What is a transition project?

Simply put, transitions projects are projects whose goal is to transfer the delivery of business processes
from one organization to another or from one department to another. In line with project definition, a
transition project is a temporary endeavor with a beginning and an end, that has a specific result,
service, in that’s case the transfer of the delivery of a business process. Transition projects varies
depending on complexity, size and scale, dependencies, which has an impact on how to approach them.
Also, it is important in which phase and in which role we are participating in a transition project. The
tools that we review today is one suggested approach to handle transition projects from the beginning
until the end. There is no one best way and this tool set needs to be adapted to the specifications of each
projects.

Project are divided into 5 main phases that are Initiation, Planning, Executing, Monitoring&Controlling
and Closing. We will now go through on each phase, and see some tools to use in them.

Initiation:

There is a roadmap agreed and published at the beginning of each FY that is relevant for EMEA BSC
including all projects to be completed in that FY. These projects with their objectives are aligned with the
organizational objectives and business needs, no matter whether these goals are articulated in financial
terms, in standard processes or in operation that is more efficient. A clear understanding of the projects
is inevitable. To start with, we need to understand the objective of the project. For that, a preliminary
project team, a group of people is collected to have the more information on the business needs, the
basic parameters and resources that characterize the project itself. At this point no firm project team can
be set-up as this will be formed while having more information on the scope and scale of the project. In
most cases, there is a sending part and a receiver end of each transition projects, a business owner, a
department where the responsible of process delivery change.

To understand the project objective we need to map out what are the business processes, services that
are to be transitioned, from where to where. We need to be able to answer to questions like what is the
business need behind the project. This will lead to the scope of the project.

Questionnaire : to collect as many information as possible, collect historical data, knowledge owners,
systems and tools, practices – we tend to use standard process package in BSC but we need to
understand where we come from, any constraints, IT or any other dependencies, language and working
hour specifications to be prepared for, risks, high-level requirements from key stakeholders, any
compliance requirement, identify if any milestones are to be considered - this data collection helps with
better planning. Requirements shall be gathered from all stakeholders and ranked or evaluated. These
are collected via, emails, meetings, facilitated workshops, brainstorming sessions, reviewing historical
data,

Scope needs to be clearly defined and approved by responsible persons.

KPI: Measurable project objective, deliverables can help in the acceptance of the project was successful
or not, to compare with previous performance or not. Were there any KPIs?

Expected deliverables may relate to the project objective like process documentation, training
documentations, authority transfer, change in the signatories, or the project itself like planning
documentation or control documentation. Measurable project objective, deliverables can help in
deciding whether the project was successful or not.

Roles & responsibilities: to make sure that projects are run successfully (meaning reaching its preset
objectives) we need to include the responsible people and address them with the needed responsible
persons, to get enough information, to get done each task, to have the surveillance, the buy-in, and the
commitment to do the tasks.

Sponsor: provides financial resources for the project, has requirements that must be met, advocates for
the project ensure buy-ins in the organization, escalation points.

Project team/core team: will complete the work of the project. Identify stakeholders, requirements,
constraints and assumptions.

Functional managers, process owners: decision makers related to the transitions, raise any issues,
allocate resource, and project team members (SMEs), assist team members in case of need, approve the
final scope and sign-off.

PM: coordinates, communicates, collects information, responsible for the project but not for resources,
keep schedule and plan, help move forward for task completion.

Project charter: creating a project charter is the process of planning the project at high-level to assess
whether the project itself is feasible with the given factors and constraints. Detailed planning just starts
afterwards once the project idea is approved and accepted. This document formally authorizes the
existence of the project. This includes the Project name and title, a brief description on the background,
why it is being done, that is the purpose and the justification of doing it. Stakeholders and planned
project team or other resources, draft deliverables, assumptions and dependencies, constraints (what
factors may limit the delivery), measurable project objectives ( in line with organization’s goal). It needs
sponsor’s approval and signature.

Kick-off meeting: is the result of a planning/preparation, main aim is to prepare the team, establish good
relationship, share information, put everyone on common ground related to scope, timing ,main tasks,
risks and project outcome. What are we doing (executive summary to make sure that everyone is
familiar with the project aim) scope and deliverables, how are we doing (approach, communication
plan), roles, next steps/tasks.

Business case: shows the return on investment on a project (financially or not like satisfaction)

Planning phase:

It is a team effort, to walk through the project element from the beginning until the end before doing the
actual work.

Business Case: it captures the business need, why the project was selected, how it is part of the
organization’s objectives and how it will bring value.

Planning shall be an iterative process, we go back and forth with planning during the whole project.
Execution:

The purpose of execution is to complete the project work as defined in the planning phase and in the
plan to meet the project objectives. This is the ‘do’ phase. A large majority of the project budget is spent
during the executing processes. Stakeholder engagement is a large part of executing phase. Besides, this
phase requires communication and status reviews, tracking, control change, follow process, remove any
roadblocks.

Continuously make sure that there is enough available resource working on the project.

Meetings

• Information exchange- to give updates to other parties

• Brainstorming, etc.- to generate ideas

• Decision-making- to come to a decision.

How to problem solve/or collect info in execution phase? Interviewing, brainstorming, root cause
analysis.

Risk assessment in most cases is a subjective evaluation, depends on how much risk averse the person is
who does the risk assessment. How to manage risks?

Do something to eliminate it before it happens (being proactive), decrease the probability that it
happens, decrease or modify the impact when it happens (being reactive).

Issue logs should be utilized to ensure that all project issues are resolved and closed. They also are a
great communication tool as they let our stakeholders know that their issues are important to us, that
owners have been assigned and resolution will occur.

Processes: a cornerstone of any organization is its processes.

SLA: a new contract will describe how service levels should be managed and usually will include an initial
set of service-level definitions and targets. Difficulties arise through lack of clarity of service level
definition, lack of appropriate process/ system triggers that can be used to start/stop measurement,
regional process/system variations and simply the fact that service levels have never been measured
before.

Closing:

Project closing is where the project finished. Close project or phase is the process of completing all work
for the project or the phase. Closure is measured against the scope baseline.

• transition of ownership of the service/process/deliverables

• manage project records

• release final resources

Change management: shall be used during transition projects, which involves developing strategies and
activities that help people overcome resistance to significant changes in the processes, in the roles and
responsibilities and in overall organization. Change management deals with all people aspects of change,
making sure that the employees and the organization are ready for the change to set in. Change
management shall include ensuring that the project is completed as expected with no disruption to the
service provided and the running of the business; maintaining or increasing employee engagement and
productivity; and maintain a good working relationship between the two parties. It shall include
understanding the stakeholder’s needs, manage their relationship and communicate continuously.

What is in it for me to participate in a transition?

Standard processes are more efficient, more learning and opportunities,