Path
Required Human & Other Resources
Some human resources are required in the project. Earlier in this project, the human resource management will conduct the organizational planning. For Instance, the production manager in the production department will have to monitor and evaluate the software maintenance. After termination of 15 employees, remaining employees are main sources of the company.
At the management level, vice president of human resource management contains a strategic role to play. For Instance, he can cooperate with the cost accountant, production manager, and curriculum designed to make several inexpensive strategies. Vice president, being a prominent stakeholder will make the strategy to reduce the work, transform the work and create some new workplace trends. Obviously, the participation of people from the workplace is vital to keep everything in a loop. With the perspective of the project manager, the project manager will have to lead the workers and manage the work. Of course, the project owner will assign him a task to keep the cost at the workplace low to produce low-priced products. The project manager has to play a key role, as he has to implement the HR, production and training strategies (Ruhe & Wohlin, 2014 ).
Furthermore, training and development manager in India is also a powerful source, as he can train employees to carry high quality, rapid and economical work. It is up to the training and development manager to improvise at a workplace and shape the employee behavior, training, and work activities. The big advantage that the company a can have through this human resource is employee motivation. If employees understand the rationale of offshore work and business model change, the project management can enhance the expectations. Curriculum Designer is also a prominent source. He is the main part of human resource management, as he designs work and training activities. It is important to compare and contrast the work (Traditional Vs New), and Curriculum Designer is going to take this responsibility (Neelankavil, 2015 ).
Thus, Project Owner, Project Manager, Project Sponsor, Steering Committee Member, Production Manager, Training, and Development Manager, and Curriculum Designer are human resources of this project.
Capital
Other resources of this project are capital and material goods. The company is in a good financial position, and due to this change in the business can happen. The project owner and manager are looking to confidently manage the numbers. The budget allocation is quite crucial for the project, and if the company has a financial support, it can weaken the financial risk. Capital is essential resources which can make the project happen (Willcocks, Lacity, & Sauer, 2017 ).
Material Things
Moreover, material goods are also other resources for this project. For Instance, for proficient and lucrative software maintenance, appropriate tools are required. When making retirement plan for 4 employees, the company has to collect data through information technology tools. The management can use technology to make employee strategies. Communication with employees al all project stakeholders is triggered by these material things (Note, 2015).
Financial Resources, Budget, and S-Curve
Financial Resources
| Name | Actual Work | Actual Cost | Standard Rate |
| Logistics Lead | 14 hrs | 560.00 | 40.00/hr |
| Marketing Lead | 110 hrs | 3,850.00 | 35.00/hr |
| Sponsor | 0 hrs | 0.00 | 30.00/hr |
| Sales | 2 hrs | 60.00 | 30.00/hr |
| Creative | 20 hrs | 600.00 | 30.00/hr |
| Content Consultant | 0 hrs | 0.00 | 25.00/hr |
| Marketing | 8 hrs | 200.00 | 25.00/hr |
| Marketing Research | 12 hrs | 240.00 | 20.00/hr |
| Corporate Sponsor | 18 hrs | 270.00 | 15.00/hr |
| Subject Matter Expert | 0 hrs | 0.00 | 15.00/hr |
| Inside Sales | 10 hrs | 150.00 | 15.00/hr |
| Marketing Staff | 72 hrs | 1,080.00 | 15.00/hr |
| Product Marketing | 0 hrs | 0.00 | 15.00/hr |
| Regional General Manager | 6 hrs | 60.00 | 10.00/hr |
| Country Manager | 6 hrs | 60.00 | 10.00/hr |
| Strategic Alliance Lead | 2 hrs | 20.00 | 10.00/hr |
| Marketing Rep | 32 hrs | 320.00 | 10.00/hr |
| Marketing Research | 0 hrs | 0.00 | 7.00/hr |
| Internal PR | 8 hrs | 56.00 | 7.00/hr |
| PR Company | 38 hrs | 266.00 | 7.00/hr |
| Vendor | 10 hrs | 50.00 | 5.00/hr |
The Budget
| Name | Remaining Cost | Actual Cost | Cost |
| Review Business Strategy Landscape | 7,140.00 | 980.00 | 8,120.00 |
| Develop Campaign Concepts | 10,358.00 | 1,130.00 | 11,488.00 |
| Create Localization Strategy | 3,100.00 | 580.00 | 3,680.00 |
| Communicate and Train Internal Organization | 3,300.00 | 900.00 | 4,200.00 |
| Customer Relationship Management | 2,010.00 | 390.00 | 2,400.00 |
| Analyze Regional/Global/Country Business Models | 1,660.00 | 140.00 | 1,800.00 |
| Develop Campaign | 2,800.00 | 40.00 | 2,840.00 |
| Develop Campaign Creative and Testing | 6,100.00 | 1,100.00 | 7,200.00 |
| Develop Strategy for External Promotions | 2,702.00 | 322.00 | 3,024.00 |
| Production | 680.00 | 80.00 | 760.00 |
| Campaign Release | 5,880.00 | 1,440.00 | 7,320.00 |
| Campaign Effectiveness | 5,180.00 | 740.00 | 5,920.00 |
| Marketing Campaign Planning Complete | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
S-Curve
Communications Matrix
The project depicts a valuable communication process. In the communication matrix, information, receiver, timing of communication, a method of communications and senders zones are demonstrated. Each zone has a different type of information, and accordingly related to the significance senders and receivers.
| Information | Receiver | Timing of communication | Method of communication | Sender |
| Documents | Project Manager | Weekly | Cloud Drives, Email | Project Teams |
| Project Status | Project Sponsor | Monthly | Email, Phone | Project Manager |
| Team Status | Project Manager | Daily | Email, meeting | Production Manager |
| Work Approval | Project manager/Sponsor | As required | Email, meeting | Production Manager |
| Internal work requests | Project manager/ sponsor | As required | Email-Fax | Training & Development Manager |
| External work request | Project manager/ sponsor | As required | Email-Fax | Steering Committee Member |
| Overall Work Progress | Project manager, Project Owner, Steering Committee Member | Weekly | Email, meeting, phone calls, work reports | Production manager, development team |
| Work Review | Project manager, Project Owner, Steering Committee Member | Weekly | Email, meeting, phone calls, work reports, meetings | Production manager, development team |
| Process Change | Project manager, Project Owner, | As required | Email, meeting, phone calls, work reports, meetings | Production Manager
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| Uncertainties | Project manager, Project Owner, | As required | Email, meeting, phone calls, work reports, meetings | Development Team
|
Gantt & Milestones Chart
Status Report
Variance Analysis
| Name | % Complete | Cost | Cost Variance |
| Review Business Strategy Landscape | 12% | 8,120.00 | 8,120.00 |
| Develop Campaign Concepts | 10% | 11,488.00 | 11,488.00 |
| Create Localization Strategy | 11% | 3,680.00 | 3,680.00 |
| Communicate and Train Internal Organization | 16% | 4,200.00 | 4,200.00 |
| Customer Relationship Management | 17% | 2,400.00 | 2,400.00 |
| Analyze Regional/Global/Country Business Models | 11% | 1,800.00 | 1,800.00 |
| Develop Campaign | 4% | 2,840.00 | 2,840.00 |
| Develop Campaign Creative and Testing | 13% | 7,200.00 | 7,200.00 |
| Develop Strategy for External Promotions | 14% | 3,024.00 | 3,024.00 |
| Production | 11% | 760.00 | 760.00 |
| Campaign Release | 16% | 7,320.00 | 7,320.00 |
| Campaign Effectiveness | 12% | 5,920.00 | 5,920.00 |
| Marketing Campaign Planning Complete | 25% | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Quality Metrics
The quality is triggered by employee response and performance evaluations.
Employee Response Rate
When outsourcing the operations of the business in India, the quality of the outputs can be measured through employee response. After removing 15 employees, the management includes new technology and workplace trends through training and development seems pertinent to evaluate that how employees accept these changes. Of course, in the training practice, employees are guided to reduce wastage and use resources for better efficiency. Thus, if an employee is motivated to develop the skills for efficient operations in the company, he will produce high-quality products. If he is not prepared to work in teams, integrate with technology, and learn new things, the quality cannot be achieved. Therefore, in this business transformation, the response of employees is related to quality (Sedera, Gronau, & Sumner, 2015 ).
Change Evaluations
Early retirements for 5 people and layoff 10 others over the next 4 months is a big change in the new region. For Instance, the quality can be measured by work reduction. The project management, including training and production manager, will judge the impact on overall cost. If the project shows 50% reduction in the cost of a product, the products contain the quality. It is to observe that how much work regarding the software maintenance has been improved and increased by reducing the number of employees. Minimum employees, work flexibility, new technology, and modern workplace trends are key quality measures, which are quite visible (Ruhe & Wohlin, 2014 ).
Quality Checklist
- Minimum number of employees are retained to sustain the work
- All employees have participated in training & development programs
- The budget has been allocated successfully
- Economical labor has potential and skillful enough to reduce the cost
- Training links with modern workplace traits
Risk Register
In the end, it is to conclude that the company has to change the business process to eliminate business risks, challenges, and uncertainties, especially in the competitive market. The prices of products in the market can increase or decrease the market share. The company intended to offshore the business to decrease the work burden. The main aspects of the study were projected charter, team contract, stakeholder analysis matrix, Network Diagram and Critical Path, Required Human & Other Resources, Financial resources, the Budget and S-Curve, The Budget, S-Curve, Communications Matrix, Gantt & Milestones Chart, Status Report, Variance Analysis, Quality Metrics, and Risk Register.
Conclusions/Lessons Learned
The big lesson that has been learned from this project is an implementation of change. Being a part of the company, every stakeholder, especially managers and employees must identify opportunities and flaws and contribute to the success and change prominently. Interestingly, different roles and responsibilities have been assigned to the project management. The success is possible due to valuable and competent teamwork along with good delegations. After completion of this project, the company is expected to regain its market strength.
Recommendations
The nature of this project needs some new communication methods. Internal and external requests for project operations need high-quality IT equipment. Thus, to accelerate the virtual meeting and collaborations, new communication tools are recommended. In an implementation, the project management is recommended some concrete action plans. The management should be certain of what is done. Monitoring, reporting, and evaluation must be considered in every activity, as it can facilitate the continuous and timely improvements.
References
Neelankavil. (2015 ). Basics of International Business. M.E. Sharpe.
Note, M. (2015). Project Management for Information Professionals. Elsevier Science.
Ruhe, G., & Wohlin, C. (2014 ). Software Project Management in a Changing World. Springer.
Sedera, D., Gronau, N., & Sumner, M. (2015 ). Enterprise Systems. Strategic, Organizational, and Technological Dimensions. Springer.
Willcocks, L. P., Lacity, M. C., & Sauer, C. (2017 ). Outsourcing and Offshoring Business Services. Springer.
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