You are working with your team leads to create the project schedule. You are very concerned about the intersections between the teams, so you all are starting with the major milestones and working backward from the new product launch.
Sales of the new product are going to start in 9 months and the new CRM system needs to be in place 6 weeks prior so the sales force can get their customer and prospect information entered in time for the big marketing mailing going out 3 weeks prior to the product being available. You have one team working on the marketing program (and the mailing is just one of their deliverables); this team is being led by Jennifer from marketing. You also have another team working on the CRM implementation being led by Ben from IT. The two teams will intersect at the sales force training on the new system, the new product, and the new marketing program. After talking with the sponsor and customers, it was determined that the training approach would be holistic; the marketing process would be taught using the new system-not two separate classes, but one integrated class. Instructors will come from both the IT and the marketing teams. You are unsure which team leader should be responsible for training; it will depend upon the resources and dependencies.
Using the list of tasks below as a starting point, create a schedule by adding tasks, dependencies, efforts, and descriptions of the skills required to complete each task. Also, determine the start and end dates based on the dependencies and effort (assume your resources have 50% availability to the project). The schedule should contain between 30 and 60 tasks/subtasks. Use Microsoft Project, Excel, Word, or any other appropriate tool to document your schedule. You will also need to define the team members you will need. For each team member you will need, create a bulleted list of skills and expertise that he or she must have to complete the assigned tasks. For the effort, describe your rationale for your estimate.
- Determine training objectives.
- Create training outline (objectives, phases, topics, and content).
- Define activities.
- Create instructor guide.
- Create participant materials.
- Create activity guide.
- Review training materials.
- Conduct pilot training class/test training materials.
- Deliver training to all of sales force.