Develop communication and stakeholder plans

Read the business case at Bertas_Pizza_Business_Case
See the organization chart Bertas_and_HiFives_organization_charts
Locate the communications plan template comm_plan
Locate the stakeholder register template stakeholder_register

1. Use the communications plan template to create a communications plan for the BMOS project.

Use the stakeholder register template and organization charts to create a stakeholder register for the BMOS project

Your paper should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Please include citations to support your ideas.

Book

Schwalbe, K. (2016). Information technology project management (Revised 8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-1285452340

• Chapter 10, 12 and 13 from the textbook

Lecture

Project Stakeholder Management

Importance of Project Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder management is crucial to project success. The Project Management Institute created an entire knowledge area devoted to stakeholder management as part of the Fifth Edition of the PMBOK® Guide in 2013 (Project Management Institute, 2013). The aim of project stakeholder management is to ascertain all individuals or groups affected by a project, to examine stakeholder expectations, and to engage stakeholders.
Project Stakeholder Management Processes
Identifying stakeholders involves identifying every person relevant to a project or affected by it and establishing the best ways to manage relationships with them. Planning stakeholder management is creating effective strategies to engage stakeholders. Managing stakeholder engagement is fostering engagement with project stakeholders to complete project activities and fulfill project goals. Controlling stakeholder engagement is observing stakeholder relationships and fine-tuning plans and approaches for involving stakeholders.

Figure 1 Project Stakeholder Management Summary (Schwalbe, 2015)
Identifying Stakeholders
Internal project stakeholders include the organizations of the project team members, project sponsor, and internal customers. External project stakeholders include external customers, vendors, external groups or organizations affected by the project, and competitors.

Stakeholder Register
Basic information that a stakeholder register includes is:

1. Identification information: The stakeholder’s name, job title, location, project role, and contact information.
2. Assessment information: A stakeholder’s notable requirements and project expectations. A stakeholder’s potential powers and the project phases that require a stakeholder’s involvement.
3. Stakeholder classification: Stakeholders can be classified in several relevant ways. For example, a stakeholder may be classified by their organization, or by whether he or she supports or opposes a project.

Table 1 Sample Stakeholder Register (Schwalbe, 2015)

Planning Stakeholder Management
After ascertaining and examining stakeholders, a plan is developed for managing them.
The stakeholder management plan includes:

1. Expected levels of engagement
2. Interactions between stakeholders
3. Communication requirements
4. Strategies for managing each type of stakeholder
5. A process for updating the stakeholder management plan

Managing Stakeholder Engagement
An expectations management matrix contains a sponsor-prioritized list of project expectations concerning scope, time, and cost. Priorities of the sponsors must be the focus along with consideration of stakeholder priorities.
Table 2 Expectations Management Matrix (Schwalbe, 2015)

Controlling Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholders cannot be controlled. However, the level of stakeholder engagement in a project can be organized. It is important for the project manager to establish the methods of engaging stakeholders and for project communication at the start of a project.
Ways to Control Engagement
Invite key stakeholders to actively participate in the kick-off meeting. The project manager sets an expectation of dialogue with stakeholders during meetings. Individual meetings between the project manager and important stakeholders should occur. Stakeholders are engaged in project activities by participating in meetings, reviews, demonstrations, and sign-offs.
References
Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge: (PMBOK® guide). Newtown Square, Pa.: Project management institute.

Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Lecture

Project Communications Management

Importance of Good Communications
Poor communication is the greatest threat to projects. Our society depicts IT professionals as being inadequate communicators. IT professionals must have effective communication skills to perform their jobs successfully. Career advancement for IT professionals depends on substantial verbal and non-technical skills.
Importance of Non-Technical Skills
Important non-technical skills IT professionals must acquire abilities to listen, problem solve, and work effectively on a team. Some organizations value these business skills over technical skills and will hire those with nominal technical skills if they can demonstrate keen soft and business skills.

Project Communications Management Processes
Planning communications management is deciding stakeholder communication needs, what communication media should be used, what information should be communicated, and how often. Managing communications involves following a communications management plan to create, distribute, store, retrieve, and dispose of project communications. Controlling communications involves observing and directing project communications to confirm that stakeholder communication needs are fulfilled.

Table 1 Project Communications Management Summary (Schwalbe, 2015)

Planning Communications Management
A communications management plan is created to guide project communications. The project manager and the project team tailor a written communications management plan according to the project needs. Small projects may not require a separate document; the communications management plan can be part of a team contract.
Managing Communications
Managing communications is a significant project management activity. Fashioning accurate project information and disseminating it to the correct stakeholders at the correct time and in a suitable format is imperative. Managing communications involves consideration of technology and media requirements to perform project status reporting.

Controlling Communications
Communications control is performed to confirm an optimal dissemination of information during the project. Reports, meetings, expert judgement, or an external facilitator are used to assess project communication. If the assessment results indicate problems, the project manager and project team address them.

Keys to Good Communications
Project managers spend most of their time communicating. Project managers focus communication on individual, and group stakeholder needs. Project managers use formal and informal communication methods. Project managers must distribute important information promptly. Project managers must know how to set the stage for communicating bad news.
Importance of Face-to-Face Communication
Research has found that in face-to-face interaction, communication takes place through body language, how the words are said, and through the meaning of the words. Attention is paid to more than the words spoken. The tone of voice and body language reveal information.
Personal Preferences Affect Communication Needs
Communication needs are affected by personal stakeholder preferences. Communication distribution must take place through different media. Email, phone, instant message, are media appropriate for communication with introverts. Communication through meetings is suitable for extroverts. Project managers should communicate explanations of decisions for thinkers. Communication of current and planned activities, schedules and deadlines should occur.

References

Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

 

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