Implementation Planning Meeting
March 20, 1998 -- 9:00 A.M.- 3:30 P.M.
Attending:
Project Management Team: Marla Thomas, Guy Godman, Tom Sawyer, Terry Blishak, Greg
Greider, Kathy Otto, Don Bowling, Dave Howarth, Dale Billingsley, Donna Bartmann, Dwight
Dozier.
Team Leaders and Technical Support: Jim Travelstead, Dave Baugh, Dave Williams, Robin
Houze, Maria Kapalczynski.
Cambridge Technology Partners (facilitators): Walter Terrell (lead and SA), Donna Robinson
(HR), Dave Longacre (project partner), Charlie Decker (CTP vice president for higher
education).
The group met to continue planning for the implementation phase of Project ORION, which
begins after prototyping is completed in May. With CTP facilitation, the group worked to refine
existing implementation plans to identify and schedule all tasks required to meet successive "go-live" dates of the various system modules.
The overall outcome of this effort (which will be carried forward through several meetings during
the implementation phase) was the establishment a detailed project plan that includes the
following elements:
- Identification of desired project outcomes and go-live schedule for each system module
- Advance determination of means to resolve resource or scheduling conflicts
- Definition of all major tasks
- Analysis of dependencies (groups of related tasks that must be performed in order)
- Accurate estimates of work required per task
- Inventory of required skillsets
- Balanced distribution of resources and support.
The implementation plan requires these specific steps for each system module and element:
- Identification of major activities (principal dimensions of effort and their tasks and
dependencies)
- Definition of scope and approach for each activity
- Definition of tasks and dependencies related to each activity
- Development of work estimates and skillset requirements
- Application and balancing of resources
- Assessment and revision of plan as necessary
The group identified the following major activities and began the detailed planning work required
for implementation:
- Developing technical components (e.g., creating software elements necessary for the new
system to meet the university's requirements)
- Operational planning
- System testing
- Data conversion and production cut-over (i.e., preparing for and shifting data to enable
the transfer of service from old to new systems)
- Infrastructure (acquisition and installation of necessary hardware and software
components)
- Training and user procedures (including documentation)
- System change management (transferring to and maintaining data services on the new
system)
- Organizational change (planning for and executing changes in the university's business
processes)
- Overall project management (including plan maintenance, issues resolution, and
communication).
The group identified the following "next steps" for completion before the end of April:
- Assignment of responsibility for detailed planning of each activity (by 3/27/98)
- Development of detailed plans to include
- expanded tasks lists
- work estimates
- dependencies
- resource assignment and balance
- process refinement
- Merge individual activity plans into project implementation plan
- Set up tracking process through issues log and communication plan.
A detailed report on each element of the plan will be made available through ORION-WWW as it
is completed. The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
(D. B. Billingsley, recorder)
Posted 03/21/98
For further information, contact project.orion@louisville.edu.
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