Chapter 8: Phase 8 - End of Life

˜ ˜Denial ain t just a river in Egypt.

”Mark Twain

8.1 End of Life Overview

End of Life (EOL) is the process whereby the project history can be reviewed and a decision made regarding whether a project should be discontinued. At some point the project will become obsolete, get too expensive to support, or a better mousetrap will have been invented. The role of each project team involved in EOL is listed below.

Business Development

The Business Development person is responsible for project direction, industry analysis, and competitive analysis, as well as understanding the user and identifying and driving the project s direction. Business Development works with all areas of the company to make sure the project is focused on the user and is presented in the best possible light.

Project Manager

The Project Manager s responsibility is to make sure each member of the team understands his or her interdependencies. The Project Manager facilitates communication among departments, manages processes, and confirms that the deliverables within each stage of the project life cycle have been met. When deliverables slip, it is the responsibility of the Project Manager to escalate this information and to facilitate a resolution. In smaller companies, the Project Manager s duties usually incorporate those of Business Development and Communications.

Help Desk

Help Desk is responsible for defining, designing, and developing a detailed plan that articulates how the company will support a project after it is released. The Support Plan defines how Help Desk personnel will be trained, how users will access help, how bugs will be tracked and fixed after release, what training will be available to end users, and how updates and fixes will be sent to users.