Digital Transformation using Project Management Techniques 12/2023

Digital transformation refers to converting work processes, activities and business models to meet digital economy requirements until the company is a fully networked digital organisation. In this 2-day training programme, we will be covering practical approaches and tools to support Cypriot companies adapt to digital transformation.

These includes methodologies such as Waterfall and Agile Project Management. It also includes a demonstration of software tools such as Asana, Bitrix, Zoho, Facebook and others. The 2-day training will be followed by a 1-day consulting visit to each company.

Training Agenda Day 1

5 December 2023

Module 1: Digital Transformation

08:50 – 09:50 | 60 minutes

Digital transformation is affecting consumers, suppliers and governments all over the world. Today, citizens, consumers and visitors to Cyprus expect digital interaction immediate fulfillment.  This creates tremendous challenges, but also tremendous opportunities. This session will introduce subjects such as customer demographics, internet time and 24/7 fulfilment, and technological change.

Module 2: Digital Strategy and Commitment

09:50 – 10:50 | 60 minutes

On order to succeed, enterprises must make a serious commitment to digital operations. This requires strong leadership, organisational transformation and deep cultural change. This session will review the commitment by enterprises and enterprise leaders to change:

• Leadership of digital transformation across organisational silos and barriers.
• Enterprise, unit and individual accountability and responsibility.
• Corporate culture: Work and customer prioritisation and focus.
• Aligning company strategy and positioning with online presence.
• Accountability at different levels in the organisation.

Module 3: Principles of Digital Project Management

11:10 – 12:10 | 60 minutes

This session introduces project management for digital projects. The training subjects include:

• Project management frameworks, including Waterfall and Agile
• Identification of Enterprise project management requirements and culture
• Specifications documents and tenders (RFP / RFQ), including budgets
• Tender awards and contracts, including price / quality / time tradeoffs
• Project planning: Gantt charts, timelines, milestones, deliverables
• Completion process and verification
• Project activities after Project Completion
• Service Level Agreements (SLA)
• Understanding Online and Offline Hybrids (Server versus Cloud)
• Understanding Copyright, Data protection, and Confidentiality

Module 4: Waterfall Project Management: Part 1

12:10 – 13:10 | 60 minutes

This session introduces Waterfall project management.

• The five phases of Waterfall Project Management
• Defining Project Requirements
• Drafting a Request for Proposals (RFP) / Request for Quotes (RFQ)
• Differentiating between Inputs and Outputs
• Defining Milestones and Timelines
• Allocating budgets in terms of time and costs to milestones and deliverables
• Preparation needed from the contractor side and the vendor side
• Holding and awarding a project tender, project contracting

Module 5: Waterfall Project Management: Part 2

14:10 – 15:40 | 90 minutes

• Digital Project Specifications, Analysis and Design
• Analysis and mapping of business logic and commercial processes
• Drafting the Project Specifications Document
• Software / Internet design processes: Wireframe drawing and mock-ups
• User experience / User interaction / customer experience management
• CMS and ecommerce issues
• Data Security, Data Back Up and Disaster Recovery

Module 6: Waterfall Project Management: Part 3

16:00 – 17:30 | 90 minutes

• Implementation, Verification & Maintenance
• Reporting and management
• Milestone completion and budget release
• Alpha and Beta testing: best practise
• Verification
• Handover training
• Post-project maintenance and support and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Training Agenda Day 2

19 October 2023

Module 7: Agile Project Management

08:50 – 10:50 | 120 minutes

This session presents Agile project management. Items covered include:

• The Agile Manifesto
• Agile project lifecycle / adaptive project lifecycle
• Advantages and disadvantages of iterative design, self-organising teams and groups
• Impact of Agile on project management and project budgets
• Scrum & kaizen processes
• The role of the project manager or scrum master in Agile projects
• Risks of using Agile in Cyprus
• How to choose an Agile technology vendor in Cyprus

Module 8 Digital Outsourcing and Contracting

11:10 – 12:30 | 80 minutes

This session provides an in-depth view at writing digital contracts for specific projects as well as larger outsourcing initiatives. It covers elements that enable a company to “own” and to control a digital initiative, whether this is a website or an SaaS solution. Components include:

• “Make or buy” decisions: When to outsource; when to hire full-time capability
• Role of the outsourced service provider / role of the contractor
• Verifying vendor capabilities: how to differentiate hype from reality
• Contract structure and content ownership
• Intellectual property rights: own content / vendor platforms / third party providers (for instance, digital photographs or media)
• Best practise in contract management and digital asset management
• Contract milestones and clauses
• Service-Level Agreement (SLA) contracts, including  critical incidents, level of impact, response times, and performance levels

Module 9: Using Project & Team Management Software

12:30 – 13:10 / 14:10 – 14:30 | 40 + 20 minutes

This session reviews different options for online project management and team management. This is an effective tool for managing digital projects and initiatives for small enterprises, as it allows for multiple users to login, track progress, assign tasks, etc. We will review three project management SaaS solutions: Asana, Bitrix 24 and Jira.

Module 10: Budgets & ROI

14:30 – 15:40 | 70 minutes

Many enterprises cannot adequately measure digital project budgets and return on investment. This session will provide a detailed structure and analytical framework for budgeting digital projects using Microsoft Excel.

Module 11: A 5-Year Plan to Digital Transformation

16:00 – 17:30 | 90 minutes

We review the core digital operations needed for online competition in Cyprus today. These include:

• Website development and core website features and functions
• eCommerce management
• Social media management and advertising
• Electronic Newsletters and email marketing
• Online advertising (PPC and branded)
• Search engine optimisation
• Online customer care
• Analytics and monitoring

We will also look at how rapidly the environment is changing, and how we anticipate Cypriot companies will be operating five years from now.