Tech

I tend to get myself in a twist when delivering work to clients, since timely delivery and profit are important in the greater scheme of things I have taken the time to draw up a little project management template. I present it here to you, use at own risk, but hopefully it is useful to you.

This is a guideline that is to be used with the delivery of any large product such as a network or new server.

1. Request for work from client.
   Most new work will be per request from a client.

2. Meet with Clients and site inspection.
   In the case of a new network or expansion a site inspection will be needed. This can either be combined with a meeting with the client or can be done separately after a meeting to discuss the needs of the client has been held. In the case of commissioning a new server a site inspection might not be needed but a more in-depth meeting to discuss what exactly the server must do will be needed.

3. Note who the key role-players will be.
   In some cases we will be installing a network to support work done by another company – like for-instance a telephone company will need a network for VOIP telephones. Note that other role-players will have expectations as to when work will be done, and they will need to plan their installation timeframes according to an agreed schedule.

4. Draw up a Network Diagram/Identify Software and Hardware combination and needs.
   It is important to visualise the work to be done. In the case of a network a diagram needs to be drawn up. In the case of a new server it might be good to build a virtual machine with the software involved to identify any compatibility issues.

5. Meet with Project Team and identify all time spans and work to be done.
   It is important to have all the key role-players together at this meeting to make sure the time-frames involved are taken note of and that work schedules for individuals or smaller sub-groups within the team are planned accordingly. This is also a good time to flesh out the work to be done and to make sure nothing is missed in the planning phase.

6. Draw up Project Plan.
   The project plan should already be relatively well fleshed out by this time. By drawing up the project plan you will now set the project in stone and no deviations from the plan should take place from here. It is a good idea to meet with the team again after this is done to make sure everybody takes note of the final project plan and that any changes or adaptations to be made is done now.

7. Costing of work and time schedule.
   It is important to get all quotes from suppliers for hardware by this stage. It is left as late as possible to ensure as small as possible window for prices to fluctuate in the period between delivery of quote and signing thereof. The time schedule might be adapted here depending on availability of stock from suppliers. This should be the only factor that influences changes in the project plan. Here you will also allocate specific staff to do work on certain stages of the project, technicians etc, and your quote will need to be inclusive of not only stock prices but also labour done per hour.

8. Delivery of quotation, possible meeting with client to discuss.
   The finalised quotation, along with a work projection can now be delivered to the client. The client might want to meet to discuss the work to be done, and to make any changes to the quotation. If the client has identified any new needs or additional work steps 4, 5, 6, and 7 might need to be re-done to accommodate these.

9. Client signs quotation.
   Signing of the quotation is tantamount to an acceptance of the project schedule as presented in step 8 to the client. It must be made clear to the client that any major changes from here on are discouraged. Acceptance of major changes from here on lets the project run risk of derailing and running over time/budget. In the end the project might fail completely.

10. Invoicing and Payment of deposit.
    IMPORTANT: No stock will be ordered, work be done or any other commitment made to the client until a deposit is received. The project will start officially the moment the deposit is received. Should there be a delay with the reception of the deposit the project timeframes should not be compressed in order to meet a pre agreed deadline. This will cause unnecessary conflict of interest and strain within the project team as individual work schedules will now conflict. The client must be notified that the project will be delayed accordingly.

11. Buy Equipment Needed
    As soon as deposit is received equipment can be bought. Assurances of stock availability and delivery timeframes will have been received from the supplier beforehand, and must not delay the project now. It is very important that the critical path of a project not include the ordering and delivery of stock if at all possible. This will ensure that if there are any delays in delivery of stock the project will not be caused to finish after an agreed deadline. This is almost never possible though since any work done is usually dependant on stock availability. One way of mitigating this might be to keep some stock on hand (like network cabling) and to ensure stock availability from more than one supplier.

12. Collect Equipment/Have it delivered.
    This ties in with 11, above. Where at all possible arrange for stock collection. This will ensure that you stay in control of the delivery times of stock as much as possible. Where collection is not possible, or impractical, make sure to factor in extra time in your project plan to mitigate any possible delays that might result from problems at the supplier.

13. Test equipment where possible.
    Items such as routers, switches and other installable hardware should be tested at the office before the time arrives for their installation. In the case of an expensive server this might cause a problem as there are certain guidelines by which supplier’s honour warranties. In the case a supplier honours a 7day swop out policy; make sure all the hardware, including servers and PC’s are tested and faulty items returned to suppliers for swop out within this period. Build time into your project plan for testing and possible equipment failure.

14. Installation and actual doing of work.
    This is a critical phase in the project plan. Technicians on site are often under pressure to do extra work or favours for the client while they are on site. This might include work that should have been a legitimate part of the project plan, but have never been communicated by the client. Keep a channel open for your on site staff to communicate any issues back to the project manager. Note any major upsets to the flow of the project and communicate any possible delays to work completion to the relevant role-players.

15. Testing of Product after completion of work.
    In the case of a network, it must be ensured to work properly before handing over to the next role-player or to the client. Any other hardware such as a server must be tested and ensured to work to the clients’ specifications before handing over to the client.

16. Handing over of product to other role-players.
    Often a project is only part of a larger project. In the case of a network installation another company might make use of your work to complete theirs like a VOIP installation. It is good to have someone handy during the initial phase to assist the next role-player with the hand-over and to make any minor changes to smooth their work.

17. Completion Certificate.
    After you are satisfied that your work is done you will need to draw up a completion certificate for the client. This should include a break-down of what has been paid, and also what still needs to be paid. It is also important to highlight any extra work that has been done to make sure that there is no uncertainty as to what needs to be still paid.

18. Final Invoice
    After delivery of the completion certificate a final invoice is handed over to the client. This is usually done after the completion certificate because there might be some uncertainty that has been cleared up by a meeting with the client to discuss the completion of work.

19. Payment by Client.
    It is important that payment of the invoice is not delayed at all. Ideally the deposit should have covered all the hardware costs before they are ordered.

20. Commissioning of product for client use. Any after sales support needed.
    This is basically a formality. Normally by this time the product is already in use by the client at this time. This is an opportunity though to handle any questions or complaints the client might have, and to schedule any after sales assistance needed by the client. Ideally this should not be necessary.

And there you have it. It should be quite self explanatory, any suggestions for alterations will be welcome.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 11:05 am and is filed under How To.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.