Running Head: Factors Which Influence Project Success

Factors which Influence Project

Success

Submitted to: <Teacher’s Name>

Students Name: <Student Name>
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Factors Which Influence Project Success

Table of Contents

1. PROJECT OUTLINE 3

1.1. SCOPE 4
1.2. TIME 4
1.3. COST ESTIMATE 4
A. MS BI STACK 4
B. IMPLEMENTATION COST 5
1.4. CORE OUTCOMES FOR BUSINESS: 5

2. GANTT CHART 6

2.1. WORK BREAK DOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) 11

2.2. ORGANIZATION BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (OBS) 13
A. EXTERNAL VENDOR TEAM 13
B. INTERNAL TEAM 14

3. FOUR STAGES OF THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE 15

3.1. DEFINING STAGE 15

3.2. PLANNING 15
3.3. EXECUTING 16
3.4. CLOSING 16

4. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA 17

4.1. PROJECT EVALUATION 18

4.2. CONCLUSION 18
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Factors Which Influence Project Success

1. Project Outline
In continuation of a thorough data assessment and business intelligence roadmap

development, XYZ Inc. is in prime position to embark on an organization-wide Business

Intelligence implementation journey. This proposal highlights the tasks and dependencies

required to achieve the abovesaid. After considering the data assessment and roadmap

outcomes, Microsoft Business intelligence stack of SQL Server (SSAS, SSIS, SSRS) with

PowerBI as reporting tool is recommended by I.T. department as well as the consultant.

The implementation is need of the hour and enables executive and management layer

to make reliable and timely decisions. It shall produce a single version of truth with state-of-

art analysis capabilities rather than relying on desperate data and reporting capabilities

existing in departmental silos.

In the executive and managerial survey conducted in September 2019, it was revealed

that 92% of the participants are in favor of the implementation and are in need of clean data

across the organization. The remaining 6% were not sure, while only 2% managers were

satisfied with the data and reporting capabilities of their teams. The augmented decision

making capabilities shall empower our decision makers and establish a performance oriented

culture. With the power of data analytics, a revenue growth of 15 – 25% in current markets is

expected within three years of completion. The organization wide change would require a

buy-in from executives and managers, this can only be achieved when data is reliable,

platform is user friendly and output helps them make better decisions.

Technology upgrades are a key component of this implementation and after approvals

from management committee, hardware has been purchased to house current data and

growing data for the next five years. After implementation, training shall be provided in 2021

to business and data analysts as well as managers on the analytics platform.

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Factors Which Influence Project Success
1.1. Scope
The project scope includes data sources, reports, and dashboards on following

departments/ sections / sub-sections;

Department Application Nature Tables Dashboards

Corporate Central Reporting Custom 4 3 Executive
Module Application
Sales & Marketing CRM MS Dynamics 12 4 Executive
6 Operational
Finance Finance Module Oracle 10g 28 8 Executive
12 Operational
HR Module Oracle 10g 8 2 Executive
6 Operational
Human Resources
Attendance Custom 1 0 Executive
System Application 1 Operational
Total 53 Tables 42 Dashboards
* Each Dashboard is composed of 4-6 reports / visualizations.

1.2. Time

After much deliberation and information taken from various vendors, the project

completion time is estimated at Eight (08) Months. One month for Business Requirement

phase and Seven (07) months for Development and UAT Phase. It is estimated that at least

five (05) on-site vendor resources shall be engaged full-time. A detailed break up is provided

in the Gantt chart and Project plan.

1.3. Cost Estimate

Estimated cost has multiple elements, given below;

A. MS BI Stack

Component License Type No. of Licenses Cost (USD)

SQL Server Enterprise Perpetual 1 20,000.00
Edition
PowerBI (Office 365) Free 0 0
Total 20,000.00
* Twenty Thousand US Dollars

* PowerBI is already included in organization wide purchase of Office 365.

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Factors Which Influence Project Success
B. Implementation Cost

Component Unit No. of Man Days Rate / Day Cost (USD)

Vendor Fee Man 210 680 142,800.00
Day (85/hr)
Rate
Support Fee @ 18% of Yearly NA NA 25,704.00
Vendor Fee for 1st year
Total 168,504.00
* One Hundred and Sixty Eight Thousand Five Hundred & Four US Dollars Only.

* 18% support fee is recurring on annual basis – paid in advance. For as long as XYZ Inc.

continues to take support from the vendor.

1.4. Core Outcomes for Business:

 Proactive, Reliable and Timely Decision Making from Executives and Managers for

maximizing existing and discovering new business opportunities

 Ability to perform self-service / Adhoc analysis by departments themselves

 Trained Resources on Business Intelligence to leverage from data

 A single version of the truth across the organization

 A performance-oriented culture

 Revenue Growth

 Cost Cutting measures

 Better Competitive Analysis

 Descriptive, Predictive and Prescriptive Analysis capability

2. Gantt Chart
The Gantt chart specifies the project schedule and highlights resources and tasks used

for tracking and reporting the status of a project (Larson & Gray, 2011). The dependencies

that may pose a risk of delay can be several. Firstly, the mobilization of vendor resources

with the right skills and attitude has to match with the availability of business users of XYZ
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Factors Which Influence Project Success
Inc. Obtaining buy-in from departments and leadership teams as well as availability of

required business users is necessary. Involved departments were asked to nominate

knowledgeable team members who can provide valuable business requirements to vendor

resources. A plan for each department has already been shared, and after confirmations,

meetings would be scheduled. In case of an emergency, the nominated resource was asked to

make available an alternative member from the team, in case the first member cannot join the

meeting. Once this proposal is approved, the vendor will be notified of the dates for essential

resource mobilization. The schedule is dependent on predecessors, and subtasks can only be

achieved after earlier tasks are performed and delivered. It is noteworthy that tracking and

updating the Gantt chart to inculcate delays and new deadlines for tasks shall be monitored

by the Project Manager.

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Factors Which Influence Project Success

2.1. Work Break Down Structure (WBS)

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) defines the major project elements hierarchically

to support the evaluation of cost, timelines, and project performance. The Organization Break

Down Structure identifies the departments and resources responsible for the said task (Larson

& Gray, 2011). In summary, the XYZ Inc. resources are required for full-time in business

requirement gathering workshops, validating and approving quality deliverables, and full-

time engagement in UAT. The figure below highlights integration of WBS & OBS with both

vendor and XYZ Inc. resources engaged in major task.

Task Corporat Sales & Finance HR

e Marketing
- Kick-off Meeting O-1 O-1 O-1 O-1
- Business Requirement M-1 M-1 M-1 M-1
Gathering (Document) M-2 M-2 M-2 M-2
- Development and delivery
- Data Warehouse N N N N
Development - Back end
- Development - Front end N N N N
- UAT O-1 O-1 O-1 O-1
M-2 M-2 M-2 M-2
- Production Deployment O-2 O-2 O-2 O-2
M = Mandatory O = Optional N = Not Required 1 = Manager 2 = Officer

* IT Coordinators and Project manager from XYZ Inc. shall be present in every meeting and

would be accessible during performance of every task by Vendor resources.

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Factors Which Influence Project Success

Business Intelligence
Implementation

Project Activities

Business Requirement Development and

Kick-off Meeting
Gathering (Document) delivery

Data Warehouse
Development - Back
end

Development - Front
end

UAT Completed

Production
Deployment

Work Break Down Structure (WBS)

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Factors Which Influence Project Success
2.2. Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS)

A. External Vendor Team

Vendor Team

Business
Intelligence
Consultant

Project Manager

Business Analyst

ETL Specialist

Frontend
Developer
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Factors Which Influence Project Success

B. Internal Team

Team

Project
Manager / Team
Lead

IT
Coordinator

Sales & Human

Finance Corporate
Marketing Resources

Marketing Finance Corporate

HR Manager
Manager Manager Manager

Business Business
HR User
Analyst Analyst

Data Analyst
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Factors Which Influence Project Success

3. Four stages of the Project Life Cycle

3.1. Defining Stage

The defining stage of the project required much deliberation. However, it was due

diligence, research, and information gathering that has helped XYZ Inc. define the objectives,

nominate teams, and assign responsibilities effectively. The one unknown element while

defining the project is the uncertainty of human behavior and ownership of tasks exhibited by

both vendor and XYZ Inc. resources. Transforming the way, one works is always resisted.

Some XYZ Inc. resources may not own the initiative, and the same can be said for vendor

resources, deployed full time at XYZ Inc. away from their daily work routines in a foreign

environment. Managers will mitigate this risk and were specifically trained to elaborate their

respective teams the benefits of Business Intelligence and how it will help XYZ Inc. and

advance their careers. Similarly, team integration activities and open communication paired

with friendly environment shall be cultivated to encourage vendor resources to do their best

and own the tasks at hand (Larson & Gray, 2011).

3.2. Planning

The planning effort has been thorough. However, it is the actual journey that teaches a

lesson, not the map. While planning significant risks, schedules, resources, budgets, and

staffing are given thorough consideration. The one major area of concern identified was no

buffer present in the project schedule after completion of one task. This means that if one

resource cannot complete the assigned task due to any reason, the dependent one shall not be

able to start their task. To mitigate this, a buffer was incorporated in the schedule; however,

to keep resources on their toes and follow strict deadlines by both vendors and XYZ Inc.

resources, this buffer is only known to the project manager of XYZ Inc. (Larson & Gray,

2011).
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Factors Which Influence Project Success

3.3. Executing

During project execution, several status reports and meetings shall take place to keep the

project on track. This includes a daily sprint with vendors team members and IT coordinator

along with XYZ Inc.’s Project manager. As this is a new endeavor for XYZ Inc., a weakness

in execution can become an issue. Wrong estimations and judging quality of data as well as

validating technical claims from the vendor can create hurdles in implementation. To manage

this, XYZ Inc., hired an IT coordinator at the start of this project. The said coordinator has

years of experience in the field of business intelligence and has been involved in the delivery

of 20+ BI projects. His valuable advice shall guide the project manager and help negotiate

technical issues with the vendor’s team. Furthermore, during business requirement sessions

all pseudo reports and dashboards shall be approved by business users from departments

(Larson & Gray, 2011).

3.4. Closing

Project closure is composed of project deployment to production servers and

administrative handover, including documentation after UAT approval. A significant

weakness in the closure stage is no scheduled training for the end-user. This was due to

budgetary constraints during the 2019-2020 calendar year. In the absence of training,

business users may find the platform difficult and may stop using it daily. This may result in

going back to spreadsheets and manual reporting. To mitigate this, training sessions are

scheduled for January 2021 with a dedicated budget. Another aspect of not including

trainings in this endeavor is not knowing what level of trainings would be required by end

users and if the current vendor would be suitable to provide such training programs.

Furthermore, the support agreement includes guidance that can be provided to end-users of
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Factors Which Influence Project Success
the platform from vendor resources on a need basis. The vendor has signed a detailed service

level / support agreement with favorable terms for XYZ Inc. (Larson & Gray, 2011).

4. Acceptance Criteria
Mandatory deliverables with acceptance criteria and approving authorities are defined in

the table below;

Key Deliverable Acceptance Criteria Approving Authority

(XYZ Inc.)
Business - Covers 100% Project Scope XYZ Inc.
Requirement - Pseudo Reports & Dashboards Project Manager
Document - Data Dictionary CIO
- KPIs & Thresholds defined
- Workshop Recordings
- Minutes of every Session
- Dashboard theme
- XYZ Inc. Branding Guidelines
- Corporate image requirements
ETL Script - Weekly submission Project Manager
- Daily Scheduler IT Coordinator
ERD Diagram - Complete and Comprehensive Project Manager
- Covering all Departments IT Coordinator
- Covering all data sources
- Highlighting relationships within
department and with external tables
Data Modeling - Highlighting parent child relationships Project Manager
document - Data Dictionary IT Coordinator
- Transformations
Performed
Access Credentials - Details for Production & Development Project Manager
Document Servers IT Coordinator
UAT Document - Load Testing Project Manager
- Functional testing IT Coordinator
- Data Validations Business Users
- Design Approval
- Performance Testing
Deployment Notes - Highlight all deployment information / Project Manager
issues IT Coordinator
Release Notes - Release notes to highlight deployment to Project Manager
production server IT Coordinator
Solution - Overall solution design and architecture Project Manager
Documentation along with approach and guidelines IT Coordinator
- Details about Data Warehouse
User Manual - Complete user manual Project Manager
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Factors Which Influence Project Success
- FAQs section IT Coordinator
- Access and operate guidelines
- Basic Troubleshooting etc.

4.1. Project Evaluation

This proposal and subsequent project plan, along with other elements, are developed after

careful consideration. The evaluation of its effectiveness can be gauged by the successful

delivery of a data warehouse that produces a single version of the truth to decision-makers.

Overall, some aspects can be improved in planning and closure stages. However, certain

contingencies have to be assumed and preparations are made to achieve the outcomes and

timely deliverables.

4.2. Conclusion

A project plan has to be a Live document; one can only plan for so much. However, in

case of delays and other unavoidable circumstances, timelines can be adjusted, and slack can

be utilized. XYZ Inc. is confident that the project will be delivered in the stipulated timelines

within budget and shall deliver the committed benefits to the business user.
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Factors Which Influence Project Success
Reference

Larson, E. W. & Gray, F. C. (2011). Project Management: The Managerial Process, Oregon
State University: McGraw-Hill Irwin.