It sure sounded like it at first glance. However, the right people working together, doing the right things for all the right reasons can overcome any challenge. Project management is an art unto itself. This case study offers an outstanding example of this art form in action. Let us take a look at the project itself:
The Client: Hotel Net Business (HNB: www.hotelnetbusiness.com) is a French start-up company, the dream of two Paris based entrepreneurs, Paul Bernie and Bernard Levy- Provencal. The firm’s mission: to provide a multiple-service portal to the European hospitality industry focused on the needs of the independent hotelier. Services include news, commentary, employment resources, reservations and e-procurement. Backed by Fontainebleu Ventures, the young firm has a staff of 14 hospitality professionals dedicated to servicing their customers.
The Project: Modify the U.S.-based e-procurement software HNB licensed from VproLogic (VPL: www.vprologic.net) of Atlanta, Ga. The system needed to support the HNB business model in a pan-European environment with full multi-lingual and multi-currency functionality, as opposed to driving a different model in English and U.S. dollars, oversee the hosting of the modified code in a highly secure co-location facility, and assist HNB in establishing their internal processes for acquiring and servicing clients, acquiring suppliers and managing a rapidly expanding library of products and prices. All of this needed to be done on time and on budget.
The Team: Start with HNB’s team of hospitality professionals drawn from a polyglot cast of global talent. HNB’s staff comes from France, the United Kingdom, Morocco, Canada, Sri Lanka and the former Yugoslavia. Throw in an American project manager from High Touch Technologies, Inc. (HTT) and a team of system administrators from iSpeed Solutions (Atlanta, Ga.). Deliver a powerful offshore software development engine in the form of Magnaquest International’s (Phoenix, Ariz.) Indian software architects and programmers. Code warriors, to be sure, these 85 software professionals delivered expertise in the complete scope of Web ware, including active server pages, Java, COM, multiple databases and more.
The Catch: VproLogic was an even more infant company than HNB. At the beginning of the effort, VPL had software licenses and source code, but no employees. The effort was led by
R.C. Patel, an entrepreneur with several other businesses to operate in addition to providing VPL’s vision. R.C. assembled the team of consultants and subject matter experts to drive the project ahead while the infant firm took shape. During the course of the project, VPL hired its first employee, Satyan Melwani, and VPL is now on route to its adolescence as a software development company. Now, let’s tell the truth. Nobody started this effort really knowing that it would demand this degree of complexity and this breadth of resources. But as the project evolved and the client’s needs became defined, the entire team remained fully committed to success and flexible enough to achieve it. What were the strategies, tools and business conditions that enabled this accomplishment? 96,000 air miles and 38 nights in hotels later, we can define the required ingredients for clear success:
- Focus
- Aligned business interests
- Clear high-level objectives
- A strong project plan
*break big tasks into smaller ones
*define milestones at every major point
*require weekly deliverables
- Communication
- Most importantly: The right people with the right skill sets