Introduction

Context/Background to case
Why not call Y-CALL? The slogan of the call centre Y-CALL sounds promising with regards to
client attraction and satisfaction of clients' needs. Nevertheless, the company is facing high staff
turnover due to dissatisfied employees. Fear that this issue could affect potential and current
customers has lead to the design of a new enhanced staff induction system in Manchester in order to
ensure staff retention. The induction system aims at motivating staff to be committed to the
company. The significance of staff satisfaction is twofold. Firstly, it has a quality element, since
satisfied staff transfer satisfaction to customers and perform better. Secondly, staff satisfaction has a
cost reducing element, since satisfied staff stay with the company for a longer period of time. This
implies less recruitment cost for the company since the turnover rate is reduced. The call centre
therefore operates more efficiently at higher quality level while costs (transaction cost/ potential
loss of customers) are reduced. This process enables Y-CALL to be more competitive and more
profitable.
Initial Business Case
This document serves as the planning for the 'Y-CALL Roll-out Project'. The project aims to initiate
the induction system of Y-CALL, headquartered in Manchester, in Y-CALL' s sites in Calcutta,
Shanghai and Riyadh for the above stated significance. The project starts on 1st December 2010 and
finishes on 1st July 2011. Prior to initiation the project has to be accredited by the Board of Y-
CALL who is client of project.
The initiation is carried out in sequence, first in Riyadh then in Calcutta and subsequently in
Shanghai. Due to learn curve effects and cost considerations Human Resources Manager Darren
(Manchester) is going to manage the project. His responsibilities in Manchester are taken on by
XY for the duration of the project. Learning from experience and cost issues are the reason for this
decision. Each location has a time scale of two months to implement the new system. Any
discrepancies in the first location therefore, can be avoided in the next location. Whereas utilising
three key staff for the project to be carried out simultaneously would mean three different managers
might encounter the same problems; in the proposed option one key manager learns from the first
initiation; is aware of pitfalls and obstacles and works more efficiently the following times. It is
assumed that there is no need for three managers to carry out the initiation simultaneously seven
months long; this causes unnecessary costs, since three key staff would need to be replaced in
Manchester for the time of seven months, which is not reasonable. Since the sites are located in
different countries and those countries belong to different cultural clusters, country specific issues
with potential effect on the project are dealt with in the risk and contingency plan. Essential
milestones of the project are: Accreditation, Team planning, Financial planning, Induction to
existing employees and Evaluation.
The scope of the project includes training and introduction of induction system to each local
supervisor. Specific time scale for training of supervisor as well as later training the supervisor
gives to staff is not stated yet, since the cultural needs and standards need to be analysed. Client-
specific training is excluded. Maintenance has to be undertaken by each site itself and the system is
open to culture specific adjustments.
The method the project is conducted follows the waterfall principle where a new project phase can
only start after the previous has been completed and fulfils the quality standards set up in the
Quality Assurance section of this plan. Evaluation after each main project phase is to ensure the
progress of the project. Take further details from the Project Progress Controls section of this
document. Main activities/ project phases are listed in the Activity Schedule. Evaluation of project
success is partly subjective; staff turnover rate can be affected also by other means than work
conditions, such as: labour market, personal reasons. Results of qualitative evaluation of staff
satisfaction refer to short-term observations and questionnaires; long term research about staff
satisfaction needs to be carried out to determine the long term success of the project. The time scale
gives no allowance for piloting the new system; any problems will need to be picked up in its day-
to-day operation.