Project management

Proactive and regular contact our client is critical for a successful project delivery. With this in mind, we create close relationships with all our clients to ensure an efficient, satisfactory and timely completion of their project while also following the industry’s leading risk, change and quality management strategies.

Planning is crucial and all the members of our project management team hold foundation or practitioner level PRINCE2 registration. PRINCE2 is a widely known structured method for project management developed by the Office of Government Commerce and is used extensively by the public sector, central and local government and within the private sector and uses the following characteristics:-

South West Communications Group’s project management team works with our in-house technical support and engineering teams and our business partners to make sure all projects are handled with meticulous care and attention. A dedicated project manager would be assigned to take a leading and proactive role for the duration of any contract and to be the primary interface between South West Communications Group and our client and to provide the following:

A single point of contact - our project managers are the one and only port of call for all matters between South West Communications Group and our clients throughout a project deployment, therefore creating a real working relationship that instills both trust and confidence.

Detailed pre-planning - our project managers will identify any issues that can be addressed prior to the implementation of the solution. Regular project management meetings would be scheduled to report on progress and to ensure that any potential issues are immediately discussed and satisfactorily concluded before they impact upon the project implementation.

Third party liaison - we deal with any third parties involved in the project to ensure the correct timescales and order of tasks are carefully managed to guarantee time is never wasted. This will include any dialogue required with existing network suppliers or building or cabling contractors, and proper records will be kept of all communication with them on behalf of our client.

A programme of work - written in Microsoft Office Project, this will detail all key tasks and milestones within the project including those that are the responsibility of 3rd parties, such as a network service providers. This programme will ensure everyone understands the project and what their responsibilities are within it. It will be updated regularly by our project manager who will also attend scheduled project meetings to discuss progress and to resolve any issues that have arisen.

Change control - regular contact with our client may prompt a need for alterations to the initial plan and these will be dealt with as official project issues and will be logged accordingly. Changes can be raised by anyone involved in the project and will be assessed against cost, benefit, risk and importance. A change authority, which will include client and South West Communications Group representatives, will be responsible for approving any changes.

Site surveys - will be carried out to ascertain the need for new cabling or whether existing infrastructure can be utilised or upgraded.

Equipment testing - our project manager would contact our client to arrange for collection of system programming data to allow us to build, pre-programme and pre-test systems our in-house workshops prior to delivery on site – they are then re-tested on site before going live.

Training co-ordination - all users of the new system will need to undergo training and our project managers will co-ordinate a timetable that may involve on-site courses or specialist tuition in one of our dedicated training centres.

Official handover - our project manager will ensure the project is properly signed off on the final day of installation with an appropriate review period put in place

Completion on time and within budget - two key aims throughout

Ongoing account management – an account management have the shared aim of establishing a close working relationship with our client’s and has the specific responsibility of coordinating any required moves/adds/changes, providing regular technology updates, performance review meetings and establishing a relationship between our client and the manufactures key technical staff as required.

Ongoing support - we operate an industry-leading support infrastructure that provides our clients with a professional, highly responsive facility to address all areas of fault rectification and maintenance. This is underpinned by nearly three decades of experience and facilitated by an extensive team of highly trained engineering and technical support staff specifically designated to support our client base.

South West Communications Group has used its expertise to provide efficient project management to ease the design and installation of many solutions for companies across the UK, including the University of Plymouth Medical Centre.