SIM 335 – Managing Project
March 17, 2022NRSG258 – Case Study 2: Peter Harris
March 17, 2022Task 1:
Ans. 1.
A project plan has certain principles and characteristics. These characteristics have to be rightly understood for the success of the project. Every project serves an opportunity to acquire some intended results by implementing a systematic approach to management. A project has certain characteristics like those that it has to be unique. It should have a single definable purpose with temporary activities. The organizational lines are cut across by the projects. The projects include unfamiliarity. It serves the company, which remains at stake. A project should have a definite beginning and end. A capability of performing a service is created by a project (Newton, 2015).
Ans. 2.
The scope statement refers to a useful tool, which serves to be an outline of the deliverables of a project. A project scope statement is used to assume the key factors of the success related to an organization. The constraints are identified. The scope statement draws the boundary of a project. The scope statement provides the major objectives, goals, and purposes. Through a formal document, the entire scope of the project is defined. The deliverables, timeframe, and the costs for the project are clarified in the statement. The vendors and external contributors are also included in this scope statement (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
Ans. 3.
A Gantt chart refers to a bar chart, which illustrates a schedule of the project. The task should be performed on the vertical axis with the time intervals on the horizontal axis. The duration of the activity should be shown on the graph. Henry Gantt designed this chart.
Tasks Precedence Time
A – 4 days
B – 6 days
C A 6 days
D B 2 days
E B 5 days
F C 8 days
Activities | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
A | ||||||||||||||||||
B | ||||||||||||||||||
C | ||||||||||||||||||
D | ||||||||||||||||||
E | ||||||||||||||||||
F |
The project is completed in 18 days.
The critical path is the longest time taken for any activity, and therefore FC is the critical path. FC=8 days
Ans. 4.
A project budget is a detailed estimation of all the costs that a project requires to be conducted. The project budget is a kind of resource plan. It reflects the project with its period. The project budget should have to be comprehensive so that the management can understand the how the resources, as well as funds, will be used and utilized. It suggests the investment, and it guides the expenses over time for conducting the operations of the project. The budget determines the requirement of the funding. Cost baseline is used for measuring, monitoring, and controlling of the cost activities of the project (Larson and Gray, 2015).
Ans. 5.
The risk strategy for a project identifies the risk of the project. The required strategies need to be formulated to minimize the risk of the project. The bad impacts also need to be predicted. The uncertainty is the cause for making the risk strategy. A company can make risk strategy by avoiding the risk factors, by successfully identifying the risk, by mitigating the risk and transferring the risk. The acceptance of the risk and handle it properly is another way of risk strategy (Carvalho and Rabechini Junior, 2015).
The project manager will choose the method of identifying and predicting the risk properly and reviewing it on a regular basis.
Ans. 6.
A project needs its evaluation. The evaluation can be accomplished by the analysis of the accumulated information on a particular performance of a project. A quality method of evaluation involves analysing the success, progress, cost-effectiveness of a project. The desired plan result and the actual outcome can be compared by this process of evaluation (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
The project needs to monitor the progress, cost, schedule, and the scope of a project. In order to monitor it rightly, it is important to see whether the management can establish the benchmark for the quality control.
The project manager should introduce certain tools and techniques to control the process and implement the strategies. A quality method of controlling the project must conform to the quality plan of the program.
Task 2:
Project Definition
The following assignment is made for Wroxham Boat Hire Company. This company is based in the UK at the town of Wroxham, and it designs and launches motors of the respected industry. Due to the removal of trade barriers in the country, the company faces competition from other motor manufacturers around the world. Hence, this project will help the administrators of the company to implement a good plan to launch an ERP system in their business model.
Project Aims and Objectives
The project aims to deliver a proper model to apply a process called ERP in the business. This model will enhance the efficiency of the operation of Wroxham. So, the objectives of the project are to present all the activities that will be useful to launch this initiative.
Project Activities Required
Wroxham generally used to function in a small environment in the UK with few loyal customers. But recently, the UK government has lifted the trade barriers. Hence, the company now has to function in a large market. So, the administrators have decided to set up the ERP model in the business for efficiency in their company. It will not only enhance the customer satisfaction but also will provide much more investment as well. The project manager has developed several strategies to make this new initiative successful for the company (Jeong et al., 2015).
ERP model or Enterprise Resource Planning is a business model that creates an integrated system or structure of a company to enhance the productivity of the organization. This process often operates in real time and needs the use of technology and software. The model deals with cash, raw materials, production capacity and it tries to integrate all this data into a single database. The system will also allow linking up with other companies around the world (Jalil and Bakar, 2017).
Here are the few activities that are essential to implement the system.
At first, the project manager of Wroxham must bring the experts of ERP systems. These individuals will explain the concepts to the administrators and workers thoroughly so that the strategy of the model is clarified to them.
Secondly, the company should bring the proper amount of hardware and hire the professionals that will be capable of handling the system. The hired professionals must have good knowledge of the software of the ERP model so that they can analyse the data on manufacturing, production and many other things.
Thirdly, the company should design BOM or Bill of Materials for the manufacture of the parts. This list will help the company to gather information about raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies and other components that are needed to develop an end product (DiPippo et al., 2017).
Fourth, the management should develop work orders and scheduling. A proper strategy should be taken to issue work orders of the products. Management should implement a suitable schedule to successfully satisfy the manufacturing of the products in a given time through the system.
Fifth, utilization of capacity and workflow management is another process in this model. Capacity and workflow management will enable the manager to evaluate the products that are produced with the workforce in a given period. The process will show if the company can produce enough parts at its full potential.
Sixth, assessment of quality control is also vital as now the company will operate in a larger market. The end product should bring enough satisfaction to the leisure industry so that it will enhance customer satisfaction.
Finally, product lifecycle management is important as the product is manufactured. This ERP system will help the managers to analyse the factors regarding the sales much more efficiently.
So, these processes are necessary to implement this system in Wroxham Company successfully.
Risk analysis:
As the ERP system is a new initiative for the company, there lies a lot of risks for the implementation process.
- Inadequate Integration Infrastructure: Building a wrong infrastructure can lead to serious problem in ERP integration project. If the proper infrastructure is not developed in time, it will cause more costs to the company. Wroxham boat manufacturing company must avoid manual programming processes and should hire professionals to handle these problems. The company should also avoid using complex software and should use technology that provides single studio solutions.
- Changing Requirements: The administrators or managers of Wroxham should have a clear vision of the methodology of the system initiative or else the system will bound to fail. If the process is not properly made, the requirements will change frequently, and it will affect the production of boats.
- Impossible Schedules: In order to gain a large number of goods in a short amount of time, the quality of the product will be compromised. As Wroxham have to manufacture their products in a global market, they have to be aware of this fact. So, hectic scheduling should be avoided at any cost.
- Staff Turnover: Changes in project management, developers and complicating the manufacturing process can cause customer dissatisfaction and may cause staff turnover. So, the management should clarify the system with the staffs so that such things do not happen (Turner et al., 2017).
- Lack of Experience: Although the ERP integration system will help Wroxham to link with other companies and enhance the customer satisfaction, the process is complex. It requires staffs and managers who are highly qualified and experienced in the field. So, the company should hire the individuals more carefully if they are to succeed in this operation.
- Inadequate Testing Plan: Before applying this large Business plan, the management should develop a testing plan to check whether their strategy will work efficiently in the market. Improper tests will affect Wroxham heavily as they are a relatively small company in the manufacturing industry compared to the other potential giants in the leisure industry.
- New Business Process: Implementing a new strategy may create resistance in the marketplace. The stakeholders and management should ensure the fact that the company is fully prepared and adapted for this new business model (Joyce and Paquin, 2016). If they fail to gain the trust from the market, the ERP model will fail, and Wroxham will fail to deliver its products in the market.
Work Breakdown Structure
A work breakdown structure in project management details the deliverable activities required to accomplish the project within a specified period (Carvalho and Rabechini Junior, 2015). It has been estimated that in order to implement the ERP system successfully 8 weeks would be required to accomplish all the necessary activities.
Principle Activity | Sub-activities | The time required (Days) | Spanning across Weeks |
Strategic planning | Assigning a project team | 3 Days | 7 days (Spanning across week 1) |
Examining the current business processes and information flow | 2 Days | ||
Gap analysis | 2 days | ||
Develop objectives | 1 day | ||
Developing a project plan | 1 day | ||
Procedure Review | Reviewing software capacities | 2 days | 7 days (Spanning across week 1) |
Identifying manual processes | 2 days | ||
Developing standard operating procedures | 3 days | ||
Data Collection and Clean-up | Converting Data | 4 days | 14 days (Spanning across week 2 and 3) |
Collecting Data | 3 days | ||
Reviewing data input | 5 days | ||
Clean-up Data | 2 days | ||
Training and Testing | Pre-testing the database | 7 days | 21 days (Spanning across week 4, 5, 6) |
Verifying the testing | 5 days | ||
Training the trainer | 7 days | ||
Performing final tests | 2 days | ||
Implementation and Evaluation | Developing a final implementation checklist | 7days | 14 days (Spanning across week 7, 8) |
Evaluating the solution | 7 days |
Table 1: Work Breakdown Structure
Source: (Kerzner, and Kerzner, 2017)
Gantt Chart
Activities | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 |
Strategic planning | ||||||||
Procedure Review | ||||||||
Data Collection and | ||||||||
Training and testing | ||||||||
Clean-up |
Table 2: Gantt Chart
Source: (Kerzner, and Kerzner, 2017)
Resource Requirement and Budget
Outlining the resources required to implement a successful ERP system is highly important as the successful implementation of project aims is highly dependent on the availability of the resources and the money required to project execution (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). The total budget for the current project has been suggested as £750,000 pounds. The following table outlines the cost baseline structure of the budget for the required resources and lists the resources.
Resources required | Costs for resources |
Private Cloud | £150,000 |
ERP software | £100,000 |
Human Resource Support to the project team | £50,000 |
Project team | £25,000 |
IT Hardware requirement | £125,000 |
Security requirements | £75,000 |
Business Intelligence Costs | £100,000 |
Staff Training Costs | £50,000 |
Implementation costs | £20,000 |
Miscellaneous Costs | £10,000 |
Total | £750,000 |
Table: Resource Requirements and Costs
Source: (Author)
Project Lifecycle Stages and Process
Project life cycle is process or guidelines consists of four steps that all project managers follow while completing all the stages of project management. Project life cycle refers to a framework of a standard procedure for managing any business project within the organisation. Leaders and managers of project management conduct a thorough survey and research regarding which procedure would be best to run the project. The company Wroxham is willing to launch a new initiative which is ERP system in its business operation. A system that would give the company an opportunity to link-up with other companies across the world and allow Wroxham boat Builders to provide an on-time delivery to the customers without holding excess Inventory of parts.
According to the project lifecycle framework, a project involves four phases that is the conceptualization phase, the planning phase, the execution phase, the termination phase.
The conceptualization phase
This is the starting point of any business project management, and this phase is also referred to as the initiation phase where the project managers identify problems opportunities and the basic needs of the business to seize the opportunity (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). This is the phase where the project managers will determine the feasibility of the project the basic objectives and the deliverability of the project of installing ERP system in the business operation of the company Wroxham.
The planning phase
After the approval of the project based on the statement work and the conceptualization document, the project manager moves forward to the second phase, and that is called the planning phase. In this phase, the project manager makes different kinds of plans to complete the project successfully. The project manager of the company Wroxham needs to do proper planning by breaking down the large project of installing ERP system in the business operation into the various smaller task and by building a competent team and preparing a schedule for the completion of each task. The project manager needs to identify those smaller goals which will have a high potential for success.
The execution phase
After the approval of the project and the development of the plans and building a competent team for the project’s successful completion, the project manager moves to the third phase of project life cycle which is called as the execution phase. In this phase, the project manager of the company Wroxham boat builder will have several tasks which includes keeping work on the track, organising team members and managing time schedules, and ensuring the work is going according to the plan made before.
The termination phase
This is the final phase of the project life cycle framework, and this phase is also referred to as the closure phase. In this case, the project manager of the company Wroxham boat builder will have several tasks which includes providing final deliverables and determining the success of the project by releasing the project resources (Turner, 2016). Evaluation of every process for installing the earth system in the business operation needs to be done in this phase.
Leadership and Administration
Project leadership concentrates on people and project administration is also a kind of a skill that concentrates on the processes of the project management and metrics. These two skills are complementary to each other and interdependent in some cases, and every project managers shoot poses and practice these two skills for managing a large project like installing ERP system in the business operation of the company Wroxham boat builder. Project administration refers to each process of those tasks formed by the project manager for completing the project and to get the results. Proper project administration created measures and observes the metrics of the project that will help the project manager to identify the project’s health. That matrix is helped the project manager to identify the symptoms of the project, and by drilling down the symptoms, the project manager can identify the causes of those symptoms. Sometimes the causes are directly linked to the people who are involved in this project (Uhl and Gollenia, 2016). These are termed workplace conflicts and issues. Hear the project leadership skills come into action. Project leadership refers a skill that every project manager should possess for guiding managing and encouraging team members to deliver what they are asked for in order to complete the project successfully and also by communicating and collaborating with the stakeholders and the sponsors of the project in order to keep the project and the common goal on track. Good project leadership will ultimately ensure a successful project administration.
SIM337 -Contemporary Developments in Business and Management Sample 1
Control problems
Sometimes project managers fail to address critical control issues that are associated with every project. Even a well-designed and well-developed project can fail if the project manager fails to address and neglect every project element in the different phases of the project life cycle. Several problems and issues can occur if the project manager fails to control information systems. Control problems include the project not being completed on time and the cost more than estimated. The project managers of the company Wroxham boat builder need to understand key control issues and make necessary arrangements for appropriate controlling in order to ensure the success of the project. To avoid any project control problems the project manager of the company needs to make the stakeholders and every team members ever of the importance of the project and why the company has chosen to launch the project (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). In order to understand the actual costs of the project clearly, the project manager should make sure that the costs are recorded as soon as they are incurred. To avoid project control issues, s/he should ensure that every task is completed on a timely basis and identify those employees who are competent enough to do the task for the project.
Conclusion
This report has covered every process of the management for the project of installing ERP system in the business operation of the company Wroxham boat builder. Project definition along with the project aim and objectives has been described in this study. Resources that are required for the completion of the project and other budgetary factors and the process of time management designed by the project managers have also been discussed in this study. For the completion of the project four phases of project, Lifecycle framework has been evaluated, and the distinction and the connection between project leadership and project administration have been discussed in this study along with the issues and the problem that occurs while controlling and managing the project have also been evaluated in this study.
References:
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