4.4 Creating a Project Announcement Plan

If a large company is releasing a large project internally or to users outside of the company, the project will need to be announced. Communications is the area responsible for corporate wide or external announcements. Communications works closely with Business Development to create an Announcement Plan. An Announcement Plan details who will be responsible for developing each deliverable needed to successfully announce a project and how and when it will occur. Part of the Announcement Plan is to create a budget for the project and receive budget approval. This should be done outside of the team, but the team should be informed when the budget is approved. If this is an international project, extra care should be taken when developing the strategy and identifying the time frames . Translations need to be made for each country s language and culture. If the announcement is to occur simultaneously , worldwide schedules need to be built that allow time for localization. An effective American campaign does not always work in Europe. It needs to be decided if materials developed in one country will be deployed around the world or if new materials will be developed for each market. Budgets, politics, and user demographics play into this decision.

Business Development and Communications Role

Business Development should be intimately familiar with the needs of the user and the project. Communications is experienced with spreading the word for internal communications and with the press and industry analysts for external communications. Communications has a tight pulse on the current themes the press is writing about and can recommend the best way to present the project verbally and visually. Communications is responsible for managing the announcement process; deliverables may come from many people, both internal and external to the company.

Communications and Business Development need to decide how, where, and when it is best to announce this project. If the team decides on a public beta, this launch will be actualized at the beginning of beta; for a closed beta the launch will be actualized at the end of beta. Depending on the project and the visibility of the company, it may be wise to announce the project in conjunction with a major trade show. Some projects obtain better visibility when released during slack news periods. Considerations that affect the announcement date may include competitive launches and newsworthy subjects that can gain better visibility for the project. For example, a new sales tool can be announced at the company s yearly sales meeting, or a security application can be announced in coordination with an HR security program. An example of a project that might be announced is an HIPAA program. HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Health care institutions need to ensure that all employees are trained on HIPAA standards. This training might be a corporate project within a hospital. The team is responsible for creating, rolling out, and ensuring all employees receive training. The announcement might be for the press and the general public, assuring them that hospital employees are trained based on these government regulations and providing them with information on how this training will continue with new employees .

For external applications, companies should be careful not to introduce a project too soon. A competitor s announcement may drive a company to attempt to introduce a project early. This approach can backfire. Press and analysts take into account release dates and referenceable customers or users. When release dates are far out and customers or users cannot speak to the press, analysts notice and highlight the immaturity of the announcement. Companies should choose their announcement date based on what will gain them the most positive press. It is unwise to lose the momentum of a announcement by its being viewed as a ˜ ˜me too announcement. Give the competitor time to deliver. Many times competitors announce a project early, in order to receive early press. They want to be the first with a project. If the project release date slips or the project s quality is poor, a company that announces later but delivers and executes as planned has the advantage. The best strategy to take when a competitor releases a new, competitive project is to show ˜ ˜ sportsmanlike conduct and not bad-mouth the competition. Many times companies will tempt the press by overhanging the market. Overhanging the market is a strategy used to entice the press to speculate about a soon-to-be-released project by trickling out information. For instance, a retailer is coming out with a new Web site in the next quarter that will be integrated with their existing stores; their competitor announces a similar Web site. The company tells the media they are not concerned about their competitor s announcement, since they will be releasing their Web site next quarter. The caveat is, next quarter the Web site will need to be released and the logistics of integrating the Web site with retailers will need to be functioning.

4.4 in a Nutshell

A Project Announcement Plan is needed for large projects being deployed in large companies or for projects being deployed to users outside of the company.

• The Project Announcement Plan details how, when, and who will be responsible for developing each deliverable needed to successfully announce a project.

• Communications and Business Development will decide how, where, and when the project should be announced.