Biju 2008 Pmi Whitepaper

PMI Virtual Library© 2009 Project Management Institute

Applying Project Management in Technology Transition— A Bird’s-Eye View

Technology Life Cycle, Transition and Project Management

A typical technology life cycle has five phases, as shown in Figure 1 on the next page. Technology transition consists of a set of coordinated activities

that help the technology move forward from the adoption phase to the support phase. Strong emphasis should be given to risk management and mitigation to tackle any service interruptions. A transition will not be successful without proper scheduling, communication and risk management based on modern project management practices. Normally the transition starts with the adoption phase and ends

By K.S. Biju, PMP

once a sustainable support framework and team have been established. A major challenge of these adoption and support phases is to manage the technical and functional knowledge of the product or service by minimizing knowledge leak as much as possible. Because there are limited industry best practices available for knowledge management and documentation, the success criteria depends mostly on the effectiveness of “due-diligence” and the expertise of the people involved, coupled with strong human resource management. Extensive planning, forecasting and clear thinking are vital to ensuring that a product or service will complete the transition from the innovation phase to the “retire” phase (Figure 2).

Executive Summary

With the spiraling of acquisitions, mergers and outsourcing during the current economies of scale, technology transition has gained a great deal more attention in recent days. Technology transition is defined as the detailed desk-level knowledge transfer and documentation of all relevant tasks, work flows and business processes from a provider to a client or from an owner to a support organization. Extensive due-diligence is required in assessing what activities need to be transitioned and to what extent. The identified activities should go through a knowledge-transfer phase. Whether you are dealing with rocket science or software development, transition is a natural phenomenon in almost all technology life cycles. Transition often includes organizational politics, cultural changes, “fighting fires,” and those finer aspects of “heart, mind and soul” of the people impacted by the transition. Although there are several approaches to managing large transitions effectively, this article focuses on using a project management methodology as the primary vehicle. However, this article is not simply a discussion of how A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Third edition (Project Management Institute [PMI], 2004) would fit into a transition cycle. Rather, it is an attempt to explore the different phases and activities of a transition cycle and how some of the project management techniques can help make life easier for a transition manager.

PMI Virtual Library | www.PMI.org | © 2009 Project Management Institute2

Transition Planning and Controlling A successful transition is not something that happens accidentally. The proper project management practices should be in place for planning, piloting and execution of the transition. The team involved should also play critical and well-defined roles. Other activities include communication of status, coordination of regular meetings and monitoring of success criteria. This is directly related to many of the processes of project integration management of the PMBOK® Guide (PMI, 2004).

The major activities in transition planning and controlling include:

Creating a transition charter•Due-diligence and scope definition•Activity definition and sequencing to create a •scheduleRisk management planning•Communication management planning•

In preparation for the detailed transition-planning factors, success from an enterprise environmental perspective

must be considered. Some “quality time” should be spent identifying most such factors from the available organizational process assets. Historical information and the lessons learned knowledge base will provide useful details regarding similar exercises in past. This would help in identifying and planning to avoid previous transition mistakes early on in the game. There may be one or two best practices from previous initiatives that may enable the schedule to be optimized and bring about noticeable improvements in total effectiveness. Make sure to refer organizational standard processes, including but not limited to: EHS policy, audit requirements, work instructions, accounting practices, contract provisions and change control methodology.

Identifying factors that influence transition success, such as government agency regulations, market and economy trends, stakeholder risk appetite, law of land and data privacy regulations, would help in creating a preliminary risk list.

Transition Charter. This process is concerned with authorizing the entire transition cycle. It is the process

Figure 1: Technology life cycle

TECHNOLOGY LIFE CYCLE, TRANSITION AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A typical technology life cycle has five phases, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Technology life cycle.

Technology transition consists of a set of coordinated activities that help the

technology move forward from the adoption phase to the support phase. Strong

emphasis should be given to risk management and mitigation to tackle any

service interruptions. A transition will not be successful without proper

scheduling, communication and risk management based on modern project

management practices. Normally the transition starts with the adoption phase

INNOVATION PROTOTYPE

ADOPTION SUPPORT

RETIREINNOVATION PROTOTYPE

ADOPTION SUPPORT

RETIRE

Transition

Figure 2: Sample transition methodology

and ends once a sustainable support framework and team have been

established. A major challenge of these adoption and support phases is to

manage the technical and functional knowledge of the product or service by

minimizing knowledge leak as much as possible. Because there are limited

industry best practices available for knowledge management and documentation,

the success criteria depends mostly on the effectiveness of “due-diligence” and

the expertise of the people involved, coupled with strong human resource

management. Extensive planning, forecasting and clear thinking are vital to

ensuring that a product or service will complete the transition from the innovation

phase to the “retire” phase (Figure 2).

Understand the contextDefine & identify the needs Plan Plan and Plan!!

Knowledge TransferKnowledge repository Knowledge Audit

PilotingGo Live Productivity initiative

Transition

Service Delivery

Project management tools & techniques


necessary for documenting the business needs and the intended final result of the transition. This is considered the first activity in any transition cycle and should at a minimum address the following:

Requirements that satisfy the end of the transition•Major stakeholders and sponsor•Assigned transition manager •A summary of high-level milestones•High-level resource requirement •Assumptions or any constraints•

Due-Diligence and Scope Definition. Scope definition is actually the output of due-diligence. In due-diligence, the “as-is” status of the technology infrastructure, integrations, architecture documentation, process availability, performance and stability will be assessed. Using this “as-is” analysis, an initial version of configuration management will be established. At a bare minimum, this should include preparation of a configuration item list by including all documents and identified work products.

Scope definition consists of creating a scope statement of what needs to be accomplished. This also addresses the characteristics and boundaries of the activity as well as the methods of acceptance and scope control. A transition scope statement should include at least the following:

Transition acceptance criteria•Boundaries and deliverables•Detailed assumptions or constraints•Initial team details•Order of magnitude cost and duration estimates•Work breakdown structure•Risk assessment•

Activity Definition and Sequencing. This step includes identifying and documenting the detailed activities and tasks to be executed in the transition cycle. The basis of defining the activity list is the work breakdown structure created during scope definition. This activity list is a comprehensive list including all schedule activities to be performed. It must include the scope of work description for each schedule

activity to ensure that team members understand what work needs to be completed.

Activity sequencing involves identifying and documenting the logical relationships among activities. Sequencing can be performed by using project management software or by using manual techniques. (Discussion of such tools and techniques are beyond the scope of this paper, as the PMBOK® Guide provides a comprehensive description of most of them.)

At a bare minimum, the output of this process should include an updated and sequenced activity list.

Risk Management. Careful and explicit risk management enhances the possibility of transition

success. Risk management is the process of deciding how to

approach and conduct opportunity or threat identification,

risk prioritizing and mitigation plans. The

completed activity list will be the starting

point for risk identification. Going through the activity list helps to identify the possibility of risk against any activity. Risk identification is iterative in nature because new risks may surface at any time during the transition life cycle. The risk identification therefore usually involves calculating the probability of occurrence and impact of the risk. On some occasions, simply identifying a risk may in itself suggest the appropriate response. The high-level categories of transition risks are technical, people and process in nature.

The preliminary risk list created during the planning phase should be evaluated in detail to identify further risks related to regulatory and compliance constraints, cost risks and risks related to market trends or liquidity.

The risk management plan should also address the probability of not meeting the cost–benefit numbers or return of investment of the specific transition initiative. This has greater importance during the current economy mayhem. Indirect costs may account for a lion’s share of total costs and are “camouflaged” within the work package of each task. Indirect costs are infamously difficult to measure but offer the greatest potential for cost savings if managed proactively. A transition manager should seek expert opinion to ferret out possible financial risks.

Careful and explicit

risk management enhances the

possibility of transition success. ”


Identifying and managing legal and regulatory risks are critical to the success of a technology transition, and are helpful whenever there are dimensions of third party contracts, work force and intellectual property transfers. Work force transfer can become complex, particularly if the transition is executed in highly regulated markets such as the United States and Europe. A transition manager should be aware of any regulatory acts that may serve as constraint— for example, the Special European Commission Directive on staff augmentation.

Intellectual property (IP) transfer likewise poses complex risk factors. Typical IP transfers include the transfer of software license, scripts, codes, documentation, etc. Risk identification should also consider Export control regulations on the target countries. For example, U.S. Export control law restricts intellectual property, service or product transfer to embargoed countries.

Using any one or a combination of tools and techniques as discussed in the PMBOK® Guide (PMI, 2004) would help to bring to the surface the majority of the risks involved in the transition life cycle. It is advisable to convene a risk identification workshop early on in the planning phase. Participants may include financial, legal and technical experts to identify all possible risks in each of these areas.

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is another good tool for performing risk identification and prioritization.

At this stage it is essential to assign owners for each of the risks identified for the successful follow-up and to prepare a risk abatement plan. The major focus should be how to avoid a risk or minimize the impact in the event of an occurrence.

Communication Management. The purpose of this step is to communicate to stakeholders and other team members about the activities that would take place during transition cycle and their frequency and communication modes, etc. The transition manager needs to coordinate with various team members and prepare a plan for communication. The plan should also include methods for feedback loops and dashboards to showcase progress. The transition manager should perform a communication requirement analysis to identify the expectation of each stakeholder and their preferred mode of communication (e.g., e-mail, telephone). An issue log must be maintained to capture all issues that come to the surface during the transition life cycle. The communication plan will provide periodical updates to stakeholders about resolved issues and the current status of pending issues.

Transition performance reports and issue logs are the two major deliverables at this stage. Common formats for performance reports include bar charts, S-curves, histograms and tables.

Knowledge TransferKnowledge is defined as information that provides guidance for an action. Knowledge transfer is the process of capturing, cultivating and harvesting tacit and explicit business and technological information. Although knowledge transfer is an ongoing process, it can be quantified to an extent. A well-defined and validated knowledge transfer process will lead to sustainable operations and eventually to transition success. The following are the major steps involved in knowledge transfer:

Knowledge planning and acquisition•Close-up analysis•

Knowledge Planning and Acquisition. Knowledge planning is the byproduct of transition planning; the activity list created during transition planning is used to formulate a plan and set up subsequent knowledge transfer sessions. The major players in these knowledge transfer sessions are the “pitcher” and the “catcher.” The pitcher is the one who shares the knowledge and the catcher is the one who acquires, processes and reproduces it. The duration of each session, the mode of knowledge transfer, and methodology of the knowledge collection and reproduction should be addressed during this phase.

A knowledge audit approach should also be created at this time, which will validate the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer. Progress on the knowledge transfer should be periodically reported to the stakeholders and should reflect on the transition performance reports. We need to recognize that knowledge transfer extends beyond typical technological information; it also includes business processes, organizational structures and other context/background information.

The execution deals with organizing the acquired knowledge and performing a gap analysis to identify misses. Wherever possible a simulation can be done using use cases to validate the knowledge gained. This also helps to confirm that the transferred knowledge is reusable. The result of this activity is a knowledge repository. Ideally the knowledge repository should arrange meta-data by covering business process, application functioning, workflows, architecture details and customizations. A comprehensive documentation called a “run book” needs to be prepared that explains how


the system works and that details key operation parameters and configuration settings. Specific details of how to establish a knowledge repository and its technicalities are not within the boundaries of this paper.

Close-up Analysis. Close-up analysis is the final part of knowledge transfer and usually begins with a knowledge audit. Some of the recommendations for a close-up analysis include the following:

Do a lessons learned session •to capture the learning and document best practicesRecognize that reducing the knowledge transfer effort •can influence the overall success of the transition Require comprehensive and detailed documentation •Implement a knowledge management program •following the transitionDo a sign-off on the completed knowledge transfer •from the key stakeholdersAgree on an incremental plan to address any gaps or •clarifications on an ongoing basis

It is essential that the communication channels between pitcher and catcher to be kept open for a comfortable period of time, even beyond the close-up analysis.

Piloting and Service DeliveryOnce the knowledge transfer has been completed, the team can start running the show as a pilot phase that gives them an opportunity to apply what has been acquired during knowledge transfer.

During this phase meticulous work should be put into operational processes, management framework and metrics. Below are some of the key activities of this phase:

Defining preliminary operational metrics.•Defining success criteria for sustainable operations.•Defining a configuration management register •identifying all related infrastructure and applications.

Most importantly the transition scope statement should be converted to an operational scope of work, and approval should be obtained from key stakeholders. A formal change management system needs to be established to address any additions or alterations to the scope.

Business-aligned metrics are the most demanding output of this phase. As a matter of fact, it is startlingly difficult to establish a metrics framework in a “just-born”

operations model. However, if you do not do this at this stage, you

may end up with never-ending fire-fighting as you try to

embark on invisible issues and find yourself dealing

with erroneous or skewed data. A practical

approach to managing this issue consists of the following

activities:Developing a data collection plan•Validating the data for precision and accuracy•Developing correlation between available data•Doing a performance capability base lining using any •of the statistical methodsIdentifying any variations through statistical analysis•Determining sources of variation and cause (Pareto •technique may useful)

Six Sigma is an excellent tool for monitoring, improving and controlling transitioned processes or technology, whereas ITIL and project management methodologies would help with organizing and streamlining them. An effective combination of these methodologies would bring real and quantifiable value to the organization that defies skepticism.

Clearing the Hurdles—A Project Management ApproachTransition as a process brings with it many gaps and challenges that a transition manager will need to confront. Almost all of them are related to cultural difference, language barriers, demography, personal priorities, work styles and job consolidations. If a transition manager is armed with tools and techniques of modern project management, he or she can resourcefully manage and take control of such situations. He or she may make use of team-building activities to build trust, bonding and respect within the transition team. In-time conflict management results in improved productivity and cordial work relations. Providing rewards and recognitions will motivate the team and reassure them that they will be valued adequately. This proves more important in transition projects where there are possibilities of job consolidations.

Transition as a

process brings with it many gaps

and challenges that a transition manager

will need to confront. ”


Needless to say, many such transition initiatives are political and it is the people who tend to show the initial signs. A water-tight and proactive human resource management would prove to be valuable and inevitable.

ConclusionTransition is a collective activity that demands careful planning and focused effort between people, tools and processes. The expertise and experience of individuals contribute significantly to creating a solid project management framework for managing organizational challenges such as geographies, cultural and language barriers. A proper framework ensures clear responsibilities, sets the expectations and greatly reduces frictions.

An established project management methodology helps foster a productive work culture and common language among the people involved in transition projects. It should not be forgotten that transition is not just about technology, but also about people, values and connections, creating

knowledge and delivering value to the organization. Project management methodology acts as a vehicle—and it requires a strong driver to deliver results, synergy and value.

ReferencesProject Management Institute. (2004). A Guide to the project

management body of knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Third edition. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

About the AuthorMr. Biju has five years experience as a Global IT project manager and has been a PMP since January 2007. He is very passionate about applying project management methodologies in his area of work. He manages large global projects in IT Infrastructure, Service Management and Application Development. He is located at Bangalore, India and can be reached at [email protected].

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Biju 2008 Pmi Whitepaper