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Laurentian Financial Group, sold a broad range of life, pension and investment products through a 750-person sales force in the United Kingdom. It also sold unit trusts, which are comparable to mutual funds. Project Summary Conducted a project audit and business case review to assess the business case for deployment of point of sale laptops to sales agents for this UK subsidiary of a Canadian life insurance company. Uncovered missing cost factors and established a project accounting methodology which caused cancellation of the project. Background As part of negotiations to hire a new CEO, the Canadian parent company had agreed to finance the development of a new laptop-based point-of-sale system for agents for proposing, selling and booking business. Costs were reaching the point where budget was to be overrun and the parent wanted an unbiased review to determine the potential extent of overrun and whether changes could be recommended to phase development and better facilitate deployment. Requirement Conduct a review of the project: Business Case, Scope and Objectives, Plan, Organization, Methodology, Processes and Procedures, Progress and results. Project After Discovery Recommend measures to contain slippage, write business cases for additional requirements, and forecast cost to launch. Approach Develop a business case from project documentation. Review project documentation, and interview key staff to enrich the project documentation to cover available functionality. Interviewed project staff to assess the current status
Results
Developed a presentation for representatives of parent company to describe: - The project background and environment
- Functional requirements
- Business cases
- Recommended measures to contain slippage, and wrote business cases for additional requirements with forecast cost to launch.
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