Executive Summary
The report at hand is aimed at providing a review of the major events in the process. It is critical that the client is informed on the sequent of events in order to evaluate the process progress and indicate its current status. The report provides a detailed description of the tasks accomplished as well as points out potential milestones.
Project Overview
The key aim of the project resides in improving the communication of the networks in the corporate building in order to ensure that remote offices are consistently interconnected. The targeted result is that 500 employees meet no difficulties in providing service to customers and communicating within the establishment.
Milestone Review
In order to evaluate the project’s progress. It is essential to get an idea of its general life cycle. The principal life cycles of a project distinguished in Traditional Project Management are scoping, planning, launching, monitoring, and closing (Wysocki, 2013). Meanwhile, in the framework of the relevant project, one will apply a broader six-phase model that is widely used for the evaluation of technology projects (Archibald, 2003). Thus, according to this model, the life cycle of the project might be represented as follows:
The yellow color indicates the accomplished tasks; the red color shows the milestones that are in progress; while the white signifies that the stage is not completed yet. Therefore, one might see that the project has approached the half-way point, and is currently on the executive stage. A more detailed description of the milestones’ accomplishment is represented below.
Project Starting
The project was worked out in response to the demand for a better interconnection between the corporate offices. Thus, the problem statement was the first milestone in the process. As long as the flaw in the system was indicated, the project acquired its current framework. The timeline of the relevant stage is minimal as it did not imply any practical tasks but served as the project’s background.
Project Organizing and Planning
The relevant stage was one of the most challenging as it included a series of tasks. Thus, the project’s organization and planning included indicating the weaknesses of the current networks, targeting the essential software, monitoring the market and selecting the relevant suppliers, assessing risks and drawing the general strategy of the project’s implementation. As it is seen from the pivot table above, the stage is marked as completed.
In the meantime, it is necessary to note that its completion required a longer period than the initial plan implied. Thus, the milestone was passed within two months contrary to the presumed one and a half months. The impediment was determined by the necessity to assure secure data transposition – it was essential to work out a reliable strategy that would eliminate the risks of losing or damaging corporate information while it is transposed from the old software to the new system.
Project Execution
As it might be seen from the pivot table above, the project execution is currently in progress. In order to understand the complexity of this milestone, it is necessary to overview the tasks it implies.
The procurement, ordering, and delivery stages were successfully completed before the targeted deadline. The installation of the software is also accomplished. Moreover, the staff has already received the necessary training and is able to operate the new systems. The task that is in progress is testing the new networks. The principal challenge, in this framework, is that the software cannot be examined during the working shift thereupon specialists have to work at night time.
In order to perform the relevant testing, it is necessary to collect the data on the quality of the new network’s performance, carry out the comparative analysis with the results of the previous software, indicate current errors, if any, and generate the relevant evaluative report. The completion of this stage will require three months roughly.
Project Close-Out
The project closure will be possible as soon the implementation of the plan is complete, and the intervention reaches its initial aim. This milestone implies the presence of particular prerequisites: the quality of the delivery passed the test and received the relevant approval, the implemented strategy does not require any alterations, and, most importantly, the targeted goal is achieved (Roberts, 2011) therefore, as long as all the conditions are present, the milestone will be passed with a closure meeting. Taking into account the preparatory tasks, the stage completion might take from one to three weeks.
Post-Project Evaluation
The relevant milestone is additional though it is highly recommended that it is not neglected. At this stage, it is necessary to carry out an iterated testing of the networks’ performance as well as to collect feedback from the staff and customers. This process will assist in identifying the flaws in the initial plan and avoiding risks in the implementation of similar projects.
Reference List
Archibald, R.D. (2003). Managing High-Technology Programs and Projects. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley & Sons. Web.
Roberts, P. (2011). Effective Project Management: Identify and Manage Risks Plan and Budget Keep Projects Under Control. New Delhi, India: Kogan Page Publishers. Web.
Wysocki, R.K. (2013). Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley & Sons. Web.