Imagine you are the project manager leading a major human resource system implementation. The project is now well underway, and it is about 50% done. Project progress has been largely smooth, even though there were issues and risks that materialized. But you are concerned as you heard that some rough days are ahead.
1. You just came out of a meeting with the project’s sponsor, VP of HR, and he asked you to consider a significant change to the deployment plan. The original project plan, which was agreed by everyone involved, was to maintain both the new and the old system and concurrently operate it for a short period. This way, should there be problems with the new system, the legacy system is still operating. By having both systems running, it can also help with reconciliation of data. While it was painful and expensive to run both systems, it was less risky. However, the economy is trending downward, and the company wanted to save money. The CEO of the company just asked the VP of HR to consider running a single system without any overlap.
Your brain is racing… What are some pros and cons of concurrent operation (running both systems simultaneously) versus launching the new system without the backup of the legacy system. Identify three ideas and provide explanation.
2. From a project management process perspective, what should you do next?
3. Amy, who is quality assurance lead, heard the news and had an urgent meeting with you. Based on her latest analysis, she believes the quality assurance activities, specifically testing, is far more intense if the decision is to shutdown the legacy system immediately. Her original quality assurance plan permitted some level of errors. But given the single system, many of those errors can no longer be tolerated. How would you manage this situation? Provide sufficient details.
4. You recommended to the VP of HR to continue the current plan of concurrent operations, and your justifications are thorough. The VP is not happy with the recommendation because he agreed that the concurrent operations are expensive, plus, he thought there could be other ways to balance risks. Thus, the VP pushed back and asked you to think out of the box and come up with a recommendation that at least meet the executive requests half way. Now back to the drawing board. What are some ways you should consider that can save money and balance risks?
5. The project has been challenging, but you are glad that you have taken the MGMT565 and MGMT576 courses. Discuss two of the best practices in project management?
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