The first step in addressing the contractor's failure to comply with the contractual commitments is to remind them of their obligations. This aligns with the best practices in project management, which emphasize communication and problem-solving as initial steps before escalating the issue or seeking legal recourse. It's important to address the issue directly with the contractor to understand their perspective and to work towards a mutually beneficial resolution. This approach is supported by the principles outlined in the PMBOK Guide, which advocate for proactive stakeholder engagement and communication management as essential components of project management.
References:
PMBOK Guide - Sixth Edition
PMP Examination Content Outline - June 20191
Professional in Business Analysis Reference Materials2

In an agile software development project, the project manager should focus on collaboration and communication to resolve issues. When a client complains that the last deployment did not meet the acceptance criteria, it's crucial to review the requirements traceability matrix. This matrix is a document that links requirements throughout the validation process, helping to ensure that all requirements defined for a system are tested in the test protocols. By reviewing this matrix with the team lead and the client, the project manager can identify any discrepancies between the client's expectations and the team's understanding of the specifications. This collaborative approach can help to resolve the issue effectively. References: Project Management Professional (PMP) Reference Materials, Professional in Business Analysis Reference Materials

For a large, complex project with many specialized tasks, the most effective organizing mechanism is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS decomposes project deliverables into smaller, manageable components (work packages), creating a structured view of "all the work required" to complete the project scope. This enables assignment of responsibility (e.g., via a responsibility assignment matrix), better estimating, clearer tracking, and tighter control. Work packages become the foundation for developing the activity list and schedule, estimating costs, planning quality, and managing procurement and risks. Sending a task list to a sponsor is not a planning strategy and does not provide a scope-based hierarchy. Eliminating tasks with stakeholders may be helpful only after scope is defined and validated; it doesn't organize work. A resource management plan supports how resources are acquired and managed, but it does not break down deliverables into monitorable units of work. The WBS is the central scope artifact that turns complexity into a controllable structure and supports execution, monitoring, and reporting.

The project manager should first assess the current state process to understand the existing problems, needs, and opportunities for improvement. This will help to define the scope of the digitization project, which is the sum of the products, services, and results to be delivered by the project. Digitizing the current state process exactly as defined, redefining the current state process to scope the supporting software, or developing the software that will support the current state process are all actions that should be done after defining the project scope, not before. References: PMBOK Guide 7th Edition, page 71; Agile Practice Guide, page 37.