VODAFONE Using PMI Standards to Deliver A Complex Technology Project

CHALLENGE:

A HIGHLY COMPLEX NETWORK

At the end of $2017,$ one of Vodafone$$s strategic customers requested that Vodafone replace its existing, obsolete network

with a highly capable, fully managed Global Local Area Network $($GLAN$)$ in $42$ different sites across the world. The Vodafone

customer program delivery project team aimed to complete the project by November $2019.$ The contract was for five years

of service. Experts carried out risk assessment workshops at the beginning of the project, which they identified as highly

complex. One high$-$severity risk was that a failure in the network might occur during any implementation. This could lead to

a lack of service in any of the customer$$s factories or premises, which would affect production lines and result in a loss of

millions of euros.

SCHEDULE PRESSURE FROM THE START

Staying on track with the planned schedule was a concern, due to a delay in the contract signoff. As a result of this delay, a

lot of design changes occurred before the project was baselined, and Vodafone had to accommodate these changes until

they reached a final agreement on the design with the customer.

SOLUTION: PMI STANDARDS FOR SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION

Due to the complexity of the project, the project management team needed to work on defining a standard agreed$-$upon

approach for the delivery of the project. The project team conducted a number of workshops with the technical solution

architects that successfully led to categorizing the customer$$s sites across the world and agreeing on a standard delivery

approach to each category based on its priority.

Using a project management approach based on PMI standards:

$$ Workshops were conducted with suppliers to agree on the needed resources listed in the resource management plan.

$$ Part of the project budget was dedicated for a walkthrough of the customer$$s top priority sites.

$$ A communication plan was set to ensure timely and effective communication was established.

$$ A formal change control process was formulated.

$$ Tailored project documentation was created to report and control the progress of the delivery.

$$ A tailored risk management plan and an issue log were set to track all the risks and issues within the project. $$

Dependencies and impact were measured.

$$ A regular project analysis and a governance model were set and agreed.

$$ The project team agreed to capture lessons learned regularly instead of documenting these at the end of the project.

RESULTS: ON$-$TIME PROJECT DELIVERY WITH COST SAVINGS

The first batch of customer site migrations to the new GLAN was delivered with a $90\%$ success rate, and $100\%$ of the sites

migrated at the second attempt. The Vodafone GLAN project was successfully delivered on time and ahead of the team$$s

target completion dates. Through the use of proven project management waterfall methodology standardized by PMI:

$$ The customer gave Vodafone a $10/10$ Net Promoter Score $($NPS$).$

$$ Vodafone was able to deliver the project on time.

$$ Vodafone had cost savings in the resources budget.

$$ The project team captured the lessons learned to be used as a best practice for other future GLAN projects.

$$ Lessons learned sessions were conducted with the product team to share with them the best practice used for the GLAN

product and what is its needs.

QUESTION $1(20$ Marks$)$

Project management methodology is a combination of logically related practices, methods and processes that determine

how best to plan, develop, control and deliver a project throughout the continuous implementation process until successful

completion and termination. Appraise project management methodology to the Vodacom project by examining what it

enables a project manager to do more effectively.

QUESTION $2(20$ Marks$)$

The Vodacom project was successfully implemented according to the case study. Analyse the theory related to the seven

$(7)$ common characteristics of highly successful strategic projects in the context of the Vodacom project.