Project Management: Develop CRM Software For A Business Enterprise

Project background

ABC Company is an IT Organization that provides software solutions to business enterprises. The company has taken up a project for the development of a CRM application for a client  (Dinsmore & Brewin, 2010). The company would be producing get basic license of a CRM platform and then would have the customized modules developed over that to develop the CRM software (BENAIJA1 & KJIRI, 2013).

In this project, a Customer Relationship Software would be developed. The development would need procurement of hardware and the software platform which would be achieved from the vendors (GALWAY, 2004). The application development would involve development of CRM modules, user interfaces, database , and content. The interfaces would be designed as per the user needs including administrative interface, end user interface, and customer interface. The project would use PMBOK guidelines that defines five key stages including project initiation, planning, designing, implementation, and project closure (Cliff COnsulting, 2007).

The project would begin with the procurement of the license of a development platform and the necessary hardware from vendors including server and networking equipment’s. Once the platform has been procured, the CRM modules would be developed along with the separate interfaces for administrative, internal and external users. This plan includes the details of how different areas of project management would be managed including the budget, schedule, scope, risk and resources.  The implementation would involve development of modules, user interfaces, integration, and testing (C.R & Thomas, 2011).  The project would be developed at the cost of $2,00,000 and the software would be developed in 6 months that would include designing, development, and testing of the software. The activities that would be executed on the project have been detailed in the WBS prepared in this project planning document  (Leroy, 2012).

Project Selection: Project selection involves examining of the needs of an organization based on which project is decided. This project was decided considering the need of the company to connect with its customers, create a database, analyse customer data and build plans for customer engagement (Leroy, 2012).

Project Description: The project involves development of CRM modules with user interfaces for administrator, internal user, and external users. The development would take 6 months and the budget allotted with $200,000. The developed software would be tested and bugs would be corrected before the final delivery of the software to the client. The project makes use of PMBOK guidelines for development involving initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and project closure  (Ayyalaraju, 2017).

Problem Statement: The company needs to develop software that can integrate its services, customer database, sales, and marketing (Liu, 2013).

Project Goals: The key goals of the project include CRM software development including all needed functionalities, features and interfaces for organizational requirements, testing of developed software to ensure that all stakeholder needs are taken care of  (AG, 2013).

Project Team: Key team members of the project include project manager, project sponsor, software developer, IT manager, UI/UX developer, and graphic designer  (Mushtaq, 2016).

The deliverables of the software development project are:

• CRM development platform
• Procurement of hardware including networking equipment’s and server
• Development of CRM modules
• Delivery of customized codes for CRM modules(Langley, 2015)
• Software testing to identify bugs and elimination of those found (Dinsmore & Brewin, 2010)

The project has been allotted a budget of $2,00,000 which would cover all the stages of project development. It would be released stage wise as and when it would needed (SAEO, 2015).

Project Selection

The scope of the project involves development, testing and delivery of CRM software for the client requirement. The project would be executed in five stages as per the PMBOK guide including initiation, planning, designing, implementation and closure. In the first phase, project charter would be prepared and got approved with specific budget. The requirements for the software development would also be gathered from the client organization user representatives who would be giving away information on the functionalities and features needed for the CRM software (Heerkens, 2015). Based on the project requirements gathered, plans would be prepared for the development of the software (Dinsmore & Brewin, 2010).

The objectives of the project include:

• Development and testing of CRM software within 6 months at the budget of $2,00,000
• Ensuring that the CRM software has all needed functionalities, features and interfaces for organizational requirements

Activities that would be in the scope of the software development project include:

• Procurement of hardware including networking equipment’s and server
• Development of CRM modules as per the requirements of the client
• Development of interfaces for internal end users, external users and administrators
• Designing, development, and testing of the software(Ayyalaraju, 2017)
• Testing of the software and elimination of the bugs identified(Cliff COnsulting, 2007)

The activities that are not in the scope of the project include:

• Training the users on CRM modules
• Installation of website in the client premises(Ayyalaraju, 2017)

Risk management begins with identification of potential risks that could be faced on a project and is followed by an analysis and then the development of a response plan. The responses to risks can be avoidance, mitigation of the impacts, transfer or acceptance based on the level of severity that a risk present. This severity is determined by the probability of occurrence and the impact of risk on the project. Risk responses for resolution are prioritized based on the severity  (Oracle, 2009).

A risk register is prepared recording the identifies risks and the mitigation plan is also recorded.  Any risks that are occurring and resolved are later updated in the same register as the project progresses. This would help the project manager keep a tab on how risks on the project are managed (GALWAY, 2004).

Risk	Impact	Probability	Ranking	Response	Responsibility
Cost overrun (Wickboldt, 2011)	Medium	High (Ponnappa, 2014)	6	Mitigate:  monitor the project activities and keep the costs on check. If the costs exceed the budget then action to be taken to mitigate the impact of cost fluctuations so that the final project can be delivered within budget (Wickboldt, 2011).	Project Manager
delivery delays	High	Medium	6	Mitigate: Track the progress of the project over time and avoid any delays. In case delays still occur on parts of the project, corrective actions would be taken to ensure that delays do not affect the final project delivery (Oracle, 2009)	Developer
Coding errors	High	Medium	6	Mitigate: Perform tests to identify if there are any bugs and take corrective actions to eliminate them before the launch of the software  (Devi & Reddy, 2012)	Developer
Scope Creep	High	Low (SAEO, 2015)		Mitigate:  Control the activities of the project and ensure that only those within the defined scope are carried out and those not in the scope are avoided (OECD, 2014)	Project Manager
Conflicts in communication (Liu, 2013)	Medium	Medium	4	Avoid: Align project team to follow the objectives of the research and ensure that communication is effective	Project Manager

A RACI Chart can be used to identify the project roles and responsibilities such that it can be ensured that the people who are made responsible for certain tasks are also made accountable to ensure smooth execution of the project (EU, 2005).

Project Tasks	Project Sponsor	Project Manager	Software Developer	IT Manager	UI/UX developer	Graphic Designer
Planning	CI	RAC	CI	CI	CI	CI
Scheduling	A	RAC	CI	CI	CI	CI
Budgeting	A	RAC	I	CI	I	I
Interface development	A	RAC	I	I	I	I
Coding	CI	RAC (OECD, 2014)	R	RA (Mushtaq, 2016)	RAC	RAC
Installation	I	CI	RAC	RAC	I	I
Coding	I	CI	RAC	RACI	I	I
Testing	I	CI	RAC	RAC	I	I
Risk Management	CI	RAC	CI	CI	I	I
Team Management	CI	RAC	CI	CI	I	I
Time Management	CI	RAC	CI	CI	I	I
Project Closure	RA (Oracle, 2009)	RAC	I	I	I	I (Langley, 2015)

Stakeholder engagement is planned according to the stakeholder level of interest and power.

Stakeholder	Influence	Interest	Engagement approach	Engagement tool	Frequency of communication
Project Sponsor	high	high	Keep the sponsor updated with the project progress	Reporting through Email Meeting	Initiation stage
Developer	Moderate	High	Continuous communication while project progresses	Email reporting	Weekly
Designer	Moderate	Moderate	Continuous communication while project progresses	Email reporting	Weekly
IT manager	Low	Moderate	While setting up systems or when there is an IT issue	Meeting	Initiation stage
Tester	Moderate	Moderate	At the testing phase	Meeting Reporting	Testing
Client	High	High	Project progress update	Email Reporting	As per milestone

Communication would happen within the team and with the outside stakeholders of the project. Throughout the project, there would be specific needs for communication and there would be specific people within the company that would be involved in triggering the communication. A communication matrix can be used to summarize the needs for communication and the types of communication along with the people who would be involved on the project.

Information	Sender	Receiver	Frequency	Method
Progress reporting	Project team member	Project Manager	Weekly	Email Face to face meeting
Funds requirement	Project manager	Project Sponsor	As per milestone	Meeting Reporting
Team work discussions	Project Manager	Project team	Weekly	Face to face meeting
Design document	Designer	Project Manager	At the end of the designing phase	Face to Face meeting Email
Software code	Developer	Project Manger	AS per milestone	Email Meeting
Test reports	Test users	Project manager	During testing phase	Email
Conflicts	Project team members	Project Manager	As an when they occur	Call Face to face meeting

The CRM software that would be developed in the project would have the following modules:

Marketing: This module would have features like calendar, reporting, market analysis, and customer account information.

Information System: This would be the database containing details of company, contacts, transactions, events, queries and customer profiles

Sales: This module would have systems for customer enquiry, distribution, sales, order processing, taxation, and complaint management

Order Management: Order fulfilment module would take care of deliveries, distribution, scheduling, planning, and acknowledgement.

Scope creep happens when the activities increases beyond the original scope. It can lead to delays and increase in cost and thus, have to be prevented or managed. Here are a few ways, scope creep can be managed:

• Every activity defined the scope would be followed but a close monitoring would be done on those activities to ensure that no activity beyond the defined scope is executed.
• The vision of the client behind the development of the CRM software would be made clear and project would progress towards its fulfillment
• Project requirements would be understood from the stakeholders so that all their needs are taken care of
• Scope change would be managed using a proper process of change request submission and then assessment of the same based on which a decision would be taken whether to approve the change or not

Project Description

Customers of the project would be the end users in the client organization and the key stakeholders and the project may face certain issues that would be managed in following ways:

Dissatisfaction: The customer may be dissatisfied with the features of the software which can be avoided by involving them in the requirement gathering stage

Customer communication problems: There be problems communicating during the project with the client that can be minimized with the use of proper defined procedures.

The project would be marked as completed once all the deliverables have been completed. The project manager would take a review of the project completion and document everything about the project status including the lessons learned. This review would be given to the project owner who would be approving it to mark its completion (Sabyasachi, 2018).

The lessons learnt would be recorded at the time of the project closure. The project manager would continue to meet the team every month to record the top lessons learned in that month and the same would be recorded in the register. Lessons would be recorded in summary points as the case. The lessons would be distributed to the entire project team (White & Cohan, 2000).

Conclusions

The project plan was developed for the CRM application. The application would be developed using an acquired platform and it would be connected to the company’s CRM database that would be on the server for which hardware would be needed. The application development would be carried out in five phases as defined in the PMBOK guide including initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure. A number different tools were used to present the plan for the development including RACI, Stakeholder Matrix, Risk Register, WBS, and Gantt Chart. The development would take 6 months and the budget allotted $2,00,000. Certain risks were identified and the response plan was developed including cost overrun, project delays, conflicts in communication, and more.

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