7.2 Tasks Completed During General Availability

The project is now released and in use. The previous phases should have ensured that it meets the needs and provides the necessary quality for the projected end users.

After the project has been released and available for a year, a project review should take place. Many times projects are released and supported, but no follow-up phase review is performed. Don t overlook yearly phase reviews on released projects. It is very important for a company to track its accuracy for predicting costs and the effectiveness of its projects. A General Availability phase review provides a yearly forum for executives to view past projects.

For projects that were created and provided to customers or partners , the yearly review meeting is not a sales or territory review; sales figures should not be discussed. The purpose of the yearly review is to compare the estimated cost of maintaining the project to its actual cost; to review Help Desk issues, training costs, and the program s effectiveness; to identify user penetration; and to decide if an update or follow-on project is needed. The review highlights areas the company needs to address. For instance, if users have been requesting additional functionality, Business Development might leave this review with the task to research the profitability of adding on to the project. If bugs are higher than expected, the IT organization should be notified so that they can review the project to better understand where the problem lies. The problem could have been with test procedures used in QA; it could be with immature software purchased from a vendor; or it could be because the end- user needs changed from what was originally anticipated. The bugs are not really bugs , but new features. The IT organization should periodically review bug lists and sustaining activities. The information should be used to increase IT productivity through better planning.

7.2 in a Nutshell

The project is in full use. Yearly, the project should be reviewed for effectiveness.

• Review the estimated cost of maintaining a project versus its actual cost.

• Review Help Desk issues.

• Review Training costs.

• Review the program s effectiveness.

• Identify user penetration and decide if an update or follow-on project is needed.