Project Management Plan
San José Operational Assessment
City of San José
January 2025
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City of San José
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Code Enforcement Division Operational Assessment
Table of Contents
Section 1: Project Overview ........................................................................................... 1
1.1 Project Background ........................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Major Deliverables ............................................................................................................................ 1
1.3 Project Scope .................................................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Project Approach .............................................................................................................................. 2
1.5 Project Schedule ............................................................................................................................... 1 Section 2: Project Management Approach .................................................................. 2
2.1 Project Organization ......................................................................................................................... 2
2.2 Project Communications Management .......................................................................................... 3
2.3 Project Risk Management ................................................................................................................. 4
2.4 Project Quality Management ........................................................................................................... 5 Section 3: Project Assumptions .................................................................................... 6
3.1 Assumption 1 – Project Deliverables and Scope ............................................................................ 6
3.2 Assumption 2 – Stakeholder Involvement ...................................................................................... 6
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City of San José
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Code Enforcement Division Operational Assessment
List of Figures
Figure 1: Approach Methodology ............................................................................................................... 2 Figure 2: High-Level Project Schedule ...................................................................................................... 1 Figure 3: Project Team Organization .......................................................................................................... 2 Figure 4: Weekly Status Report .................................................................................................................. 4 List of Tables
Table 1: Task Overview ................................................................................................................................ 1 Table 2: Guidehouse Contact Information ............................................................................................... 2 Table 3: Project Communications ............................................................................................................. 3 Table 4: Potential Project Risks .................................................................................................................. 4
City of San José
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Section 1: Project Overview
1.1 Project Background
This engagement centers on an operational assessment of the City of San José’s Code Enforcement Division. The Code Enforcement Division is comprised of approximately 72 Full-Time Employees and is divided into three major program areas: the General Code Program, the Multiple Housing Program, and Special Programs. As identified in the Code Enforcement Division’s Annual Report, the Division’s primary pain points are staffing and operational structure, budget and funding, and high case volume. Over the past fiv e years, the General Code Program caseload has increased significantly as open cases outpace case closure. From fiscal year 2018 -2019 to the present, the General Code Program case volume increased from 2,846 to 4,018 cases - an increase of 1,172 cases, or 41.2%. This can be attributed to several factors: suspension of services during COVID -19 pandemic, persistent staff vacancies, high workloads, and an imbalance of service demand to resources. Within the General Code Program, the volume of code enforcement cases has led to extremely high workloads. The increased workloads have resulted in an average caseload of 270 cases per budgeted inspector (or 324 cases per actual assigned program inspectors) , which is over two times the target caseload of 120.
1.2 Major Deliverables
The following table provides an overview of the four deliverables that will be provided during the term of this project.
Table 1: Task Overview
Deliverable Key Activities Proposed Due Date
Task 1: Work Plan
and Status Report
• Develop Work Plan and Status Report to include an overview of the work plan, timeline, and deliverables of the operational assessment.
1/24/2025
Task 2: Discovery
and Current State
Analysis
• Complete document review to understand services, strategic initiatives, partnerships with other Divisions, and organizational structure and staffing levels
• Interview internal stakeholders to build the foundation of our understanding of processes, opportunities, and pain points • Review operational functions and workflow processes to identify pain points or challenges
• Conduct staffing level analysis based on current and
projected workloads
2/14/2025
Task 3: Operational
Analysis
• Complete desktop and benchmarking research on peer
departments and interview up to 3 subject matter experts • Interview external stakeholders and up to 15 key city stakeholders
• Conduct customer research on customer experience to
identify pain points and common impediments to compliance 3/14/2025
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2 Code Enforcement Division Operational Assessment
Task 4: Assessment
Report
• Design future state and vet supporting recommendations with key stakeholders that refine and strengthen the way the Division serves the public
• Evaluate recommendations based on level of effort and impact to understand the short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations
• Develop a high-level implementation roadmap that includes sequence and prioritization of the recommendations
4/4/2025
1.3 Project Scope
The purpose of this project is to conduct an operational assessment of the Code Enforcement Division of the City of San José . This includes an analysis of processes and resources against the division’s current workload, a review of alignment between customer and council expectations and Code Enforcement D ivision objectives, and identifying opportunities to streamline, prioritize, or invest in Code Enforcement services. As identified in the Code Enforcement Division’s Annual Report, the Division’s primary pain points are staffing and organizational structure, budget and funding, and high case volume. The final deliverable is a Future State Recommendations Report for both the Code Enforcement Division and the Mayor and City Council.
1.4 Project Approach
The approach is built upon a four-phased methodology demonstrated in the figure below:
Figure 1: Approach Methodology
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1.5 Project Schedule
The high-level project schedule below divides the deliverables across the four phases outlined in the project approach. A more detailed list of activities to be performed can be found in the Project Plan in a separate attachment.
Figure 2: High-Level Project Schedule
City of San José
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Section 2: Project Management Approach
2.1 Project Organization
The San José Operational Assessment project team is comprised of members from both Guidehouse and the City of San José, as shown in the project organization chart along with their role on the project in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Project Team Organization
2.1.1 Project Team Contact Information
Contact information for the Guidehouse team can be found in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Guidehouse Contact Information
Name Role Email Phone
Collin Lopes Engagement Partner [email protected] (916) 631-3227 Nichole Ederer Engagement Director [email protected] (202) 834-2111 Evangeline
Alpogianis Project Manager [email protected] (312) 212-6237
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Sophie Feldman Project Support [email protected] (732) 354-8414 Kristen Jensen Customer Experience Subject Matter
Expert [email protected] (303) 383-7303
Gregory Heller Code Enforcement Subject Matter
Expert [email protected] (215) 834-0181
2.2 Project Communications Management
The Guidehouse Team’s communication approach is proactive and collaborative, and it emphasizes project status reporting, efficient and effective information sharing, and direct interaction with Code Enforcement personnel. It focuses on simple, practical processes and practices to manage the project team and enable consistent coordination of activities to meet project needs and neutralize execution risk.
Guidehouse will work with Deputy Director Rachel Roberts to conduct regular meetings to provide status updates. Each scheduled meeting will include meeting minutes, a list of participants, discussion points, and action items for follow-up. Internal (Guidehouse) progress meetings will also be held to ensure the team is synchronized and to keep senior management up to date.
While official lines of communication (like status meetings) are a vital component of all projects, successful communication will lay within the daily informal communication between the Guidehouse team and the San José Project Team. The table below describes the key communication Guidehouse will use throughout the project.
Table 3: Project Communications
Communication Frequency Purpose
Day-to-Day
Communications
Between
Guidehouse and
San José
As Needed To confirm the items in our progress report deliverables are relevant and actionable, we will capture input from all project staff during our day-to-day communications, and formal scheduled staff and status meetings. These inputs will be captured in an open environment enabled by the PM who fosters discussion with her team and appropriate stakeholders about potential issues, identification and tracking of solutions, and collaborative development of corrective action plans.
Internal
Guidehouse Team
Meetings
Daily
Fosters information sharing, collaboration and coordination across program initiatives. Also provides a touch point for collecting issues that may need to be elevated to the client.
Status Updates with
Guidehouse and
San José
Weekly To give the project sponsor frequent status updates, and to provide an open discussion between Guidehouse and the project sponsor for issue/risk resolution and discussion on project execution.
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The figure below is an example of the weekly status reports that will be provided by Guidehouse during our weekly status updates.
Figure 4: Weekly Status Report
2.3 Project Risk Management
Guidehouse will work with the Code Enforcement Division to identify threats to schedule, cost, and quality early in the project to mitigate or prevent foreseeable problems and provide a foundation for dealing with any problems that arise. Guidehouse will adhere to a formal risk management process that is designed to identify risks and to implement mitigation strategies before potential problems impact performance.
2.3.1 Potential Project Risks
Various potential risks associated with this project were identified and outlined in Table 4. For each potential risk, Guidehouse estimated the probability each will occur and the ensuing impact to the health of the project (i.e., High, Medium, or Low). Finally, high-level mitigation strategies were identified for each risk.
Table 4: Potential Project Risks
Potential Project Risk Probability Impact Mitigation Strategies Aggressive timeline could impact on
time submission of deliverables
M H Continuously communicate with PM on
progress of deliverables and ensure all
requested data is provided to the team by the
date promised.
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Potential Project Risk Probability Impact Mitigation Strategies Stakeholder availability and
responsiveness
M H Regularly communicate with PM to check on
meeting status and notify of any unresponsive
stakeholders.
Continuous growth in the project
scope (scope creep)
M H Work with PM to resolve any scope creep
issues and clearly define the scope up front.
2.4 Project Quality Management
To help ensure that we achieve the level of quality expected by our partners at the City of San José, Guidehouse is committed to ensuring that each member of our team is dedicated to providing the highest levels of customer satisfaction and professionalism. As part of our quality assurance process, the leadership will place great emphasis on the quality control approach. This approach affords the City a collaborative partner who understands the value of quality control processes to meet the requirements of the engagement.
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Section 3: Project Assumptions
3.1 Assumption 1 – Project Deliverables and Scope
• Project duration will be from January 15, 2025, to April 4, 2025
3.2 Assumption 2 – Stakeholder Involvement
• San José PM will provide on-site space for workshops in San José, CA • San José PM will make stakeholders available for all meetings and workshops • San José PM will provide Guidehouse project team with requested information and data in a timely manner
• San José PM will review deliverables a single time before the deliverable is considered final • San José PM will review deliverables and provide feedback within five days of receipt ID Task Name Duration Start Finish
1 Task 1: Work Plan and Status Report 8 days Wed 1/15/25 Fri 1/24/25 2 Host kickoff meeting 1 day Wed 1/22/25 Wed 1/22/25
3 Develop Work Plan and Status Report 8 days Wed 1/15/25 Fri 1/24/25 4 Draft Project Work Plan 7 days Wed 1/15/25 Thu 1/23/25 5 Draft Status Report Template 2 days Wed 1/22/25 Thu 1/23/25 6 Submit Project Work Plan & Status Report Template 0 days Fri 1/24/25 Fri 1/24/25 7 Task 2: Discovery and Current State Analysis 24 days Tue 1/21/25 Fri 2/21/25 8 Documentation Review 14 days Tue 1/21/25 Fri 2/7/25
9 Submit data and documentation list 4 days Tue 1/21/25 Fri 1/24/25 10 Review data, identify follow-up questions and key findings 8 days Mon 1/27/25 Wed 2/5/25 11 Discuss follow-up questions via email or request meeting 2 days Thu 2/6/25 Fri 2/7/25 12 Internal Stakeholder Interviews 7 days Thu 1/23/25 Fri 1/31/25 13 Draft stakeholder interview list 1 day Thu 1/23/25 Thu 1/23/25 14 Schedule stakeholder interviews 2 days Thu 1/23/25 Fri 1/24/25 15 Develop stakeholder interview guides 2 days Thu 1/23/25 Fri 1/24/25 16 Conduct stakeholder interviews 5 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 1/31/25 17 Operational functions and workflow processes 11 days Mon 1/27/25 Mon 2/10/25 18 Review and analyze process maps, draft questions 11 days Mon 1/27/25 Mon 2/10/25 19 Identify front line staff to interview 5 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 1/31/25 20 Interview front line staff 5 days Mon 2/3/25 Fri 2/7/25 21 Review and analyze additional process maps, draft
questions, draft initial key findings
3 days Wed 2/5/25 Fri 2/7/25
22 Conduct staffing analysis 13 days Wed 1/22/25 Fri 2/7/25 23 Request staffing and workload data 3 days Wed 1/22/25 Fri 1/24/25 24 Conduct staffing and workload data analysis, draft
questions, and develop key findings
10 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 2/7/25
25 Develop Current State Report 11 days Fri 2/7/25 Fri 2/21/25 26 Synthesize findings into draft Current State Report 5 days Fri 2/7/25 Thu 2/13/25 27 Submit Report for review 0 days Fri 2/14/25 Fri 2/14/25 28 Incorporate feedback 4 days Mon 2/17/25 Thu 2/20/25
29 Submit final Report 1 day Fri 2/21/25 Fri 2/21/25
30 Task 3: Operational Analysis 40 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 3/21/25 31 Benchmarking and desktop research 20 days Mon 2/3/25 Fri 2/28/25 32 Identify peer cities to benchmark 10 days Mon 2/3/25 Fri 2/14/25 33 Meet with peer city contacts and SMEs to gain insights 5 days Mon 2/17/25 Fri 2/21/25 34 Consolidate leading practices and key findings 5 days Mon 2/24/25 Fri 2/28/25 35 Customer Research 25 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 2/28/25
36 Identify customer research methods with city team 5 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 1/31/25 1/24
2/14
29 5 12 19 26 2 9 16 23 2 9 16 23 30
Jan '25 Feb '25 Mar '25 Apr '25
Task
Split
Milestone
Summary
Project Summary
Inactive Task
Inactive Milestone
Inactive Summary
Manual Task
Duration-only
Manual Summary Rollup
Manual Summary
Start-only
Finish-only
External Tasks
External Milestone
Deadline
Progress
Manual Progress
Project: SJ CE Operational
Assessment
Date: Fri 1/24/25
ID Task Name Duration Start Finish
37 Develop plan for customer research execution 10 days Mon 2/3/25 Fri 2/14/25 38 Execute customer research 10 days Mon 2/17/25 Fri 2/28/25 39 External Stakeholder Interviews (City Council, staff from other departments)
25 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 2/28/25
40 Draft list of external stakeholders 5 days Mon 1/27/25 Fri 1/31/25 41 Schedule stakeholder interviews 10 days Mon 2/3/25 Fri 2/14/25 42 Develop stakeholder interview guides 5 days Mon 2/10/25 Fri 2/14/25 43 Stakeholder interviews 10 days Mon 2/17/25 Fri 2/28/25 44 Develop Operational Report 21 days Fri 2/21/25 Fri 3/21/25 45 Draft Report 15 days Fri 2/21/25 Thu 3/13/25
46 Submit Report for review 1 day Fri 3/14/25 Fri 3/14/25 47 Incorporate feedback 2 days Mon 3/17/25 Tue 3/18/25
48 Finalize Report 3 days Wed 3/19/25 Fri 3/21/25
49 Task 4: Assessment Report 15 days? Mon 3/17/25 Fri 4/4/25 50 Develop Future State Recommendations Report 15 days? Mon 3/17/25 Fri 4/4/25 51 Draft initial recommendations and evaluation criteria 5 days Mon 3/17/25 Fri 3/21/25 52 Socialize recommendations and incorporate feedback 5 days Mon 3/24/25 Fri 3/28/25 53 Develop roadmap for implementation for final report 4 days Mon 3/31/25 Thu 4/3/25 54 Develop Executive Summary for 4/10 NSA meeting 10 days Mon 3/24/25 Fri 4/4/25 55 Submit final report 0 days Fri 4/4/25 Fri 4/4/25 4
29 5 12 19 26 2 9 16 23 2 9 16 23 30
Jan '25 Feb '25 Mar '25 Apr '25
Task
Split
Milestone
Summary
Project Summary
Inactive Task
Inactive Milestone
Inactive Summary
Manual Task
Duration-only
Manual Summary Rollup
Manual Summary
Start-only
Finish-only
External Tasks
External Milestone
Deadline
Progress
Manual Progress
Project: SJ CE Operational
Assessment
Date: Fri 1/24/25