Athina v5 Mech Eng

7/31/2019 Athina v5 Mech Eng

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Athina Communications:

Growing their Broadband Market

Introduction

Athina Communications is a large, sprawling communications company borne of a

number of consolidations in the IT and telecommunications markets in the 1990s. As aresult of its various expansions over the years, it has a very extensive networkinfrastructure, some of which was built from scratch at vast expense, and some of which

was acquired at knock-down prices from its erstwhile competitors.

This network consists of major switches1 in the UKs largest population centres London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bristol and Cardiff. From here,

voice and data traffic is directed world-wide. The company also owns a network of

smaller switches which enables it to offer high speed Internet access to 98% of the UKpopulation.

The company now wants to broaden its customer base by offering its broadband serviceson a wholesale basis via different branded resellers2. Although Athina already offersservices to consumers under its own brand, offering wholesale access to resellers wouldbe a means of making money from excess capacity on its network.

Resellers are expected to be major household names, such as a supermarket or consumergoods companies, that want to offer broadband services to their customers under theirown brand name, but using Athinas network.

This is a very new development for Athina, which has not previously dealt with brandedresellers. It has challenging business objectives, set by the main Board of the company:have the new business in place by the end of June 2011 at the very latest (ideally earlier);

increase turnover by 20% after one year of operation; recover development and launchcosts and move the new venture into profit after two years of operation.

A major programme has been set up to build a new IT system which will link to Athinasexisting network to manage the new business. The new system will enable resellers toenter their customers details, manage their subscriptions and bill them. It will enableA hi bill h ll f h i hi h h ll (i h d


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The New IT System

The new IT system will consist of some completely new elements but will also use someexisting Athina systems, suitably adapted for the new reseller customers. The mainelements are as follows:

Customer Management System (CMS)

This will consist of a screen for the resellers to enter the details of their new customerswho sign up for the broadband services. Behind this screen will sit a database which willcontain details of all the end customers, which reseller has signed them up and whichservices they take. CMS will also be used by Athinas staff to track the progress of ordersand help diagnose problems for the resellers.

CMS is the core of the new system and is being developed by a start-up company calledSudoco. Sudoco is a small outfit consisting of a couple of ex-Athina engineers and aVenture Capitalist who went to Eton3 with Ben Taylor, Athinas Director of Finance.

Network Inventory System (NIS)

This is an existing Athina database which will need to be updated to work with the newsystem. The NIS interrogates the PCs on a network and reports back with completeinformation about the operating system, service packs, any hotfixes, hardware, software,running processes, etc. This information is then added to the centralized database whichenables the system administrators to generate reports about the PCs on a network. Thedevelopment work on the NIS is fairly minor and will be done in-house by a couple ofR&D engineers reporting to Mary Wallace. This will take 3 weeks, including testing.

Billing System (BS)

Again, an existing system which will be updated to cope with the new reseller customersand their customers; it will take data from the CMS and process it to produce bills andfinancial information. Athinas billing management is outsourced to a Chennai-based


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The First Customers

Athina has now signed up, in principle, its first half dozen resellers. The largest and mostimportant of these is Spring Meadow, a major UK supermarket chain. In common withmany of its competitors, the company has branched out from selling merely groceries toservices such as banking, insurance and now broadband. Spring Meadow is developingan interface to allow it to access CMS and the billing system, and is proposing to sellbroadband via its stores, its loyalty card direct mailings and customer service centres.

Current Project Status

It is now 1st March 2010; the programme has been underway for three months and a lotof development has been taking place on the CMS, billing and network system. Two newproject managers will be joining the programme:

Joanne Huntley is to manage the Billing implementation. Jo is an Athina employeefrom the Procurement team which manages TA, but this is the first time she has

worked on such a major project. She has however studied Project Management at awell-known London University and is confident that she can drive a Gantt chart.

Susie Palmer is a contract project manager brought in by Athina for a period of 6months to support the Spring Meadow launch. This will involve getting Spring

Meadows staff trained on the services offered and related IT systems (that they willneed to use to manage their customer interactions), and an advertising campaign willalso be set up. Susie has managed a lot of IT implementations, but doesnt know

Athina or Spring Meadow at all.


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Internal Memo

From: Subin Mehta Date: 1 March 2010

To: Joanne Huntley

Re: New Billing System Project

Jo,

Just a few quick notes to set you off on the billing system project plan.

As you already know, by the end of June 2011 at the very latest, the billingsystem needs to be in place and fully tested the user acceptance testing isparticularly important, otherwise well never get Billing and Finance sign-off forthe project to go live. As you know, Billing and Finance are the majorstakeholders here.

The billing operations staff at TA also need to be trained so that they cananswer any queries from the resellers and their customer service agents sofor example they will need to know what the new bills will look like, what theservices are going to be billed, what the tariffs are and the customer contractterms and conditions.

Andy Roslin, the Head of Billing Ops at Athina UK will need to be involved andagree the training plan that you will write for TA. He will advise on customercontract aspects. You can get details of what the bills will look like from MaryWallace at Athina UK, who has been managing the billing systems technicaldevelopment. The services / tariffs etc will come from Luke Pearl in Marketing.I think the services to be offered are now finalised, but Luke will need toconfirm.

The good news is that the development work is finished! The bad news is thatthe integration and testing period looks a bit risky theres not much resourceavailable from the users and Im not sure whether we can bring this in on time.

Heres the overall test plan:


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System integration testing (SIT)5 starts once Unit testing has finished andshould take 2 months. Note that theres a major dependency on Sudoco to

get the CMS system reading for SIT were all a bit concerned about themas they are very small and not running to time at the moment. The SudocoProject Manager is Stephen Hart, their lead engineer. Youll need goodcommunication with him to understand where they are and what they areactually delivering.

At the moment, we believe that the CMS reading for SIT may not be

available until end August, early September this year. The Sudococontract is cost plus, at an average of 800 per day. The Sudoco day ratefor weekend working is 1,000 per day.

SIT will be carried out by a mix of TA and in-house people (see separatelabour cost sheet below). TA resources (4 people) and day rates for SITare the same as for Unit Testing above. Once SIT has finished, wereready for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)6.

Youll need users to develop the tests and validate the results from bothFinance and Billing departments. Andy has found you two Billing users.Ben Taylor, the Director of Finance, has made a big point of the need tocheck that the billing data feeds through into their management accountscorrectly apparently this testing hasnt always happened on otherprojects and he feels hes losing control of the companys finances.

Finance are absolutely overloaded at present, and dont seem to havemuch experience of user testing, but they have promised two uservolunteers. So you will have two users from Finance and two from Billing -Dan, Mike, Adam and Jack (see Appendix).

The users have to develop their test plan I suggest you allow them 4weeks to do this, including getting the tests approved by the respectivedepartmental heads this will be Andy for Billing and Ben for Finance.

Then allow a further four weeks for the UAT itself which will be done byTA who will execute the tests and the end user reps (Dan et al) who willvalidate the results.

Dont forget that successful completion of testing will have to be signed off


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Training should be relatively straightforward, as you only need to train thetrainer.7 This means that there wont be too many complicated

arrangements to set up, but you need to:

o Agree dates / timescales for training the user tester representativesfrom Billing and Finance, as these people are then going to beresponsible for training their other user colleagues in their respectivedepartments. Post-testing, their results will then feed into any changes which I would suggest allow a generous 6 weeks for. Any changes

will also involve Sudoco.

o Put together a training package a slide set which will set out somedetails of the overall programme (I can give you this), how the newbilling system will work (info from Mary Wallace), how it interfaces withCMS and how CMS works (get this from Sudoco) and what the tariffsare going to be. Suggest you write this jointly with Ricardo Santos fromTraining, as he should be responsible for delivering the training to the

trainers. Probably about 2 weeks work here. The actual trainingshould only take one day per person, but needs to be done in time forthe user reps to train the rest of the billing and finance staff, so thisshould take into account time allowance for any changes to the systemas a result of user tests.

Once UAT is signed off, you can then finalise the code in the Athina existingsystem apparently there is a process in place already to do this. TA will doit, but talk to Amit Tendulkar over there and hell give you some help (suggestyou allow only a couple of days for the code finalisation, this is what it typicallytakes).

Note that before you finalise the code, the actual tariffs have to be set up onthe system see Luke about this and make sure he knows your requirementsand communicates this to Billing, otherwise it will take forever.

Athina themselves are the only ones who can set up the tariffs there is somesort of existing process which is done by someone called Mila Safina in theBilling department; she runs a programme every Friday to update any newtariffs into the billing system.


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In addition, you have the following information:

Billing Project: Internal Resource Allocation

Name Cost ( per day) Loading on project

Maggie Diamond 800 10%

Subin Mehta8 700 45%

Joanne Huntley 500 100%Andy Roslin 600 5%

Mary Wallace 400 100%

R&D Engineers (x 2) 300 (per person) 100% for NISdevelopment and alsoduring SIT testing

Mila Safina 250 10% during UAT andfor tariff upload

Stella Brewer 650 1%

Luke Pearl 400 2%

Ben Taylor 800 5%

Ricardo Santos 350 100% for training thetrainers activities

User Testers 125 (each user) 100% for their tasks

Overheads to include:

Consumables, such as stationery etc. charged to the project at 10 per day.

50% overhead on staff costs (to cover pension, National Insurance etc.).

Corporate overhead transfer charge, 40 per day. This is to cover accommodation,utilities and use of central services not booked directly to the project.

Athina staff do not normally work weekends, but if this is deemed necessary then theyare paid at a double time rate. Note: TA dont charge any extra for weekend working.A th it f l d d h ld b i l d d i b d t i dditi t th


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Project 2: Spring Meadow Launch

It is almost one year since the inception of the billing project and the system is workingwell, and has been integrated with Spring Meadows interface successfully.

Susie Palmer, the contract project manager, has just started work at Athina. She hasattended a briefing meeting with the Subin Mehta, the Programme Manager, and he hasdocumented the key points of the meeting in the following task briefing memo for Susie.


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Internal Memo

From: Subin Mehta Date: 15 Jan 2011

To: Susie Palmer

Re: Spring Meadow Launch

Susie,

Welcome on board! I dont need to tell you how important this first customeris to Athina at the moment they get absolute priority (although I dont knowhow long that will last, given there are some other large organisations close tosigning up as well).

As you know from your past experiences, the resellers system successfullylinking up to our own is one of the trickiest things to get right. And so far sogood, the system seems to be working well. We now need you to produce aplan to train Spring Meadow staff and put in place an advertising campaign tolaunch the service.

Note that there will have to be a go / no go decision before the advertising isplaced (i.e. media slots purchased), so that we can make sure that Spring

Meadows own system is ready to take the orders that will be generated as aresult of the marketing campaign. Stella Brewer, Athinas Marketing Director,is particularly keen on knowing all the detail of the marketing campaign, soyoull need to keep her informed at all times!

Overall, what we need is: all relevant Spring Meadow staff trained and a pressand leaflet advertising campaign in place to start on Spring Meadows launchdate. This should be no later than June 2011, ideally earlier if this is possible.

Training

The training will be in two parts: training for customer service people who willt k th d d d l ith t bl d t i i f t


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I wouldnt pretend to be an expert in Marketing Communications, so Ive gotthe following from Stella Brewer to give you the main activities for a marketing

communications campaign:

First concepts; first creative ideas are developed and presented to theclient to agree preferred options.

Rough concepts for print-based advertising are then produced and pre-tested with the target audience prior to selection of the final concept.

Production (e.g. copy, artwork, proofs, printing, storyboards, script, film

shoot, radio recording etc.) Media planning; determining the media to use and developing a schedule

of proposed media, timings and costs.

Media buying; negotiate slots and prices with media owners. Media buyersgenerally aim to secure rates lower than those published.

Implementation; run campaign.

Monitoring & control; collect feedback during the campaign (e.g. trade

press reports, complaints etc.) Evaluation; post-campaign research to ascertain impact of messages on

the target audience.

Stella says that sign-off of the concepts and ads themselves (visuals and copy)will be done jointly by her and by Spring Meadows Marketing Director JustinSpring.


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Tasks, Resources and Costs

Well be using Spring Meadows advertising agency, Red Balloon, for theactual ad campaign. Theyve provided costs and durations (see below) fortheir main activities.

The following diagram denotes the key workflows and communicationsinterfaces within the Red Balloon agency:

Desk research,information & library

New media services

Consumer, retail &product research

Marketing groups

Accountmanagement groups

Media research &media planning

Client

Media buying

Creative planning &direction

PR, merchandising &other specialist

services

Senior management

Visualizing, artdirection &typography

Copy & script writing

TV, radio & cinemaproduction

Creative research

Art buying


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Athina / Spring Meadow Press & Leaflet Campaign:

Agency / Sub-contractor Costs

Activity Duration(days)

Manpower resource Manpower Costper day (unless

otherwisestated)

First concepts 8 Creative director (50%)

Creative executive(50%)

500

350

Concept roughs 4 Creative director (50%)


500

350

Pre-testing 15 Creative researcher 200

Final concepts 5 Creative director (50%)


500

350

Press copy 5 Copywriter 300

Press visuals 4 Visualizer 300

Press artwork,proof &distribution

15 Visualiser (25%)

Sub-contractor

300

10,000 (totalcost)

Media planning &scheduling

5 Media planner 250

Media buying 20 Media buyer 280Leaflet copy andvisuals

2 Copywriter

Visualizer

300

300

Leaflet production& print

10 Sub-contractor 0.05p per 2000leaflets


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National press advertising costs per one full-page insertion (monochrome,average) are as follows:

Tabloid: 35,000Broadsheet: 20,000.

The campaign will run for two months, then well review and see what to do infuture.

Good luck let me know if any of the above not clear.

Regards

Subin


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In addition, you have the following information:

Launch Project: Internal Resource Allocation

Name Cost ( per day) Loading on project

Maggie Diamond 800 10%

Subin Mehta11 700 40%

Joanne Huntley(watching brief) 500 1%

Susie Palmer 600 100%

Andy Roslin (watchingbrief)

600 2%

Stella Brewer 650 20% for marketing

communications projectLuke Pearl 400 100% for marketing

communications project

Ben Taylor (watchingbrief)

800 2%

Ricardo Santos 350 100% for his part of

training activitiesAlain Fontaine 350 100% for his part of

training activities

Overheads to include:

Consumables, such as stationery etc. charged to the project at 10 per day. Inaddition, user training manuals cost 3.00 per course delegate.

50% overhead on staff costs (to cover pension, National Insurance etc.).

Corporate overhead transfer charge, 40 per day. This is to cover accommodation,utilities and use of central services not booked directly to the project.

Athina staff do not normally work weekends, but if this is deemed necessary then they


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Appendix A

Project plan structure and criteria

This structure should be used for either of the projects. Depending on the layout, theentire document should consist of about 20-30 printed pages, including charts and

diagrams. If you think other sections are necessary, please adjust the structure,

explaining why in an introduction. You should keep the document to about this length

a document that is much smaller or much larger may not meet the assessment

criteria.

Section Size (pages) Suggested ContentTable of Contents 1 page

Executive Summary page Summarize the main features of the plan, giving key factsand data. Make reference to any unusual issues described

elsewhere in the plan.

Objectives ~ 1 Discuss the main desired outcomes of the project.

Success Criteria ~ 1 State how the success or failure of the project will be

determined in relation to the stated objectives. Amplify theobjectives of the project if these werent made clear in themain body of the plan.

PBS of Deliverables 1-2 A List or Tree of the deliverable items, with approximate

delivery dates where known.

Work Breakdown Structure 3-5 Show a WBS for all parts of the project, defining any

unfamiliar terms. Prepare a Responsibility Matrix (up to 1

page) showing who does what.

Schedule 2-7 Include a 1-page Overview/Milestone Schedule, and a fullschedule no longer than 6 pages. Identify any schedule risks.

Resource Plan 1-2 How manpower will be deployed effectively on the project.

Stakeholder management plan 1-2 Strategies for stakeholder communications to maintain /

increase support / reduce any opposition.

Costing Information 1-2 All Project costs, broken down by WBS code or heading,

resource type. Show how the costs are derived from resource

costs. Discuss the main cost drivers.

Risk Management 2-4 Describe the main identified risks for the project and the

control strategy for each one. Include a risk register table.

Project Monitoring Strategy 1-2 Techniques used to monitor project progress, including

product quality. Refer back to activities and budget items in

the main plan.


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Page 20 of 21

Jane Walker, 2008.

Based on an idea by Elaine Axby.

Appendix B Programme Key Personnel (Page 1 of 2)

Maggie DiamondProject Sponsor

Subin MehtaProgramme Manager

Joanne HuntleyPM (Billing Imp.)

Susie PalmerPM (Launch)

Stephen HartEngineer, Sudoco

Andy Roslin

Head of Billing Ops

Mary Wallace

Billing, Technical Devt

Mila SafinaBilling Operations Stella Brewer

Director of Marketing

Luke Pearl

Marketing Manager


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Page 21 of 21

Jane Walker, 2008.

Based on an idea by Elaine Axby.

Appendix B Programme - Key Personnel (Page 2 of 2)

Ben TaylorDirector of Finance

Alain FontaineSpringMeadow Training

Ricardo SantosAthina Training

Amit TendulkarMD, Tendulkar Associates

User Testers (2 x Finance, 2 x Billing)Billing Implementation Project

Documents

Athina v5 Mech Eng