range of sources internal or external to the company 4.3 Conduct telephone interviews / enquiries 4.4 Extract data from company / industry / research reports 4.5 Extract data from company systems 4.6 Extract data from public sources – internet 4.7 Capture new data e.g. take measurements, instrument readings etc. 4.8 Design, distribute and collate data via survey/questionnaire Process Stage Description Ref Activity Manage the relationship with the client Keep the client informed of planned actions and progress. Ask for access to information and contacts. Discussion and resolution of issues as they arise. In the mid stages of the project it is essential to discuss your findings, their implications for the project and proposed solutions. This enables you to gage reaction and build support. Project and task management Develop an overall project plan as well as detailed plans per stage. Actively manage the project including monitor progress and priorities against plan and make refinements as required In the mid stages of the project, monitoring progress against plan and reviewing priorities is critical. Some later stages can happen in parallel e.g. presentation preparation and report writing. 5 - Analyse the data Critical and rigorous analysis of the data. Generation of visualisations useful to interpret results 5.1 Sort and structure data to enable analysis 5.2 Deal with incomplete or inconsistent data – make assumptions 5.3 Assess reliability/validity of data and assumptions 5.4 Deal with large data sets e.g. those requiring use of macro's 5.5 Analyse qualitative data 5.6 Analyse quantitative data 5.7 Develop visualisations of data 6 - Interpret results and refine the project Determine results and consider what these might mean for different stakeholders. Validate results. Refine project specification and objectives if required 6.1 Identify anomalies in data 6.2 Consider results in relation to hypotheses / questions posed in 2.3 6.3 Draw insights from results and identify further questions or issues. 6.4 Validate results from different stakeholder perspectives 6.5 Refine project definition, boundary, scope, deliverables etc. as required 7 - Find solutions Identify feasible solutions 7.1 Generate ideas using creative (divergent) thinking 7.2 Collect ideas of potential solutions from company sources 7.3 Search for potential solutions from outside the company 7.4 Identify resource, operational and technical constraints 7.5 Shortlist feasible solutions / options
8 - Evaluate Solutions Select preferred solution/s using a logical and relevant selection procedure. Test suitability and acceptability with stakeholders 8.1 Identify appropriate selection criteria 8.2 Test different options to generate performance data 8.3 Apply a logical methodology for ranking options 8.4 Identify a preferred solution 8.5 Discuss with stakeholder/s to validate evaluation and test suitability and acceptability of preferred solution Process Stage Description Ref Activity Manage the relationship with the client Keep the client informed of planned actions and progress. Ask for access to information and contacts. Discussion and resolution of issues as they arise. In the final stages of the project it is essential to discuss your proposals to build client buy in prior to the presentation Project and task management Develop an overall project plan as well as detailed plans per stage. Actively manage the project including monitor progress and priorities against plan and make refinements as required. In the final stages of the project, monitoring progress against plan and regularly reviewing priorities is critical to ensure all essential activities are complete on time. 9 - Prepare Proposals Prepare a clearly argued and comprehensive business case to support your recommendations 9.1 Develop supporting arguments 9.2 Develop a detailed actionable implementation plan identifying key resources required 9.3 Develop financial business case 9.4 Identify and quantify (where possible) benefits, risks and resource requirements 9.5 Discuss proposals with stakeholders to test recommendations 10 - Implement Agreed Project Solution Get agreement to implement solution/s and work with appropriate people to make changes and evaluate their success. 10.1 Obtain agreement by appropriate people 10.2 Make agreed changes 10.3 Monitor progress of implementation and deal with issues as they arise 10.4 On completion check changes are fully operational and delivering benefits anticipated 11 - Prepare and deliver project presentation Prepare and deliver a presentation to the company and tutor to a high professional standard 11.1 Prepare the presentation 11.2 Practice the presentation 11.3 Identify likely questions and prepare answers 11.4 Deliver the presentation 11.5 Capture key points, questions and reactions to the presentation