Completion Report
Project Summary:
This project was established to examine the current and planned use of Speedwell software across the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (CMVM) and provide guidance on how a College-wide implementation could be achieved, including what would be needed to successfully deploy the functionality to deliver online exams via Speedwell. The original objective was to deliver a report that summarised all the necessary discussions with CMVM and support staff and a short business case that described what would need to be done to establish a robust, networked deployment of the Speedwell software. This report was the main project delivery.
The original 5-day term of the project delivered the first version of the report in January. It was subsequently discussed with the project sponsor who requested that the original report be enhanced with greater detail on hosting and support options for the new version of the Speedwell software, as some areas in CMVM were, by this point, expressing enthusiasm to have this implemented. The project sponsor therefore asked that the project pick up these new queries and enhance the report further with the details of what would be needed to establish a deployment of Speedwell's eSystem within CMVM. This additional work led to an increase of the project budget to 7 days.
The updated version of the report was delivered to the Project Sponsor on 8th March but feedback on this has stated that the additional information on options, costs and timelines was not detailed enough for the sponsor. It has been agreed that this project can be closed and that a follow-on project to implement the new version of Speedwell can now commence (MVM032).
Analysis of Resource Usage:
Staff Usage Estimate: 5 days
Staff Usage Actual: 7.3 days
Staff Usage Variance: 46%
Other Resource Estimate: 0 days
Other Resource Actual: 0 days
Other Resource Variance: 0%
Explanation for variance:
There is no variance in the budget to comment on. As stated above, the original estimate of 5 days was increased to 7 days to cover the additional information that was sought.
The original delivery date of 22nd January was met, but the updated version of the report took longer to prepare than anticipated. This is attributable to a combination of higher priority work taking precedence and sick leave on the part of the PM.
Key Learning Points:
A review meeting between the ISG portfolio manager, project sponsor and project manager has ascertained that the main reason for the disparity between what was delivered in the final version of the report and what the project sponsor had hoped for is largely attributable to the latter two participants not meeting early enough and often enough during the project. Both had tried to meet at the planning stage, but business ended up being conducted via email. The lesson learned here, for everyone involved, is that this is not the best or most effective way to communicate, and that more direct interaction and discussions would have better captured the sponsor's expectations.
Outstanding issues:
There are no outstanding issues. The follow-on project has been initiated and this is expected to address questions around the implementation.