Project Planning

Handbook
Revision History

Version # Date Name Description

1.0 1/29/01 Philip H. Choi

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Table of Contents

1 Overview...................................................................................................................................................1
2 ascendTHEORY Solutions Standard Project Model.................................................................................3
3 Pre-Strategy .............................................................................................................................................4
4 Risk Mitigation Planning..........................................................................................................................10
5 Pricing The Project.................................................................................................................................11
6 Customizing The Statement Of Work (SOW).........................................................................................14
7 Detailed Planning....................................................................................................................................15

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1 OVERVIEW
This document provides instruction to those creating project plans, proposals, and statements of work
(SOW) for Strategy, Architecture and Construction/Migration phases using ascendTHEORY, Inc.
methodology. The main steps are diagramed below.

ascendTHEORY Delivery Life-Cycle

Pre-Strategy Strategy Analysis Development Phase Im plem entation O ngoing Support

Statement of W ork Use Case Analysis User Testing
PMO Functional Specs User Acceptance
Design Spec Deployment

These steps correlate to sections in this guide and each section contains a description, templates, helpful
hints and assumptions.

1.1 Guidance
The customer’s budget must be validated at the onset of the project. What is the client willing to pay?
Ask the person(s) most familiar with the client’s budget. If ascendTHEORY performs a strategic analysis,
this person will be ascendTHEORY’s Strategy Lead. If this is a new client, the ascendTHEORY Client
Relationship Manager responsible for bringing in the lead should have pre-qualified the customer’s
budget.

If this is our first experience with the potential client…

The customer should, in general, exhibit all or most of the following qualities:
• They have a need to move fast - therefore they will pay a premium
• They don’t need to be educated on the general value of IT Projects – Shortens the sales cycle
• They are willing to work with us as equal partners
− We can play a strategic advisory role
− They desire joint delivery teams (we aren’t support contractors…we need to do knowledge
transfer to them at some point)
− Client is not looking simply for an outsourced development house
• Knowledge transfer is desired
− Don’t need/want us for ongoing support and maintenance

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How to use this handbook…
• Take a 2-pass approach in order to allow for a reality check early on, so that detailed work doesn't go
to waste. The most important reality check is how closely aligned early estimates are with the client's
budget. Take an iterative approach to arriving at the final plan.
− First Pass
• Brainstorm – Use the appropriate phase timeline in the methodology as a baseline.
Conduct a whiteboard session with the team to adjust appropriately.
• Make a preliminary pass through the detailed project plan and project setup form to
determine initial cost.
• Validate this to the client’s budget
− Second Pass
• Drive down into more detail.

Staffing Considerations:
• Project staffing is the responsibility of the person leading the planning process (project manager,
framing lead or strategy lead). Do not underestimate the difficulty in staffing a project when staffing
across multi-practice projects.
• When performing resource leveling in your project plan, the degree of leveling varies based on the
staffing mode of that role. Most Technology Integration roles are staffed with a full time person.
Some Creative or Market Branding roles are managed within a budget, and not the number of bodies.
• When staffing across multiple practices, always involve the appropriate staffing leaders in those
practices.

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2 ASCENDTHEORY SOLUTIONS STANDARD PROJECT MODEL
The Engagement Toolkit contains a standard project model that serves as a starting point for adapting
the methodology to the needs of a particular client project. This standard project model contains:
• Project Planning Handbook (i.e., this document)
• PMO Presentation and Models
• Overview Presentation (includes high level timelines, org charts, and other key information)
• Standard Staffing Model (a spreadsheet with typical levels and rates)
• Project Plan Templates (one each for Strategy, Analysis (Use Case, Functional Spec, Design Spec),
and Development / Implementation phase)
• SOW Templates (one each for Strategy, Analysis (Use Case, Functional Spec, Design Spec), and
Development / Implementation phase)

All instructions in this handbook are based on this standard project model as a starting
point.

To get to the Standard Project Model in the toolkit, click on the Project Management bar in the overview
diagram.

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3 PRE-STRATEGY
3.1 The Standard Procedure
To create a plan, you start with the project plan template and modify it according to the methodology
adaptation of the project.

Once the project plan has been modified the Project Setup Form can be used to resource level the
project. This leveling could be performed in the project plan, but it is not recommend. Tools such as
Microsoft Project Plan usually make the leveling process unnecessarily tedious for planning needs at this
point in the project lifecycle. Later, in detailed planning, resources in the project plan can be leveled.
(NOTE: The setup form is required to register the project with ascendTHEORY financial systems.)

To complete the Project Setup Form, resources must be identified. Use the staffing model in the
Standard Project Model (see section 2) as a starting point. (NOTE: the staffing model is based on full
time equivalents FTE's). For part time resources, you will have to convert these values to multiple
people. For example, 1 FTE may be 2 people at 20 hours / week. How projects are staffed varies by
practice. For example, in the Creative Brand Strategy practice, several roles are staffed part time.

The Project Setup Form will provide you with an effort estimate for the project. This estimate should be
reviewed with peers who have experience in estimating similar projects.

3.2 Planning the Strategy Phase

3.2.1 Determining Required Strategy Elements
The typical activities of a strategy engagement include:
• Discovery Interviews
• Business Plan Review
• Channel Assessment
• Competitive Review
• Web site Audit if Creative resources are needed
• Audience Profiling and Targeting
• Market Research (Primary and/or Secondary Research)
• Strategy Sessions

Each of these elements should be discussed with the client to assess what elements need to be
developed from scratch. The more strategy components that a client needs, the closer the client moves
toward a full strategy engagement. Also, the more of these components that the client already
possesses, the more possible it is to compress time frames to complete a more advanced engagement in
less time. It is important to remember that these components cannot be “cut and pasted.” The
goal of this Planning Guide is to help frame a client’s needs into a coherent, logical strategy engagement
– both for the client and for ascendTHEORY.

The following components are always required during the strategy engagement.
• Discovery Interviews
• Client focus and objectives
• Competitive Review
• Market Research (in some form)
• Strategy Sessions

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Screening Criteria
To assess the nature and scope of potential projects, it is useful to consider certain critical areas to
properly gauge the client’s needs.
• Strategy (existing, how well developed, non-existent)
• Customers (who are they, quantity, quality, how do they make purchase/action decisions, what do
they value, how do they use the Internet)
• Partners (strategic, technical)
• Knowledge of current market space and of new market space if applicable
• Sophistication of the client
• Competition
• Business Plans (presence of, specific to Internet initiatives)
• Marketing Plans (presence of, integrated across all channels including Internet)
• Funding (how much, what stage, risk)
• Budget (overall and as a % of market budget)

3.2.2 Select Engagement Type

Before proceeding to Planning and Estimation, the selection of an appropriate engagement type,
appropriate for the client's circumstances, is required. Each of the offerings is increasingly sophisticated,
in-depth, and costly.
• E-Business Visioning
• Web Assessment
• Strategy Validation
• Full E-Business Strategy Engagement
The following table (Work In Progress) describes the characteristics of each of the four engagement
types (packages).

Full
Creative Business
Characterist Business Strategy
and Brand Strategy
ic Visioning Validation
Assessment Engagemen
t
Timeframe 2-4 weeks 2-4 weeks 5-7 weeks 8-10 weeks
Price Range TBD TBD TBD TBD
Typical Discovery Discovery Discovery Discovery
Activities Interviews Interviews Interviews Interviews
Client Client Business Plan Thought
Document Document Review Leadership
Review Review Marketing Workshop(s)
Competitive Competitive Plan Review Business Plan
Review Review Client Review
Audience Web site Document Marketing
Profiling and Audit Review Plan Review
Targeting Audience Channel Client
Brainstormin Profiling and Assessment Document
g and Targeting Competitive Review
Strategy Market Review Channel
Sessions Research Assessment

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 Full
Creative Business
Characterist Business Strategy
and Brand Strategy
ic Visioning Validation
Assessment Engagemen
t
Iterative (Secondary) Audience Competitive
hypotheses Brainstormin Profiling and Review
testing g and Targeting Web site
Deliverable Strategy Market Audit
Creation Sessions Research Audience
Iterative (Primary Profiling and
hypotheses and/or Targeting
testing Secondary
Market
Research)
Deliverable Research
Creation Financial (Primary
Review and/or
Brainstormin Secondary
g and Research)
Strategy ROI and
Sessions performance
Iterative metrics
hypotheses definition
testing Brainstormin
Deliverable g and
Creation Strategy
Sessions
Iterative
hypotheses
testing
Deliverable
Creation
Typical Vision Concept Detailed Detailed
Deliverables document sheets Business Business
White paper Tactical Findings and Findings and
Concept Implementati Implications Implications
sheets on Plan E-Business E-Business
SOW (for Strategy Strategy Final
execution) Final Report Report
Recommenda Release Plan Release Plan
tions for and SOW for and SOW for
further next phase next phase
market
research or
analysis

In addition to the type of strategy engagement, three other important factors can greatly influence the
nature of a project:
• The client’s time pressures
• The client’s funding
• The scope of the undertaking

These 3 interrelated factors serve to determine the scope and time frame of a project.

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Other Factors that must play a part in the determination of the scope of a project include the nature of the
client and their funding. Funding is not to be confused with budget, a client may have a big budget but
funding that is pending or cancelled.
• Start-up (not well-funded)
• Start-up (well-funded)
• Fortune 500/1000 (typically well funded - the question is budget)

When working with start-ups, it is imperative to verify the status of funding prior to engaging in the
strategy phase.

3.2.3 Guidance
• Ask potential client about the existence of documentation concerning each of the items examined in
the strategy phase (market research, channel strategy, business plans…)
• Ask potential clients who their competitors are and which ones are innovating in their market space.
• Ask potential clients what percentage of their marketing or IT budgets are dedicated toward E-
Business initiatives.

3.3 Planning the Architecture Phase

3.3.1 Evaluating the State of the Customer’s Current Strategy and Business
Objectives
Defining how far along the customer is in having built a definitive strategy for their company is the most
critical step in determining how the Architecture Phase will be put together. It is up to the Framing team
(typically led by a Technology Integration Strategist) to determine what the customer’s current strategic
state is before a project plan is built.

Though each case is different, most customers fall into one of the following three categories:

1. Client has some high-level ideas about what they want their company to be, but has not created a
business plan that can articulate a business strategy, its goals or objectives.
2. Client has well thought-out ideas for their company, has developed a business plan that addresses
their Internet strategy, goals, and business objectives, but HAS NOT validated any of their
hypotheses.
3. Client has well thought-out ideas for their company, has developed a business plan that addresses
their strategy, goals, and business objectives, and HAS validated their hypotheses (or does not care
about validating them).

If the client falls into category 1, there should be a strong effort to start with a separate strategy
engagement before putting together an Architecture Phase to help them define their business goals.
There is a different approach to putting together a strategy engagement of this type. (This situation is not
addressed in this document.

If the client falls into category 2, an effort should be made to build sufficient staff that includes
business/IM strategists who can do at least a two week strategy validation, in parallel to the Architecture
Phase. Generally a separate strategy engagement may not be required. The standard validation of the
clients’ hypotheses, goals, and objectives should be done to enhance an ability to architect the proper
solution.

If the client falls into category 3, the standard architecture-staffing plan can be used as the starting point
for developing a detailed plan. The framing team needs to make staffing decisions based primarily on the
client’s budgetary restrictions, as well as our initial sense of how good the customer’s current strategy is.
The optimal situation is where ascendTHEORY helped the client build a strategy.

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3.4 Planning the Construction / Migration Phase
3.4.1 Release Planning
Template Used: Release Plan.ppt

The first step in adapting the project plan template is to perform release planning. To do this, follow
instructions in the release plan template to partition the functionality over multiple releases. Establishing
the release plan is largely driven by business priorities, budget, and marketing initiatives and to a lesser
extent, technical feasibility. The Project Manager needs to work closely with the client team, and involved
practices and disciplines, to develop an effective release plan. A release plan must be reviewed and
validated by authorized persons representing each "practice" (P&L) for approval before it goes to the
client.

The following may be helpful:

Guidance
• The foundational release should focus on minimal functionality while providing a benefit to the client
to mitigate risk.
• Until sufficient detail is known please use price ranges – not a specific number.

3.4.2 Project Planning

Assumptions
• The creative work in the “Standard Project Model” is broken up into four cycles. Your project may
need more or fewer cycles depending on scope and delivery deadlines.
• The software development work in the “Standard Project Model” is broken into two cycles. Your
project may need more or fewer cycles depending on scope and delivery deadlines.
• Cycle 2 software development can begin before Cycle 1 Integration Testing is completed. As
integration testing winds down then software developers can transition from Cycle 1 to Cycle 2.
• The Production Installation & Configuration tasks fall into one of two scenarios. One, a production
infrastructure exists and the installation of this project is an incremental addition to that infrastructure
then uses the tasks in this plan. Two, a production infrastructure does not exist then this is a
separate project.
• The "standard project model" deliverables were based on 30-40 design templates, with substantial
content editing and minimal content development.
• The client must provide every approval as scheduled. There is no excuse for us to miss a major
deadline (if the project plan was reviewed and internal and external project sponsors). Any slippage
in schedules can extend a project by weeks or months, especially when resources are balanced
across multiple projects/clients.

Guidance
• Maximize project knowledge by transitioning the appropriate resources from the architecture phase to
the construction phase.
• Historically, the most critical dependency has been the delivery of HTML templates from the creative
production teams to the software development teams. Please be sure to manage this dependency
carefully to avoid schedule delays.
• In addition to HTML, there are other multimedia (graphical, video, etc.) assets that are typically not
critical path. These non-critical path items should be moved to later cycles. This will not impact the
start of the software development cycle.
• Approvals that need to be obtained – Wireframes, comps (i.e. Photoshop files), and html templates
(only if different from comps and wire frames).

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• To ensure the quality of the creative work, it’s highly recommended that the creative team (or some
portion of that team) work jointly (i.e. co-located at the development site) during the latter stages of
system testing and bug fixes. Typically, these tasks last for two weeks.
• Perform a bottom-up estimate based on the components and their complexities. Base components
off of use cases, wire frames, web pages, system interfaces, etc. A spreadsheet to assist with this
process is being assembled, but will not be available until a later release. Ratings of simple, medium,
and complex work well of complexities of components.

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4 RISK MITIGATION PLANNING
Template Used: RiskAssessment.xls
RiskManagementPlan.xls

Through the Risk Management Process(RM), we will engage an approach to planning that will enhance
delivery quality and client satisfaction. This approach will also minimize project overruns and financial
exposures. The risk management focus will involve identification and implementation of quality assurance
checkpoints. The following activities are part of risk management planning:

4.1 Complete The Risk Assessment Form

The Risk Assessment Form is used to quantify the level of risk that a project represents by identifying
high-risk opportunities by calculating scores on a series of questions regarding risk factors.

If a form has not already been filled out for a previous phase for this project, then obtain a blank form
from the RM section on the Consulting Portal and fill it out. If the form has already been completed, then
the Project Manager needs to carefully review it and make changes as needed.

When completed, please email to Risk-Completed Forms.

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5 PRICING THE PROJECT
There are two main pricing structures, time and materials and fixed fee. Time and material projects
inherently have less financial risk than Fixed Fee projects. The intent of this section of the planning guide
is to:

• Assist in pricing a project

− Services
− Expenses
− Facility Fees
− Contingency/Risk Adjustment
• Understand how to internally set up a project and account for risk
− Time and Materials
− Fixed Fee

Time and Materials – Time and materials projects range in risk. There are many types of risk, financial,
technical, communication, etc. Many of the drivers of financial risk Include:
• Level of deliverables. Soft deliverables (paper documents) are less risky than hard deliverables
(application is turned over).
• How fixed is the time and materials estimate? If we go over on our estimate, how willing is the client
to pay?
• Any other risks may impact the financial risk as well, by increasing the cost, timeline, or expenses or
decreasing the level of client satisfaction.

It is important to assess and account for the proper amount of risk when setting up a project. We will
always want to bill at the rate specified in the SOW, but may want to accrue at a lower rate internally to
offset that risk. The client should never know about accruing at a lower rate. By doing this, if a project
does go over budget and we do not receive additional monies the write-off is spread over the life of the
project, not just in the quarter the project ended. Many time and materials projects that have nominal
risk will accrue at the invoice rate. The right risk adjustment should be reviewed with you Delivery
Director and practice leaders. Note: the financial risk will change throughout the project. At key
milestone points in the project, it is important to adjust the risk (rates) in PTE to reflect the current reality.

For all projects, especially Fixed Fee, it is important to price the SOW with a risk based contingency. We
should not be starting at standard rates and whittle down. Fundamentally, we should create risk adjusted
standard rates. So if there was a 20% contingency, the rates should be increased by 20%. Remember
standard rates are a floor not the ceiling.

How to setup T&M projects:

Risk Example Projects Invoicing Method

Low Risk • Strategy Auto bill – Set PTE up with the sold rates for the project.
Invoicing and Accrual occur at the same rate.
• Architecture
• Maintenance
Medium to • Software Delivery Auto bill on Milestones – Milestone, either based on
High Risk deliverables or period of time (i.e. months), is preferred.
This requires a settlement process, every quarter for
example, to audit the actual hours compared to the
amount invoiced. The milestone invoice amounts should
add up to the SOW price. The project set-up form/PTE
should be set at the risk adjusted rates. For example,
use 5% less than the rates used in the SOW.

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 Risk Example Projects Invoicing Method
Manual Bill – If the client wants to see hours and rates
and not have milestone billing, you will still want to
accrue at the risk adjusted rates. This means the project
setup form/PTE will contain the risk-adjusted rates.
Manual invoices will need to be created and sent to the
client. To do this, pull the invoice/time data from Vista
and manually increase the rates to the SOW rates.
Recalculate the invoice and send it to the client, cc’ing
our accounting department.

How to setup Fixed Fee projects:

Risk Example Projects Invoicing Method

Any Level of • Strategy Auto bill on Milestones – Milestone invoicing, either
Risk based on deliverables or period of time (i.e. months),
• Architecture
is preferred. Fixed Fee does not require a settlement
• Maintenance process to audit the actual hours compared to the
• Software Delivery invoiced amounts like T&M. The milestone invoice
amounts should add up to the SOW price. The
project set-up form/PTE should be set at the risk
adjusted rates. For example, use 20% less than the
rates used in the SOW.

5.1 Fee Considerations

• Standard rates are floor not ceiling. All rates are located on Rates.xls.
• Time & material projects should use a 45 hour/week basis at standard rates or higher.
• Time and materials project is where there is no stated limit to cost. For example, if a SOW states we
estimate a project to be 1 Million what happens if we go over.
• Fixed fee projects should include a contingency factor based on level of project risk. For all fixed fee
projects, show the client only one number (total cost). Do show the client rates or costs per task.
• Be sure project oversight is included in the cost.

5.2 Expense Considerations

• Fees typically do not exceed 20% of billable fees; however, international travel will cost extra.
• The standard 20% expense estimate does not include the cost of third-party products and services
that ascendTHEORY does not offer (stock photography, original photography, usability testing,
language translation, etc.). If the project includes this type of work then add an assumption for these
additional costs. These costs are typically marked up 30%. Sub-contracting services that
ascendTHEORY uses to supplement our teams due to unavailable resources is not covered by this
point.
• For projects lasting several months or more, the Project Manager should work to reduce expenses by
finding apartments instead of hotels, obtaining long-term rental car contracts, and making sure
project members book flights in advance.
• The Project Manager needs to regularly review all expenses in Vista.

5.3 Facilities Pricing

The facility fee normally applies only to Construction phases.
• Add 7% to total cost if we provide the hardware, software, and space.

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• Add 3% if we provide the space only.

5.4 Pricing Approvals

• All estimates need to be approved by the Engagement Director.
• If total cost is > $250K or < 70% margin then it must be reviewed by Philip H. Choi.
• If total cost is > $1M or if non-standard pricing is involved then it must be reviewed by Philip H. Choi

5.5 Billing Considerations

• Billing the client on weekly (Net 30 days) basis is preferred; however, billing monthly or by milestone
is also an option.
• Auto bill invoices when possible; however, the Project Manager must verify the auto billing process is
working properly.
• Less information on the invoice is better. Finalize invoice format and client approval prior to any
billable activities.
• Deposits are required as follows:
− 0 – 10% for Fortune 500
− 25 – 30% for dot.coms and start-ups
− 10% minimum for any company smaller than $10M in revenue.

5.6 Invoicing vs. Accrual

• Invoice at rates the SOW estimate based on.
• Accrue internally at a lower rate to offset risk. (Depending on level of risk, adjust the accrual rate)
• Client should never know about the lower accrual rate.
− If everything goes as planned - write up.
− If there are problems – the write off is spread over the project rather than in the ending
quarter.

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6 CUSTOMIZING THE STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)
The appropriate Statement of Work (SOW) template should be used as a starting point for creating a
customized SOW. The template is downloadable from the custom web solutions toolkit. All work
outlined in the sections above should put you in position for writing a good SOW. The detailed
instructions for completing the SOW are embedded in the template. The templates in this planning guide
will assist you in completing the Deliverables, Staffing, and Professional Arrangement Sections.

The appropriate Methodology Mentor and the Engagement Director must review all SOW’s prior to client
delivery. The best way to ensure a smooth review is to use the reviewer's review checklist to perform a
self-check prior to the review. This checklist is called the Proposal Review Guide, and is available from
the Engagement Director.

6.1 Guidance
• Search the Project dB for SOW’s from similar projects and re-use copy as is appropriate
• Be very specific about what is in scope and what is out of scope.
• Make sure the list of assumptions is complete and accurate.
• Be very specific about the roles and responsibilities of the client.
• Review the “Approach” and “Deliverables” sections carefully and remove all content from the
template that is not appropriate to the client’s project.
• Assume the client will use the “Deliverables” section as a checklist at the end of the project to verify
that they received all services for which they paid.

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7 DETAILED PLANNING
After the client has signed off the Statement of Work, and work begins, the Project Manager must convert
the high-level project plan into a detailed one. Part of that process includes completing the Quality
Assurance Review Plan. The procedure is described below.

But first a few general lessons;

• Save a version/baseline of the project plan used to create the statement of work. Once specific
resources are assigned and high level tasks are delegated, Microsoft Project will automatically adjust
timeframes and effort estimates. The “SOW version” of the plan becomes a great reference for
scope discussions with client management as the project unfolds.
• Staffing considerations. Creative tasks are often staffed by part-time resources and technology tasks
are often staffed by full-time resources. Understanding this and working to develop a staffing plan
early on in the project is important.
• Schedule internal project reviews (technical) when the project starts.
• Meet with team members as they are assigned to the project to set expectations. Review with them,
the detailed tasks they will own on the project plan.

7.1 Complete the Quality Assurance Review Plan

(Note: this document was formerly known as the Risk Management Plan)
A Quality Assurance Review Plan must be completed during construction planning. This plan defines the
various project review dates and the persons who will conduct the reviews. The purpose of this plan is to
ensure that solution assurance (SA) reviews are built-in to the process throughout the project. The
Project Manager is responsible for developing this plan and incorporating any results from these reviews
into the project work plans and deliverables. The Quality Assurance Review Plan templates are
downloadable from the Project dB.

Once the Quality Assurance Review Plan is defined, it should be sent to those individuals listed on the
plan as reviewers and copy the Risk-Reviews to the Project Server. In addition, a copy should be filed in
the Project Notebook.

The Quality Assurance Review Plan defines mandatory and project-specific checkpoints. Below is a
standardized list of checkpoints when using the Custom Web Solutions methodology. Put these
checkpoints in the project-specific part of the Quality Assurance Review Plan form.

Architecture Phase
Week Review Type Typical Venue Purpose Reviewers
2 Initial technical 1 hour conference Ensure that the technical Outside Technology
architecture call, or if possible architectural direction is Architect
check-in face-to-face meeting sound
2 Initial UEA 1 hour conference Review approach for UEA, Outside Senior User
check-in call, or if possible Experience Concept, and Experience Architect
face-to-face meeting initial functional spec
3 Initial 1 hour conference Ensure that the marketing Brand Marketing
marketing call, or if possible strategy direction is sound Competency Lead or
strategy face-to-face meeting Representative
check-in
5 Final 1/2 day conference Ensure that the Outside Technology
architectural call, or if possible architecture is sound and Architect
review face-to-face meeting well defined enough to
serve as the basis for
project planning
5 Site Map 2 hour conference Ensure that the site map, Outside Senior User

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 Review call, or if possible Ex Concept, functional Experience Architecture
face-to-face meeting specs are solid and well
defined
5 Content 1 hour conference Review the content Outside Content
Assessment call assessment and discuss Manager or Senior
Review content strategy Copywriter
7 UEA Review ½ day conference Ensure that initial wire Outside Senior User
call, or if possible frames are sound, and Experience Architecture
face-to-face meeting that plans for initial
7 Construction 1-day face-to-face To review the deck, MD, at least 2
plan and review (less if under marketing strategy, project Directors, Methodology
Client $1M) plan tasks, pricing / Mentors, with the
Presentation contingency, SOW, and Technology Architect
review risk profile and mitigation calling in, if possible
strategy
7 Marketing 1-day face-to-face To review marketing Brand Marketing
strategy review (less if under strategy Competency Lead or
review $1M) Representative
7.5 Creative 2 hour face-to-face To review creative CD, MD, 1-2 Director
Design strategy, concepts, look level, outside CD
Review for and feel, tone and voice
projects over
1.5M
7.5 Creative 2 hour face-to-face To review consistency and ACD2, CD, MD, 1
Design quality of creative strategic Director and Practice
Review (for objectives Leader
Nat’l and Int’l
Assignments1)

Construction Phase
Week Review Type Typical Venue Purpose Reviewers
1.5 UEA Review 1 hour conference Review wire frames to Outside UEA
call ensure that they are sound
3 In-depth 1 day face to face Review technical Outside Senior
Technical meeting architecture, object Technical Specialist
Review (after design, sample code, and
tech spec, data model. To ensure
before staffing task estimates are still
up) aligned with SOW budget
& schedule.
4 Project 2 hour conference Review of the project plan Outside Project
Management call and staffing issues Manager
Review
5 Content 2 hour conference Review content against Outside Content
Review call or face-to-face marketing objectives for Manager or Senior
meeting message and tone Copywriter
5 Production 4 hour conference Review initial set-up, Outside Senior Site
Review call or face-to-face process, systems and html Builder
meeting pages
5 Marketing 1 hour conference To review marketing Brand Marketing
strategy call, or if possible strategy Competency Lead or
review face-to-face meeting Representative
1
For clients with ongoing multiple deliverables such as IBM, P&G and Seimens
2
Associate Creative Director who is assigned to that client as oversight for all engagements

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8 Project 2 hour conference Review of the project plan Outside Project
Management call and staffing issues Manager
Review
10 Production 4 hour conference Review initial set-up, Outside Senior Site
Review call or face-to-face process, systems and html Builder
meeting pages
12 Project 2 hour conference Review of the project plan Outside Project
Management call and staffing issues Manager
Review
14 End of 2 hour con call or Ensure that coding is Outside manager or
development face-to-face really complete and that delivery director
the team is really in
system test

7.2 Guidance
• These reviews should be scheduled at the beginning of the project and invitations to reviewers should
be made at that time (these are busy people)
• Allow 3-4 days before a client (external) review, to permit time for revisions and (if needed) re-review
• Send out deliverables to reviewers ahead of time
• The reviewers for the last review will typically be the appropriate methodology mentors for that
geography. From Technology Integration, it will most likely be the Engagement Director, or a
geographical lead.
• If any reviewers were also involved in the framing of the Architecture phase, then a second set of
eyes is recommended
• In the ideal review, nothing of importance happens. This means that the project team -- and in
particular the project manager -- work ahead of time with the reviewers to ensure that any high risk
items are adequately addressed. Bottom line: it is the job of the Project Manager to raise flags!
• The results of the last review, including the identified risks and mitigation strategy should be
presented to the client (obviously, appropriately framed) as part of the benefit of our QA process.
• All review time by outsider reviewers is billable time and must be budgeted for.
• An RM representative who will be responsible for final approval of the SOW should ideally sit in on
the review to streamline the SOW-approval process.
• Wherever possible, these reviews should coincide with any RM reviews.

7.3 Staffing the Reviews

The greatest challenge to operationalizing reviews is staffing them. At the release date of this handbook,
the staffing process is incomplete. The procedure described below was developed by the Technology
Integration practice, and as such represents an incomplete picture of how these reviews will be staffed
going forward.
7.3.1 Technology Integration Process for Staffing Reviews
Reviews will be organized according to the following procedure:
1. Project Manager - As part of RM-mandated risk planning process, at the beginning of the project,
the project manager sets the review dates for the checkpoints listed above, customized to the
timeline of their project.
2. Project Manager - The project manager publishes the schedule to the delivery director
3. Delivery Director - Each delivery director maintains a master list of review checkpoints.
4. Delivery Director - On the Monday staffing conference call, the delivery director raises any reviewer
need for the next month that is not staffed.

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5. Project Manager - the project manager contacts the staffed reviewers and arranges specifics (get a
meeting room, arrange a conference call, ensure attendance of appropriate team members).
6. Project Manager - send reviewers a copy of the Quality Assurance Review Plan and cc the Risk-
Reviews discussion group. In addition, a copy should be filed in the Project Notebook.

In summary, the project manager is responsible to develop the Quality Assurance Review Plan and
schedule the solution assurance reviews, the delivery director is responsible to staff them, and the project
manager is responsible to set up the reviews.

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