Making the Business Case for Traffic Incident Management

Chapter 5. Prepare for Implementation

Figure 12. Chart. Prepare for implementation section of traffic incident management business case development process.

(Source: AEM Corporation.)

Preparing the proposed traffic incident management (TIM) investment for successful implementation is the final stage in the business case development process. This stage lays out the actions that an organization(s) will need to undertake to implement and manage the approved program. In this phase, organizations should:

• Develop an implementation and management plan.
• Develop a risk management plan.
• Develop a performance management plan.

Develop Implementation and Management Plan

The development of an implementation and management plan demonstrates a commitment to the execution and management of the program. The explicit articulation of the implementation and management plan instills confidence that the recommended investment will be well managed across the project or program lifecycle. More specifically, the implementation and management plan should:

• Outline how the project will be implemented to demonstrate that the proposed investment has been appropriately thought through and that the estimates presented are within an acceptable degree of accuracy.
• Demonstrate that the organization has and will apply a sound methodology to manage the project throughout its life cycle, as well as post-implementation.
• Provide information concerning the procurement vehicle and precisely how it will be used (if applicable).
• Identify the core work streams and associated milestones.
• Provide an overview of the methods and processes that have been or will be implemented to gauge the project's progress and how that progress will be communicated to the project team, project sponsor, and other stakeholders.
• Identify where business case updates will be reported and how often updates will be provided.

Develop Risk Management Plan

Risk management is critical to the success of any project and must be developed during the planning stages of the project management process. A risk management plan should provide a summary of the risks associated with the project/program, demonstrate that the organization has a function in place to manage the risks, and describe how the risks will be monitored and managed. More specifically, the risk management plan should:

• Identify the risks related to the proposed investment.
• Describe the attributes of each risk.
• Describe the methodology used to conduct the risk assessment.
• Present the results of the risk assessment activities (e.g., probability of occurrence, potential impact).
• Identify risk mitigation strategies and the methodology to track, control, and communicate risk mitigation efforts (e.g., risk register).

The project manager should seek input from team members as well as stakeholders and possibly even end users. A risk register or risk log becomes essential as it records identified risks, their severity, and the actions or steps that need to be taken. It can be a simple document, table, spreadsheet, or a database system.

Develop Performance Management Plan

Developing a performance management plan will demonstrate transparency and accountability for the project. The performance management plan addresses how the success of the proposed investment will be measured. The performance management plan should include the following:

• Key performance measures/indicators.
• Performance goals/targets.
• Data and analyses to be used to measure performance.
• Methods in which performance will be presented and documented.
• Points in time at which performance will be measured and reported to management and stakeholders.
• Actions that will be taken if performance goals/targets are not being met.
• Criteria for project success.