Project Management for BMS Software Development

This document provides information about project management techniques and tools for the development of Building Management System (BMS) software. It covers topics such as cost estimation, approval requirements, change control procedures, staffing needs, and communication management plan.

Information system
project management

Table of Contents
WEEK 4...........................................................................................................................................1
WEEK 5...........................................................................................................................................4
WEEK 6...........................................................................................................................................6
WEEK 7...........................................................................................................................................7
WEEK 8...........................................................................................................................................9
WEEK 9.........................................................................................................................................10
WEEK 10.......................................................................................................................................12
WEEK 11.......................................................................................................................................14
WEEK 12.......................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

WEEK 4
Project management is simply regarded as the application of necessary tools, techniques,
skills and knowledge that will facilitate the project planner to achieve the set of decided project
goals and objectives. PM is a disciplined system of initiation, planning, implementation,
monitoring, controlling & closure phases (Gao, Chen and Shi, 2017). There are various kinds of
projects that are carry out by different project planners such as construction work, technological
project i.e. new software development & installation etc. Every project suits different
methodology such as agile, PRINCE2 and other. In today’s period, technological advancement
and up gradation shows a faster changes so as to foster competitiveness and smoothen regular
operations. Therefore, in the current project, it is decided to design and install new software
(Building Management system, BMS). It is a computerized technological system which can be
installed in the buildings so as to keep track over the building functioning i.e. ventilation, power
system, security, fire system and many others. The system integrates both software and hardware
through protocols C-bus, Profibus etc (Oti and et.al., 2016). The new software will facilitate the
building managers to implement a strong security system comprising access control, fire
security, CCTV camera, illumination, elevators, lifts, \alarm monitoring, control panel and
motion detectors. With the help of such automotive system, building’s internal environment can
be effectively controlled and assure efficient energy consumption.
Goal: The goal to develop BMS software is to establish sound internal operational control of the
building along with effective safety and security.
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The planned project will derive the benefits of sound control management, effective
monitoring over energy consumption, boost staff productivity, save time and many others. Being
an integrated platform, managers can also obtain automatically summarized reports and monitor
the usage of electricity, water and others so as to achieve the objectives of energy efficiency and
satisfy all building occupants.
Gantt chart/Precedence diagram
It is a visualized presentation of the starting as well as ending date of each and every
activity decided. It is one of the powerful project management tools that illustrates all the
activities along with the suitable time scale and reflect clearly the relationship among various
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planned activities (Heagney, 2016). The project is useful for tracking schedules and also presents
predecessor activity which needs to be completed prior before the current task.
Critical path
It represents the sequential tasks or stages so as to find out the minimum project duration
that the project will definitely take to complete. It is the longest time period but indicates
minimum possible duration in which entire project of BMS installation will be complete.
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Critical path duration (CPD): Activities E + J + K + L + M
= 2 +4 + 4 + 2 + 5
= 17 days
The project will take the duration of 17 days to complete. All the tasks fall in critical path
have zero slack or float therefore; project manager must overlook all theses so as to assure that
these activities are not delayed.
WEEK 5
Estimating methods: Cost estimation is the process to determine the probable sum of
expenditure that the new software development project will incur. Budget is simply a procedure
of anticipating the expected cost to each activity or human resources required for the given
project. The key goal of budget creation is to determine probable cost so that financial plan can
be designed accordingly (Oti and et.al., 2016). Cost baseline also facilitates managers in right
resource allocation, monitor actual performance against set targets and implement sound cost
control mechanism.
Items Amount
Project manager 2000
Team members 1200
Developers 1500
Software license 2500
Software development 2000
Purchase hardware 1200
Server 1000
Networking 700
Cost of training 900
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Others 400
Totals 13400
For the current project, it is expected that the BMS software development project will
incur cost worth 13,400.
Approval requirement: It is necessary to get approval from the respective authority,
project management board and chairman (Steyn and et.al., 2016). All the project elements such
as cost, duration, scope, timeline etc. will be conveyed to the board for the approval.
Procedure for changes: There is strict change implementation procedure under Prince 2
framework. Project manager first needs to create a request for change proposal and convey it to
the authority of change implementation. In the RFC proposal, all the necessary information
regarding the changes along with their impact on deliverables, budget and timeline must be
shown clearly (Heagney, 2016). Afterwards, the authority will evaluate and examine the
prospective risk of the requested change and examine the resource requirements so as to decide
that whether it should be accepted or not. Moreover, the authority also checks that requested
change proposal comes in the project scope so as to avoid the issues of scope creeping.
Use of tools: PRINCE 2 project methodology applies rigid framework so as to put strict
and close monitoring & control over the project functioning in order to avoid the risk of cost
overrun and unnecessary delay. Earned value management (EVM) is a powerful tool that will be
used for the project performance monitoring (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016). In this, schedule
variance (SV) which demonstrates the difference between expected and actual time and cost
variance (CV) so as to determine deviation between probable and actual cost will be calculated
to implement necessary control on the right time. For instance, if 60% of our project is
completed at a cost of 8500 then CV will be as follows:
= 8500 – 13400*60%
= 8500 -8040
= 460
It clearly encourages managers to take necessary actions so as to control the exceeding
cost and implement tighten control over the resource usage.
Moreover, cost performance index (CPI) will be computed which present the ratio of EV
to the actual project cost while Schedule performance index (SPI) indicates ratio of EV to
planned value. All the tools will assist the project manager to monitor the project progress and
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assist them making corrective action on right time to install BMS within targeted cost within
decided timeframe (Tomanek, Cermak and Smutny, 2014).
WEEK 6
Figure 1 Quality Management Plan
Quality manager will set quality standards for defining project quality and convey it to all
the project team members so as to maintain project quality. There are various elements which
contribute towards high quality in order to design the best and unique BMS software embedded
with advanced features such as processes, managerial supervision, monitoring and controlling
and others. Project manager can use different quality management techniques such as six sigma,
Total Quality Management (TQM) and Statistical Quality Control (SQC) techniques to ensure
project with high quality standards and over defects (Bromiley and et.al., 2015). In SQC, firm
can design run chart that display process variation over time, detect error and helps to make
rationalize decisions to achieve the high quality standards. Quality expert will also conduct
training to train team member about the ways how to maintain high quality. Timely reporting
will helps to determine that software is designed with great quality.
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Figure 2 Change control procedure
In case, if any changes are required, a request for proposal (RFP) for the prospective
changes will be presented to the change & control board (CCB) who will examine its impact
over the scope, time and budget and take approval decisions. Tight supervision, monitoring and
controlling will be maintained so that regular functionality of the system can be checked to
assure smooth functioning of the BMS with high security (Micic, 2017).
WEEK 7
Every project needs skilled & talented workforce who are enough competent in
effectively executing their assigned job responsibilities so as to contribute towards target
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achievements. In order to design and develop BMS software so as to have sound internal
operational control to promote safety and security of the occupants, project manager will need to
source following team members who are skilled in the concerned field.
Staffing need Roles and responsibilities
Project manager  To make plans, create project time-schedule, estimate cost and make
strategies
 To identify required resources for the project
 To regularly administrate, supervise, monitor and control the
functionality
 To establish sound communication plan and assure proper reporting
 To encourage team and align their activities towards set goals
 To plan risk management strategy to combat possible difficulties
IT professional  To find out technical errors and resolve the same
 To give technical advice to the team so that they can run software
with proper precautions
 To set proper infrastructure for the system implementation
 To make decisions for the strong network security
Software designer  To create an unique platform BMS as per the client specification
 To incorporate advanced features in the system with high level
interface so as to implement sound energy optimizing
Training expert  To identify the training need of the team members and plan schedule
accordingly
 To conduct training sessions to develop necessary skills and
competencies
Finance manager  To estimate possible funding requirement and create financial plan
accordingly
 To monitor utilization of financial resources and make cost cutting
plan
 To create contingency plan for the sudden financial risk
Quality expert  To create plans for the quality management and assurance by setting
quality standards
 To convey the plan to the project team members
 To make remedial measures to promote system quality
Team members  To follow rules and coordinate and cooperate with each other
 To give timely progress reports to their superior authority
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 To give their own opinion and ideas to achieve set targets
Training requirements
All the team members will be provided with the quality management trainings and also a
one week training programme for developing required skills i.e. interpersonal skills and others.
A in-house team building training initiatives also will be undertaken for developing team-
working practices. Specialized meeting will be organized for guiding the members regarding
technical aspects of the software (Steyn and et.al., 2016). Project manager can also be guided to
train them how to deal with the difficult people whereas quality experts will conduct a training to
guide team members about quality management techniques like Total Quality management, Six
Sigma, Statistical process control and others.
WEEK 8
Communication management plan: Communication is the process of conveying
important messages, orders, opinion, views and suggestions among entire project team members.
The project of BMS implementation needs a strong and very clear communication from time to
time to resolve issues, project risk and report timely progress to the project manager as well
(Teller, Kock and Gemünden, 2014). In order to avoid any confusion, PM can use e-mail, instant
text messaging and other popular tools that are considered appropriate in given circumstances.
For the given project, the plan of communication is constructed here as under:
Communication
type
Objective Medium/
channel
Time
duration
Stakeholde
rs
Deliverables
Kick off
meetings
Communicating project
plan, scope, strategies
and scheduled time and
cost
Project
manuals
Every
week
Project
manager
Agenda of the
meeting
Team meetings Project progress
evaluation through
comparing actual and
targeted period and cost
Conference
meeting
Every
week
Entire team
members
Meeting
minutes
Project
schedule
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Progress
reports
Agenda
Technical
meeting
Discussion upon
technical errors and
making decisions for the
successful technical
execution
Face to
Face
As per the
requireme
nt
IT
professional
s,
Software
designer,
Project
Manager
Agenda
Meeting
minutes
Management
review meetings
Conveying work
completion report to the
manager
E-mail
Intranet
Monthly
meetings
Entire team
members
Project status
reports
Progress
reports
Schedules
Lesson learned
reports
Document the lesson
learned from the BMS
designing and
implementation project
Meetings At project
completio
n
Entire team
members
Project
archives
WEEK 9
Qualitative risk analysis
Probability-Impact matrix
5 Catastrophic
Legal
compliance
risk
Infected
removable
devices
Cyber
attack
Technical
failure
4 Significant
Staff
carelessness
Lack of
talented
people
Lack of
funding
3 Moderate
Scope
creeping
Inappropriate
budget
estimation
Lack of
monitorin
g &
staffing
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2 Minor Poor time
management
Communi
cation
barrier
1 Limited Training
issues
Relative
Likelihood
Very
low Low Medium High Very
high
1 2 3 4 5
Risk register
Risk Impact (1-
5, 1 being
limited
and 5
being
catastroph
ic )
Likelihood (1-
5, 1 being very
low and 5
being very
high)
Risk
scor
e
Risk level Mitigation strategy
Technical
failure
5 5 25 Unaccepta
ble
IT professionals regular check
and audit the system
functionality according to the
defined technical standards.
Besides this, technology
planning & integration by IT
expert will assure technical
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Unacceptable
Very High
Moderate
Low

success.
Funding
issues
4 5 20 Unaccepta
ble
Financial manager who have
expertise knowledge will
create financial plan and
conveyed to all the members
so that everyone follow it
accordingly (Christoffersen,
2012). Besides this, resource
allocation decisions and
control over funds utilization
through supervision & control
to achieve financial success.
WEEK 10
The project of BMS designing and implementation flows through a number of processes
and activities such as buying hardware, procuring required set of resources such as funds, people,
equipments, testing facilities and others. BMS designing & implementation needs procurement
of engineering, installation, programming, specialist integrators and its installation with proper
technical support that will be purchased from mechanical and electrical contractors (Heagney,
2016).
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Above diagram presented that the project will require hardware i.e. graphical user
interface (GUI), Built in Display, WEB server, transmitters, smart touch screen, smart actuator,
Ethernet, USB ports, processor, hard-disk drive, DVD Rom, operating system so as to develop
BMS. The procedure of hardware procurement comprises various stages for the given project.
Initially, a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Quote (RFQ) needs to be presented
(Bingham and Gibson Jr, 2016). This document is constructed to solicit different supplier’s
quotation prices and proposals. In order to respond it, suppliers present their bid prices in
quotation along with all the other conditions on which they are ready to supply the desired set of
hardware to the project planner.
After gathering proposals from the suppliers, project planner will analyze and compare
the terms and conditions of all and select the proposal with favorable conditions i.e. standard
quality, desired quantity, credit terms, supply duration, lowest quotation price. Prospective
suppliers can also be asked to present a best and final offer (BAFO) (Drouin, Sankaran and
Muller, 2016). After the supplier’s selection, necessary legal documents are prepared complying
all the legal requirements and provisions so as to procure hardware.
https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/bms-the-basics-explained.pdf
WEEK 11
Every project consists of number of stakeholders such as project manager, client, users
and others. It is necessary for the project planner to make proper plan and strategies for the sound
stakeholder engagement and management.
Identifying: The prerequisite of stakeholder management is stakeholder identification.
As said earlier, that PRINCE 2 methodology is considered best for the IT driven projects,
therefore, as per the methodology, all the stakeholders are classified into three groups, customer
groups, end-user group and business group. First consists of the member for whom a BMS will
be designed, thus, administrative authorities of the building will be the customer for the given
project. However, end-users comprise all the other buildings who might implement BMS
software to keep high security (Martinelli and Milosevic, 2016). However, business group
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comprises of project manager as key stakeholder holding the responsibility to create plan,
resource allocation decisions, set schedules, monitoring and controlling and many others.
Analysing: Stakeholder analysis register, stakeholder interviews and power/interest
matrix can be designed to examine each and every stakeholder. Referring the chosen project, the
matrix has been designed here as under:
Interest/Stake
Low High
High
Power
Low
Administrative authority Project manager
Internal users
Project team members Customers
Suppliers
Looking to the designed matrix, it becomes clear that project manager has high power
and high interest also whilst all the other administrative members i.e. finance manager, IT
professional, quality manager are the leading authority who have high power but comparatively
low interest. However, team members have less power with low level of interest as they are just
accountable to carry out routine activities to contribute towards meeting targets. Project owner
has high interest and high power also. Customers and suppliers low power but they have very
high stake in the project as per the desired characteristics.
Stakeholder engagement: It is the process of working together with all the stakeholders
and meet their desires and expectations effectively. It is the procedure wherein project manager
ensure systematic engagement with all stakeholders group throughout different phases of the
project. It leads to minimize resistance and promote good success (Tomanek, Cermak and
Smutny, 2014).
Stakehol
der
Interest
(1-3, 1
being
Influence/
power (1-
3, 1 being
Key goal Contribution Stakeholder
management plan
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extremel
y
importa
nt)
extremely
important)
Manager 1 1 On-time
completion and
within decided
budgetary
constraints
Leading the entire
team and
delegation of
work
responsibilities
Weekly email
Project status and
progress reports
Timely meetings
Finance
manager,
Quality
manager,
technical
expert
2 2 Cost, quality and
technical
management
They are experts
in respective area
and put their
expertise
knowledge to
successfully
complete the
project
Periodical
meetings
Risk management
plan
Technical changes
Employe
es
3 3 Carrying out their
job
responsibilities
Put their best
efforts to meet
goals
Training sessions,
Salary and good
working conditions
Client 1 3 Design the best
BMS software
They provides
their specification
requirement to
design a unique
software
BMS software
embedded with
unique features
Suppliers 1 3 Supply required
sources
Supply hardware,
equipments and
other sources
Timely payment
Regular
communication
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WEEK 12
The project of BMS software designing & implementation will be goes through five
stages that are imitation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling and closure phase. For
the sound stakeholder management, project manager will communicate plans, policies and
strategies to the entire team and time to time, progress report will be obtained to check the
completion status. All the work will be carry out focusing quality standards, scheduled time and
budgetary constraints as well (Heagney, 2016). In addition to this, proper risk management plan
and change control procedure will be followed to implement necessary changes considering
scope inclusion criteria. Following quality management techniques i.e. six sigma and TQM,
quality has been ensured to design an integrated web portfolio to ensure high security and
effective energy consumption. In order to complete the software designing process successfully,
project manager have given continuously monitored and administrated the project functionality
so as to make sure that all the activities are properly aligned with the project targets and goals to
get the deliverables.
Besides this, timely meetings has been undertaken with the entire project team wherein
project progress report were presented and analyzed to find out that whether project is going on
in line with the decided time frame and budgetary limit or not. It also facilitates managers in
introducing required changes in the project and get approval from the change and control board.
However, under the risk management, technical failure and funding issues were determined as
unacceptable risk which was properly managed through appropriate risk mitigation strategies. In
such regards, technical risk managed through conducting specialised technical training program
and timely meetings so as to determine technical errors and required changes were also
introduced. However, on the other side, financial manager assigned with the accountability to
manage financial plan and regularly administrate the financing activities to reduce the possibility
of cost overrun. Use of MS project tool and other analytical tools assists in maximizing
technical, planning and analytical skills.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bingham, E. and Gibson Jr, G.E., 2016. Infrastructure Project Scope Definition Using Project
Definition Rating Index. Journal of Management in Engineering. 13(2). p.04016037.
Bromiley, P. and et.al., 2015. Enterprise risk management: Review, critique, and research
directions. Long range planning. 48(4). pp. 265-276.
Christoffersen, P.F., 2012. Elements of financial risk management. Academic Press.
Drouin, N., Sankaran, S. and Muller, R., 2016. The nature of organizational project management
and its role as an organizational capability. Manageable Cooperation?.
Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Gao, S., Chen, W. and Shi, L., 2017. A new budget allocation framework for the expected
opportunity cost. Operations Research.
Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt
Assn.
Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt
Assn.
Martinelli, R.J. and Milosevic, D.Z., 2016. Project management toolbox: tools and techniques
for the practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons.
Micic, L., 2017. Agile methodology selection criteria: IT start-up case study. In IOP Conference
Series: Materials Science and Engineering. 200(1). IOP Publishing. p 012031.
Oti, A.H. and et.al., 2016. A framework for the utilization of Building Management System data
in building information models for building design and operation. Automation in
Construction. 72(12). pp.195-210.
Steyn, H. and et.al., 2016. Project management: A multi-disciplinary approach.
Steyn, H. and et.al., 2016. Project management: A multi-disciplinary approach.
Teller, J., Kock, A. and Gemünden, H.G., 2014. Risk management in project portfolios is more
than managing project risks: A contingency perspective on risk management. Project
Management Journal. 45(4). pp. 67-80.
Online
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Tomanek, M., Cermak, R. and Smutny, Z., 2014. A Conceptual Framework for Web
Development Projects in Traditional and Agile principles. [PDF]. Available through: <
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1502/1502.04297.pdf>. [Accessed on 5th September
2017].
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