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A Case Study InProject ManagementA CMLS Technology Section Council White Paperpublished byCouncil of Multiple Listing Services330 N. Wabash AvenueChicago, IL 60611
A Case Study InProject ManagementA CMLS Technology Section Council White PaperA Case Study In Project Management is a CMLSTechnology Section Council white paper that covershow some MLSs leverage technology to improve theeffectiveness of MLS project management. This whitepaper shares some of the tactics and techniques ofPatrick Williamson, a CMLX2 graduate, at My FloridaRegional MLS.Written by CMLS business parter Victor Lund, partner atWAV Group and CEO of RE Technology, in collaborationwith Patrick Williamson, vice president of developmentand operations with My Florida Regional MLS, andpublished by the Council of Multiple Listing Services.2018 CMLS Edition 1.0
BackgroundAbout My Florida Regional MLSMy Florida Regional MLS (MFRMLS) is aregional Multiple Listing Services provider basedin Orlando, Florida. Its service area coverscentral Florida and the most densely populatedarea along the state’s west coast. The companyprovides services to a subscriber base of morethan 50,000 real estate agents and brokersacross 14 shareholder associations. It lendssome services to three others. MFRMLS is oneof the largest providers of Multiple Listing Services in the world.MFRMLS also has a team of project managers led by Patrick Williamson. Williamsonearned a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the ProjectManagement Institute.About The Project Management InstituteProject Management Institute (PMI) certified executives lead projects in nearly everycountry around the world. The program was developed for companies that haveadapted many principles of project management, including approaches such as Scrum,Kanban, Lead, extreme programming, and test-driven development.Project Management Professional (PMP) certification requires a 4-year degree alongwith 4,500 hours of project management involvement (or 7,500 hours without a 4-yeardegree), 35 hours of project management education, and the successful completion of arigorous certification exam. PMPs are also required to earn 60 professionaldevelopment units every three years. For more information, visit the ProjectManagement Institute.2
OverviewWhile MLS providers have varied staffing capabilities in the United States, only thelargest MLSs in the nation seem to be able to afford highly trained full-time projectmanagers. For the most part, these project managers collaborate between the MLSand its vendors.Appreciating this, Williamson provided one example of a project plan developed tolaunch ePropertyWatch, a product offered by CoreLogic as a free service to MLSs.The project management techniques applied in the scheduling and launch ofeProperty Watch can be considered a best practice applicable to MLSs of all sizes.Even if your MLS may not have a dedicated project manager, your organization is stillinvolved in project management. A common critical component of successful projectmanagement, for example, is defining what needs to be done and how it is going tobe done. Once these items are defined, someone has to develop a plan and managethe scope and schedule of the project, especially as inevitable changes occur.Like most management models, Williamsonidentified processes that serve to organizethe ongoing activity of the project —planning, executing, and controlling. Eachprocess may also include additional stepswithin the project, such as initiating andclosing, but each must be clearly defined.3
ePropertyWatch Plan OutlineInitiation and PlanningCreate Charter and Stakeholder AssessmentIdentify and Document RequirementsScope Work and Conduct Risk & Opportunity AssessmentCreate High Level PlanConduct Project Kickoff MeetingExecuting, Monitoring and ControllingImplement in Staging EnvironmentsCreate QA PlanConduct QAReview QA Results Report from StagingImplement in Production Environment for QAConduct QA in Production EnvironmentReview QA Results Report from ProductionCreate Training DocumentationCreate Support Center DocumentationCreate Marketing Plan and MaterialsConduct Go/No-Go MeetingSend Association Staff Coming Soon CommunicationsConduct Staff TrainingSend Customers Coming Soon CommunicationsSend Association Staff Pre-Launch NoticeLaunch DayExpose Product Links to CustomersConduct Post Launch QASend Launch Day CommunicationsClosingConduct Lessons Learned4
Defining TimelinesEvery step in a project needs to be clearly defined and assigned an estimated time ofcompletion in advance of the project launch. The overall timeline for this project is83.75 hours. Time estimates were based in part on experience.Here are the some details of how each step in the ePropertyWatch project aredefined, assigned to a responsible party, and provided a time estimate. In addition tothis information, MFRMLS scoped the work effort and conducted the risk/opportunityassessment, which was critical to the success of implementation.ePW Plan Timeline83.75hrsInitiation and Planning14 hrsCreate Charter/Stakeholder AssessmentSponsor, Project Manager4 hrsIdentify and Document RequirementsVendor, Sponsor, Project Manager3 hrsScope Work and Conduct Risk &Opportunity Assessment4 hrsCreate High Level PlanProject Manager,Vendor2 hrsConduct Project Kickoff MeetingProject Manager, MarketingCoordinator, QA Technician,Sponsor, Trainer, Vendor1 hrScope Work and Conduct Risk &Opportunity AssessmentExecuting, Monitoring and Controlling53.75hrsImplement in Staging EnvironmentsVendor58 hrs
Create QA PlanQA Technician, Vendor4 hrsConduct QAQA Technician6 hrsReview QA Results Report from StagingProject Manager, Vendor, QATechnician1 hrImplement in Production Environment/QAVendor8 hrsConduct QA in Production EnvironmentQA Technician3 hrsReview QA Results Report from ProdProject Manager, Vendor, QATechnician0.5 hrsCreate Training DocumentationTrainer,Vendor6 hrsCreate Support Center DocumentationProject Manager, Vendor, SupportCenter Manager1.5 hrsCreate Marketing Plan and MaterialsMarketing Coordinator,Vendor8 hrsConduct Go/No-Go MeetingProject Manager, All DepartmentManagers, Sponsor, MarketingCoordinator, Trainer, QATechnician, Support CenterManager1 hrMarketing Coordinator.25 hrsTrainer, Staff3 hrsMarketing Coordinator0.25 hrsMarketing Coordinator0.25 hrsSend Association Staff Coming SoonCommunicationConduct Staff TrainingSend Customers Coming SoonCommunicationSend Association Staff Pre-Launch NoticeLaunch Day3 hrsExpose Product Links to CustomersVendor1 hrConduct Post Launch QAQA Technician1 hrSend Launch Day CommunicationMarketing Coordinator1 hrClosing1 hrConduct Lessons LearnedProject Management Task/BucketProject Manager, MarketingCoordinator, QA Technician,Sponsor, Trainer, Vendor1 hrProject Manager15 hrsAs you can see from the detail of this project, many responsibilities were shared amongthe various departments at MFRMLS. These responsibilities were overseen by theexecutive in charge, which MFRMLS identifies as a “sponsor.”6
Along with the sponsor, a project manager serves as the lead orchestrator of the dailyactivities. He or she acts as a supervisor over all aspects of a project, ranging from theinitial task assignment to final accountability.In this case, the project also includes a vendor. Those responsibilities belong toCoreLogic, developers of ePropertyWatch.Another principal player is the marketing coordinator. This person is responsible for allcreative and communication materials that will be required to launch the project. Thiswould include simple collateral material such as flyers or larger promotional efforts, sucha digital campaign, as needed.The trainer is responsible for developing an ePropertyWatch training program. Suchprograms are typically divided into training programs needed at the onset of a projectlaunch and are needed to sustain the product as a valued member benefit.The quality assurance technician is responsible to make sure that the product is properlytested before the launch. The support center manager is also involved to ensure theproper handling of the product’s implementation and operations.Tracking Projects To CompletionWhile most plans are written to assume a perfect world, reality requires certaincontingencies are built into the plan. One way to handle a contingency event is to createa predecessor, which is defining what needs to happen before something else happens.As you see on the next page, MFRMLS provided an estimated percentage of completionfor each step of the project. Along with tracking the percentage of project completion, it isconsidered a best practice to also track start and stop times to review actual time vs.estimated time.7
Task NamePredecess %orsComp.ePW PlanInitiation and PlanningCreate Charter andStakeholder AssessmentDurationStartFinish100% 40.61days?Tue 1/3/17Tue2/28/17100% 4.83 days?Tue 1/3/17Mon 1/9/17100% 0.25 days?Tue 1/3/17Tue 1/3/17Identify and DocumentRequirements2FS 1day100% 0.19 days?Wed 1/4/17Wed 1/4/17Scope Work and ConductRisk & Opportunity Assessment3FS 1day100% 0.25 days?Thu 1/5/17Thu 1/5/17Create High Level Plan4FS 1day100% 0.13 days?Fri 1/6/17Fri 1/6/175FS 1day100% 0.02 days?Mon 1/9/17Mon 1/9/17Conduct Project Kick OffMeeting100% 30.78 days? Mon 1/9/17Tue2/21/176SS100% 1 dayMon 1/9/17Tue1/10/17Create QA Plan6FS 1wk100% 0.25 days?Mon 1/16/17 Tue1/17/17Conduct QA9FS 1day100% 0.75 days?Wed 1/18/17 Wed1/18/17Review QA Results Reportfrom Staging10100% 0.04 days?Wed 1/18/17 Wed1/18/17Implement in ProductionEnvironment for QA11FS 1day100% 1 dayThu 1/19/17Conduct QA in ProductionEnvironment12FS 1day100% 0.38 days?Mon 1/23/17 Tue1/24/17Review QA Results Reportfrom Prod13100% 0.02 days?Tue 1/24/17Create TrainingDocumentation14FS 1day100% 0.38 days?Wed 1/25/17 Wed1/25/17Create Support CenterDocumentation15SS100% 0.06 days?Wed 1/25/17 Wed1/25/17Create Marketing Plan andMaterials16SS100% 1 dayWed 1/25/17 Tue 2/7/17Executing, Monitoring andControllingImplement in StagingEnvironments8Fri 1/20/17Tue1/24/17
100% 0.07 days?Fri 2/10/1718FS 1day100% 0.03 days?Mon 2/13/17 Mon2/13/1718FS 1day100% 0.19 days?Mon 2/13/17 Tue2/14/17Send Customers ComingSoon Communications20100% 0.03 days?Tue 2/14/17Send Association Staff PreLaunch Notice21FS 4days100% 0.03 days?Mon 2/20/17 Mon2/20/17100% 0.38 days?Tue 2/21/17Tue2/21/1722FS 1day100% 0.13 days?Tue 2/21/17Tue2/21/1724100% 0.13 days?Tue 2/21/17Tue2/21/1725100% 0.13 days?Tue 2/21/17Tue2/21/17100% 0.02 days?Tue 2/28/17Tue2/28/1726FS 1wk100% 0.02 days?Tue 2/28/17Tue2/28/172100% 1.88 daysTue 1/3/17Thu 1/5/17Conduct Go/No-Go Meeting 14FS 3days,15FS 3days,16FS 3days,17FS 3daysSend Association StaffComing Soon CommunicationConduct Staff TrainingLaunch DayExpose Product Links toCustomersConduct Post Launch QASend Launch DayCommunicationClosingConduct Lessons LearnedProject Management Task/Bucket9Fri 2/10/17Tue2/14/17
Flexible SchedulesOne of the principles of project managing iscalled team calendaring. Since most people whoown tasks endeavor to schedule their work andstay on track, changes in the timing ofpredecessors have a waterfall effect on theplanning and scheduling of future tasks.For example, if a user has a task that is due on the Friday before an event but thepredecessor task is not complete, then the entire project timeline will be altered. Itis important to allow for not only the additional time to complete the predecessor,but also other scheduling conflicts (such as a project manager being out of theoffice or another previously scheduled project). This means a one day delay couldpotentially delay a project for four or five days as the waterfall effect impacts tasksand timelines down the line.An important best practice in project management, and the hardest thing tomanage, is not only planning your work but working your plan. The best projectmanagers are able to work with an agile, elastic workflow. In real life, thingshappen faster or slower than estimated.A key job of the project manager is coordinating changes that impact schedulingand timelines. In the case of MFRMLS and other MLSs, this can be very complexwhen managing multiple projects at the same time.Expect from the onset of any project that assignments, deliverables, and dates arelikely to change on a daily basis. By observing the best practice of agile planning,uncontrollability and flexibility are factored into the plan and adjustments aremade on a daily basis.Feel free to download this spreadsheet of the full project plan for launchingePropertyWatch. You can use this as a template for other projects.10
ConclusionProject management best practices are key tooperating an efficient and effective multiple listingservice. Recognizing that every organization isstructured differently, with varied staff andcapabilities, MLSs may have to establish abenchmark suitable to their structure rather thanthe one set by MFRMLS.What is important to remember is that the key principle of successful projectmanagement requires proper planning, communication, and execution. Thinkingthrough the project plan in anticipation of a product launch is an imperative foundationfor setting expectations around product or service delivery.When organizations fail to set the right expectations, even projects that requiremonths to complete will begin to feel long and drawn out under the best ofcircumstances. By communicating expectations up front and then keepingsubscribers or members up to date on the progress being made — whether by dailymessaging services or newsletters — project stress is typically reduced, performanceimproved, and the question “when will it be ready” never asked by those who knowthe answer.CMLS Technology Section CouncilThe CMLS Technology Section Council works to improve industry standards throughthe development and establishment of MLS Best Practices as they relate to Technicaland Information Technology (IT). This includes technologies that range from copiers,phone systems, networks and
A Case Study In Project Management is a CMLS Technology Section Council white paper that covers how some MLSs leverage technology to improve the effectiveness of MLS project management. This white paper shares some of the tactics and techniques of Patrick Williamson, a CMLX2 graduate, at My Florida Regional MLS. Written by CMLS business parter Victor Lund, partner at WAV Group and
