Project Management PMO and IV&V

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Project Management Services

LakshLuther follows a Four-Phase Approach to deliver Project Management Services. This methodology defines our project management delivery process:

Initiation

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Planning

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Execution

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Closure

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Each phase is a distinct stage of the project life cycle and consists of standard tasks, activities, and work products that provide the requisite inputs for each subsequent management phase. Each phase fully encompasses the related management of expectations, communications, resources, time, quality, change, risks and issues.

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Project Initiation Upon notification of contract acceptance, LakshLuther will assemble our project team. Our project manager will conduct an initial, internal orientation meeting to review project goals, objectives, plans, policies, procedures, roles, responsibilities and performance expectations regarding quality and timeliness of work products/deliverables. LakshLuther will create a formal Statement of Work (SOW) reflecting the shared understanding of the scope and extent of work tasks and deliverables to be performed.

During this phase LakshLuther also will schedule and conduct a project kickoff meeting with designated representatives from the customer and other project stakeholders. The purpose of this meeting is to review and confirm the project’s scope, proposed work plan/schedule, deliverables, shared roles and responsibilities, resource and budget constraints, planning assumptions and logistics.

Also, during this phase our project manager will establish a project management file as the central repository of project information including contractual documentation, project and staffing plans, status and budget reports, standard operating policies and procedures, interim/final deliverables, risk/issue management plans and logs, quality and change management plans, minutes from project meetings, invoices and other financial records, as appropriate.

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Project Planning During this phase the LakshLuther project manager will review and coordinate tasks, resources, and schedules with the customer, in an iterative process, after initially creating the master project plan, budget and schedule. The master project plan will describe LakshLuther’s management approach, project organization and staffing, specific activities, duration of tasks, schedule dependencies, deliverables, logistics, assumptions and constraints. Furthermore, the master project plan will include plans, processes and tools to address:

➤ project communications - issue resolution
➤ resource/schedule management - risk mitigation
➤ quality assurance - change control

After the customer accepts the baseline SOW and project plan, our project manager will continuously update this plan throughout the project. LakshLuther will address questions or concerns regarding scope, schedule, resources, schedule, communications, issues/risks, and quality management, as appropriate, throughout the project.

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Project Execution

During this phase LakshLuther will assign, coordinate, and control project resources per the approved baseline plan. Our project manager will regularly monitor and measure project progress to identify variances in scope, and quality, and schedule and budget so we and the customer can swiftly implement appropriate corrective actions we will assign specific tasks, and review the quality and progress of completed work efforts through direct observation and weekly status reports from each team member. Our project manager will subsequently review, approve and track actual hours expended as well as other authorized project expenses. After collecting and analyzing project data our project manager will update and report projected schedule and budget estimates to complete the project and other requested performance metrics.

Project Closure

When we have successfully completed of all project deliverables and other contractual obligations specified in the original plan (or subsequently approved change request documentation), our project manager will submit a final deliverable acceptance form to the customer for approval. After the customer approves all final deliverables, LakshLuther will begin an administrative closeout process.

Project Communications

Management of project communications involves the processes needed to ensure the timely creation, collection, dissemination, storage and disposition of project-related information. Effective project communications will significantly increase the likelihood of success for this engagement. During Project Initiation, LakshLuther will coordinate with the customer to determine what information we will be regularly providing. At a minimum, our project communications will include:

✓ Project Plan - Progress Review Meetings (Ad Hoc)
✓ Meeting Agendas - Scheduled Milestone Review Meetings (Formal)
✓ Meeting Minutes - Project Management Review Meetings
✓ Individual Team Member Reports - Communications with End Users, as appropriate
✓ Weekly Team Status Reports - Project Calendars of Key Milestones/Major Activities
✓ Monthly Budget Reports - Repository of Presentations and Reference Material

Program Management Office Solutions

LakshLuther can provide your organization full service Project Management Office (PMO) Solutions at an affordable price, thus reducing your organization’s need to carry a full time FTE for the management and coordination of your project portfolio. A well developed and aligned PMO can provide:

✓ Provides better predictability for cycle time and costs
✓ Improves quality of product deliverables
✓ Provides early identification and proactive management of project issues and risks
✓ Provides better containment and management of project scope
✓ Reduces time to “get up to speed” on new projects
✓ Provides one-stop view of project status
✓ Develops and deploys common project management methodology
✓ Determines skill gaps and focus areas for training
✓ Accelerates adoption of project management through training and coaching

LakshLuther professionals can provide the exact, tailored PMO services you require depending on the maturity of your current Program Management efforts. The process described below would be a possible strategy to help you formalize and establish your PMO.

Further, LakshLuther can provide managed services for your existing PMO. The flexibility in services and solutions we deliver is the strength LakshLuther brings as a partner with your organization.

The LakshLuther approach starts with a Current State Assessment of your organization’s current project management policies, procedures and practices. The following areas are reviewed:

Strategy Objectives
Principles History
Culture Governance
Clients, Customers and Suppliers Stakeholders
Business Processes Conflicting Initiatives
Organizational Structure Staff
Locations

After LakshLuther understands the Current State, we continue to determine the Desired State for the Program Management Office by understanding the following:

✓ Clients/customers
✓ Suppliers
✓ Stakeholders
✓ Products and Services
✓ Other initiatives
✓ Staff, roles, responsibilities, and skills
✓ Iterative process – Your future state is likely to change when you see what it will take to reach it.

After we determine the Current State environment and Future State goals, LakshLuther will document these goals. The LakshLuther Team will create a Gap Analysis between the current and future states and work with representation across your organization to convert the gap analysis into a Plan of Actions and Milestones (POAM) which will guide the organization in achieving its future state goals and objectives. The POAM is your implementation strategy and roadmap to success in a single tracking document from which we will produce status reports.

Independent Verification and Validation Services

LakshLuther professionals can provide Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Services for your major initiatives and projects that require additional third party oversight due to regulation or other governance initiative within your organization. Our certified project management professionals, software and infrastructure professionals and business analysts provide a well-rounded IV&V approach to the project oversight you require.

IV&V provides management with an independent perspective on project activities and promotes early detection of project/product variances. This oversight allows you to implement corrective action to bring the project back in-line with agreed-upon expectations. Objectives of performing IV&V include:

✓ Facilitate early detection and correction of cost and schedule variances
✓ Enhance management insight into process and product risks
✓ Support project life cycle processes to ensure compliance with regulatory, performance, schedule and budget requirements
✓ Validate the project’s product and processes to ensure compliance with defined requirements

IV&V findings and reports provide supporting evidence that the project/product does satisfy client requirements. IV&V should be performed throughout the project’s life and can be executed incrementally at specific points in the life cycle or be performed in a manner that is integrated into all project efforts. Although costs increase, IV&V is most effective when integrated into the entire project life cycle, conducted in parallel with the project and product development activities.

IV&V stands for:
✓ Independent – assesses the project/product with independent third party
✓ Verification – verifies that the project/product is well engineered
✓ Validation – validates that the project/product conforms with client requirements

LakshLuther IV&V Services can provide any or all of the following activities:

✓ Develop and obtain acceptance from the project sponsor, and other appropriate stakeholders of an IV&V Management Plan for the IV&V project effort
✓ Conduct a preliminary assessment of project efforts
✓ Review and make recommendations related to policy and processes in areas such as:
✓ Project management
✓ Product development
✓ Project and product policies and standards
✓ Project and product quality assurance
✓ Project and product risk management
✓ Project and product configuration management
✓ Project and product requirements
✓ Project and product security and capacity
✓ Review and make recommendations related to producing deliverables in areas such as:
✓ System engineering assessment of requirements analysis, specification, and interface control
✓ Operating environment assessment of system hardware and software
✓ Data management assessment of data conversion, software, and database design
✓ Development environment assessment of hardware and software used for development
✓ Software architecture assessment of design specifications
✓ Code and testing assessment of product code, unit test, integration test, system test, acceptance test, pilot test
✓ Analyze past project performance as an input into identifying and making recommendations as well as providing input into lessons learned for the project
✓ Provide assessment reports related to both the management and technical aspects of the project as they relate to the above bulleted items
✓ Provide a final IV&V report summarizing all assessment reports and recommendations prior to concluding IV&V activities
✓ Evaluate operations and maintenance procedures and any ongoing changes

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