4. Resourcing
The success of any project is largely determined by the quality and quantity of resource applied to it. In our ‘testing world’ resource is synonymous with people, be they Project Managers, Team Leaders, Performance Specialists or Manual Testers. As each Project comes along there is a joint discussion between Sales, HR and Operations in order to determine the best mix of resource to be applied. As a general rule, existing staff are deployed before resorting to the contract market although some exceptions may occur due to specialist requirements. In addition to this general rule, it is attempted to always secure a project with a permanent employee as the lead person. This is to ensure, as much as possible, that the main client focus is on DeRisk IT and that the expertise remains in house. It is also a consideration when determining project roles – all attempts are made to ensure that employees are given the opportunity to fulfil the most important / interesting roles in preference to contractors. Obviously this cannot happen in all instances as it is sometimes the case that DeRisk IT has to ‘buy in’ specific expertise and in these situations there is no option for staff to perform those roles.
An integral part of the Sales process is the completion of a template that describes the resource requirement in terms of skills required, number of people and duration. It is this document that forms the basis of the discussions on deployment of staff.
Should it be necessary to go out to the contract market, information regarding the maximum cost per day is required to supplement the above template. HR is then tasked with finding the required resource.
5. Delivery
In order to ensure that most projects are executed in a similar manner, DeRisk IT Ltd has a core set of standards to call on. An overview of the whole process is contained in the diagram at the end of this section. The process starts with Project Initiation and terminates with the Close out report. It is left up to the individual Project Manager (PM) as to how much of the process to adopt as all projects are unique and there may be compelling reasons to deviate from the ‘standard approach’. However, should the PM need assistance, all the necessary support is in existence. To access this set of information, simply go to the following location on the DeRisk IT server and click on index.htm. Alternatively, the entire ‘System’ can be found on the Consultant’s laptops.
IntProjects on Commerce/Standard DeRisk IT methodology/diagrams/
It is the responsibility of the Operations Director (OD) to ensure that projects are delivered satisfactorily to time, cost and quality. In most cases there is a full time Project Manager who will report directly to the OD but again, exceptions may occur where the client cannot warrant the expense of a PM in which case special arrangements need to be initiated to track and control the project.
At project start-up it is the responsibility of the Operations department to adequately brief the staff that will be employed on the project. This brief normally covers aspects such as the expectations of the client, working conditions, general hours of work, rules regarding overtime, travel and accommodation arrangements etc. Clearly anything else that needs to be covered should be adequately discussed to ensure that everyone understands the ground rules. It could be at this time that the PM assigns the duties for completion of the regular project documentation.
During the life of any project, invoices will need to be raised. It is often required to assist accounts in the preparation of these invoices in terms of confirmation of the amount of resource consumed. To assist in this task, the PM has the responsibility of ensuring that the Project log (a daily account of events) and the Project Calendar (effectively a staff register) are always up to date.
It is often the case that invoices are not paid on time. Due to the (hopefully) close working relationship that the PM has developed with the client it is possibly best to make use of the resident PM to chase payment. Failing that approach the responsibility lies with the Operations Director or the relevant Salesperson.
In addition to the above documents it is the PM’s responsibility to manage the timely completion of Client Timesheets and their dispatch (usually fax) to head office for reconciliation by mid-day on the Tuesday of each week.
The PM is given the responsibility of the day-to-day management of the on-site team. This effectively means authorizing leave, requesting cover (from HR) for certain staff shortfalls, and possibly the identification of any training requirements.