Practice Management System

Procurement
Project Charter

Do cu me n t Versio n : 1 .0
Last Saved: 5/1/2005

Review Draft
Approved by Project Team

PMS Procurement
Project Charter
Table of Content
STRATEGIC VISION
PROJECT OVERVIEW
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

PROJECT SCOPE
DELIVERABLES
PROJECT DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS
TIME LINE OF KEY PROJECT MILESTONES

PROJECT ORGANIZATION
TEAM MEMBERS
ROLES

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
RISKS & RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH
ISSUE AND SCOPE MANAGEMENT
COMMUNICATION PLAN
SIGNATURES

246924299.doc

3
3
4
5
5
5
7
8
8
9
10
10
12
12
14

Page 2 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

STRATEGIC VISION
The mission of the clinic is included here..
The project vision is to invest in people, business process improvements, technology infrastructure and
new practice management system to provide operational stability and to support growth and relevant
operational objectives for next 5 to 7 years.

PROJECT OVERVIEW
We are engaged in a procurement process for a new practice management system (PM system) for our
clinics and health centers. The new system will replace the current PM system. This system has served
us well but has several significant limitations. It has been recently concluded that further investment in
the current PM system should cease and an integrated PM system from an established vendor be procured
to replace it. We have also identified a need to develop the internal IS/IT resources required to manage
and operate the new system.
The goals set for this project are to have a signed contract for new PM system on a tightly controlled time
line, and to have begun the process of building the internal capacity to successfully implement, manage,
and operate the system into the future. We have engaged consultants to design and participate in a project
to select PM system and contract with a vendor in this time frame. To accomplish these goals, the project
will require:
Commitment from project stakeholders including organizational management, clinic
management, project team, and technology staff
The availability of resources (including significant staff time) to assure the completion of high
quality deliverables by the consultants
A clinic project leader to handle the day to day communications and logistics
Rapid response and decision-making by stakeholders, executives, managers, and other project
participants within their defined scopes of authority
The PM system procurement project described in this proposal will include four distinct phases: Project
Initiation, RFP Development, System/Vendor Selection, and Vendor Contracting.

Internal & Confidential

Page 3 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Several high-level goals and objectives have been identified. These can also be considered guiding
principles as the team moves though the system selection process.

The PM system must be "user friendly" to facilitate effective training and operations in a fast
paced environment. The consultants will help clearly define user friendly so this requirement
can be included in the RFP and objectively evaluated during the selection process.

The PM system must support the organizational goal of growth, having the capacity to scale up to
20 clinics.

The PM system must facilitate better utilization of our current facilities and staff, allowing for as
many as 200,000 patient visits a year by 2010.

The PM system needs to provide staff with a tool to enhance operational efficiencies, enabling
staff to provide better and faster service to patients.

The PM system needs to be compatible with best of breed Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
applications or be an integrated system with PM system/EMR components, although full blown
EMR functionality is not on the near term horizon.

The PM system needs to have available or easily developed interfaces to some existing internal
software applications.

The PM system needs to provide interconnectivity with all our sites to be able to track patients
who seek services at multiple sites.

The PM system needs to be flexible to change with business, data, billing, and reporting needs.
An "open" database with the ability to analyze data and generate reports on all data elements that
are captured and stored in the system is desired. Ease of reporting with a commercially available
report-writer is a must.

The PM system needs to have the ability to effectively navigate the PM system using both
keyboard commands and a mouse.

The application must be compatible with current technology standards to enable interoperability
with other applications, ease of reporting and access to data for research, analysis, and reporting.

The vendor must demonstrate stability, longevity, and a strong, proven record of excellent
customer support.

The vendor and product must demonstrate proven knowledge and experience in California in
similar setting as ours, including services, regulatory and funding.

The application must support multi-site scheduling and integrate with use of a call center.

Internal & Confidential

Page 4 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

The PM system must have the flexibility to offer web-based functionalities that will allow us to
take advantage of new business models, to gain productivity advantages through online
appointment functionality, and to leverage the capabilities of the Internet within the system.

The technical architecture of the PM system must provide for scalability so we will not outgrow
the system and built in redundancy so there is no single point of failure. Mission critical systems
require this capacity.

The technical architecture of system and software must provide easy path to creating and setting
up complete redundant, co-processing center for disaster recovery.

We require a system that supports the requirements of their total organizational, including
growing the donor base, providing community outreach services, and building the activist base.

The PM system must be compliant with all HIPAA regulations.

PROJECT SCOPE
Deliverables

Project Charter
Project Timeline/Work Breakdown Structure
Operational Assessment, Needs Assessment, Process Flow Diagrams and System Design
Technology Management Assessment
Functional Requirements
Technical Requirements
Request for Proposal (RFP) Document
Vendor/System Overview Analysis
Proposal Evaluation Criteria and Worksheet
Site Visit Evaluation Worksheet
Vendor Interview Evaluation Criteria Worksheet
Vendor Interview Agenda, Scenarios and Participant Criteria
Due Diligence Analysis
Functional and Technical Specifications
Best and Final RFP
Contract Appendices
Legal Review of Contract and Appendices
Contract with PM system Vendor

Project Design Assumptions

The following is a list of assumptions used as the basis for the design of this project:

Three or four vendors will be considered based on their organizations proven ability to deliver
and support PM system systems in California.

Internal & Confidential

Page 5 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

There are several separate but related projects that need to be coordinated with this one. The
reengineering, redesign, and standardization of clinic, billing, and inventory workflow procedures
will be finalized as the contract is being negotiated with the vendor of choice. An upgrade of the
technology infrastructure will need to be completed by the implementation phase of the project.
Time is of the essence as the ability as the current system will not adequately serve our needs
going forward.
The PM system project is a high priority project to the organization and the management team
will support staff to assure that they will be able to participate and contribute in a timely and
effective manner.

Internal & Confidential

Page 6 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

Time Line of Key Project Milestones

A detailed project plan and time line will be maintained throughout the project. This time line of key
milestones provides a high-level overview of the project.
Milestone

Start Date

Finish Date

Project Initiation and Design

Proposal Generation
Operational Analysis
Functional Needs Assessment
Baseline Technology Assessment
Functionality Requirements
Develop RFP Process Structure
Assemble RFP
RFP Released

Proposal Evaluation
Proposal Deadline
Preliminary Evaluation Meeting
Proposal Questions
Reference Checking
Proposal Evaluation/Narrow the Field

Select Vendor of Choice

Vendor Interviews
Site Visits
Due Diligence
Best and Final RFP
Best and Final Proposal Deadline
Presentation of Final Analysis
Selection of Vendor of Choice

Vendor Contracting
Develop Specifications/Appendices
Negotiate Contract Terms
Develop Implementation/Training Plans

Sign Contract with Vendor

Internal & Confidential

Page 7 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

PROJECT ORGANIZATION
Team Members
Name

Organization

Project Role

Phone

E-mail

Stakeholder
Project Co-Sponsor
Stakeholder
Project Co-Sponsor
Stakeholder
Project Co-Sponsor
Clinic Project Manager
Project Admin Assistant
PM Project Team
Technical Analyst- IT
PM Project Team
Functional AnalystClient Services
PM Project Team
Functional AnalystClient Services
PM Project Team
Financial Analyst
PM Project Team
Functional AnalystBilling/Claims
PM Project Team
Applications Specialist
(Analyst/Coordinator)
Lead Consultant
Project Management and
Technology
Consultant
Clinical Services
Support Consultant
Project Management and
Specification
Development

Internal & Confidential

Page 8 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

Roles
Role

All Roles

Project Stakeholders

Project Manager

Technical Analysts

Functional Analysts

Internal & Confidential

Responsibility

Timely, complete, and honest project communication

Confidentiality

Using email as primary communication mechanism

Project advocate and visionary

Final decision point for escalated issues

Guides team, clears organizational obstacles to achieve project goals

Communicates project status to executive management

Tracks and addresses program/project issues & action items

Participates day-to-day in forward progress of the project

Processes and controls change requests as necessary

Coordinates the administration of the project (meetings, conference calls)

Monitors critical path of project activities and institutes risk management

initiatives.

Serves as central point of contact for team members, consultants and

vendors

Contributes to project deliverables

Provides information for technology baseline assessment

Integrates system requirements into the organizations technology plan

Manages on-going system software installation

Performs capacity planning

Administers the data security and control procedures

Provides technical requirements for the project

Participates in Super User training sessions

Participates in Technical and System training

Is a member of the PM Project Team

Provides knowledge of key operational and/or clinical processes

Participates in Super User training sessions

Identifies issues during project implementation, activation, and postimplementation

Provides information on workflow and processes required to develop

Page 9 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

requirements and specifications

Project Consultant

Provides domain knowledge about patient scheduling, resource scheduling

(people & things: clinics, call center, billing, claims...)

Provides domain knowledge about current type of services being provided

& ability to get future services to be offered

Provides knowledge of any legal/compliance constraints

Provides knowledge of any reporting requirements by external

agency/authority

Responsible for providing information contributing to current business

process documentation, including training, forms to be used at clinics, and
standard operating procedures

Responsible for assessing gaps in people capacity/capabilities, creating plan

and implementing them to coincide with overall PM system timeline

Member of the PM Project Team

Provides guidance and analyses to the project team to inform decision

making

Researches vendors and reviews vendor deliverables

Provides templates and tools to complete project deliverables

Identify tasks and/or resource requirements allowing at least two weeks of

forward visibility for project planning purposes

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Risks & Risk Management Approach
ID

Risk Description

Risk Mitigation Plan

There have been recent changes on the clinics

management team.

Discuss all project assumptions and revise them

as necessary. Develop the project charter into a
document that captures the expectations of the
Stakeholders.

There has been some discussion of a potential

PM system collaboration.

The current intention of the clinic is NOT to

participate in any collaborative RFP, but this
position will be reassessed as the project
continues.

Internal & Confidential

Page 10 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

There is a high degree of operational

autonomy among our individual health center
sites. In order to gain the full measure of
benefits from the new system, business
process reengineering and standards of
practice will need to be developed.

Make sure that center managers and key staff

members at each clinic are informed and their
input is sought, both when assessing the current
state as well as when designing the future state.
Exceptions to standards are to be expected but
should not be the rule.

Business process reengineering and redesign

that relates to functionality automated in the
PM system will be a separate project that
must be tightly integrated with this one.

This project should be scoped and a plan put into

place to complete a reengineering effort during
the contracting phase of this project.

Interdepartmental decision-making and

coordination is not yet tested. A major project
of this nature has not been undertaken with
the current senior executives, and a give-andtake process will be key to the success of the
PM system selection.

Err on the side of more frequent communication,

perhaps opting for more frequent but shorter
meetings. Document all rationale and reasoning
behind decisions that could result in
policy/procedure requirements during system
implementation and operations.

A new clinic will open during the course of

the project.

The project manager will keep a complete list of

planned opening and needs, along with the
planned service offerings and staffing concerns.
Project milestones and deliverables will need to
be coordinated accordingly.

Project timeline: there is very little slack in

the project to account for unanticipated
delays.

Monitor the project timeline on a constant basis

to determine if tasks are on track and, if not, see
if additional resources applied to the task can
bring it back on schedule.

Resource Constraints: When staff are pulled

away from already full time positions, there is
not an easy way to back fill.

Identify in advance where input or participation

in the process will be required from staff and
leadership. The management team has identified
this project as high priority and will make the
resources available to complete the project
successfully.

Vacations and leaves: It is likely that over the

duration of this project key participants will
go on leave or vacation.

Make sure that key project members inform the

project manager of pending vacations and leaves
and manage critical path deliverables to account
for these scheduled absences.

10

HIPAA compliance is a moving target,

specifically with regard to security and
transactions/code sets.

Vendors will need to be certified as HIPAA

compliant and have proven HIPAA compliant
installations that can be verified. Their track
records will need to be evaluated.

11

Computer literacy of staff: a new system may

have a higher set of computer skills
requirements that he current system, and
while most staff members have some

Engage clinicians in the planning process,

stressing potential benefits of using the PM
system features to improve patient care. Include
all staff in regular updates concerning project

Internal & Confidential

Page 11 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

experience as they are cross-trained for front

and back office, the licensed clinical staffs are
not currently using the computers.

progress. We will prepare a comprehensive

training plan when the PM system is selected that
accounts for new system requirements and
different learning styles of staff members.

12

Coordination between teams, analysts, and

consultants

Consultants will participate in stakeholder and

PM Project Team meetings as required. All
project members will follow established project
communications protocols.

13

For optimal results, project participants must

be willing to compromise to achieve the bigpicture organizational goals

Stakeholders, project manager, analysts, and

consultants will need to keep the focus of the
project on the organizational goals and be
flexible.

14

Coordinating fund raising efforts with PM

system project

Fund development staff will be included in

project communications and they will be invited
to participate in the project at appropriate times.

15

No strong, consistent training processes in

place- training is not an institutional value and
needs to be

We will commit to making training a core

organizational value going forward and will
develop a comprehensive training plan

16

The call center needs a new phone system

and/or reengineering

Call center functionality will be one of the

processes that are reengineered in conjunction
with this project

Issue and Scope Management

Issues will be identified by all project team members and consultants, and submitted verbally or in writing
to the Project Manager. Issues will be logged on the issues list and discussed in the stakeholders and PM
Project Team meetings. Critical issues those that impact the critical path will be escalated to the
Project Sponsors for awareness and for assistance with resolution. The Project Manager will initiate and
maintain an issue-tracking system that helps the team monitor, prioritize and escalate issues and action
items related to the system selection project.
Communication Plan
Type of Communication / Purpose

Frequency

Responsible Party

Stakeholders Meeting

Every Thursday,
11:30a-1:00p

Project Manager

Monitor progress against the project plan.

Discuss issues, assign action items, review

risk mitigation strategies.

Make project decisions

Make assignments and manage project-

Internal & Confidential

(Meeting can be
cancelled, truncated or
expanded as
appropriate.)

Stakeholders
Project Consultants
(as necessary)

Page 12 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

related resources
PM Project Team Meeting

Monitor progress against the project plan.

Discuss issues, assign action items, review

risk mitigation strategies.

Receive and deliver project-related

assignments

Executive Briefing

Inform our Senior Managers about the

progress of the system selection project.

Gather information on organizational

initiatives that can impact the project.

Identify activities that will require

organizational resources over the upcoming
period

Internal Communications

Updates to the entire organization, helps to

publicize the project and encourage
questions, buy-in and generates enthusiasm
for the projects benefits.

Budget vs. Actual

PM Project Team
Project Consultants
(as necessary)

To be determined (part
of an existing executive
team meeting)

Project Sponsors

To be determined (part
of existing internal
communication
mechanisms)

Project Manager

Weekly

Consultants

Weekly

Consultants

Monthly

Consultants

Executive Team

Concise weekly written status of progress of

this project to be delivered before the weekly
Stakeholders Team meeting.

Detailed Invoice

(Meeting can be
cancelled, truncated or
expanded as
appropriate.)

Project Manager

Communicate any impact to budget for this

project (positive and negative).

Weekly Progress Reports

Every Monday, 3:00p4:30p

Summary of hours expended to complete

agreed-upon activities, tasks, and
deliverables.

Internal & Confidential

Page 13 of 14

PM System Procurement
Project Charter

SIGNATURES

The signing of this document by the Stakeholders and Project Manager listed below acknowledges that
each signer has reviewed this document and is in agreement with its content.

Stakeholders

Date

Date

Date

Project Manager

Date

Internal & Confidential

Page 14 of 14