The “Program Office” is a project management methodology that provides a process for managing projects. As organizations continues to grow, so does the need for new projects that will provide new and exciting services to the end –user. The Project Management Methodology will assist project team leads and team members in their ability to balance project work with their day-to-day duties by providing the tools and procedures required to maintain visibility of the status of tasks and issues.

As you read this document you will realize that the methodology defined is simply an organized breakdown of the project steps you probably already execute. By formalizing this process, we are trying to provide project team members with the ability to make project work more efficient and effective in the fast paced environment you work in. This tool will allow Project Leads to track tasks and dates, evaluate resource allocation, and to proactively see the project impact if dates are changed or resources are not available.

Definitions

Roles and responsibilities:

• Senior level managers:

o   Senior level managers are responsible for determining the approval and priority of the project within the company

• Business Sponsor:

o   Senior level manager who champions the project. This person typically has the business need for this project.

• Stakeholder:

o   Any cross-functional department members who may be impacted by this project.

• Manager:

o   Responsible for assisting the team with critical decisions such as:

§  What are the rules for participating on the team

§  Who should be on the team, and how does this membership impact their existing workload

• Project Lead:

o   Responsible for tracking the projects progress. This includes:

§  Establishing and tracking delivery dates using MPS

§  Logistics

§  Reporting progress and issues to management

§  Coordinating meetings

• Team Members:

o   Coordinate the effort within their core area of the credit union. Team includes:

§  Project Lead

§  System User Tester

§  Trainer

§  Documenter

§  Business team member (s)

Other terms and definitions:

• Specification:

o   Specifications detail ‘how’ something will be done.

• Issue:

o   An issue pertains to clarifying a questionable or incomplete item or task.

• Defect:

o   A problem known to be incorrect.

• Enhancement:

o   An additional feature or improvement.

• POM:

o   Program Office Methodology

• Microsoft Project (MPS):

o   A Microsoft tool used to track tasks and dates associated with projects

Ongoing Tasks from start to end of a Project

This list encompasses tasks that need to be conducted on an ongoing basis for the duration of the project.

• Tracking of issues and action items.

o   These can be tracked on an excel spreadsheet and updated on a regular basis (at least once a week)

• Regularly scheduled team project status reports.

o   These status meeting should be held (as determined by the Project Leader) and include:

§   Review and status of outstanding issues

§   Review of project plan tasks dates/schedule

Deliverables from the meeting to include:

• Action items from meeting with resource assignment and due date
• Minutes of the meeting distributed to all team members within 24 hrs after the meeting (if appropriate)
• Risk assessment if necessary
• Any changes to the project schedule and the impact it may have

1.      Project Approval Phase: (Approval to move forward with a project):

• Project concept is discussed with senior management by business sponsor for approval to pursue

o   Business sponsor provides business case, ROI, as requested

• If project is approved, the following must occur prior to resources being assigned:

o   Sr. Management team to assign priority of this project within the existing project list

o   A budget for the proj
ect needs to be assigned:

§   Staff hours

§   Contractor time

§   Capital expense

• Assign Project Lead and team members
• Once the above tasks have been completed, the assigned project teams should move forward on the project, following the Program Office Methodology defined in this document
• The originator of the project is to send an email to the distribution list containing cross-functional team/department members in order to communicate the new project information. The admin team will maintain a ‘master ‘ project list to contain projects and their priorities
• Deliverables from Phase 1   (To be stored in a shared folder)
• Brief description of the project
• Project Objectives
• High level scope document
• Benefits, target delivery date, budget estimates
• Email regarding new project information
• Update to the ‘master’ project list
• Initial Issues to be documented and assigned for resolution
• Decision from the Project Lead regarding moving to the next step

2.       Requirements Phase (What specifically are we going to do?)

• Invite all members of the operations team to attend requirements meeting in order to determine if they will be impacted
• Drill down into the details documented in the high level scope from Phase I in order to provide a road map for the project team
• Obtain stakeholder input as well as their ongoing review of the requirements
• Document requirements and communicate availability
• Conduct a walkthrough meeting with project team, stakeholders and Business Sponsor if appropriate
• Communicate final requirements to above mentioned team members
• Once requirements are approved, create a project plan (using MPS) to include resource assignments, task duration, and start date
• Document Issues, assign for resolution, and track outstanding issues for updates
• Analyze resource requirements and determine staff availability
• Update requirements as necessary and re-distribute
• Deliverables from Phase II  (To be stored in a shared folder)
• Requirements document
• Initial draft of Project Plan
• Updated Issues document

3.      Specifications Phase (How are we going to do it?)

• Document both a Technical and a Functional specifications document detailing how you are going to execute and implement what is required to support the defined requirements
• Conduct a walkthrough meeting with project team, stakeholders, and Business Sponsor if appropriate
• Communicate final specifications to above mentioned team members
• Make any necessary adjustments to the project plan
• Document Issues, assign for resolution, and track outstanding issues for updates
• Update specifications as necessary and re-distribute

Deliverables for Phase 3:  (To be stored in a shared folder)

• Specification document
• Final Project Plan
• Updated Issues document

4.      Execution Phase (Do what we said we would do.)

• Conduct walkthrough with team members to review project plan tasks and dates.
• Execute tasks per Project Plan
• Document Issues, assign for resolution, and track outstanding issues for updates
• Conduct regular project status meetings (frequency to be defined by Team Lead) and distribute minutes and status to team members and business sponsor
• Update project plan as necessary
• Escalate to manager and business sponsor (if appropriate), any changes in schedule and associated impacts
• Project updates to be communicated as appropriate

Deliverables for Phase 4: (To be stored in a shared folder)

• Updated Issues document
• Status reports
• Meeting minutes as necessary
• Up to date project plan

5.      System User Testing Phase (Did we do it right?)

• System User Testing team members should be involved at Requirements Phase, in order to write test scripts that validate the requirements have been met, and all is working properly
• Write test scripts
• Conduct walkthrough of test scripts, if appropriate, with project team
• Coordinate set up test environment, including test data
• Execute tests scripts
• Enter and track project defects and enhancements
• Report test results to team and business sponsor in order to make ‘go live’ (Or not) decision
• Document Issues, assign for resolution, and track outstanding issues for updates

Deliverables for Phase 5: (To be stored in a shared folder)

• Test Scripts
• Useable test environment
• List of remaining known issues

6.      Training Phase (Train Users)

• Team members should be involved at Requirements Phase, in order to write accurate training documentation
• Determine content of training
• Write training documentation as required
• Conduct walkthrough with team members (as appropriate) to insure all information is accurate, up to date, and easily understood by users.
• Schedule training classes
• Coordinate set up of training environment including data
• Conduct training as scheduled

Deliverables for Phase 6: (To be stored in a shared folder)

• Training documents
• Training schedule
• Useable  training environment

7.      Documentation Phase (Document what we did and how to use it)

• Assigned team member should be involved at Requirements Phase, in order to write accurate documentation
• Write documentation as required
• Conduct walkthrough with team members to insure all information is accurate, up to date, and easily understood by users
• Communicate documentation as requested

Deliverables for Phase 7: (To be stored in a shared folder)

• Document as required

8.      Implementation Phase (Use in production)

• Decision made to ‘Go Live’ based on successful completion of all appropriate phases
• Any necessary prep work conducted
• Project work moved/used in production environment
• Environment monitored to insure all is working properly
• Project complete

Deliverables for Phase 8: (To be stored in a shared folder)

• Completed project plan

9.      Post Project Debrief (How did we do?)

• Project lead to conduct follow up meeting with team members to review and document the following:

o   What did we do right?

o   What could we have done better?

o   What do we put in place to insure we don’t repeat any mistakes?

o   Determine and award appropriate recognition

Deliverables from Phase IX: (To be stored in a shared folder)

• Document containing the above

(To be stored in a shared folder)

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