Paymaster Project Plan

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1.2.1 Project Objectives

Our objectives include the transition of all data from our current system to the new system, cost effective use of running dual systems while testing, timely closing and termination of old systems, proper training, and meeting budget.

1.2.1.1 Scope Summary

Our scope summary includes information on the employees who will work on the project tasks, determine if these employees have the available time tow work on this project and handle their day to day tasks. Our project team will include the Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Information Technology Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Human Resources Manager, Payroll Accountant and Accounting supervisor. It has been determined these employees will work as a team to the completion of the project.

1.2.1.2 Budget

The Stakeholders determined that we would not finance the new cloud based software. The cost of the new software is $275,000. Our cost to run dual systems during the transition will cost approximately $100,000. We will pay an upfront implementation fee and then once go live is complete and systems are up and running fully, we will pay the remainder of the monies due. We wrote in our contract with PAYMASTER that should the project not stay on schedule, there would be a 12% reduction in cost for each week past go live.

1.2.1.3 Milestone Schedule

Our milestones are identified based on the needs of the company and the standards that PAYMASTER gave us on implementation timeframes. We will start with the data download from our current system and subsequent upload of that date. This will begin January 3rd. PAYMASTER also noted that we would have to set up the new web-based software to our specifications to include set ups for all users. This will be done by February 1st. Testing will begin March 10th and Go live will be April 17th.

1.2.2 Project Authority

The project authority will be placed our current CITO and CHRO. These two employees will make all the decisions in regards to project requests, recommendations, and outside of the typical scope requests. The Board and CEO have selected these two employees as they are two of the major employee stakeholders of the project.

1.2.3 _ Project Manager Identification

Our project manager for the project will be the CIO. He will be the go between for our company and PAYMASTER. Our CIO is a skilled project manager and certified PMP. He will head our efforts related to the transition to the new PAYMASTER software.

1.3 Project Charter Signed and Approved

The Board of Directors, CEO, CFO, CIO and CHRO met at a called meeting to make the decision of the current Project Charter. The Board voted unanimously for the charter to proceed as proposed and the CEO gave the CIO and CHRO marching orders based on the Project Charter established by the board.

- Planning

The planning phase would typically consist of the creation of the scope statement but this was determined at the highest stakeholder level. It is the role of the designated team to discuss the specifics of the planning phase of this project to make sure everything has been included in the requirements of the new software. The planning phase will be used to make sure everyone in the team is bought in to the strategic mission and decisions to move forward with the new software purchase.

2.1 Project Team Announced

The project and project team was announced at the next leadership meeting scheduled in December. Although we had discussed a possible software purchase that would enable our administrative staff to become more efficient, the leadership team was not sure the board would approve. Our project team was announced and several of the leadership team members will work on this project. The project team is CIO, CFO, CHRO, Human Resources Manager, Payroll Accountant, and the Accounting Supervisor. We also set up a meeting for later in the week to start the planning process.

2.2 Discussion of the Preliminary Scope Statement

The scope statement was brought to the leadership team for discussion and buy in. Once the scope was laid out, the leadership team discussed all areas that would be affected with the implementation of the new software.

2.2.1 _ Identify Project Justification

The CIO laid out the project justification for the purchase and all agreed. Process would change and supervisors would have more responsibility in regards to timesheet approval and vacation and sick leave allowances but agree the automation of those would outweigh the negatives. The CFO also noted the new software would save us from having to refill and open position that the organization had a hard time filling because of the manual processes that were in place. This will save us $52,000 each year going forward – this includes salary and benefits.

2.2.2 Identify Project Objectives

The objectives for the project were akin to the justification of the project and had already been decided by the board. Our objectives were noted to have a smooth and clean transition of data, testing phase and termination of current and manual systems and processes. These objectives were agreed upon by the leadership team.

2.2.3 Identify Project Constraints

The project constraints were noted to be the transition for our 400+ employees to go from paper timesheets to electronic timesheets, to include training for supervisors and their new responsibilities and then likewise training our employees on the new system. The transition for our payroll department did not bring as much concern as there is only two people in payroll and making the change to a new system brought more automation to a very manual process internally for payroll and HR.

2.2.4 Identify Project Assumptions

Many assumptions are made in all projects. The CIO detailed the assumptions recorded by our leadership team to include – PAYMASTER will train our employees, supervisors and payroll and HR staff on all new processes and procedures. The next assumption was detailed as the new system will have a way to run reports and supervisors have the ability to create reports. Another assumption was that we will be given a project plan by PAYMASTER with specifics they need