|
Project Management in a COTS
Software Environment
LABBLEE Corporation offers experienced project managers running
multi-million dollar long-term projects as well as short-term
successes. We are experienced in a variety of methodologies
such as CMM, PMBOK, Yourdon and Nominal Group Theory (NGT).
LABBLEE project managers have also managed ERP implementations
including SAP worldwide implementations and Siebel CRM systems.
We have managed projects in a number of federal government
agencies as well as in commercial industry sectors such as
financial services, health care, insurance, manufacturing
and retail.
One of our current major projects is an Electronic Document
Management System (EDMS) for a DoT organization. During this
project we have helped the DoT Administration evaluate several
EDMS Products. The administration selected a product and we
are managing the implementation of this Commercial Off The
Shelf (COTS) software product. The following is a brief description
of this effort.
The objective of the EDMS project is to eliminate the necessity
of distribution and storage of paper documents. The EDMS solution
is a paperless solution with records management featured within
the functionality.
The EDMS project is being developed using a methodology that
provides a user-driven approach with phased implementation
of functionality. A typical project life cycle methodology
is used with a rapid approach to all phases even though the
base software is already available. Methodology phases include:
• Management
• Project Planning
• Discovery
• Design & Development
• Testing
• Implementation
When implementing a COTS software product, it is still necessary
to execute traditional life cycle functions (e.g., requirements,
development, testing, acceptance, turnover, training). Requirements
are expressed as basic features of the software package plus
minor changes which reflect unique requirements of the client.
Development is relegated to the implementation and testing
of the customized features and security. The rest of the traditional
methodology is the same. The testing, training, acceptance,
and turnover are all done in a traditional manner.
This process is predicated upon active participation by key
individuals from the client in all phases of the project’s
design – defining workshop requirements and business
processes, reviewing and directing the high-level and detailed-level
designs, beta-testing the application, etc. – all the
way through to final acceptance of the implemented application.
For more information about LABBLEE's proven approach to project
management: project@labblee.com.
|
Project
Management