Technology solves many business issues, make sure you have the right IT consultant for the job.
How to Define the Scope of Your IT Project
Customized software development means juggling many responsibilities such as:
- Setting goals and milestones
- Identifying the right resources for each task
- Determining project requirements
- Managing change
- Performing a needs assessment
Successful IT project management is the culmination of implementing the right best practices with the art of time management. Knowing the scope of your project is a critical step and it all starts with a thorough IT environment assessment. Whether your project is an office move, a structured cabling job, a cloud migration, or a customized inventory management platform, knowledge is key. Armed with information, you can determine the scope of the project by answering the following:
- What are the requirements? This determines what features and functions are required. What needs to be specifically built into the solution?
- What are the process requirements? Not only is it important for the solution to function a certain way on its own, but the scope will touch on existing processes as well. Data is never static, it flows from one point to another.
- Who are the stakeholders? People are as important to the solution as the solution itself. When important stakeholders are left out of the development process, it may be impossible for them to buy in once the solution is finished.
- What are the limitations? Scope isn’t all about what is included, it is about what needs to be excluded as well. Often it is important to document what will not be done to better define expectations.
- How will change be managed? Once scope is defined, it can’t be changed without the right change management functions taking place. The time to define how change will be handled is at the very beginning
MOBIZ will make sure you have the right answers to these questions so your project gets off on the right start. But what if you already have an IT provider? In some cases, your managed service provider may be more of an impediment than a vehicle for success.
When Custom Software Development Is Beyond the Scope of Your Managed MSP
Defining the scope of your IT project is critical because one of the main determining factors to success is having the right people and resources available. If you are using a managed services provider they simply might not be equipped to handle your project.
Most MSP’s Simply Maintain a Baseline of Support
Managed service providers are usually doing two things, monitoring infrastructure such as email servers, workstations, patching, and networks, and incident remediation like responding to outages and cyber attacks. An MSP that has actual programmers on staff is a rare thing which means if something comes up with a client they are usually forced to find another option
Managed Service Providers Will Suggest Their Own Provider
When presented with a high-level It project, an MSP may understand the solution but not have the resources to carry it out. This is very common for projects like structured cabling and web design. While the MSP may handle some low-level tasks, anything that is part of a large project is usually left to a third party.
Specialized Solutions Require a Specialized Provider
When you have an IT project, there is no need to rely on options that fall short. MOBIZ is the specialized It provider your business needs to make sure your IT project has the best chance of success.
AT MOBIZ, we’re here to help you tackle the big-picture tasks. Whether you want to upgrade your servers, tighten network security, or move your data to the cloud, large IT projects require a business to invest time and capital in the management of these projects. MOBIZ can create a roadmap and strategy for delivering critical projects properly and without any disruption to your day-to-day IT operations.
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