Effective Project Management Techniques

This assignment focuses on the key aspects of project management, emphasizing the need for measurable organizational value, effective scope management plans, and schedule development. It also highlights the importance of identifying and mitigating risks, setting strategies, and ensuring quality management within a project. The study utilizes a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, incorporating primary and secondary research methods to develop a theoretical framework that supports cardinal and ordinal measurement of project performance.

IT PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
MOV (Measurable Organisational Value).............................................................................1
PART 2............................................................................................................................................2
PART 3............................................................................................................................................3
PART 4............................................................................................................................................6
Assumptions about the project...............................................................................................6
Risk Identification Framework...............................................................................................6
Analysis of Risk.....................................................................................................................8
PART 5............................................................................................................................................9
Statement of Philosophy.........................................................................................................9
Validation Activities...............................................................................................................9
Verification Activities............................................................................................................9
PART 6..........................................................................................................................................10
Annotated Bibliography.......................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Project Management can be defined as the process which involves planning and
organising the company's resources to move into a specific task, event, or duty towards the
completion of that particular project or work. The following assignment is based on the
application made by the Globex Company named as MBFSA (Mobile Based Farmer Support
Application). The following application is made with the purpose to help the farmers in different
ways such as by providing them with the needed information regarding fertility of soil, new ways
of doing farming and many more. The main supporters of this program are farmers, government,
wholesalers and the representatives of Globex. In the following assignment, the focus will be
increased to some more concepts. The assignment will cover areas such as Measurable
Organisational Value in which the impact will be noticed. In addition to this, it will cover the
scope of this project by producing a scope management plan. Further, the assignment will also
provide WBS in order to divide the complex nature of tasks into simpler form. The assignment
will also focus on Risk Analysis and Quality Management Plan. Finally, the evaluation of the
complete project will be done.
PART 1
MOV (Measurable Organisational Value)
The main goal of this project is to make enhance the knowledge of farmers with the help
of this mobile application named as MBFSA. With the help of this application the farmers will
be provided with support, guidance and new and improved ways of working. This will help help
them in carrying out farming the right way and will also help in taking right decisions.
The impact of this application will be done on all of the areas but the most important will
be its operational. It is so because for providing right information to farmers it is important for
them to have right knowledge. Hiring of competent staff will not be the only solution as the
fertility differs from soil to soil so the more focus is required on practical knowledge than
theoretical knowledge. After that the impact will be on financial as finance will be needed for
office establishment, equipments, employees, salaries, research and many more. Customers will
also be impacted as they will take information from this application and wrong information can
create problem for the company. From the old ways of working, the company has to adopt and
make changes in their strategies as it is making use of online mode in its working. The least
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impact will be on the society as this service provided by the company will help in betterment of
the society.
The two values which the application is creating are better and faster. It will increase the
efficiency of the company and will make easier for the customers. It has reduced the time
consumption of the employees as the need to go and ask has been reduced by this application.
The set target in order to meet the expectations of all the stakeholders of the company is
£700 in the initial period due to low awareness of the people. The time frame for the achieving
the MOV is specified as 6 to 8 months.
The project will provide an improvement in the farming ways of the farmers with the
help of MBFSA App. It will provide information to farmers related to their farming by providing
them with proper support and guidance.
PART 2
Scope outlines the main objectives and goals of the organisation in order to achieve
satisfactory result for the work done.
Names / Roles Responsibilities
Project Manager Providing responsibilities and guidance to juniors
Project Sponsor Checking whether the project is delivering the agreed
business benefits.
Project Team Lead Following the instructions provided by the Project
Manager
Project Team Members Follow the guidance of Team Lead and complete the
work with the best efficiency.
The scope of this project is to provide support and guidance to the farmers. The following
will be achieved with the help of MBFSA Application which will solve the queries of farmers by
providing them resolution online in this app itself so that their time could be saved and they
could be updated regularly with the innovative ways of working.
Resources required in order to complete this project are provided as under:
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 People: Personnel is required in order to make the completion of this project successful
such as for carrying out the day to day activities, maintenance of technical equipment in
the company and many more.
 Technology: will be used as the company is improving its ways of providing services to
customers. As the company is making use of application so it will require some software
and technical support so that the application could work successfully.
 Facilities: The teamwork will be situated at the company headquarters.
 Other: In the other resources, it will include training equipments, travelling vehicles, etc.
PART 3
Project Management is categorized into five phases which are discussed as under:
Project Initiation:
The first stage of project planning where the feasibility and value of the project is
measured. The milestone for this phase of project management is to ensure that the project is
enough capable of providing value to the company and their stakeholders.
Planning:
In the following stage of project management, a plan is made in order to guide the team
and members so that the project may run smoothly. The milestone for this phase of project
management is to ensure that the planning is done accurately that will make the changes as less
as possible.
Execution:
In this stage the plan is finally implemented as the team members are made clear with
their goals and objectives. The milestone for this that the implementation should be effective that
should not create any problems in the work such as overlapping of work.
Monitoring and Control:
In this stage, the activities carried out in the project are controlled in this stage. The
milestone of this phase is to ensure that all the activities of the company are going on in the right
way.
Closure:
After the completion of this project, the project is closed. The milestone of this phase is
to make sure that all the tasks has been completed successfully and the target is achieved.
Activities:
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Activities can be defined as the tasks which are needed to achieve the goals and
objectives of the project.
 For the project initiation, the needed activities to be carried out are Gathering Information
and Analysing the Information Gathered.
 For project Planning, the needed activities to be carried out are Research to know about
the Need of Customers and the activities needed to carry out.
 For Project Execution, the needed activities is defining roles and responsibilities and
guidance to them so that they could work effectively.
 For Planning and Control, the requirement is to make supervise and monitor the work
progress of the team members.
 For project Closure, the needed activities are to make final project scope analysis and
indexing of the project files.
Resource Assignment:
Activities and Roles:
Project Manager: Providing responsibilities and guidance to juniors.
Project Sponsor: Checking whether the project is delivering the agreed business benefits.
Project Team Lead: Following the instructions provided by the Project Manager.
Project Team Members: Follow the guidance of Team Lead and complete the work with the best
efficiency.
Estimate for Each Activity:
 For the completion of first activity the time period is to 3 weeks.
 For the completion of second activity, the time period specified is 1 week.
 For the third activity to complete the time period specified is 3 weeks.
 The forth activity will be completed within the time period of 5 week.
 The last activity will be completed in the time period of 1 week.
Project Budget:
For First Activity:
Particulars Amount
Materials 500
Stationary Items 700
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Travelling Expenses 2000
Miscellaneous Expenses 1000
Total 3200
For Second Activity:
Particulars Amount
Advertising Expenses 500
Materials 700
Initial Expenses 1200
Total 2400
For Third Activity:
Particulars Amount
Salaries 1200
Raw Materials 2500
Miscellaneous Expenses 2000
Travelling Expenses 1000
Total 6700
For Forth Activity:
Particulars Amount
Salaries 2500
Wages 600
Equipments 1500
Miscellaneous Expenses 1000
Total 5600
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For Fifth Activity:
Particulars Amount
Expenses 2000
Salaries 2000
Other Expenses 500
Total 4500
Work Break Down Structure
It can be defined as the process under which the complete project is divided into smaller
parts, tasks or activities which makes the completion of the project to be successful in the easiest
way. The activities included in the completion of this project are shown below:
PART 4
Assumptions about the project
It is very crucial that certain effective assumptions are lined up for the project which
would allow the firm to take appropriate actions and develop strategies to support and execute
the overall project effectively (Larson and Gray, 2017). For Globex, the firm is working upon
developing a mobile application which would be supporting the farming community. For this
MBFSA project, there are several assumptions which are mentioned below:
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 The very first assumption which has been formulated in respect of this project is that
farmers have effective access to smart devices which would help them access the
information. Further, this assumption also includes that they possess a certain level of
computer literacy.
 Another assumption related to this project is that in relation to the overall project is that
appropriate training as well as development programmes would effectively be performed
for shareholders by Globex Representatives. This would effectively enhance the
familiarity and usage of this application within the shareholders, which would prove to be
quite effective in relation to the overall execution of project (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
Risk Identification Framework
There are five phases of Project Management which are required to be appropriately
executed for the firm to achieve maximum success in their MBFSA assignment. Moreover,
consistency within these phases is a key through which the firm could get a smooth approach
towards accomplishment of any project. However, there are several risks which could be a
barrier which might cause several hindrances within the project. Below is a risk identification
framework which is being used for MBFSA project by Globex. This framework would identify
the risk at each phase of the project, which would help in finding out possible areas of threats.
The Risk Identification Framework is discussed below:
RISK
IDENTIFIER RISK DESCRIPTION SEVERITY INTENSITY
1 Inappropriate
Measurable
Organisational
Value (MOV)
The initiation phase of each
project require an effective
measuring of the organisational
value which is the ultimate
value their offering would be
providing. However, one of the
biggest risk for the same is the
inappropriate measuring of
MOV. For instance, if the firm
5 Critical SEVERE
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fails to identify effective areas
of impact or desired value, this
would cause the whole project
to go in vain.
2 Ineffective
Budget
The next stage of the project is
planning. The most severe risk
in this stage could be the
miscalculation of budget.
Sometimes, there are certain
elements which are not included
in the budget allocation because
of being either external or
intangible (Hornstein, 2015).
However, in such cases, this
causes major risk to the project
as with ineffective budget
calculation, the firm might be at
a risk of losing a lot of money.
4 High MAJOR
3
Inadequate
Quality
Management
The third phase relates to
launching the product which
requires to set up several Key
Performance Indicators (KPI).
However, due to using
inadequate quality management
technique, the firm might fail to
effectively analyse the quality
of this project.
4 High MODERATE
4 Ineffective
Technology
Within the fourth phase, the
firm is required to manage and
monitor the overall performance
3 Medium MEDIUM
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of their offering, which in this
case, is the mobile application.
However, ineffective
performance measurement
techniques might be a risk for
the firm to appropriately
measure the performance.
5 Poor Execution
and Control
This requires effective
controlling and reporting of the
project. Using poor
communication methods for the
same might result in a minor
risk.
2 Low LOW
Analysis of Risk
There are various strategies which could be utilised by the company to ensure a better
management and reduction of each risk (Muller, 2017). Moreover, each risk must be assigned to
a member which would effectively handle the risk associated with it. Following is the analysis of
each risk:
 Inappropriate Measurable Organisational Value (MOV):
The most effective strategy to ensure this risk not happening is that each constraint of the
project be defined and measured appropriately using effective tools. This would allow the
organisation to effectively initiate their project by systematically determining appropriate value.
The member which would be addressing this area of risk would be the Project Manager.
 Ineffective Budget:
Business Analyst would be addressing this risk and the most effective strategy would be
to consider each external and internal factor in setting up the budget as well as coordinating with
other departments to define the budget related to the project.
 Inadequate Quality Management:
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Quality Assurance Engineer will be heading up this area of risk and the best strategy for
the individual would be to use appropriate techniques such as Total Quality Management which
would allow the firm to effectively enhance the overall reduction of the same. Ineffective Technology
The best strategy to ensure effective technology would be to effectively conduct a market
research to determine the best, latest and most feasible technology for development of this
mobile application. Moreover, Artificial Intelligence and automation could effectively be used
for the same. This risk area would be addressed by System Administrator.
 Poor Execution and Control:
The reporting would be directly presented to the Project Manager and this would be the
most effective strategy for the firm. Furthermore, reporting directly to the Project Manager
would cause effectiveness in the last phase (Svejvig and Andersen, 2015).
PART 5
Statement of Philosophy
The statement of philosophy for the team is, “to work together and build the most
effective support systems for the farming community which prosper and ensure a consistent
growth for many years to come.”
Validation Activities
To ensure the same, the firm would be adopting White Box testing, which involves
several activities managed below:
 Source Code Understanding
 Creation of Test Cases and effective Execution
Verification Activities
Within this aspect, the firm would be utilising Six Sigma as a technique. Activities
covered within the same includes:
 Defining the problem
 Measuring the problem
 Appropriate analysis of processes and data
 Ensuring improvisation within the set process
 Controlling the overall activity.
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PART 6
Annotated Bibliography
REFERENCE TYPE ANNOTATION
Hadaya, P., Cassivi, L. and Chalabi,
C., 2012. IT project management
resources and capabilities: a Delphi
study. International Journal of
Managing Projects in Business. 5(2).
pp.216-229.
JOURNAL
This study has been related to
determining the most effective and
crucial capabilities as well as resources
for IT Project Management. In addition
to this, this study also effectively ensure
ranking them according to their certain
attributes such as being valuable, rare as
well as inimitable. This study uses
Delphi Methodology, which is an
effective process of data collection and
information was acquired using
effective and expert members of the IT
Project Management. Findings of this
study suggested that there are several
sources which are important for IT
project management and all of these
sources must be effectively aligned to
meet the expectations, needs and
interests of all the project stakeholders.
This has been a useful study to ensure a
proper guidance for project managers
about the intangible capabilities as well
as resources. Furthermore, this study
also plays a crucial role for the
managers to determine which resources
and capabilities are essential for the
firm.
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Bellini, C.G.P., Pereira, R.D.C.D.F.
and Becker, J.L., 2016. Organizational
structure and enterprise systems
implementation: Theoretical measures
and a benchmark for customer teams.
Information Technology & People.
29(3). pp.527-555.
JOURNAL
This study focuses on an effective
discussion regarding customer teams'
structural designs who work effectively
with several external teams to ensure
implementation of customised
information systems. This design
involves several theoretically based
measures along with several effective
and empirical values. Research using
organisational literature is the method
which has been effectively utilised
within this study which allowed to
appropriately gain insights related to
certain information through this process.
This method implied that for customer
teams, adhocracy has been effectively
preferred by this study. Furthermore, its
findings suggest that high performance
customer teams does not necessarily
utilise these principle.
Tadeu de Oliveira Lacerda, R.,
Ensslin, L. and Rolim Ensslin, S.,
2011. A performance measurement
view of IT project management.
International Journal of Productivity
and Performance Management. 60(2).
pp.132-151.
The aim of this study was to determine
as well as develop a methodology as
well as an appropriate framework which
could effectively be utilised in relation
to assess the measurement of
performance for the purpose of
enhancing the knowledge related to the
overall project. As for the
methodologies used within this study, a
sheer combination of qualitative as well
as quantitative data has been
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appropriately utilised within the case
study. Furthermore, primary and
secondary data were used as well. As for
the former several unstructured
interviews were performed with several
decision makers. Moreover, as for the
secondary research, bibliographic
research was implemented to ensure
effective development of a theoretical
framework. This study has been quite
relevant to the above project and has
effectively ensured a proper visualising
of the overall criteria which must be
appropriately considered according to
the values of the decision makers in
their project selection process.
Furthermore, their framework
effectively supports cardinal as well as
ordinal measurement of project
performance which effectively allows
the study to rank as well as compare
certain proposals. This could be
practically implemented in relation to
negotiating with the stakeholders of a
project.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded the project management is an effective aspect which allows the firm
in effectively executing and implementing a new project. It is important to ensure proper
measurable organisational value. Secondly, it is very important to use and apply Scope
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management plan. Moreover, developing an effective schedule is important within a project. In
addition to this, identifying and mitigating the risk along with set strategies and quality
management is crucial for an organisation. Lastly, it is important to ensure closure and
evaluation of the overall project.
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