Project Plan for

Team 3- West of Eastern

08/06/2017

Project Information [CD]

Project Name

This name of this project is Using Simply Order Software and Customer Service
Training.

Project Description/Overview

The management at A-Z Specialties has set a goal to increase net profit from $3
million last year to $5 million this year. To achieve that goal, A-Z has identified
several issues that prevent their desired business growth. Specifically, they
recorded a 30% increase in customer complaints with Telephone Operators in the
call center. They also identified several Human Resource issues, including high
turnover of Telephone Operators and Customer Service Supervisors and a need for
improved training for Telephone Operators and Supervisors. A-Z has contracted
WoE to develop training for telephone operators that would reduce call duration,
improve customer service, increase employee satisfaction and as a result, increase
A-Zs profitability.
West of Eastern (WoE) conducted a performance analysis to determine the gaps in
the current state at A-Z in contrast to their desired state, and presented their
findings to Jane Mackenzie. WoE presented Jane their top three solutions to the
issues identified by the gap analysis. From the meeting, Jane determined that WoE
would develop customer service and Simply Order software training for telephone
operators as phase one of this project.

Project Purpose

The purpose of this project for A-Z Specialties is twofold:

To reduce customer complaints by training telephone operators in
customer service and phone etiquette.
To train telephone operators and supervisors in the use of Simply Order,
the new order entry system, and prepare them for its rollout.

Business Objectives

The improvements in customer service as well as the efficiency of the new order
entry system will result in reduced customer complaints related to telephone
operator etiquette and long wait times. Customer satisfaction will increase sales
and help A-Z achieve the target goal of $23 million in total sales ($8 million in
catalog sales and $15 million in internet sales) and a net profit of $5 million.

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Scope Statement [AK]
Deliverables Included

Through a comprehensive development process, WoE will deliver Customer

Service Training and Telephone Operator/Supervisor Training on the new order
entry system, Simply Order. The instructor led training will involve eight (8) hours
of training. The course will cover customer service essential information and will
increase the knowledge and skills required to research product information as well
as take and place customer orders. The course will have guided exercises, role
play, and assessments. It will include facilitator guides, student guides, job aids,
practice, and summative assessments.
In order to the development and evaluation of the training course, WoE will deliver
the following documents to A-Z Specialties:
The Project Plan which will include the following:
o Project Purpose
o Business Objectives
o List of all deliverables and exclusions
o Scheduled meetings and status reports
o Assumptions and constraints
o Milestones
o WBS diagram
o Overall project schedule
o Gantt Chart
o Change Management Plan
Course Design Document which will outline the course parameters
including:
o Learning objectives
o Course outline
o Instructional methods
o Assessment strategies
o Development tools
Facilitator and Student Guides which will contain the following:
o Slide deck
o Exercise lesson plans with keys
o Role play scenarios
o Assessments with keys
User-facing documents to include
o Job Aids
o Customer service best practices
o Simply Order best practices
Evaluation Plan
o Telephone operator assessment performance
o Telephone operator training survey
o Baseline call information comparison
o Post-training customer surveys

Exclusions

WoE will not provide the following items and/or services:

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 WoE is not responsible for providing the training facility or any other
technology necessary to facilitate the training
WoE is not responsible for the printing and preparing of training materials
WoE is not responsible for providing food or refreshments during the
training

Project Completion Criteria

This project will be complete when all the deliverables and sub-documents listed
above have been signed off on by the project sponsor, Jane MacKenzie, and
delivered to A-Z Specialties by WoE. Prior to delivery of all deliverables, A-Z
Specialties and WoE will reach an agreement on ownership of and further use of
deliverables.

Project Plans [MD]

Primary Plans

This project includes several formal plans to carry out a smooth development and
implementation of the Using Simply Order Software and Customer Service
Training. These plans include a schedule, course design document, change
management plan, target milestones, and project plan approvals.

Scheduled Meetings

Weekly scheduled meetings are scheduled, and additional meetings can be

scheduled as needed.

Meeting Frequency Attendees Description

WoE Project Weekly - Aaron Koepke Weekly planning and
Team Meeting Wednesday implementation
Adam Johnson
with Sponsor nights at 8pm meeting.
Central Chris Davis
Mary DuQuaine
Jane Mackenzie
Sarah Sonognini

WoE Project Weekly - Aaron Koepke Weekly check-in

Team Meeting Saturday nights meeting to fine-tune
Adam Johnson
at 8pm Central project and make
Chris Davis adjustments.
Mary DuQuaine
Sarah Sonognini

Scheduled Status Reports

WoE Project Manager, Mary DuQuaine will provide a status report every Monday
to the team in writing via Basecamp Project Management software.
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 Assumptions

WoE is Responsible for:

Project management including status reports to A-Z.
Development of all deliverables and within scope sub-documents.
Conducting all interviews to collect needed information.
Adhering to the project budget and schedule.
Reporting any issues that may impact timely completion of the project.
Having all manuals, facilitator guides, and job aides printed and bound.
A-Z Specialties is Responsible for:
Working with WoE to determine training schedule and attendees.
Providing WoE and You/I Solutions adequate time with Subject Matter
Experts to provide needed information for training development and
consulting.
Setting up the training room with all the needed equipment to conduct the
training.
Making sure that WoE has access to Simply Order and all the necessary
source materials, for adequate course preparation time.
Being available to answer additional questions that WoE may have.
Following the Facilitator Guide developed by WoE when conducting the
training.
Providing WoE with follow-up data on training effectiveness as requested.

Constraints

The following situations will constrain the ability of A-Z Specialties to complete
the project:
Training time will be constrained by the shifts of the trainees and SMEs.

External Dependencies

WoE has identified the following external influences/dependencies:

Third party vendors
National and global market forces
Forces of nature/Civil unrest All natural occurrences (fire, flood, natural
disaster, etc.) or factors related to civil unrest or public welfare that would
impede or interrupt the project milestones.

Project Approach [AJ]

The development of the Telephone Operator Training for A-Z Specialties will
follow the ADDIE method of course development, wherein:
(A)nalyze - WoE will partner with subject matter experts within A-Z to gather
and assess data surrounding telephone operations and the training of
employees.
(D)esign - WoE will use its findings to design instructor-led training that
addresses improved customer service and phone etiquette as well as navigation
and use of the new Simply Order product database and order system.

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 (D)evelop - WoE will develop the necessary and defined deliverables of the
telephone operator training and provide them, upon completion, to A-Z team
members for review, revision, and final approval. These shall remain with A-Z
after project completion.
(I)mplement - Woe will conduct the telephone operator training to A-Z
telephone operators and supervisor as well as train two in-house trainers for
future employee training at A-Z Specialties.
(E)valuate - WoE will conduct follow-up research and assessment of the
effectiveness of the telephone operator training and make necessary
recommendations and revisions based on its findings.

Milestones

Milestone or Activity Deliverable Target

Date

Course Design Sign-Off Design Document 08/21/2017

Instructor Led Training Course Sign- Facilitator/Student Guide, 09/08/2017

Off including outline,
objectives, exercises, and
assessment based on the
job task analysis.

Train the Trainer Course All training materials 09/11/2017

needed to conduct the
trainers course.

Train Employees All training materials 09/19/2017

needed to conduct the and
student course. 09/22/2017

Training Evaluation Raw data and data 1/8/2018

analysis of metrics used to
evaluate the effectiveness
of the training.

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 WBS Diagram [AJ]

Below is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) showing the project broken into its
component sections of the telephone operator training being designed and
developed by WoE. A readable PDF is submitted as a separate document.

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 Schedule [SS]

Below is a project schedule based on the WBS but with the addition of start and
due dates as well as responsible parties. A readable PDF is submitted as a separate
document.

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 Gantt Chart [SS]

The Gantt chart provides a visual representation of the schedule showing the
highest-level categories including dates and responsible parties. A readable PDF is
submitted as a separate document.

Change Management Plan [CD]

WoE has developed this Change Management Plan to provide A-Z Specialties and
WoE a standard process for managing changes to this project.

Purpose

The purpose of the Change Management Plan will help manage change requests to
the project, while insuring control of the schedule, scope, budget, and
resources. This plan will minimize the impact a change can have on both A-Z and
WoE.

Goals

The primary goals of this Change Management Plan are to:

Manage each change request from inception through the final decision
phase.
Decide whether to approve or deny change requests
Communicate the impact of changes to relevant personnel from both A-Z
and WoE.
Allow approved changes to be managed with minimum impact to the
project.

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 Change Control Process

This Change Management Plan provides a procedure for documenting, tracking,

evaluating, and approving or rejecting changes to the project deliverables. A
Change Request Form (CRF) will be submitted prior to any change being
reviewed. WoE will keep a change log to document all CRFs and the outcome of
those requests. The following steps will be used:
A stakeholder identifies a potential issue and submits a Change Request
Form (CRF).
The Project Manager (PM) enters the CRF into the change log.
The PM evaluates the CRF and decides to approve or deny the change
based on its priority.
o High priority-Has immediate impact on the project and needs to be
addressed.
o Medium priority- May impact the project in the next month.
Reassess the CRF in two weeks.
o Low priority- Any impacts to the project will occur after a month
or more. Reassess the CRF in two weeks.
The PM denies or approves the change request.
o The PM updates the change log.
o The PM communicates the decision to the stakeholder and team.
o If the CRF is denied, this ends the process. If the CRF is
approved, continue down this outline.
The project team analyze the impact to the project schedule, scope,
budgets and resources.
Once the analysis is done, the PM submits the change to the project
sponsor with an impact statement.
If the sponsor denies the change request, the status log is updated and the
decision is communicated to the stakeholders and project team.
If the sponsor approves the change request, the status log is updated and
the project team begins to implement the project changes based on the
impact statement.

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 Change Control Process Flowchart

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 Responsibilities

Person Responsible Responsibilities

Any stakeholder/Project Identify potential issue and submits a CRF to the

team member. Project Manager.

Project Manager Receives CRFs and inputs them in the change

log. Reviews the change priority and decides to
approve, deny or place the change request on hold for
future review.

Project Team If the change request is high priority, affected team

members will analyze any impact the change will
have on the project schedule, scope, budget, and
resources. They will create an impact statement for
the Project Manager.

Project Manager Sets a meeting with the sponsor to discuss high

priority changes and their impact to the project based
on the impact statement created by the project team.

Project Sponsor Receives and reviews CRFs with impact statement

from the project manager. Decides to approve, deny
or place the change request on hold for future review.

Project Manager Receives the decision from the project sponsor of

whether the CRF is approved or denied and enters that
in the change log and communicates the decision to
the project team. If the change is approved, all
documents affecting the project schedule, scope,
budget, and resources are updated.

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Project Plan Approvals
Approvals

Approved by:

Name Role Signature Date

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