Project Termination Process T820

T820 - Return / Redeploy Accommodation and Equipment

DEFINITION

Establish how equipment and accommodation used by the project team should be returned or redeployed, and take action as appropriate.

SUMMARY

At the end of the project it is necessary to agree what is to happen with the project team’s accommodation, equipment, software and supplies.  Accommodation, terminals, PCs, software and printers etc may be of use to the support and maintenance staff for the new system or redeployed for end users.   Take action as required.

PATH PLANNING GUIDANCE

This process is optional.  It is used where accommodation and equipment are not simply handed over to a successor or left dormant.

DEPENDENCIES

Prerequisites (Finish-Finish):

• tasks using the project team’s equipment or accommodation

Dependent procedures (Finish-Finish):

• (end of project)

RECEIVABLES

• all project accommodation, equipment and supplies

DELIVERABLES

• approach documented as part of the Demobilization Plan IP
• accommodation, equipment and supplies disposed of

TOOLS

• (none)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TASKS

Items concerned

The project team will normally have been allocated specific accommodation, equipment and supplies.  Typically, these might include:

• office space and facilities, e.g. furniture, telephones, etc
• local computer equipment, e.g. PCs, computer terminals, printers, communications and network facilities etc
• local software applications, e.g. word processing, project management and spreadsheet applications
• computer supplies, e.g. printer cartridges, disks, tapes, paper etc
• incidental supplies, e.g. stationery.

In some cases, the project team might also have custody of main computing facilities such as specific servers or centralized machines.

Defining the approach

The approach to disposing of these items will depend upon the circumstances of the project and the wishes of the client organisation.  This should be considered and an approach agreed with the client organisation.  The project team should establish the:

• requirements for the retention of facilities,
• options available, including who else might benefit from use of the facilities,
• recommended approach and
• details of recommended approach.

This may be presented in the form of an Implementation Paper.  It may be combined with other aspects of project termination in the Demobilization Plan IP.

Requirements and options

Some of the specific needs and issues might include:

• The project manager needs to know what equipment and facilities are allocated to the project and, thus, need to be disposed of.  Normally, an inventory will have been kept during the project, but it is common for the precise details to be unclear, particularly in large, long, complex projects.  Unless it is already clear, an inventory of items to be disposed of should be drawn up.
• It may be appropriate to consider the redeployment of software applications separately from the redeployment of the machines upon which they are currently installed.  The inventory should identify licensed software in addition to the machine upon which it is currently loaded.
• There may be further project work or related activities which will require the retention of the facilities.  For example, this may include a further phase of the project or related further development work.
• The support of the system will normally have phased over from the project team to the staff responsible for live operational user and system support.  It is often appropriate for these people to take over some of the equipment and accommodation.
• It may have been possible to balance the project team’s facilities against the overall needs of the organisation such that less new equipment and facilities needed to be acquired for the live operation of the system, but some of the project team’s facilities will be transferred to operational departments as the use of the new system is phased in.  In these cases, the required equipment will need to be redeployed as planned.
• In general the facilities will belong to the client organisation who should, therefore, take the decisions regarding their future deployment.  There may be existing departments within the organisation who could take full responsibility for the facilities.  Typically, there will be people dealing with office accommodation and people dealing with the allocation of computer equipment.  These departments should either be consulted or be given full control over the redeployment of facilities.
• In some cases there may also be equipment or supplies belonging to other participating organisations such as Consultant or the vendor.  Care must be taken to establish who the owner is for each item.
• Particular problems may occur where items were acquired by KPMG or other participants for use during the project  and were directly recharged to the client organisation.  In general this implies that they should be treated as the property of the client organisation and not the body which acquired them.  However, it may be necessary to investigate the local legal position and the impact of any contractual terms.
• Where there is no compelling requirement for the equipment, it will normally be a question of establishing who would most benefit from it.  In most cases, good beneficial use will be made of the equipment by end-user departments.

Recommendations and detailed approach

Details of the preferred approach should be recommended and agreed with the client organisation.  The detail should identify the actions to be taken and the persons responsible.

Take care to de-install licensed software if it is not to be redeployed with the machine it is currently loaded upon.  Also, ensure that project data, documentation, files and customized set ups are deleted from disks unless they are directly relevant to the new user of the equipment.  If any items are confidential they should be “wiped” such that they cannot be retrieved rather than simply logically deleted in the normal manner.

These actions will be undertaken before finally winding up the project team.