Strategic Project Management: Statement of Work for Website Redesign

This document presents a Statement of Work (SOW) for the website redevelopment project of Pashendale Holdings Ltd (PHL), an Australian construction company. The SOW outlines the project's scope, including the objective to update the website with new building developments, client testimonials, company news, and industry information. It details project requirements, such as contractor selection, design specifications, testing procedures, implementation, and conversion phases. The document also includes a project timeline with milestones, pricing, and acceptance criteria. The project is divided into phases: planning, definition and design, implementation, and conversion, with specific tasks and timelines assigned to each stage. The total cost is estimated at $265,000. The SOW emphasizes the importance of clear communication, thorough testing, and proper training to ensure the successful completion of the project and the satisfaction of PHL's management.

Statement of Work
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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Project scope..............................................................................................................................3
Project requirements...................................................................................................................5
Selection of a contractor.........................................................................................................5
Design.....................................................................................................................................5
Testing stage...........................................................................................................................6
Implementation phase.............................................................................................................7
Conversion phase.......................................................................................................................7
Schedule, milestones, and pricing..............................................................................................9
Acceptance criteria...................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
Pashendale Holdings Ltd (PHL) is a construction organization that is operating in Australia.
According to the information provided by the chief executive officer, the management of the
organization is considering to update its current website in order to provide more information
to customers. Various changes are expected to be brought in the new website and this report
will be focused on the development of a statement of work specifically for the purpose of this
website redevelopment project (Kerzner, 2019). The official website of any business
organization is one of the most important tools of communication between customers and
business organizations. An effective and efficient official website can help in developing a
two-way communication channel which helps in getting feedback and queries of customers.
Business organizations can easily improve quality products and services with the help of
effective and efficient communication channels.
In the given scenario the new website is expected to provide important information to
customers such as new building developments, client testimonials, recent company news, and
other industry information (Heldman, 2018). The main focus of this project management
activities will be to ensure for development of a friendly website that will help in enhancing
the quality of communication between customers and business management. The
management of PHL does not have any internal information technology development
department. It can be said that the experience and skills available with the management for
the development of the new website are very limited. This is the reason that management of
the organization has contacted the website design contractor for the website redevelopment
project (Qian, 2017). All of the necessary project management activities will be undertaken
by this contractor and final approval will be provided by the chief management officer.
Project scope
Project scope can be defined as the planning element in which a business organization is
required to identify overall objectives, timeline milestones and cost of operation in a
particular project. A different element of scope in case of the website redevelopment project
will be as follows-
Project objective- The primary objective of this project is to complete the website
redevelopment project within the estimated time limit and budget. In addition to that, it is
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also the primary objective of the organization to ensure that the project will provide value
addition to the business operations (Schwalbe, 2015). This project is expected to provide
detailed information about the product and services of the company to customers and it is
estimated that after completion of this project this primary objective will be achieved.
Project timeline- This project will be completed in different phases and it is proposed to start
from 6th September 2018. Different contractors will be evaluated for this project and after
evaluating services and prices charged by these contractors, the final selection will be made
by 27 September 2019. The project will initiate after 1 week of such selection and it is
estimated that all the activities will be completed by 6th December 2019 i.e. within 6 weeks
of initiating the project activities (Heagney, 2016).
Project cost- the most essential aspect of any project management activity is estimating and
following the cost structure decided by the organization. In the given scenario it is estimated
that the overall cost of this project will be $265000. Bifurcation of the cost between different
elements of the project will be as follows.
 Planning $30,000
 Definition and design $145000
 Implementation $60,000
 Conversion $30000 (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016)
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Project requirements
Project requirement is one of the most essential parts of project management as it helps in
defining different type of project activities that are required to be completed in order to
achieve the overall objectives of a project. The following are the requirements of this project
that are divided into different project activities in order to ensure that the project objectives
are achieved at the completion of the project under consideration (Marchewka, 2016).
Selection of a contractor
As it is already mentioned that management of the organization does not have any internal
Information technology department. The development of a website is a very complex process
and it requires specialized skills and experience in this area. There is a lack of experience on
part of PHL on part of website development, therefore management has decided to hire an
external organization that will be undertaking all the project management activities and
providing the final product to PHL. It is very essential that the management of the
organization considered the different factors while selecting a particular website developer.
First and foremost management of the organization is required to identify the experience of a
particular contractor in the field of website development. In addition to the previous clients of
the company can also be contacted for identifying the quality of products and services
provided by the organization. At last, the price to be charged by every contractor is required
to be compared with the type of quality that they are providing (Turner, 2016). The selection
of a particular contractor should be based on the effective and efficient balance between the
elements of price and quality.
Design
Designing the website can be a very complicated process if the requirements of the client are
not identifiable. Therefore the primary focus of the website developer in this scenario should
be on analysing the needs and requirements of PHL. Following are the individual tasks that
will be helpful in providing an effective and efficient design to the website redevelopment
project-
Requirement analysis- First of all website developer is required to conduct interviews with
different departments of the organization. This will help in understanding the needs and
requirements of the individual department with respect to the official website. In addition to
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the act to separate interview should be conducted with the chief executive officer about the
vision of the website.
Gathering information- As it is provided by the chief executive officer that the new website
will be rich in content and provide two different information about the business organization
to their clients such as client testimonials, recent company news, building development,
industry information, etc. For this purpose it is will be very essential for Website developers
together all the necessary information from the organization.
Page layout- the Basic layout of the website is required to be prepared by the website
developer in order to get approval from the business PHL (Burke, 2013). Design is not
required to be displayed with the help of the actual website. Page layout can be developed on
any software and it is not essential that elements of the website are operational.
Getting the final approval- After providing the place layout, the developer is required to get
approval from the chief executive officer.
Testing stage
Coding- All the coding is required to be completed by website developer during the initial
stage of the testing stage in order to ensure that they are able to provide a prototype to PHL
before initiating the testing stage.
Development of a prototype- In this stage website developer is required to provide a
prototype to PHL (Leach, 2014). It is not essential that each and every element of this
prototype is required to be operational. This will help in providing understanding to the
management of the company on whether the website developer has been able to understand
the needs and requirements of the website or not.
Testing plan- the Testing plan is required to be provided by the website developer to the
management of the company. In addition to the provided testing plan, additions can be made
by PHL for their own satisfaction.
Approval of prototype- At the end of this stage management is required to provide approval
sign off to the prototype provided to them. This sign will be provided after conducting all the
tests and ensuring that the needs and requirements are converted into the actual website by
the website developer (Gido, Clements and Clements, 2014).
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Implementation phase
This will be the most important stage as it involves the actual implementation of the website
under consideration.
Implementation of the new website- First and foremost website developer is required to
implement the newly designed website on the servers of the organization. The primary focus
of the website developer should be that this website should be operational 24/7. This website
should be in accordance with the final approval provided by the organization.
Inspection by PHL- PHL is required to inspect the specification provided on the newly design
website. The organization is required to ensure that all the requirements approved in the
previous stage are included in the final website.
Training and development- As it is already identified that there is a lack of experience with
respect to information technology (Sage and Rouse, 2014). It can be said that there is a
probability that all the employees will not be able to operate the back end of the newly
designed website. For this purpose, it is essential that proper training and development
programs are initiated by the website developer.
Conversion phase
In this phase, business organizations will take the final step to move from the old website to
the newly designed website. This is a final stage in the website redevelopment project.
Conversion phase will require the following project activities to be completed-
Documentation- All the documents prepared by website developers during the
implementation and other faces are required to be transferred to the management of PHL.
These documents will help in the effective repair and maintenance of the newly designed
website.
Evaluating requirement checklist- Website developer is required to ensure that all the project
activities that were identified at the initial stages of planning are completed. This will help in
ensuring that the final project is in accordance with the expectation of PHL (Too and Weaver,
2014).
Final approval- At last final approval will be taken by the website developer from the chief
executive officer of the organization. This is one of the most important stages as it helps in
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ensuring that the contract has been concluded. It is important for PHL to ensure that all the
needs as a website developer will not be responsible for providing any other additional
services after final approval is provided.
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Schedule, milestones, and pricing
As it is already defined that this project has been divided into different activities in order to
ensure timely completion of the project. Milestones can be defined as the sub-activities that
are required to be completed within a particular project activity. In addition to that element of
time has also been attached to each of the activities in order to ensure regular progress
evaluation of the project (Leach, 2014). The following statement will help in understanding
the project milestones and project timeline-
Milestones
Initiation
date
Closing
date
Duratio
n
Selection of a contractor 06-09-2019 27-09-2019 22
Design 04-10-2019 18-10-2019 15
Requirement analysis 04-10-2019 11-10-2019 8
Gathering information 12-10-2019 15-10-2019 4
Page layout 16-10-2019 16-10-2019 1
Getting the final approval 17-10-2019 17-10-2019 1
Testing stage 19-10-2019 24-10-2019 6
Development of a prototype 19-10-2019 21-10-2019 3
Testing plan 22-10-2019 23-10-2019 2
Approval of prototype 24-10-2019 24-10-2019 1
Implementation phase 25-10-2019 21-11-2019 28
Implementation of the new website 25-10-2019 08-11-2019 15
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Inspection by PHL 09-11-2019 13-11-2019 5
Training and development 14-11-2019 21-11-2019 8
Conversion phase 22-11-2019 15-12-2019 24
Documentation 22-11-2019 02-12-2019 11
Evaluating requirement checklist 03-12-2019 07-12-2019 5
Final approval 08-12-2019 15-12-2019 8
Pricing of the budget- the total cost of operation in this project is estimated to be $265000.
The element of the cost associated with each of project stage is as follows-
 Planning $30,000
 Definition and design $145000
 Implementation $60,000
 Conversion $30000
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Acceptance criteria
If a particular organization is taking services from the outside organization with respect to the
development of any project then one of the most important aspects of project management is
deciding the acceptance criteria. Acceptance criteria are required to be developed by an
organization and it should be communicated to the external organization from which services
are being taken (Kerzner, 2017). These acceptance criteria are required to be included in the
terms and conditions of the contract.
In the case of the website redevelopment project, final acceptance is required to be provided
by CMO. The website developer is required to prepare a project closure report and present it
to CMO at the completion of the project. This closure report is required to include a project
checklist that was provided by the management of PHL at the starting of the project. All the
activities that are completed by the website developer are required to be check in this
checklist and this checklist will be examined by the CMO. Final approval will be provided by
CMO if all the tasks are actually completed otherwise website developer will be advised to
complete the remaining tasks (Meredith, Mantel Jr. and Shafer, 2017). Final approval will
provide assurance to website developer that all the task has been completed and all the
stakeholders are satisfied.
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References
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Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
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Gido, J., Clements, J. and Clements, J., 2014. Successful project management. Nelson
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Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.
Heldman, K., 2018. PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley &
Sons.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H., 2019. Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for
project management. Wiley.
Leach, L.P., 2014. Critical chain project management. Artech House.
Marchewka, J.T., 2016. Information technology project management: Providing measurable
organizational value. John Wiley & Sons.
Meredith, J.R., Mantel Jr, S.J. and Shafer, S.M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Qian, J., 2017. A Study on Project Management in College Website Translation.
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Sage, A.P. and Rouse, W.B., 2014. Handbook of systems engineering and management. John
Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Too, E.G. and Weaver, P., 2014. The management of project management: A conceptual
framework for project governance. International Journal of Project Management, 32(8),
pp.1382-1394.
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