Application of the Project Management System at the Tencent New Headquarters Project

1. Project Background

1. Management Challenges

With numerous staff and projects, it is difficult for a manager to coordinate multiple people, multiple projects, daily work schedules, and project timelines in accordance with standards and processes. Any oversight may cause a step to be missed or resources to be wasted. Giving managers and staff a clear, smooth view of project progress and work assignments is a real challenge. The Project Management System was created to address this. It helps you handle projects on time, rationally, smoothly, and in a standardized way, planning projects properly by schedule and personnel.

2. Working Efficiently

Implementation staff can clearly see their current tasks and to-do items, eliminating time-consuming scheduling meetings and communication, thereby freeing up more time for project execution.

3. Overall Planning

Managers can clearly see how much has been completed, how many projects are currently running, their status, and their records, enabling timely adjustments when issues are found.

2. User Requirements

1. The Client's Vision of Project Management

Initially, the client wanted a customizable template-based workflow where users could freely write and upload content within templates. This was the initial simplified process. After discussion and analysis, this model proved too loose to achieve the goals of project management. We then organized the client's standard project workflow into individual pages where information is filled in at each stage, truly guiding and standardizing the process, ultimately delivering the project management the client envisioned.

2. Understanding Requirements

The core issue of building any system is understanding what problem needs to be solved. When developing this project management system, the client stated they did not want some projects scoring 90 and others scoring 40. They wanted every project to score 90. The question of how to maintain high standards and correct shortcomings is exactly why this project management system was created.

3. Planning Direction

The reason for a high ceiling but a very low floor is the lack of a standardized process and framework. With a defined model executed step by step from start to finish, even the worst outcome stays within this framework rather than falling far below expectations.

The project management system established such a workflow. We divided it broadly into three phases: early stage, mid stage, and post-project improvement. The early stage involves multi-faceted assessment of feasibility. The mid stage ensures progress and quality. The post stage involves mutual evaluation to improve the next project. Once this basic workflow is defined, it simply needs to be followed in sequence.

3. Significance of Project Management

1. Pain Points

Files, documents, and various information involved in a project are often disorganized, and missing items during acceptance and processing is common. A standardized project management process ensures good collaboration, keeps the project moving forward, and ultimately enables mutual evaluation for improvement and reference for future projects.

2. Problems to Solve

Bid documents, contracts, drawings, acceptance dates, acceptance personnel, and more are filled in and uploaded by category and project. Team members in the field no longer need to pass documents around physically; everything can be viewed on a computer. With clear accountability, standardized processes, and minimized oversights, the issue of information silos is largely eliminated. Projects progress in an orderly manner by timeline, with close collaboration, document access, progress tracking, and a well-supported, well-documented, and reminder-enabled team workflow. Unnecessary disputes and chaotic file handling are reduced. After project completion, surveys can be conducted for collective improvement, and data from multiple completed projects can be used for comprehensive evaluation to advance team performance.

4. Objectives

1. Organized, Clear, and Convenient

Our software helps you stay organized, purposeful, and on track with clear milestones, ensuring projects are completed properly, in a standardized manner, and to your expectations. Whether in the office or in the field, you can use it anytime, anywhere. View project files, responsible persons, date milestones, and upload files via the web. Worried about not being able to see colleagues' logs while on site? No need to worry. The mobile app lets you view project logs anytime and participate in discussions with colleagues. The end goal is a successful project conclusion with scoring and evaluation, striving to do even better next time.

2. Learning and Improvement

Others can view project progress and task status. Logs reveal the issues participants encountered and whether they were resolved through discussion. Uploaded files covering requirements, technical details, and bidding information provide insight into project specifics.

5. Overview

(1) Assess project feasibility from multiple perspectives, then assign management responsibilities and allocate tasks accordingly.

(2) After the project begins, progress tracking, file management, personnel allocation, and resource usage are visible at a glance.

(3) After project completion, conduct project summaries and survey-based evaluations.

(4) The system includes a home page with search across all projects, project basic information, project file overview, project Gantt chart, and project logs.

(5) After project completion, participants can be evaluated and scored. After multiple projects, an aggregated overview of an individual's scores and evaluations is available.

6. System Features

(1) B/S architecture, enabling access anytime and anywhere.

(2) Mobile logging resolves the difficulty of not having a computer on site, making it convenient to view and respond to issues.

(3) Structured logic with an end-to-end integrated workflow ensures reasonable and feasible project progression, establishing a solid framework and clear direction for each project.

(4) Accumulated project knowledge grows over time. Data, solutions, and histories from completed projects become valuable reference material.

(5) Resolve your own issues by referencing the progress of other projects.

(6) Enhance team collaboration and increase team efficiency.

7. System Page Structure

1. System Page Structure

8. Basic Project Workflow

1. Basic Project Workflow

9. Project Personnel Workflow Relationships

1. Basic Project Workflow

10. User Architecture and Platform-Based Workflow

1. Personnel Architecture

The client's current platform-based architecture consists of: Project PM, Project Lead, Project Participant, and System Administrator. The Project PM is responsible for creating projects, filling in basic project information, and defining core requirements. Project Leads claim or take charge of specific requirements. Participants are responsible for implementation. The System Administrator handles permissions and administration.

2. Workflow

After the Project PM decides to proceed with a project, they create it on the platform, fill in basic information, confirm requirements, and assign requirement leads and participants. The Project Lead and participants share responsibility for requirement confirmation and implementation, and determine whether the project can proceed. The PM, leads, and participants then jointly assess project feasibility and continue with execution, culminating in a summary, acceptance, and mutual evaluation for improvement.

11. System Composition

1. System Composition

12. Project Phase Division

(1) Phase one is early-stage preparation: complete basic information, confirm requirements along with responsible persons and participants, and record details such as location, scale, and budget. Then conduct site surveys and upload materials. Finally, perform a comprehensive project assessment covering site, personnel, equipment, and overall evaluation results to determine whether the project can proceed. If the final assessment concludes the project is not feasible, it ends here.

(2) Phase two is mid-stage preparation, executed through three tracks: technical solution, equipment list, and bidding. Bidding requires confirming suppliers, budgets, and the rationale for supplier selection, followed by uploading quotation templates and technical approval forms for confirmation.

(3) Phase three is execution, consisting of work plans and various forms, supported by logs documenting progress and issues.

(4) Phase four is the summary and closing stage, consisting of a project summary and mutual evaluation surveys for improvement.

13. Feature Overview

1. The home page is divided into My Projects, All Projects, and History, organized by year.

2. Create New Project

3. Basic Information Page

After creation, you enter the project's basic information page under the project workflow. The left side shows tasks to be completed at each project phase (expandable). The center is the main content area. The right side displays the operation log for this page.

4. Define Requirements

Note that only checked requirements will appear under Early-Stage Preparation - Requirements, Mid-Stage Preparation - Technical Solution, and Logs, and will be actionable. This supports flexible configuration to accommodate different scenarios and requirements.

5. Requirements Page

Content is filled in across multiple pages organized by the categories defined earlier. Since work may not be completed in one session, you can freely add or remove tabs in the upper-left area to create new categories and fill in information as needed.

6. Site Survey

The file upload page resembles an operating system interface, allowing you to create folders, delete folders, rename items, and organize files into your own categories.

7. Assessment

After early-stage preparation and multi-faceted consideration, you can decide whether to continue with the project. Once the final decision is made, it determines whether the mid-stage and subsequent phases can still be edited and executed.

8. Equipment List

The project is not a standalone system; it is closely linked to the asset management module. If the project requires assets from the asset library, you can search and bind successfully requested assets on this page.

9. Log Page

You can upload files (images are previewable) and enter text information. The aggregated log view shows logs from all requirements, while the per-requirement view shows only its own. This page supports mobile input and viewing for on-the-go work.

10. Project Details

11. Project Files

This feature works the same way as the site survey described above, but here you can view all files for the current project and perform uploads and other operations.

12. Operation Log

A consolidated view of all operation logs for this project.

14. Usage Overview

The system was initiated in September 2018, with the first version tested and launched at the end of October. Based on user feedback, the system was rebuilt with web forms and file management working together to standardize workflows and maintain orderly processes. It was officially put into production in early 2019.

After extended refinement and adaptation, the system became more stable and intelligent. Users also migrated all previously completed projects into the system, earning their trust and recognition.