Completion Report
Project Summary:
Project Review
This project was initiated to identify and deliver key enhancements to ABS and IS Apps-developed applications within Finance. This is a yearly project funded by Finance to complement the 'keeping the show on the road' support provided by Production Management.
The aim of this project was to deliver as many enhancements as possible within the allocated budget.
1.1 Scope
The project had a fixed budget of 128 days.
The project was split into Work Packages, which lasted for a pre-determined length of time (approx. 6 weeks). This allowed the priority of the items within the work packages to be decided in at the time of starting a new work package (borrowing loosely from Agile methodology).
Items that are considered high priority but not completed under FIN099 will be carried over into the project for 2015/16, FIN108. These items will be re-prioritised accordingly at the planning stage.
1.2 Objectives and Deliverables (from Project Brief)
| Objective/Deliverable | Description | Delivered? |
| O1: Define packages of work | To gather the in-scope items that were to be targeted for FIN099. | Yes |
| O2: Document the packages in priority order | To gather further requirements for the identified items and put these in priority order for each work package | Yes |
| O3: Schedule delivery of each package | To decide on the amount and duration of the work packages for the lifetime of the project | Yes |
| D1: List of enhancements required in priority order | To maintain a full list of the enhancements and their priority rating (MoSCoW) | Yes |
| D2: Updated technical documentation | As and when enhancements are done, any relevant technical document should also be updated | Yes |
1.3 Summary of Work Packages devliered
There were 5 Work Packages completed over the duration of the project.
In total there were 21 enhancements and bug fixes delivered under this project, all of varying size and complexity. There was also significant progress made on items that will be carying over into FIN108 (International Bank Validation, eIncoiving, FPM install of v2.2).
Below is a list of each completed item and the benefits achieved/expected from each:
| Work Package and items complete | Benefits |
| Work Package 1: 05-Sept-14 - 31-Oct-14 | |
| No items completed, scoping work for eight items started, mainly eAuth enhancements |
|
| Work Package 2: 31-Oct-14 - 12-Dec-14 | |
| FIN099-04 Purchase Order PDF Printing complete |
|
| FIN099-57, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64 eAuth Helpdesk calls |
|
| Work Package 3: 16-Jan-15 - 27-Feb-15 | |
| FIN099-09 Suppliers Name Table |
|
| FIN099-54 Supplier Self Service Patch |
|
| Work Package 4: 13-Mar-15 - 24-Apr-15 | |
| FIN099-05 eProc Purchase Order Printing |
|
| FIN099-06, 07, 14 eStores fixes |
|
| FIN099-66 eFIN SQN Vers on Dev/Test |
|
| Work Package 5: 30-Apr-15 - 17-Jul-15 | |
| FIN099-15 Webfirst fix |
|
| FIN099-16 Webfirst enhancement |
|
| FIN099-55 eIT enhancement |
|
| FIN099-56 Webfirst fix |
|
| FIN099-67 Supplier Self Service Patch #2 |
|
| FIN099-68 Paperclip |
|
| FIN099-69 FPM v2.2 |
|
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 128 days
Staff Usage Actual: 130 days
Staff Usage Variance: 2%
Other Resource Estimate: days
Other Resource Actual: days
Other Resource Variance: 0%
Explanation for variance:
The project final time spent was six days over the allocated budget of 128 days. Several enhancements took more time than the initial estimate due to unforseen issues. The main ones were:
FPM v2.2 upgrade - several issues trying to install this upgrade on Dev. Was initially estimated at 0.5d but actually took 2.4d
International Bank Validation - several issues encountered between ABS and Experian. Carried over to FIN108 but 8.8d spent so far.
Key Learning Points:
- Using a 'work package' structure and milestones seemed to work well as there were regular reviews and the chance for priority items to be changed if needed. The PM would recommend this approach is used for the next project. However, the Business reps have reservations of how well this kind of continuous improvement project lends itself to a more Agile-based approach. Caution is needed here to get the right balance that suits this type of project.
- Resourcing: At times there was not enough resource in Finance for testing and there was also not always the necessary resource available from IS to achieve planned work. For the next project, perhaps a SLA could be agreed between IS and Finance so that potential delays on either side are highlighted and therefore reduced, thereby keeping momentum going and allowing the opportunity to move down the priority list if there are reasons for work not being achieved as planned.
- It was suggested that the Agile version of Jira could be used for the next project. By useing the Agile 'board' and separting the work packages into releases, this may give a clearer picture as to what stage each jira is at and be easier to report on.
- For FIN099 all the enhancements identified at a previous FInance/IS workshop were added to Jira. It perhaps wasn't necessary to add all items at once, especially when some of them didn't have any details other than a title. The recommendation for FIN108 is to only add new jira's for items as and when they are picked up to be worked on. That way a central list of enhancements can be maintained that will form the basis of the new project each year.
- The FIN099 Project Team felt it was important for FIN108 to note that the reason for the 'Essential Enhancements' yearly project is to deliver small, defined packages of work that improve the Finance applications. There can be a temptation for support work to be squeezed last minute under this project to get work done quicker, but this then holds back the items already agreed to be in scope.
Outstanding issues:
The following items were not completed under FIN099 and have been agreed, with Finance, to be carried over into FIN108:
- International Bank Validation (was FIN099-02). Now split into two seprate tasks, one for the change of hosting from UoE to Experian and one for the screen changes in eFIN required to capture the international bank account details
- eInvoicing Go-Live (was FIN099-24)
- FPM v2.2 patch (was FIN099-70)
- PDF Printing Remaining Modules (was FIN099-21)
- Roll out Supplier Self Service (was FIN099-34)
- Archiving Continuation (was FIN099-47)
- New eStore for TCF (was FIN099-62)
- FPM/CP through the Load Balancer (was FIN099-35)