University Project: Business Project and Programme Management for SB

This consultancy report analyzes SB's strategic program, focusing on developing a software centre of excellence and acquiring WN. The report details the business case, programme scope, deliverables, estimating and scheduling, risk and issue management, stakeholder details, and contracting considerations. It identifies key issues like project implementation within two years, cost-effectiveness, communication challenges during acquisition, and stakeholder management. The report outlines a two-year project schedule with milestones, Gantt chart, and potential scheduling risks. It also provides an overview of the project's inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impact, emphasizing the importance of effective project management for successful strategic change implementation. Finally, the report discusses the major deliverables for the acquisition and software excellence projects.

Running head: BUSINESS PROJECT AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT
Business Project and Programme Management: Part A-Consultancy Report
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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BUSINESS PROJECT AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
1. Business Case..................................................................................................................2
2. Programme Scope and Deliverables................................................................................4
3. Estimating and Scheduling..............................................................................................6
4. Risk and Issue Management..........................................................................................11
5. Programme Management Organization and Stakeholders............................................14
6. Programme Control.......................................................................................................16
7. Contracting....................................................................................................................17
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................18
References..........................................................................................................................20

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Part A-Consultancy Report: SB sets out its Strategic Vision
Introduction
The report aims in developing a consultancy report for SB detailing a business case,
programme scope and deliverables, risk and issue management, details about stakeholders and
contracting details. SB is a global technology company that is located in Washington USA. The
company deals with the development and manufacturing of a wide variety of computer hardware
components. In order to expand its business, SB has expanded its operations mainly through
acquisition and internal growth (Carnall 2018). The strategic change in this project is driven by
expertise in the field of software development. The report will be evaluating the key issues that
can be faced as a result of strategic change. The report will be discussing the risk and the issues
that the programme might face and will provide solutions to the risk. The report will further be
evaluating the contracting issues that that programme might face in order to ensure that the
changes are implemented according to the plan.
1. Business Case
One of the most important elements for the strategic programme is the development of
the software centre of excellence. It is one of the key aspects of the programme and the vision of
SB is to deliver a totally integrated quality technology for involving high end hardware
components and software solutions. The strategic objective of SB behind development of the
Software Centre of Excellence is to consolidate all the expertise of the company in a single
location. The project will involve building design, financing and construction.
Another major aspect of the strategic programme by SB is the acquisition of WN. Proper
acquisition of WN is needed as SB has generally expanded its operations through acquisitions

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and internal growth. Apart from that, the company plans to implement a new product
development process which will help the company to expertise in software development. Apart
from that the programme includes implementation of certain changes in an effective manner.
However, it is essential to evaluate the key issues associated with this programme. One of
the major issues associated with this strategic program by SB is to implement the project within
two years. Another key issue that is needed to be considered in this programme of strategic
change includes implementation of the project in a cost effective manner.
Since acquisition of WN is one major aspect of the project, the key issues associated with
the acquisition project is needed to be identified. One of the hard issues associated with
acquisition project is communicating the challenges. For example, in the year 2010,
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has conducted a survey on companies that had completed
merger and acquisition. It has been found out that the communication challenges proved to be the
top factors behind the companies to fail in project implementation (Herrmann and Nadkarni
2014). Another similar issue that is associated with the acquisition project is retention of the
employees before and after acquisition.
The soft issues associated with acquisition project include cultural challenges. Merger
and acquisition comes with cultural implication that is often hard to manage. These are the key
issues associated with the strategic programme of SB and it needs effective management.
The most significant issues associated with this project are related to the manufacturing
location business case. Retaining the cost advantages from outsourcing is one of the most
significant issues. Stakeholder management is an important issue associated in outsourcing
method that SB will be following.

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2. Programme Scope and Deliverables
The implementation of this program is advantageous for SB since the company is
planning an acquisition project. The strategic change will involve acquisition of WN and will
further involve the implementation of software centre. One of the main deliverable of the project
is to develop software excellence centre for developing software solutions for the customer. The
project is needed to be implemented within the next 2 years (Herrmann and Nadkarni 2014). The
project is complex and therefore the timescale estimated for the project is justified. SB
recognizes the need for improving business and programme. The identified in- scope of the
project is as follows-
 To implement the strategic acquisition project by SB
 To develop software excellence centre for developing software solutions for the
customer
 To implement the project within the next two years
 To improve the existing business strategies
 To ensure delivery of integrated quality technology and hardware solutions to the
clients.
The major deliverables of the acquisition Project are as follows-
1. Development of the Project Plan
2. Planning the Acquisition
3. Analysis of the Risks in Acquisition
3. Acquisition of WN

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The major deliverables of the development of Software Excellence Project are as follows-
1. Development of an implementation plan for managing and implementing the software
development centre
2. Setting up of Project Plan for development of software excellence centre
3. Implementation of software development centre of excellence
4. Project Evaluation
These are the most important deliverables of the project. The entire project will be
implemented in a time-span of two years (Burke 2013). The project is complex and large. Apart
from the above mentioned main deliverables, the project has certain major sub deliverables as
well. The project is subjected to certain risks and issues which will be discussed in the following
sections.
The input, output, outcome and impact of this project is represented in the following
table-
Input Output Outcome Impact
Development of Project
Plan for Acquisition
The Project Plan is
developed according to
the requirements
The project will follow
a planned approach of
implementation
The project plan will
have a positive impact
on the strategic
programme
Risk Management Plan Identification of the
critical risks
The risk management
plan will help in better
management of the
project.
The risk management
plan has a positive
impact on successful
management of the

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project.
Final Plan for WN
acquisition
Acquisition of WN Successful
implementation of
Acquisition project
Planned approach of
acquisition will have a
positive impact on the
project.
Project Evaluation Successful project
closure
The project will be
delivered with lesser or
no flaws
The strategic
programme will be
successfully
implemented.
3. Estimating and Scheduling
The time allocated for the project is constant that is two years and therefore, the project is
needed to be planned accordingly so that the scheduling issues can be minimized (Walker 2015).
The detailed schedule estimate for the programme along with the key milestone of the project is
represented in the following table-
WBS Task Name Duration Start Finish
0 Strategic Change
Programme 546 days 08-01-2018 10-02-2020
1 Project Starts 0 days 08-01-2018 08-01-2018
2 Project Initiation 57 days 08-01-2018 27-03-2018
2.1
Understanding and
planning the change
requirements
15 days 08-01-2018 26-01-2018
2.2 Inspection of the space
for software excellence centre 30 days 29-01-2018 09-03-2018
2.3 Documenting the
Findings 5 days 12-03-2018 16-03-2018
2.4 Sharing Documents with
SB 7 days 19-03-2018 27-03-2018

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2.5
M1: Completion of
initial Requirements
Gathering
0 days 27-03-2018 27-03-2018
3 Project Planning 147 days 19-03-2018 09-10-2018
3.1 Planning change
management project 30 days 19-03-2018 27-04-2018
3.2 Developing the Project
Plan 20 days 30-04-2018 25-05-2018
3.3 Sharing Documents with
SB 7 days 28-05-2018 05-06-2018
3.4 M2: Approval of the
Project Plan 0 days 05-06-2018 05-06-2018
3.5 Designing the Software
Excellence Centre 60 days 06-06-2018 28-08-2018
3.6 Planning the Acquisition
Of WN 30 days 29-08-2018 09-10-2018
3.7 M3: Finalizing the
acquisition of WN 0 days 09-10-2018 09-10-2018
4 Project Implementation 180 days 10-10-2018 18-06-2019
4.1 Start of acquisition
process for WN 30 days 10-10-2018 20-11-2018
4.2
Start of the
implementation of changes in
SB
30 days 10-10-2018 20-11-2018
4.3
Start of the development
of the Software Excellence
Centre
30 days 10-10-2018 20-11-2018
4.4 M4: Completion of
Acquisition of WN 0 days 20-11-2018 20-11-2018
4.5
Initiation of Construction
of the software excellence
Centre
4 months 21-11-2018 12-03-2019
4.6 Implementation of the
Required Changes in SB 45 days 13-03-2019 14-05-2019
4.7 M5: Completion of
change implementation 0 days 14-05-2019 14-05-2019
4.8
Human Resource
Management in the Software
Excellence Centre
25 days 15-05-2019 18-06-2019
4.9
M6: Completion of
setting up of Software
Excellence Centre
0 days 18-06-2019 18-06-2019
5 Project Evaluation 85 days 19-06-2019 15-10-2019

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5.1
Completion of data
transfer and change
implementation
30 days 19-06-2019 30-07-2019
5.2 Inspecting the errors 30 days 31-07-2019 10-09-2019
5.3 Development of the
Project Evaluation Report 25 days 11-09-2019 15-10-2019
5.4 M7: Completion of
Project Evaluation 0 days 15-10-2019 15-10-2019
6 Project Closure 84 days 16-10-2019 10-02-2020
6.1 Implementation of the
changes required 45 days 16-10-2019 17-12-2019
6.2 Documentation 15 days 18-12-2019 07-01-2020
6.3 Payment Completion 10 days 08-01-2020 21-01-2020
6.4 Resource Release 7 days 22-01-2020 30-01-2020
6.5 Client Sign Off 7 days 31-01-2020 10-02-2020
7 M8: Project Ends 0 days 10-02-2020 10-02-2020
The major milestone of the project is highlighted in the above table. Successful
completion of each identified milestone will ensure successful completion of the change
management project (Nicholas and Steyn 2017). The image below represents the Gantt chart of
the project-

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BUSINESS PROJECT AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT
Figure 1: Representing the Gantt chart of the project
(Source: Generated by Author using MS project)
The work activities in the above picture that are marked in red depict the critical path of the
project
However, there are certain scheduling issues and risks that the company might face while
implementation of this project. The scheduling issues that the project might face are elaborated
as follows-
One of the significant aspects of project scheduling is identification and estimation of the
major milestone and the duration of the project. Since the programme that is to be implemented
by SB consists of different strategic changes, it is needed to ensure that the project schedule
covers each and every deliverables of the project (Kerzner 2018). One of the major issues that
program scheduling might face include improper scope identification. Improper scope
identification might result in increase in the issues in project scheduling (Goetsch and Davis
2014). This issues can be mitigated by ensure accurate scope identification, which was followed
in the initiation phase of the project.
The project is needed to be implemented within two years from its inception (Kerzner
2017). Considering the complexity of the project, it is necessary to plan the project according to
the time allocated or else the project might face a schedule risk.
Another issue that can be faced by improper project scheduling is resource constraints.
The improper scheduling might result is loss of resources or resource over allocation resulting in

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certain risks and issues in the project. It is often seen that project faces delays mainly because of
resource inefficiencies and issues with resource allocation.
Issues in scheduling can arise due to inexperienced team members The experience of the
team members of a project team play a significant role in successful project execution. SB should
develop a team of experienced members that will help in easier management and implementation
of the same (Hornstein 2015). Experienced team members will help in easier implementation of
the project with their appropriate project management skills. The implementation of project and
programme is subjected to selection of an appropriate project management team and therefore it
is one of the major issues associated with project implementation.
There are certain other significant problems that the programme might face with project
implementation. One of those problems includes managing the change. Any changes to the scope
of the project will hamper the scheduling of the project (Cameron and Green 2015). Any
unplanned changes in project might result in each task taking a longer time than usual. The
mitigation approach of the risk includes communication of the changes with the stakeholders so
that the risks associated with improper project scheduling can be reduced.
4. Risk and Issue Management
The programme undertaken by SB has certain risks that are needed to be mitigated. One
of the major risks associated with this project is scheduling risks (Thamhain 2013). There are
certain other risks that are associated with this project and programme. A risk management
strategy is needed to be developed which will ensure that the project is implemented without any
issues (Hillson and Murray-Webster 2017). The programme consists of a number of seprate