3 Project manager in financial management system implementation ‘The main roles of the job include:
? organisation – from the design of the system to determining support issues and providing training;
? anticipation of future requirements of the system;
? monitoring of progress of the implementation;
? communication and information – providing progress reports to local team members and national common-interest groups;
? audit – ensuring the housekeeping, procedures and system security are in order.
The initial system design work involved coordinating with external system designers, the providers of the software and the in-house IT group. Our local area network (LAN) needed upgrading to run the new system. Other organisational issues were the role that consultants would play in the system design and training of users and the allocation of the budget between activities. Anticipation was required as the requirements of the system would change over its life. For example, higher-level monthly indicators of financial performance would need to be provided where they had not been needed before. In addition, a management accounting system would be required to provide budgetary controls. ? 20 Chapter 1 Introduction The monitoring system we used for the project was PRINCE 2 2009. This provided a basic set of planning tools, and we filled in the blanks on the planning sheets. A team was set up to monitor progress against the plan. Training was one area where I was personally involved with the users, showing them how to use the system. People are very frightened of technology and do not always grasp immediately ideas you think are very simple. This is where the greatest attribute of the project manager was needed in plenty – patience.’
1) Describe the desirable characteristics of each project manager using the set of skills and attributes as a starting point.