Market & Product Research Project for CRM System

This will allow the firm to store the contact information for potential and existing customer, leads, accounts, and sales opportunities in a cloud to ensure all employees and departments involved in sales and marketing can access the same in real time (Bahrami, Ghorbani, & Arabzad, 2012). In a nutshell, the CRM will offer all parties across the firm, that is, the marketing, sales, business development and customer service an opportunity to better manage customer interactions and relationships, towards cultivating client loyalty and increasing market share. In a more precise outlook the research objective will be; (i) To evaluate the existing gaps between all departments interacting with customers (ii) To interrogate different software systems that will facilitate interactions between the business and customers in a cost-effective way (iii) To evaluate the best way to integrate the system with client data to produce actionable information.

Current Situation and Problem The firm is experiencing tremendous growth and the connections between the firm and the customer are getting sophisticated. It is no longer seller and buyer interaction but instead the firm needs to manage numerous connections within every other company and customer it is doing business with, across time and space. The quantification of ROI formulae will entail capturing of present Time, volume and dollars that the project needs to achieve completion. It will help to portray how the success factors will look like. Analysis of Project Management Methodologies Agile This methodology is most suited for an incremental and iterative project since it allows for tasting of projects and adjusts accordingly. The initial step encompasses client’s description of the end product, benefits towards enabling the project team to get the accurate picture of expectations.

A collaborative approach that brings together project stakeholder and the team come in handy to facilitate deliberation every step of the way, enabling the team to make fully informed decisions. The methodology limits managers ability to use the opportunities presented by external events for the benefit of the project. Extreme Programming This methodology is best suited to undefined and complex projects that have short developmental cycles. The teams can make changes on the task to include the most workable approach. The use of the most suitable and simple codes is used amidst a collaborative framework to produce desired results. Th advantage of this methodology is on its simplicity hence teams work within their limits, avoiding the possibility of low-quality output due to burn out (Chin, Spowage, & Yap, 2012) (Spundak, 2014).

Preliminary Project Requirements: • Come up with a web-based self-service and FAQs • Come up with a system that supports outbound message management • Use the existing data to build a CSR with on-demand customer profiles • Avail scripting for telesales staff • Provide a web live-chat service and support. Success Criteria: 1. Acquisition of a reliable software must be done on time to install, configure and train end-users 2. A professional CRM application analyst must be in attendance during system configuration 3. Marketing and sales staff must be educated to boost their knowledge on the use of the tools towards ensuring the optimize the system capability and best-practice marketing strategies to: a) Expand customer base b) Increase conversion rates by turning all potential customers into consumers c) Differentiate market segments to support quality and best practices for meeting customer needs.

The technique allows for a rapid and multiple consideration of a cost estimate alternatives. Reserve Analysis The technique is used to account for contingency reserves that should go towards the project. The cost estimate is used to cater for cost uncertainty. The best project cost estimate for the CRM Vendor bid analysis will be the most suited project cost estimate in this case since the project has a fixed budget. An analysis of various bids will allow for a comparative approach to come up with the most cost-effective vendor bid within the given budget. Use the existing data to build a CSR with on-demand customer profiles 4. Avail scripting for telesales staff 5. Provide a web live-chat service and support. Presentation of Gantt Chart of Project Schedule Project Communication Management, Project Name: CRM software project Stakeholder communications requirements: This communication requirements will gain traction through stakeholder management strategy and stakeholder register created during the project’s initial process.

Identification of all stakeholders will be crucial in this step to avoid project gaps that may culminate into document changes. However, project team leader should elevate any issues he cannot handle. This would be necessary towards creating a pressure release point when relationship between team members become stressed to a point where the business relationship is threatened. Before escalation of any issue the project manager would ensure a proper analysis and data gathering is done. The initial steps of the project will encompass preparation of a properly defined and agreed upon matrix with escalation contact points, escalation paths for various escalation levels and areas (Mossalam, 2017). The escalation matrix will be explicitly documented. All procedures and practices that will be facilitate reporting, tracking and resolving of system issues shall be documented.

The CRM software procurement documents would specifically highlight how the purchaser and the supplier shall report problems. All users shall be notified of a software error and any potential impact, through correlated engineering components. The identification and testing of organization systems that are put in place for reporting issues, approving changes, and implementation of corrective actions shall be approved by the project team before sign-off. Approach A document review and staff interview for problem reporting and notification shall be done to establish whether; • The firms responsible for error reporting and resolution are clearly identified • Pro-active interventions and corrective actions would be provided in a timely manner • Corrections and changes are authorized and verified to facilitate correct operation. The original point of failure 2.

The time and date when the failure took place 3. The failure symptom 4. The task in question when the failure occurred 5. The possibilities of stress on the hardware 6. The project team must take time and design specific milestone for the project at hand and avoid squeezing every project into the same template. Clients fails to buy the task results This occurs when the project team fails to capture the clients underlaying rationale. Solution It is imperative for the project team to understand both the technical project requirements and the organizations underlaying rationale. The project manager should strive to create shared vision between all parties (Clarizen, n. d. However, as the project progressed, the executive committee realized there was need for a more scalable and customizable application; hence the need to introduce the CRM program and app.

Justification for the change/why it is needed/desired to continue/complete the project: The executive committee realized that for optimal functionality of the CRM system, a mobile CRM program and App was critical. Introduction of this tool within the larger CRM system equip all relevant departments and their staff with the right platform, and in the event, help the firm achieve maximum ROI. The CRM app will offer an innovative way to advance the goals of the firm towards interrogating and making sense of customer data. Further, with a CRM app in place the sales team can manage and follow up on leads in a better way. schedule 05/10/2018 Approved 3. Cause-and-effect diagram Additional Software tools needed the need for a customized and high touch service increases communication resource pressure program was rushed.

No sales & marketing Representative on project executive team Delay in implementation 1-month delay to accommodate No detailed analysis due to other project the changes Of client requirements overruns Presentation of Project Qualified Sellers List Qualified Sellers List Date Project Name: Seller Name/ Web Site Areas of Expertise Full-Time Staff Reputation HubSpot(www. hubspot. com) • Market leader in inbound marketing • Expertise in sales and marketing apps • Expertise in training and documentation • Capable to offer a multifaceted CRM that integrates CRM, sales and marketing modules 5000 employees • Voted the leading and most powerful enterprise in CRM solutions, with 99% user satisfaction Bpm’online CRM • Expert in installation of sales, service and marketing modules • Flexible pricing scheme • Capable of offering both on-site and cloud premium enterprise plans • Able to customize content to meet user needs through application of AJAX and Silverlight technology.

Delivery of the Work: The Seller agrees to deliver to the Buyer the Work in form and content acceptable to the Buyer on or before the dates outlined in Exhibit B of this Agreement, time being of the essence to the Buyer. Right to Terminate: If the Seller materially departs from the agreed-upon schedule or if the Work is not satisfactory to the Buyer (based on reviews of drafts, market conditions, and/or other criteria as determined by the Buyer), the Buyer may at its option: A. Allow the Seller to finish, correct, or improve the Work by a date specified by the Buyer; B. Terminate this Agreement by giving written notice to the Seller. Payments: The Buyer will pay the Seller ___$38,000______________ upon accepted completion of the Work.

The chart has three lines, with the center line acting as the average line. The lower line adds up as the control limit while the upper line indicates the upper limit. These lines help the project managers to compare the graphical representation with the current data and in the event, help them to determine whether their processes are consistent with set project deliverables. Uncluttered points along the average line may be an indication of an erratic process. Flow Diagram This tool is indicative of how each part of the tasks progressed throughout the project. Once the problem is identified it becomes easy to seek for a solution and align the same to project goals and deliverables. Project Earned Value Calculations & Project Performance Report Presentation of Project Performance Report Project Performance Report Project Name: CRM Software Implementation Project Manager Name: Elizabeth Clements Reporting Period: 12/08/2018 Work completed this reporting period: Data Migration The project team has a has completed a key project milestone that is, data migration.

The data migration is a key project milestone since the data that will be populating the new system must be fit for optimal consumption. The project team decided to use big bang migration that allows data migration to take place in a small but defined processing window. The data was extracted from source system and processing was done before loading it to the target and subsequent switching of processing on the new platform. What’s not going well and why: Data corruption The process of data migration faced the redundant and data duplication challenges that led to the task taking longer than anticipated. The rules guiding the migration process anticipated for exclusion of data from other departments that had no direct contact with customers.

However, comparing the legacy system to target system indicated that some data that was not meant for transformation had been imported to the new system. Semantic risks The data migration was marred by instances where the target column and legacy column hold same meaning and yet their unit measurement hold different meanings. For instance, some fields in the source data were dealing with a different currency from US dollars and this brought inconsistencies in the target side. Tools that facilitate knowledge extraction These tools offer a framework that supports structured queries and replies, and in the event, help text mining through interpretation of the relationship between different documents and elements. A good example of such tool is the ClearForest Text Analysis Suite that offers a firm solutions for business intelligence, which employ intelligent mark-up to locations, organization as well as facts that are a representation of events linked to articles, HTML and web survey documents.

Tools that facilitate expertise localization These tools come in handy in identification of knowledge holders in an organization while at the same making it possible to collaborate and exchange the same within the enterprise. For instance, ActiveNet is a tool that facilitates a continuous and on-time view of activities taking place in the organization. Each staff contribution is traceable in the system. Schedule The project team member assigned to work with the organization will be scheduled to facilitate complete project assimilation. Each weak and for a period of one and half months, he will supervise and work along different departments and ensure seamless CRM software transition. Project Lessons-Learned Report Date: Project Name: CRM Software Implementation Project Sponsor: Peter Nickson Project Manager: Elizabeth Clements Project Dates: 4/04/2019 Final Budget: $38,000 1.

Did the project meet scope, time, and cost goals? The project met its scope but was not able to beat deadline and budget goals due to data corruption and semantic issues that were realized during data migration. What was the success criteria listed in the project scope statement? The CRM system would be deemed successful if it attains the following features • An integrated web forms with contact and landing pages for efficient data collection • An Email Marketing Integration to facilitate connection with third party vendors. The end-users were successfully trained, within budget and schedule. The project team and human resource worked hand in hand to facilitate end-user training. Describe one example of what went wrong on this project. Data migration was marred with many challenges due to the aspect of data corruption and semantic risks, leading to an extra budget and delay for this particular deliverable.