Project life organization and IT operations controls implementation

IT Project Management at Google and the Development of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Applications

Google is known for its rapid pace of innovation and exceptional ability to deliver fully-featured products in a fraction of the time other companies can. Given the wealth of data Google has available in its search engine, taxonomies designed to increase the speed of data access, and the advanced technologies for linguistics modeling, the development of a hosted Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a natural extension of its current technologies. Using the IT project management skills, tools and techniques learned, this paper presents a plan for delivering a state-of-the-art CRM system that can be delivered via browser to any user in the world. The concepts of IT operations, project controls, reporting and maintenance are defined in this analysis.

Defining the Project Plan and Objectives

At the center of any enterprise software application effort there needs to first be a conceptualization of quality levels including the metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) that will govern the prioritization of goals and dictate how trade-offs are resolved (Geraldi, Kutsch, Turner, 2011). It is advisable that the project schedule and scoping of IT operations be defined with the constraints necessary for quality management, quality control and quality assurance of the application before it is released for alpha or beta testing (Lacerda, Ensslin, Ensslin, 2011). Project plans including the constraints and controls in place must also align to the project plan and also take into account advanced frameworks for ensuring software quality and consistency of delivery. The most commonly used metrics for this activity are based on the Sig Sigma methodologies and best practices proven to be highly valuable for streamlining process-centric projects and making them more effective, focused and economical over time (Eng, 2011). The goals must be defined using Six Sigma-based methodologies for them to be effective and measurable as the project progresses, ensuring a high degree of compliance and repeatable quality during the entire coding, programming, testing, user validation and launch process (Geraldi, Kutsch, Turner, 2011). In the case of the hosted or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based CRM applications, the goals of having individual instances of the hosted applications orthogonal or separate is critical to its functioning securely. There is also the need to benchmark the performance of the application as many users get online concurrently with it. This is an aspect of the DMAIC methodology of Six Sigma development as well (Johannsen, Leist, Zellner, 2011). All of these factors need to be taken into account in planning the IT project, schedule, constraints, costs, testing and verification period and launch. Using Six Sigma-based development methodologies, it will be possible to keep centered on customers' needs that the CRM applications are being built for.

Of the many aspects of managing an IT project using Six Sigma in conjunction with advanced project management applications including PERT- and CPM-based scheduling applications, the optimization of process workflows for the CRM application during development and throughout testing is critical to its success (Lacerda, Ensslin, Ensslin, 2011). The development cycle for the CRM application needs to include iterative opportunities for refining and fine-tuning the application to ensure it aligns with the needs of customers. As a CRM system is often used for managing marketing, sales, and service strategies, the continual improvement of key areas is necessary. Using the techniques discussing in class for IT operations, controls and reporting, this project would also use a performance management platform of metrics and KPIs to evaluate the progress of development (Lacerda, Ensslin, Ensslin, 2011). The metrics and KPIs will be listed on the project portal at Google for this specific development project, so that engineering, development, quality management, marketing and services all have an immediate view of what the project status is. During the development phase of the CRM project, there needs to be a parallel series of tasks completed so support the maintenance and expansion of the application over the long-term. Google has exceptional ability at managing the development of Application Programmer Interfaces (APIs) that streamline the development of new applications. Using these APIs in conjunction with project planning techniques, it will be possible to engineer in scalability and performance of the key integration points of the application, making it more flexible and agile for users.