Project Implementation Plan for Agency to Agency Interface

Abstract

Implementing a project is a process that requires the presence of qualified personnel to carry out various activities on the project. This personnel must work within certain policies on staffing where their roles and responsibilities are cut out. There are also some rules of quality management and procurement management to help ensure that the limited resources can be used effectively and effectively meet the objectives set in the project. To achieve this, there must be plans in place to identify the roles and responsibilities, the quality standards, and the procurement practice that will be followed during the implementation of the project. There is also a need to understand the available external resources that can act as the source items to be procured or knowledge about how to procure best-quality items to be used in the project. The purpose of the current paper is to analyze the human resources plan and examine the quality management plan and procurement plan for implementation of the agency to agency interface plan.

The implementation of any project is largely dependent on the availability of human resources to carry out various activities and roles. The human personnel is, in fact, one of the most important considerations that should be put in place before embarking on the actual implementation. Apart from identifying sources of finances, project managers also identify the personnel to work on various parts of the project with defined roles and responsibilities. This is a way of ensuring that the experts allocated these responsibilities have the necessary skills and knowledge to accomplish particular tasks. Similarly, quality management is equally important and is done through a quality management plan that reflects the existing quality policies held by the organization and how the project management team is going to meet the quality requirements. Furthermore, a procurement plan in place ensures that the acquisition of goods and services is managed and that procurement processes are executed from the procurement documents through contract closure. The purpose of the current paper is to analyze the human resources plan and examine the quality management plan and procurement plan for implementation of the agency to agency interface plan.

Human Resources Plan

Every project must have a project management officer who is in charge of directing actions taken by others in the project team. The overall leader of the project will, therefore, be a project manager. This will basically be implemented through scheduling of activities, presenting budgeting estimates and expenditures, and meeting the minimum requirements as set out by the high-level requirements documents. The project manager is the overall boss of the project who must control and direct the decisions that will be made in the course of carrying out the project (Sokowski, 2015). The project manager will be responsible for the successful initiation, planning, design, execution, monitoring, controlling, and closure of the project. This means being responsible for every little detail that goes into the successful implementation of the project.

The other key personnel will be the business analyst who will be responsible for determining the functionality of various activities and translating them into workable requirements for developers. The business analyst bridges the gap between the implementation of the project and the business aspect of the project. He or she will ensure that the project is geared towards solving identifiable business problems and that benefits are realizable at the end of the project. The business analyst will work under the instruction of the project manager. He or she must explore the current best practice in the implementation of the agency to agency interface projects and how other counties or countries have benefitted from implementing similar projects in the past.

Because the project is dealing with developing the agency to agency interface for communication, the need for web developers is paramount in curating the information and putting it in a central place. Web developers will be responsible for identifying the best software for developing the websites, identifying sources of data, collecting and editing the content, ensuring that webpages are designed and layout is done in a presentable manner, updating the website with new information, identifying the technical requirements, solving code problems, and creating back up files for the content. Other responsibilities include responding to email queries, registering websites, creating web models or prototypes, and developing procedures for updating the websites.

There will also be the technical writer whose responsibilities will include identifying the needs of end-users through technical documentation, bridging the gap between developers and designers, simplifying the products for easier use, organizing and writing supporting documents, selecting diagrams and photographs that are easier to understand, standardizing the content across interfaces, and collecting user feedback. Collaboration with other personnel is paramount for technical content writers who must identify the needs of various stakeholders in order to advise on the correct steps to make. The technical content writer will work in liaison with other personnel of the project in collecting the documentation and tools necessary to implement the interface that will meet the identified needs of the clients. The systems tester will be responsible for ensuring that systems are functioning as per the needs of the clients. The systems tester will work under the technical content writer so that they would be able to identify the areas that need improvement and ensure that such areas are working in accordance to the needs of the people. The project coordinator will be responsible for coordinating all the activities and meetings to ensure congruence in the implementation of the activities (Gray & Larson, 2014). He or she is responsible for ensuring that there is continuity during the implementation process. The project sponsors provide funds, participate in formulating goals and objectives, approve budget estimates, and assess the progress to advise on the more efficient way to implement the project.

Project Organization Chart Displaying Project Team Members and Their Reporting Relationship

From the above project organizational chart, the project sponsor is the key personnel requiring reports about the progress of implementation. The project manager is the leader answerable to the project sponsor. Under the project, the coordinator is the business analyst, web developer, system tester, and technical writer who interacts directly with the staff in government agencies. Clients are the various agencies that will be at the lowest level of providing the content required to build the interface and harmonize communication. The system tester will be brought in during the final implementation process to test what has been built and advise whether it meets the minimum threshold anticipated during the planning process.

Staffing Management Plan

The project sponsors will come in early during the planning stage of the project. This is because they have to understand the objectives of the project and how much money is required. This will be made by making a formal invitation to sponsors to attend meetings to familiarize themselves with the project and the benefits. The project manager will be selected to oversee the appointment of the members of the team, starting with the project coordinator (Gray & Larson, 2014). He or she will be active throughout the whole project. After the roles and responsibilities have been identified, the business analyst will be brought on board to perform their role while also the web developers, technical writers, and system testers are recruited to provide the services in that particular capacity. The business analyst will be working for one month, identifying the business aspects of the project. The system tester will come in during the last period of the project to test the performance of the system. This will take one week. The technical writer will work together with the web developer for a period of two months to develop and document the interfaces.

Quality Management Plan

The project quality management plan is an effort by the project implementers to document the necessary information that goes into effective management of the quality of the project from planning to implementation. This document defines the policies, criteria, and procedures for the areas of application. It also provides an outline of responsibilities and roles to various members of the project team. The quality management plan is created during the planning period of a project. The plan is intended to be used by the project manager, who is an overall quality assurance officer, project team members, sponsors, and any senior members whose support is needed for the successful implementation of the project.

In order to ensure that quality is enhanced, the project team members are presented with responsibilities showing how they are going to enforce the quality practice during the implementation of the project (Guth, 2009). In view of the above statement, the table below indicates key personnel responsibilities.

How the Project Management Team Plans to Meet the Quality Requirements Set for the Project

Quality management is carried out in three main areas. These are quality planning, quality control, and quality assurance. The personnel in the project management team will be trained in these areas to help them apply the skills in defining, monitoring, and controlling the quality of standards applied during the implementation of the project. During the quality planning training, the team will be trained on how to identify the relevant quality standards and methods to satisfy those standards. They will also be required to define appropriate quality measures and metrics that concern the processes, functionality, regulation, deliverables, management performance, testing, and documentation (Rose, 2005). During quality assurance training, they will be exposed to identifying and defining actions, measuring the actions, and providing confidence that they have the capacity to meet the project quality. Finally, in the quality control segment, they will be trained on monitoring and controlling actions and how to determine relevant quality standards that comply with the prevailing requirements and actions to improve the output from the project.

Procurement Management Plan

The procurement management plan helps in defining the requirements for procuring items to be used in a project and how this process is going to be managed from developing procurement documentation to the closure of the project. The key aspects defined in the procurement management plan include the items that will be procured in justification of timelines and statements, the risks associated with the overall project, and types of contradicts. Other aspects are how to mitigate the risks arising from procurement, costs, and how they are evaluated, managing multiple suppliers, and criteria for making procurement decisions. Still, others are the contract approval process, management of vendors, constraints relating to procurement, identification of prequalified sellers, and performance metrics for activities relating directly or indirectly to procurement among others (Rose, 2005). Through the procurement plan, the framework for engagement with the outside world is set, which serves as a guide for controlling the process of procuring items throughout the lifetime of the project. One important element is the ability to update the plan as new needs and requirements emerge. It should also allow for the identification and definition of items to be procured, the type of the contractual agreement to be used, the process of approving the contract, and the process of making decisions to acquire from a particular supplier but not the other one. The essence of coordinating the procurement process is that helps establish the deliverables and measurement activities (Kloppenborg, 2014).

Some of the external resources for procurement management include the vendors who are responsible for supplying the items to be used, policies, and regulations — procurement practices are based on legal enactments by governments, and, finally, competitors for the same resources. These external resources can serve as a source of required items or directions on how to move ahead with the management of procurement processes.

How a Project Team Will Acquire Goods and Services from Outside the Performing Organization

Procuring items from the outside of the organization will be done in a formal and acceptable manner. Generally, there are technical forms that procurement officers are supposed to issue to suppliers who wish to provide the products. The documents are the minimum requirements for engagement with suppliers. The documents include the Request for Proposal forms to indicate the process and timelines, the policies, formats, and selection criteria (Richardson, 2014). There will also be forms for pricing, statements of the previous work, and terms and conditions for engagement. When the potential supplier gets these documents filled and returned, there will be the internal selection process, provision of non-disclosure agreement forms, letter of intent, and procurement audit forms. The supplier will be required to meet the minimum set rules to be allowed to proceed with providing the services as is specified in the procurement document. Before a supplier is engaged to supply the specific products, there will be a decision-making process. During this process, evaluation of the supplier will be done in terms of ability to provide the items within the set time limits, cost per unit, quality, expected date of delivery, comparison between suppliers, and past experience doing the same supply job (Kloppenborg, 2014).

How the Procurement Processes Will Be Managed from Developing Procurement Documents through Contract Closure

The procurement process will follow the standard practice in procurement. The first process will involve planning, purchasing, and acquisition. It entails the determination of the specific items to be procured, how the procurement is to be done, and when it is to be effected. It requires the project team to draw up a list of items needed. One of the important things at this stage is coming up with a clear statement showing the scope of the project to guide management and planning. The second step will involve preparation of the contract documents, listing which are required to be met, and identifying various sellers. During this process, the official documentation will be availed after inviting potential suppliers to deliver their requests for a tender. The tendering process will be based on the ability of the supplier to meet the requirements, including timeline and quality. The awarding of the tender to the supplier will be done based on the merit and ability to deliver minimum requirements. The vendor or supplier management will be done to ensure that high-quality products are given. The selection will be made based on offers, quotations, proposals, and bids obtained from the interested suppliers (Kloppenborg, 2014). This will normally be done through meetings with the concerned parties where negotiations are done. Finally, the contract will be closed out after verifying its progress based on the objectives that had been set.

Conclusion

Implementation of a project is dependent on the level of collaboration and the definition of roles and responsibilities of the personnel involved in the project. The way the staff is linked to enabling quicker and efficient interaction can define the extent to which the project is going to succeed. Throughout the process, quality management should be observed, and each team member should be concerned with the aspect of quality for which they are responsible. Procurement is also important because it not only ensures the efficient use of resources but also the timely delivery of quality items to be used in the project.