Analyzing Scope Creep

In July 2013 our university merged with another institution that resulted in a marriage with two medical schools at one institution and now three physical locations. Specifically, Rowan University (host institution) was acquiring the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ (UMDNJ). The product that needed to merge successfully was the system that houses the student support services areas of the university called Banner (supported and sold by a company named Ellucian). The areas that use this system are admissions, registrar, financial aid and bursar offices. Rowan University hired Ellucian consultants to assist in the merge of the Banner system from two institutions to one. 

While the expectations were clear between Rowan and the consultants, they were not clear for UMDNJ. Rowan was told that UMDNJ was using out of the box Banner system and so did Rowan. The only drawback and issue that raise many eyebrows was that UMDNJ hadn’t upgraded their system since 2006 and upgrades had been implemented almost quarterly annually since. The migration project plan was set and due dates were scheduled by Ellucian to import the data from UMDNJ into the Rowan Banner system.  Scope creep started occurring when we started getting conflicting information from stakeholders at UMDNJ regarding the information due to migrate.  The UMDNJ stakeholders weren’t being forthcoming about the data and external systems they were using in addition to Banner that allowed them to operate without using the most current release. Although the merge was successful, clients on both sides became slippery to the date of completion due and the information is still not totally in synchronized in the Banner system. 

Looking back on the experience now, had I been in the position of managing the project I believe making sure the stakeholders at UMDNJ are completely comfortable, happy and satisfied with the plan would have been a better approach.  Rowan stakeholders were not as amicable as they could have been.  As outlined in our textbook, I would tell people how the requested data will be used.  I would provide scheduled performance reports to the people who supply the data.  Lastly, I would publically acknowledge those people who supply timely and accurate data (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton & Kramer, 2008).

Reference

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.