Project Management

Project Management services are available for both large and small information technology projects, including software development, application testing, and change management.

For smaller projects, we provide a lightweight project management service which aims to identify, to an appropriate level, all of the work units to be completed together with timing estimates. This collection of work units and timing estimates is then used to create a schedule against which completion of individual work units is plotted, enabling us to highlight areas where the project may be delayed or where requirements for the project need to be reconsidered to ensure the project is delivered on time.

For larger projects, we provide a formal project management service to PRINCE2 standards. PRINCE2 is a structured project management methodology developed by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) in 1989 as a standard for the management of government IT projects which, largely through their complexity, had been subject to a series of high-profile failures.

PRINCE2 is a process-based approach to project management where each individual process is formally defined by a set of inputs and outputs for the process together with specific objectives to be met and activities to be undertaken within the process. Key processes defined by PRINCE2 are:

• starting up a project — selecting an appropriate project management team; and creating the initiation stage plan.
• initiating a project — ensuring that there is a suitable business case, a stable management basis and sufficient resources for the project to continue. This stage also usually includes a formal risk assessment stage to ensure that the risks associated with development of the project and the potential for the failure, or partial failure of the project is acceptable.
• control of a stage — represents the monitor and control activities undertaken by the project manager in the course of day-to-day management of the project.
• managing stage boundaries — represents the management process for the boundaries between the various stages of project management where key decisions relating to the project are evaluated. This process seeks to ensure that the project controllers are well informed of the viability and incremental success or failure of the project to date.
• managing product delivery — represents the process for managing the product delivery process which includes factors such as quality assurance and adherance to interface specifications.
• closing a project — includes formal acceptance testing; support and maintenance arrangements; recommendations for further work; and comparison of the final deliverable with the original specification to identify lessons learned from the project.

In addition to these processes, two additional processes are defined and are active throughout the project lifecycle:

• directing a project — which covers the creation of a Project Board, a business-oriented group responsible for the delivery and success of the project, through which all major decision points are made: for example, commitment of additional resources, or major changes to specifications.
• planning — which aims to establish and specify products (or work-units) required and establishes their delivery sequence.

Pricing

Pricing for project management services generally relates to the complexity of the project in hand. A simple project, requiring informal project management techniques including the identification of work units, time estimates and general monitoring of progress can be offered at relatively low cost. More complex projects, requiring detailed component breakdowns and work planning using formal project management methodologies are, however, considerably more expensive to manage.

Our fixed-price services are structured in terms of the following charges:

• onsite visit charge -- this is a £50.00 fee charged by us for a visit by us to your premises. It includes transport, parking and travel time and covers all our visits to your premises in a given day. On certain projects, this fee is waived due, for example, to the inherent onsite the nature of the project management task in hand or if your premises are near in proximity to our base.
• task charge -- this is the fee charged for undertaking a given task, and covers our work on your project.

If you would like us to evaluate, and provide a specific project management quotation for your project please complete our request for quotation form or contact us by post, telephone or email using the details on our contacts page. Below, we have provided project management estimates for a selection of small and medium sized projects.

Small Project

2-4 week software development project either outsourced to another company, or being undertaken by in-house technical staff. The purpose of external project management, in this case, is:

• to ensure that project size and cost estimates provided by third party supplier, or internal staff is realistic; and
• to scrutinize billing; and
• to provide a degree of external expertise to assist in decision making and problem solving.

Estimated direct project costs, in terms of time only:

• using 1 internal technical person, between £1200.00 and £2400.00 based on 80 to 160 hours of salaried employment at approximately £29k per annum (£15.00 per hour).
• using 1 contract technical person, provided by contract agency, between £2800.00 and £5600.00 based on 80 to 160 hours of billed time at £35.00 per hour including agency fees.
• using 1 contract technical person, provided by consultancy group, between £3600.00 and £7200.00 based on 80 to 160 hours of billed time at £45.00 per hour.

Project management tasks required: component breakdown, time estimates based on software metrics, one site visit at the beginning of the project, and another at the end of the project.

Charge basis: small company discounted fee rate @ £50.00 per hour or part thereof; no day-to-day project management; and minimal formal communications, such as letters.

Medium Project

3 month software development project either outsourced to another company, or being undertaken by in-house technical staff. The purpose of external project management, in this case, is:

• to ensure that project size and cost estimates provided by third party supplier, or internal staff is realistic; and
• to scrutinize billing; and
• to provide a degree of external expertise to assist in decision making and problem solving; and
• to undertake some day-to-day project management tasks.

Estimated direct project costs, in terms of time only:

• using 1 internal technical person, £7200.00 based on 480 hours of salaried employment at approximately £29k per annum (£15.00 per hour).
• using 1 contract technical person, provided by contract agency, £16800.00 based on 480 hours of billed time at £35.00 per hour including agency fees.
• using 1 contract technical person, provided by consultancy group, £21600.00 based on 480 hours of billed time at £45.00 per hour.

Project management tasks required: component breakdown, time estimates based on software metrics, one site visit per week throughout the duration of the project, with day-to-day project management conducted mainly by email, collaborative software, or by telephone.

Charge basis: midsize company discounted fee rate @ £90.00 per hour or part thereof; fine-grained day-to-day project management; some formal communications.