Table 2 Illustrative quotes and... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Illustrative quotes and discussions linked to themes

Question 4 (aggregated dimension): What mechanisms can be used to improve the integration and transition between the project front-end and project initiation phase?
#	Theme contribution	Theme	Illustrative quote and discussion
1	27% obtained from Appendix	Processes	Participant 3 “A formal handover from Sales to the Project team”; Participant 4 “Best practice firms have a clear process and handover procedures”; participant 1 highlighted the importance of the understanding of process from both the sales and PE teams; Participant 8 “A proper handover process inclusive of a fully consolidated and comprehensive documentation pack that is handed over to the PE team”; Participant 9 “A defined handover process which is regularly audited to ensure adherence to the process. Having a process that is not adhered to adds no value; project participants must adhere to process”
2	19% obtained from Appendix	Cross-functional collaboration	Participant 1 called for a “symbiotic relationship”; Participant 7 “Joint involvement of both sales and PE in estimating, in face-to-face discussions with the client in the front-end”; Participant 8 “Joint sign off by the project manager and the sales lead at the sales stage ensures both sales and PE are held jointly accountable for project deliverables”
3	14% obtained from Appendix	Risk	While incentives did not appear as a significant theme, it did appear in terms of joint accountability as iterated by participant 10 who also linked joint accountable to the third theme: risk “An incentive scheme that has a weighting system holding both the sales and PE teams jointly accountable for the project deliverables will ensure the project is subjected to lower risk and this will go a long way in ensuring that the project has a greater chance of meeting the project deliverables”. Incentives as a mechanism for joint accountability was also supported by participant 8 “An incentive scheme that has a weighting system holding both the sales and PE teams jointly accountable for the solution sales as well as the project deliverables”. Further support for risk management was provided by participant 9 “A risk list with risk mitigation factors needs to be compiled early on in the sales process and the risk list is continually updated throughout the project life cycle”
4	11% obtained from Appendix	Meetings and workshops	Collaborative involvement in the FE was also supported by participant 4 who linked joint involvement to the fourth theme: face-to-face meetings: “Joint involvement of both sales and PE in estimating, in face-to-face discussions with the client in the front-end”; Participant 7 also further linked cross functional involvement to the third theme: risk: “Pricing finalization needs to be a joint effort between sales and PE. While the project manager and PE teams are risk adverse, they need to be realistic and simply including mechanisms to eliminate all or reduce risk will over price and over constrain the solution, resulting in the solution being rejected by the customer, leading to order failure”. Participant 10 referred to a formal project handover meeting as a mechanism to ensure continuity: “A formally defined project handover meeting between the sales and PE team will ensure that there is continuity from the sales team to the PE team”

Question 4 (aggregated dimension): What mechanisms can be used to improve the integration and transition between the project front-end and project initiation phase?
#	Theme contribution	Theme	Illustrative quote and discussion
1	27% obtained from Appendix	Processes	Participant 3 “A formal handover from Sales to the Project team”; Participant 4 “Best practice firms have a clear process and handover procedures”; participant 1 highlighted the importance of the understanding of process from both the sales and PE teams; Participant 8 “A proper handover process inclusive of a fully consolidated and comprehensive documentation pack that is handed over to the PE team”; Participant 9 “A defined handover process which is regularly audited to ensure adherence to the process. Having a process that is not adhered to adds no value; project participants must adhere to process”
2	19% obtained from Appendix	Cross-functional collaboration	Participant 1 called for a “symbiotic relationship”; Participant 7 “Joint involvement of both sales and PE in estimating, in face-to-face discussions with the client in the front-end”; Participant 8 “Joint sign off by the project manager and the sales lead at the sales stage ensures both sales and PE are held jointly accountable for project deliverables”
3	14% obtained from Appendix	Risk	While incentives did not appear as a significant theme, it did appear in terms of joint accountability as iterated by participant 10 who also linked joint accountable to the third theme: risk “An incentive scheme that has a weighting system holding both the sales and PE teams jointly accountable for the project deliverables will ensure the project is subjected to lower risk and this will go a long way in ensuring that the project has a greater chance of meeting the project deliverables”. Incentives as a mechanism for joint accountability was also supported by participant 8 “An incentive scheme that has a weighting system holding both the sales and PE teams jointly accountable for the solution sales as well as the project deliverables”. Further support for risk management was provided by participant 9 “A risk list with risk mitigation factors needs to be compiled early on in the sales process and the risk list is continually updated throughout the project life cycle”
4	11% obtained from Appendix	Meetings and workshops	Collaborative involvement in the FE was also supported by participant 4 who linked joint involvement to the fourth theme: face-to-face meetings: “Joint involvement of both sales and PE in estimating, in face-to-face discussions with the client in the front-end”; Participant 7 also further linked cross functional involvement to the third theme: risk: “Pricing finalization needs to be a joint effort between sales and PE. While the project manager and PE teams are risk adverse, they need to be realistic and simply including mechanisms to eliminate all or reduce risk will over price and over constrain the solution, resulting in the solution being rejected by the customer, leading to order failure”. Participant 10 referred to a formal project handover meeting as a mechanism to ensure continuity: “A formally defined project handover meeting between the sales and PE team will ensure that there is continuity from the sales team to the PE team”