Managing Projects and Technologies for Business Students

This report discusses the importance of managing projects and technologies for business students. It covers topics such as work breakdown structure (WBS), the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) in business, and differences between top-down and bottom-up project estimations. The report provides insights into the advantages and disadvantages of using AI in business and offers recommendations for managing projects effectively.

Managing projects and
technologies for Business
Students

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
1. Work breakdown structure (WBS)..........................................................................................3
2. a. Concept of Artificial Intelligence........................................................................................4
b. Advantages of using AI in business.........................................................................................5
c. Disadvantages of using AI in business....................................................................................5
3. Differences between top-down and bottom-up project estimations........................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Managing the technologies and the projects plays a major role in any project whether small
or big. This helps in applying the processes, knowledge, skills, methods and experience in
achieving the objectives of the project. It has final deliverables which must be constrained in the
decided and desired budget and timescale (Burghate, 2018).
The report will be highlighting the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and it will be made
for the project of providing the laptops to the12 employees of small company based in UK. It
will be followed by describing the advantages and disadvantages of using the Artificial
intelligence (AI) technology in businesses. Lastly, the differences between the top-down and
bottom-up estimations approach in the project management will be explored along with
suggesting the better approach among both for managing the projects.
MAIN BODY
1. Work breakdown structure (WBS)
Work breakdown structure (WBS) is basically a hierarchical decomposition which is
deliverable-oriented which is developed for the work which is going to be executed by the
project team for accomplishing the objectives of the project and creating the required
deliverables. This helps in all the phases or stages of the project management whether it is
initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closure (Rianty, Latief and Riantini, 2018). All
the tasks in WBS are properly identified, scheduled, estimated and budgeted.
The main aim of Work Breakdown Structure is to divide the complex projects into
manageable and simpler activities. This is used by the project managers for making the project
execution simpler. The chunks of work in which the larger tasks are broken with the use of WBS
are easily supervised and estimated.
The project for distributing the laptops to 12 employees is not an easy task so the activities
needs to be decided and planned before the execution of the project so that the project can be
completed successfully. The aim of the project is basically facilitating the employees so that they
do not need to come to the office and the workplace and they can easily work from their homes.
For this, the company needs to check that the privacy and the personal information of the
company can remain confidential and the information cannot get leaked. Many software need to
be installed in the systems so that the corporate work can be done on the laptops and the presence
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of the employees can be monitored and checked along with ensuring that the employees work in
the office hours to achieve the objectives of the company as well as the employees. Therefore,
the accurate planning needs to be done before the implementation of the project (Herzanita,
2019).
The WBS for providing laptops is given below which will describe the scope of the project
aims at facilitating 12 employees to work from home and this is why the company decided to
provide laptops to them. The new CRM software is to be installed to manage the customer leads
and relationship and also helps in managing the collaboration and team working in more
effective manner. All the activities which will be involved in the project of providing the laptops
will be included in the WBS according to the stage of the project management.
The scope of the project will be graphically expressed through the WBS diagram given
below. The box at the top of the diagram basically represents the entire project. Then the main
box is divided into sub boxes which help in representing the project deliverables which are
especially the stages in which project needs to be completed. These are project initiation,
planning, execution, monitoring and the closure of the project. These sub boxes are then further
classified into sub-elements which basically represent the activities which are to be performed at
each stage in order to successfully complete the project. The activities are performed within the
decided time-frame so that the project can be completed in the defined time. Basically the first
two levels of the WBS below will help in defining the outcomes which are planned which helps
in representing 100% of the scope of the parent node. The WBS if well-defined helps in
describing the planned outcomes rather than the planned actions. The elements of the WBS can
be easily assigned to the activities of the project. A perfect and good WBS must be definable,
manageable, estimable, independent, integratable, measurable and adaptable (Park and Cai,
2017).
The WBS helps in providing the foundation for all the work of the management which includes
the cost, planning and the estimation of scheduling, estimation and allocating the resources.
The success of the project is determined by the efficiency of WBS (Work Breakdown Structure).
This becomes critical steps in the project management process.
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2. a. Concept of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence basically deals in involving the intelligent computer software along
with the human-like capabilities for boosting the revenue, improving the customer experience,
increasing the productivity and the efficiency. AI in businesses can help in driving the growth of
business and promotes its transformation. The businesses are required to realize the preferences
and needs of the customers for thriving and maintaining the relevance within the fierce
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ProjectforprovidinglaptopsInitiationSettingtheObjectivePurposeoftheprojectPlanningBudgetResourcesSalarychangePhysicalprotectionBackupprogramsAntivirusProtectionAntispywareProtectionSecuritypoliciesBenefitsExecutionCRMsoftwareProvidingLaptopsTimetrackingsoftwareExplanationtoemployeesExplanationtomanagementContractfromemployeesEffectiveCommunicationMonitoringTrackingtheemployeesWebcamTakingscreenshotsChangeinproductivityClosureSuccessmeasureGoodConditionsofLaptopHealthofemployeesSatisfiedemployeesSatisfiedcustomers

competition among the emerging companies in the industries. When the companies use AI in
business, they can easily understand the needs of the customers and can engage them in all the
processes along with automating the processes leading to improved productivity as well as
reducing the operational expenses (Akerkar, 2019). For example, using the chat-bots, the
customers can easily interact with the company in real time for resolving the complaints, placing
the orders, getting any information and almost anything by conversing with the representative of
the customer care. This helps in improving the customer service. The companies can also use AI
for predicting and targeting the people to be marketed which products for increasing the sales
and reducing the cost of marketing. Ai is used by the companies like Spotify, Amazon, Netflix
etc. for understanding the behaviours of customers in predicting the products and services they
need.
b. Advantages of using AI in business
There are various benefits of AI which are faced by the companies. The human error can
be reduced using this technology. The computers make no mistakes as compared to humans so if
they are programmed properly they can use the previous information to reach accuracy and
precision. Many risky limitations of humans can be overcome by developing the AI robot which
is able to do even the risky things for the business (Kariman, 2017). The AI machines can work
24*7 without taking breaks. The process of verifying can become easier through this technology.
This also helps in saving the time and money through automating and optimising the routine
tasks and processes (Gentsch, 2018). This also increases the operational efficiencies as well as
productivity. Using the technology of AI in businesses helps in making the business decisions
faster which are based on the outputs. AI makes use of the insight for predicting the preferences
of the customer and offering them the personalised and better experience. The expertise can be
grown by making the analysis enable and also offer intelligent support and advice (Iansiti and
Lakhani, 2020).
c. Disadvantages of using AI in business
The main disadvantage of using AI is that creation of this requires high cost as the
machines are very complex. The humans are becoming lazy as the machines are doing most of
their work in less time. This leads to unemployment as the companies replace the employees
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with AI robots. The machines cannot make an emotional and effective bond with the humans.
The employees can make stronger emotional relationship with the customers which are
impossible with the machines (Davenport, 2018). Also, the machines can do only that work
which is programmed in them and for which they are designed too. If anything out of box is told
them to do they will prove to be unable and helpless. They can crash or outputs will not be
accurate but irrelevant.
3. Differences between top-down and bottom-up project estimations
Estimating the project plays a major role in scheduling the project. This helps in knowing
prior to the project execution that whether the project will be completed in the decided timeframe
or not. This also helps in evaluating that the project will be able to generate revenue or not. There
are two main approaches for estimating the projects which are top-down estimations and bottom-
up estimations. These helps in estimating the cost and duration of the project. The top-down
approach helps in estimating the duration of the major deliverables whereas the bottom-up
approach helps in estimating the detailed estimates for each and every task which makes the
deliverables. Some projects are estimated first by the top-down approach which is followed by
using the bottom-up approach (Dijkstra and et.al., 2017). The differences can be presentable in
the tabular form as given below:
Top-down approach Bottom-up Approach
This approach is feasible more for overview estimates. This approach shows more feasibility for the detailed
estimates.
In this, there is no clear definition of the tasks. In this, the tasks are defined more clearly and accurately.
This provides volatile environment which is not viable
in developing the well-defined budget and schedules.
This provides a stable environment which is viable for
developing the well-defined budget and schedules.
The duration and the costs estimates are less reliable. The costs estimates and the duration are more reliable.
The top-down approach is more practical for the initial and the basic stage in the strategic
decision-making and where there is a need for developing the accurate costs and duration
estimates when the information at the initial stage is not available. This is used mainly at the
initial level before the tasks in WBS are clearly defined which helps in developing the well-
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defined budget and schedules. This helps in identifying the major tasks where the details are
clear and the project manager is aware of the contribution of the project to the organisation.
The bottom-up project estimations are used for the project management as it is more reliable and
helps in assessing each work package from the bottom which will be followed by working up to
the phase and deliverable (Gurney and et.al., 2017). When the schedules and budget of project
are available from other similar projects, this method is used practically. This helps in
developing the time-phased budget and schedules which further helps in controlling and
monitoring the project. The bottom-up estimates is mainly focused on aggregation of the
individual costs of the project which helps in building to the total for job. This estimation
approach can also help in making conjunction with other techniques of estimation such as the
duration activity can be obtained by the estimation of parametric as well as analogous. The
bottom-up approach can also help in balancing the estimation errors regarding the project’s
components.
CONCLUSION
The report was mainly focussed on managing the project and its cost and schedules. It was
started by describing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the WBS was made for the
project which facilitates 12 employees of a small UK based company by providing them laptops.
The concept, merits and demerits of using the technology of AI was also highlighted. The
differences in the top-down and the bottom-up approach were also described in the above report.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akerkar, R., 2019. Employing AI in business. In Artificial Intelligence for Business (pp. 63-74).
Springer, Cham.
Burghate, M., 2018. Work breakdown structure: Simplifying project management. International
Journal of Commerce and Management. 3(2).
Davenport, T.H., 2018. The AI advantage: How to put the artificial intelligence revolution to
work. MIT Press.
Dijkstra, N. and et.al., 2017. Distinct top-down and bottom-up brain connectivity during visual
perception and imagery. Scientific reports. 7(1). pp.1-9.
Gentsch, P., 2018. AI in marketing, sales and service: How marketers without a data science
degree can use AI, big data and bots. Springer.
Gurney, K.R. and et.al., 2017. Reconciling the differences between a bottom-up and inverse-
estimated FFCO2 emissions estimate in a large US urban area. Elementa: Science of the
Anthropocene. 5.
Herzanita, A., 2019, April. Implementation of standardized wbs (work breakdown structure) for
time and cost performance.(study case: building project PT. X, Kuala Tanjung,
Sumatera Utara). In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol.
508, No. 1, p. 012049). IOP Publishing.
Iansiti, M. and Lakhani, K.R., 2020. Competing in the age of AI. Harvard business
review. 98(1). pp.60-67.
Kariman, P., 2017. Artificial Intelligence (AI): creates or destroys value in supplier customer
relationships? (Bachelor's thesis, University of Twente).
Park, J. and Cai, H., 2017. WBS-based dynamic multi-dimensional BIM database for total
construction as-built documentation. Automation in Construction. 77. pp.15-23.
Rianty, M., Latief, Y. and Riantini, L.S., 2018. Development of risk-based standardized WBS
(Work Breakdown Structure) for quality planning of high rise building architectural
works. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 159, p. 01019). EDP Sciences.
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