Project duration as per implementation phases

Question

Divide project duration as per implementation phases?

Answer 1

Dear Gopala Rao,
It actually depends on various factors, such as :
1. how many modules they want to implement.
2. Team Size.
3. Organizational Structure (Volume of data)
4. Legacy System
5. Business Complexity etc.
There is no hard and fast rule that every project should be completed in a particular duration of time. Depending on the above factors, it may vary any where from 6 months to 18 months or so. (Approximately, it may be less than 6 months or more than 18 months in some exceptional cases).
Usually it is divided into phases:
1. Project Preparation : Project team, infrastructure, Software, Steering committe etc will be identified in this phase.
2. Business Blue Print : Re-engineering of Business process and BBP sign off.
3. Realization : Analysing Gap and Realization of possible customization and development effort
4. Final Preparation and Go Live : Development and Configuration
5. Post Go Live support : Support after go live
You would allot specific time periods for each of these phases and will set milestones accordingly.
or it could even be like :
Project Start
Analysis
Design
Design Freeze / Client Sign-off
Construction
Testing
Implementation
Project End
Project Management Framework
Post Close Review
Training
Change Management
Refer following links for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_Implementation
http://www.sapfans.com/sapfans/asap/be_01_e.htm
There are different flavors of project implementations.
1. Template implementation - without much customization - based on a predefined rollout template
2. CUstom rollout
3. Ramp up rollout
4. Enhancements to an existing implementation
5. project recovery
The project life cycle consists of [1] Project Charter,[2]Scope,[3] planning,[4]Execution,[5]Control and [6] closure.
Charter tells you the purpose of the project,for example,to eliminate an expensive Transmission process by implementing EDI.
Scope tells what all you will be doing in the project.In SAP,this is Blue printing.
planning:Here you plan the capital Expenditure - capital budgeting,Expenses,Revenue,Resources and other elements that go in to the project.
projectExecution : Actual execution of the planned activities
Control:Here you steer the project towards the intended goals-variance analysis,cost Reduction,Value engineering,budget,standards,fast tracking,crashing,Resource allocation etc etc ,....all find a role here.Here Time,Cost and the other resources are controlled so as to complete the project in time and within the cost baselines.
Testing also comes here-unit test,integration test,UAT........
Closure:The project sign off takes place here.
In the support Environment the "project" will cover a]incident management,b] problem management,c]change management,d]configuration management e] Release management and f] help desk.
Reward points if it is helpful.
Thanks and Regards,
Naveen.