The installation plan must specify milestones and estimates of time and resources required for the installation process.
Milestones
A milestone is a specific point in time within a project lifecycle used to measure the progress of the installation toward its ultimate goal. Milestones are used as signal posts for: a project’s start or end date, a need for external review or input, a need for budget checks, submission of a major deliverable, and much more. Milestones have a fixed date but no duration.
When selecting milestones be conscience of these parameters:
- Frequency – As a project manager, you may be tempted to overuse milestones as a motivation tool to keep the team moving along the ladder to reach the surface of success, but don’t fall into the trap of labelling every task completion as a milestone. In turn, don’t adopt the other extreme approach by ignoring or not recognizing significant and relevant events as milestones particularly at junctions of the critical path. A good compromise is to consistently designate important deliverablesas milestones.
- Timing – Milestones that are spaced too far apart will not have the benefit of the momentum derived from motivating team members by recognizing their major achievements. As a rule of thumb try to space milestones at intervals for no longer than every two weeks for projects of several months in duration.
- Visibility – Milestones need to be placed prominently in the project’s schedule and tracked periodically. Make sure that your milestones have been incorporated into your project scheduling, calendar, or other project tracking software program.
- Accountability – Milestones are commitments that must be met on time. If a milestone is missed, it needs to be addressed immediately by re-examining the resources to determine if they are properly matched to the objectives.
- Fallibility – It may sound counter-intuitive, but you should select challenging milestones that carry a degree of risk for failure.
Resources
Resource can be defined as anything that an organisation needs to ensure the software installation is successful. These resources can be everyday usage items (e.g. stationery, motor vehicles, inventory, employee time and skills) or those needed to achieve a specific project (e.g. specialist software or equipment).
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