PM610 – 1504B – 01 Scenario Your company, IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises

QUESTION

PM610 – 1504B – 01 ScenarioYour company, IRTC Manufacturing Enterprises, is upgrading its legacy billingsystem. The system was installed originally ten years ago, and has beenupgraded according to the vendor’s schedule, each one taking 9-12 weeks induration with a team of 2 full time employees (FTE’s).IRTC will be doing a major upgrade for the new web-based version of thesystem, in addition to the mainframe legacy system update. It is anticipatedthat this upgrade will take 16-20 weeks in duration; however, everyone hasagreed that a more formal scheduling process should be completed whichmay change the duration estimate. The project will involve significantchanges to existing business processes, changes to existing jobs, as well asthe creation of several new positions. Customers will be able to view and paytheir bills on-line, accessing a billing customer service agent when needed.This change, which will affect both the billing and customer servicedepartments, is expected to reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction,and reduce the number of days for outstanding accounts receivable. Theexisting customer service staff has some proficiency with web applications,but the billing staff does not.To date, the Billing Department has owned the applications, and the directorof the department has been the sponsor for all upgrade projects. For thisupgrade, however, the chief operations officer has indicated that theCustomer Service Department also needs to play a major role. It will be up toyou to determine the project sponsor and steering committee structure andparticipants. You will do this during the initiation phase.You have been chosen to be the project manager; you will be on the project30 hours a week and your rate is $125 per hour. You have significantexperience with the system and have managed previous upgrade projects.You have acted as a business analyst, developer, and tester for projects onthis package in the past. You will select your team, which will consist ofseveral IT staff, supplemented by staff from the vendor. You have been toldyou can have up to 2.5 IRTC FTEs, in addition to yourself, for the duration ofthe project. (The list of available people is described in the Phase Two task.)The vendor’s role is to be determined by you; their consultants cost $140 anhour for business analysts, $120 an hour for technical architects, $100 anhour for programmers or testers, and $90 an hour for instructional designers,trainers, or technical writers. You have a budget of $100,000 for vendorresources. You may supplement your team with vendors based on the holesin your IRTC team. For example, you may choose to have the vendor provideprogrammers if you choose not to have any of the internal staff provideprogramming resources, if your budget permits.You will follow your organization’s standard methodology for a packageupgrade. Part of that process includes the development and delivery ofdocumentation and training materials–a responsibility generally filled by theIRTC IT training group. You have access to .5 FTE for the duration of theproject to develop and deliver the materials. The person with the mostexperience on the package and current training/documentation will beunavailable to the project due to other projects; however, the vendor hasadequate materials that can be purchased for an additional $6,500. You willneed to determine the training needs, analyze the costs associated with eachoption, and determine the project’s scope.With this version, the vendor also has another software add-on that supportsthe integration of your existing customer service system with the billingsystem’s customer service functions. There is not a decision yet as to whichcustomer service system will be used, whether or not they will be integrated,and the extent to which customer databases will be integrated (if at all).According to the vendor, the installation of the add-on will cost $25,000 andtake an additional four weeks.

ANSWER:

REQUEST HELP FROM A TUTOR