Project Plan Assignment #2 Expense Claim Automation

Team Number Team Name Team Members

Team 1-A Anish Ambujakshan Tony Chaing Annie Chan Iris Huynh 1131767 ihuynh@ualberta.ca Harkanwaljeet Singh Shuai Yang

Date:

March 5, 2012

Table of Contents
PROJECT DECISION ......................................................................................................................................... 3 APPROVALS ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 1 OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 2 PURPOSE .......................................................................................................................................................4 PROJECT SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................4 BUSINESS OUTCOMES ..................................................................................................................................4 OBJECTIVES ..................................................................................................................................................4 IN SCOPE .......................................................................................................................................................5 OUT OF SCOPE ................................................................................................ ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

SCOPE ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 2.2

APPROACH ................................................................................................................................................. 5 3.1 3.2 APPROACH ....................................................................................................................................................6 WORK PLAN ..................................................................................................................................................6

4 5

DELIVERABLES ......................................................................................................................................... 9 ASSUMPTIONS, CONSTRAINTS AND DEPENDENCIES ................................................................... 10 5.1 5.2 5.3 ASSUMPTIONS .............................................................................................................................................10 CONSTRAINTS..............................................................................................................................................10 DEPENDENCIES ...........................................................................................................................................10

6 7

RISKS ......................................................................................................................................................... 10 STAKEHOLDERS ..................................................................................................................................... 12 7.1 7.2 7.3 PRIMARY .......................................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. SECONDARY .................................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. INDIRECT .......................................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE .........................................................................................................................13 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES ...................................................................................................................14 PROJECT MANAGEMENT .................................................................................................................. 16 COMMUNICATION M ANAGEMENT ................................................................ ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. QUALITY M ANAGEMENT .............................................................................. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. RISK AND ISSUE M ANAGEMENT .................................................................. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. PROCUREMENT M ANAGEMENT ................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. CHANGE M ANAGEMENT .............................................................................. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

PROJECT ORGANIZATION .................................................................................................................... 13 8.1 8.2

9 10

BUDGET ..................................................................................................................................................... 15

10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5

Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

Project Decision
Approved: Deferred: Cancelled: Rejected:

Approvals
[By signing this document, the project sponsor agrees that the project will proceed.]

Project Sponsor
Name Approval Signature Date

Other Stakeholders
Name Approval Signature Date

Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

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1.1

Overview
Purpose
The purpose of the Project Plan is to refine the project scope and deliverables, describe the plan for execution of the project, and detail how the project will be monitored and controlled through its lifecycle. The plan is an agreement between the Project Steering Committee and Project manager.

1.2

Project Summary
The primary objective of this project is to assist the organization in introducing a new approach that will allow them to better streamline and manage the expense claim process, while also ensuring that appropriate controls are in place to prevent errors and fraud. Through means of analyzing the current system and identifying inefficiencies, we will recommend a new workflow process that will benefit users to optimize faster times for the expense claim and reimbursement.

1.3

Business Outcomes
The business outcomes of this project include: o Analyzing and validating the existing process o Designing a new process for expense claims o Standardize the expense claim process company wide, automate workflow, clearly define and communicate the policies/procedures, and provide appropriate training. o Ensuring that roles and responsibilities involved in the business processes are well-understood by the people performing them o Establishing processes and aligning systems to support the evidence of approval and review of expense compliance and eligibility o Improving productivity and employee satisfaction, while also delivering value to the company o Increasing the transparency of the expense claim process

1.4

Objectives
The objective of this project is to design a new business process for expense claim processing. This updated process will minimize the amount of time and effort required by staff spent to process expense claims, while also ensuring that adequate controls are in place to prevent error and fraud. The results of this project plan will include a proposed process, implementation approach and an identification of potential methods for automating the process.

Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

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2.1

Scope
In Scope
The scope of the project includes: Create, evolve, and execute a Project Plan following the discussion with steering committee Analyze and validate the existing processes for expense control system Design a new process for expense claim, which will be aligned with the project objective Summary and validation of the new process with evaluations from the Steering Committee Recommend automation of the updated process Develop transition planning or change management through knowledge transfer sessions, seminars and workshops Assist in the preparation of training manuals, and facilitate lessons learned sessions for the project

2.2

Out of Scope
The following activities are out of scope for the project: Design and develop any functionality change in the expense evaluation process Recommendations of any IT software solutions, if needed IT implementation of the recommended process Support and maintenance of any software integration process

Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

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3.1

Approach
Approach
The project will adhere to the core objective, which is to design an efficient expense claim process. The prime focus will be on a collaborative approach where the needs and perspective of each stakeholder will be identified, and taken into consideration in each phase. It is expected that all the stakeholders will endeavour to continuously support the planning and evaluation stages. The project commences with a Project Initiation phase, in which there will be kick-off meetings with the steering committee and the project team. This will be followed by scoping session with steering committee; a comprehensive project plan will be developed and documented in the initial phase itself, which defines the deliverables and milestones at each phase of the project. Based on the identified deliverables, the project team will be finalized, and the roles and responsibilities will be assigned to various members within the team. Project controls will be established based on the current standards followed in the organization. The second phase, Analysis and Validation, will focus on developing current state analysis and documentation of the existing expense control process. The final validation of the document will be completed by the Steering Committee with the assistance from the project team. Any opportunities to improve the existing process will be identified in the further stage, and a complete design and suggestions for automation will be recommended. The initiatives on change management will be done as a part of the transition planning, in which knowledge transfer sessions and workshops will be facilitated with each stakeholder. Throughout the course of the project, risk, issues scope, quality, human resources and costs will be monitored, managed and reported in weekly status reports. During the closeout phase, the project team will also ensure proper transfer of knowledge to the stakeholders through Lessons Learned sessions. A project completion report summarizing the analysis will be submitted to the steering committee to discuss any follow-up plans.

3.2

Milestones
Major Milestone Date

Project Initiation Complete Analysis Complete Design Complete Transition Planning Complete

February 22, 2012 March 13, 2012 March 27, 2012 April 4, 2012

Project Plan
Major Milestone

Expense Claim Automation

Date

Project Closeout Complete

April 11, 2012

47.5 days 12.38 days 1.25 days 10 hrs 7.13 days 25 hrs 20 hrs 5 hrs 6 hrs 6 hrs 0 hrs 2.75 days 4 hrs 4 hrs 10 hrs 4 hrs 1.25 days 6 hrs 4 hrs 0 days 14.38 days 10.63 days 25 hrs 45 hrs 15 hrs 3.75 days 16 hrs 5 hrs 14 hrs 0 days 0 days 9.5 days 7 days 40 hrs 8 hrs 8 hrs 20 hrs 0 days 0 days 6.5 days 6.5 days 30 hrs 16 hrs 18 hrs 4 hrs 0 days 0 days 4.75 days 16 hrs 8 hrs 10 hrs 8 hrs 4 hrs 0 days 0 days

3.3

1 Project - Expense Claim Work Plan 2 Project Initiation 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

Business Process

Conduct kick-off meetings Plan and conduct Internal Steering committee kick-off meeting Develop project plan Conduct project-scoping sessions with the steering committee Create project plan Conduct Review Cycle Update Project Plan Submit Project Plan for Approval

Deliverable: Project Plan

Team Formation - Working Group and Project Team Form Working-group and Project Team Identify Resource Needs and Form Project Team Plan and conduct project team kick-off meeting Identify responsibilities and assign roles within the teams Setup Project Management Controls and Templates Create Project Controls Create Project Document Templates (Formatting and Themes) Milestone: Project Initiation Complete Analysis and Validation of the Existing System Current State Analysis Analysis of existing processes and review existing documentations Plan and Conduct requirement-gathering sessions Draft Current State Analysis document including recommendations Validation of Existing System Conduct review cycle of Current State Analysis document Update the Current State Analysis document Submit Current State Analysis document for approval

Deliverable: Current State Analysis Document

Milestone: Analysis Complete Design And Recommendation Design of new processes Design a new workflow model Validation and Verification of new processes with the working 35 group and steering committee 36 Approval of the new workflow process by the steering committee 37 Recommend Automation of the updated process 38 Deliverable: Updated Work Flow Process 39 Milestone: Design Complete 40 Transition From Existing To Updated Process 41 Transition Planning 42 Prepare Transition Planning Document 43 Conduct Review Cycle 44 Update Transition Planning Document 45 Submit for approval 46 Deliverable: Transition Planning Document 47 Milestone: Transition Planning Complete 48 Project Closeout 49 Conduct Lessons Learned Sessions 50 Draft Project Completion Report 51 Conduct Review Cycle 52 Update Project Completion Report 53 Submit for approval 54 Deliverable: Project Completion Report 55 Milestone: Project Closeout Complete

Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

3.4

Resource Utilization Estimates

Resource Costs

Steering Committee

Business Analyst-1

Business Analyst-2

Project Manager

Phase One: Project Initiation

Plan and conduct Steering committee kick-off meeting Conduct project-scoping sessions with the steering committee Create project plan Conduct Review Cycle Update Project Plan Submit Project Plan for approval Form Working-group and project team Identify resource needs and form project team Plan and conduct project team kick-off meeting Identify responsibilities and assign roles within the teams Create Project Controls Create Project Document Templates (Formatting and Themes)
Phase One: Project Initiation Hours Phase Two: Analysis and Validation of the Existing System

10 25 20 5 6 6 4 4 10 4 6 4 104.0

5 25 5 6 4 5 5

5.0 25 45 15 8 5 14 112.0 40 8 8 20 76.0 30 16 18 64.0 16 12 8 36.0 293.0

5.0 25 45 15 8 5 14 112.0 40 8 8 20 76.0 30 16 18 64.0 16 12 8

45.0

0.0 0 20 16

Analysis of existing processes and review existing documentations

Plan and conduct requirement-gathering sessions Draft Current State Analysis document including recommendations

Conduct review cycle of Current State Analysis document Update the Current State Analysis document Submit Current State Analysis document for approval
Phase Two: Analysis and Validation of the Existing System: Hours Phase Three: Design And Recommendation 0.0

8 8.0

8 44.0

Design a new workflow model Validation of new processes with the working group Approval of the new workflow process by the steering committee Recommend Automation of the updated process
Phase Three: Design And Recommendation: Hours Phase Four: Transition From Existing To Updated Process 0.0 8 8 4 4 24.0 16 4 10 0 4 Phase Five: Project Closeout: Hours Resource Hours 34.0 162.0

8 8.0 8.0

Prepare Transition Planning Document Conduct Review Cycle Update Transition Planning Document Submit for approval
Phase Four:Transition From Existing To Updated Process: Hours Phase Five: Project Closeout

8 4 12.0 16 10 4

0.0 16

Conduct Lessons Learned Sessions Draft Project Completion Report Conduct Review Cycle Update Project Completion Report Submit for approval

36.0 293.0

30.0 103.0

Working Group

16.0 68.0

Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

Deliverables
The following table identifies the project deliverables and completion dates.

Deliverable Project Plan Current State Analysis Document Updated Process with recommendations for automation Transition Planning Document Project Completion Report

Delivery Date February 16, 2012 March 13, 2012 March 27, 2012 April 4, 2012 April 11, 2012

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Expense Claim Automation

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5.1

Assumptions, Constraints and Dependencies

Assumptions
Assumptions for the project include: Steering Committee and Working Group would be already formed by the organization The project team will include only Business Analysts and will be led by the Project Manager The Working Group and other stakeholders will be available to participate in interviews Any material or information that could be of use during the project will be readily available and accessible by the project team The Steering Committee will define the standards for project templates and similar deliverables The costs of the various stakeholders involved in the project are all inclusive and there are no separate costs or expenses. <Tony (if applicable) to add assumptions on proj management here>

5.2

Constraints
Based on the defined scope, the project is not dependent on any constraints.

5.3

Dependencies
There are no dependencies to be considered in this project scope.

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Expense Claim Automation

Risks

The following are the identified risks for this project, along with the probability of occurrence, impact, as well as the mitigation approach/strategy for each risk.
# 1 Project is delayed 2 Usability of new process model 3 4 Provide thorough training and support to users, user interface specialists, gather input from users consistently, as well as gain user support throughout the project 1 5 Proper project management, planning, analysis, and resources will keep project on track Risk Probability (1-5) Impact (1-5) Mitigation Approach

3 Interoperability with other existing systems or processes 4 Scope creep (changes in scope, or inflation of requirements) Ensure client's needs and requirements are properly gathered at the beginning, and that client is well aware and notified of potential outcomes associated with changes in scope at the very beginning (scheduling delays, increased need of resources, etc.) 3 4 Ensure the interfaces to other existing systems are compatible, as well as data formats (if necessary) - proper planning and analysis prior to design and implementation of project

5 Acceptance of new system Gain working group support throughout project, consistently involve users and gather feedback from them, as this system should be tailored accordingly to their needs (within reason and scope)

6 Change in available resources during project development Ensure that all steering committees needs, requirements, and available resources are adequate for the project and scope at hand at the very beginning. Otherwise, prioritization of top needs and requirements will be necessary, and thus lower priority items may not be completed

7 Staff turnover 1 5 Have well defined roles and cross training to compensate for a potential project member departure.

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Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

Stakeholders
Stakeholders have the right to provide requirements for the project. Following is a list of stakeholders for the Expense Business Process. Stakeholders have been categorized as Primary, Secondary, and Indirect.

7.1

Primary
Primary stakeholders are those individuals who are central to the project and have direct involvement. They will carry out and execute important decisions to be made with respect to the project, and are responsible for project approval. These individuals are considered to have high interest and high powers. Primary stakeholders for the project include:

Evaluation Steering Committee Project Director and Project Team Internal Managers Accounting and Finance Staff

7.2

Secondary
Secondary stakeholders are groups or individuals that will be affected by the outcome of the project and whose requirements, interests or needs may be taken into consideration as part of the project effort. These individuals are considered to have high interest and low power. Secondary stakeholders for the project include: Consultants

7.3

Indirect
Indirect stakeholders are groups or individuals who are not directly impacted by the project but have an interest or desire to be informed about the project and what it is designed to produce. These individuals have low interest and lower power. The indirect stakeholders of this project include: Audit staff

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Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

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8.1

Project Organization
Governance Structure
The governance structure focuses on the project team and the levels of reporting requiring communication on the progress of the project. The project is sponsored by Mr. A B. Clarke, Director (Finance & Auditing) and is driven by the Steering Committee comprised of four executives - two Consultants, and the Finance & Audit Staff. In order to collect and validate the business requirements, a Working Group has been formed comprising of the Consultants, Approving Managers, and the Finance & Audit department. The Project Manager leads the project, and the requirements will be gathered and analyzed by a team of Business Analysts. The Business Analysts will provide suggestions for updating the process model, which will be further validated by the Working Group. The Working group consists of 2 Consultants ( those who actually submit the claims), two managers (those who approve the claims) and two people from Finance & Auditing (those who process and reimburse the claims).

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Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

8.2

Roles and Responsibilities

Roles Steering Committee Responsibilities Project Sponsor Business Analysts Provide final authority on resolution of major project issues outside the control of the sponsor. Receive project updates. Recommend approval of project scope, schedule and budget. Participate in on-going project communication processes. Define objectives. Define business requirements. Ensure achievement of objectives. Review and approve scope, schedule and budget. Review and approve scope, schedule and budget changes. Review and approve deliverables. Provide decisions / resolution of escalated issues. Review and authorize overall budget. Assess overall benefits. Ensure delivery of benefits. Assist in evaluation of the current system. Assist in defining business requirements. Validate the requirements gathered by the Business Analysts. Validate the proposed business process. Provide regular updates on project status. Define milestones and provide deliverables. Provide quality assurance of deliverables. Ensure that delivery is on schedule and budget. Ensure that business activities are built into the work plans and monitored regularly. Manage scope and issues. Complete the tasks in the project work plan. Keep the Project Manager apprised of task status and issues. Produce the deliverables. Analyze business requirements and recommend updated process model

Working Group

Project Manager

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Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

Budget

Phase Phase One: Project Initiation Phase Two: Analysis and Validation of the Existing System Phase Three: Design And Recommendation Phase Four: Transition From Existing To Updated Process Phase Five: Project Closeout Subtotal Contingency Change

TOTAL $52,400 $50,720 $23,360 $23,440 $44,460 $194,380 $19,438 $19,438

TOTAL

$233,256

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Expense Claim Automation

10 Project Management
10.1 Communications Management:
To ensure that the project progresses smoothly as planned, we will be performing the following activities/tasks for effective and timely communication:

Conduct project kickoff meetings with steering committee, working group and project team to outline the project, scope, approach, and schedule Weekly project meetings to monitor the progress of the project and to discuss any issues that may have manifested Weekly status report for reporting of project status, risks, issues Use of Google's web services such as Google Docs and Gmail for a collaborative computing environment as well as for the project repository Enforcement of a 24 hour response policy to ensure effective and timely communication Roles within the project team have been clearly defined, and proper cross training has been provided to allow for members to understand concepts across different roles

10.2 Quality Management:

This is not within the scope of our project and it will be up to the Steering Committee to address any required quality management during the duration of the project. Any further questions or concerns in regards to quality management may be directed to the project manager.

10.3 Risk, Issue, and Decision Management:

To ensure that risks, issues, and decisions are being addressed, the following activities will be performed:

Risks and issues will be discussed, addressed, and potentially mitigated (if possible/applicable) within weekly project meetings There is also a risk management section within the project plan outlining the current risks of the project, along with the probability of occurrence, impact, as well as the mitigation strategy for the respective risks Decisions will be finalized through a democratic process within the project team, with the Steering Committee making the final decision

10.4 Procurement Management:

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Project Plan

Expense Claim Automation

This is not within the scope of our project and it will be up to the Steering Committee to perform any required procurement management processes during the duration of the project. Any further questions or concerns in regards to procurement management may be directed to the project manager.

10.5 Change Control:

To ensure that changes are properly addressed, the following initiatives will be adhered to:

Potential changes will require a request for change form to be completed and submitted to the project manager These potential changes will be discussed, addressed, and potentially implemented (if possible/applicable) during the following weekly project meeting(s) The Steering Committee will make the final decision on whether or not to implement a change Changes that are to be implemented will be reflected in the weekly project status reports and meetings

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