Project Management Challenges and Lessons Learned

This assignment delves into a case study about a project that faced various challenges such as time and budget overruns, scope creep, and ultimately, a reduction in the planned deliverables. It explores the reasons behind these issues, emphasizing the importance of accurate planning, stakeholder involvement, and strong team coordination for project success. The analysis also identifies critical success factors and failure points commonly encountered in project management.

Project Closure Report
Office Relocation & IT Enhancement

Table of Contents
1 Executive Summary............................................................................................................................2
1.1 Project Overview................................................................................................................................2
1.2 Project Performance Summary..........................................................................................................2
1.3 Follow-on Actions...............................................................................................................................3
1.4 Lessons Learned.................................................................................................................................3
2 Project Performance..........................................................................................................................3
2.1 Financial Status..................................................................................................................................3
2.2 Schedule Performance.......................................................................................................................3
2.3 Achievement of Scope.......................................................................................................................4
2.4 Variances from Original Business Case...............................................................................................4
2.5 Lessons Learned.................................................................................................................................4
3 Project Reports..................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Project Manager.................................................................................................................................6
3.1.1 Project Summary.........................................................................................................................6
3.1.2 Events that affected Project Performance..................................................................................6
3.1.3 Team Performance......................................................................................................................7
3.2 Project Sponsor..................................................................................................................................7
4 What I Learned..................................................................................................................................8
1 Executive Summary
1.1 Project Overview
Akello technologies is a USA based multinational IT Company that provides online services to its clients
through experienced consultants. The project had two objectives including relocation of the offices and
installation of new technologies. Office location was planned from New York to Los Angeles with an
aim to reduce operational expenses of the organization, expand its business coverage and improve
the quality of its services. The installation of new technologies was expected to improve functioning
of its IT department. The project was allotted a budget of £300,000.00 and given 2 months of time
for completion. The scope of the project included office relocation, office set up, procurement and
installation of hardware, and procurement and installation of software (Yeo, 2002)..
1.2 Project Performance Summary
In the beginning of the project, the project team was formed with selected KPIs as performance
parameters. The project stakeholders were identified and they included senior executives, HR managers,
Steering committee, Project Sponsors, and team members. For reporting the progress of the project
report, reporting systems were established and the project team monitored the work against the
established KPIs. These reports demonstrated the contribution of the project team to the project
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objectives. The project had very clear outcomes but the same were not communicated to team very well
because of which some confusions were caused related to user requirements on software and
infrastructure placements needs for relocation.
1.3 Follow-on Actions
With the lessons learned from the project, some future actions are recommended and are expected to be
taken up in near future. These include:
 Resource mapping that could not be completed as per the change management needs and thus, a
readiness review may be taken before the project is marked as completed
 The transfer of the knowledge gained during the project work must be completed for the company
staff that could be using the lessons for future projects.
 A review has to be taken on the change management capacity as challenges were faced in
managing changes that could only be handled because of extreme dedication from the team
 As the project scope was changed to exclude the development and implementation of the mobile
application, the mobile application development was to be recorded as incomplete and may be in
included in a future project
1.4 Lessons Learned
Lessons were learned from the events on the project that went well and those events that were challenged
on the project. The activities or events that were successful on the project included:
 The project was able to adapt to the needed changes for delivering the project outcomes including
relocation and technology implementation.
 Strong relationships between the team members ensure that all activities were coordinated and
delivered as planned.
 IT department improvement included implementation of some new software and hardware which
was complicated but yet deliverables could be achieved with a strong technology consultant at
help.
 A clear communication plan was made to engage stakeholders from the beginning of the project so
that their requirements could be well understood and any conflicts could be avoided
 If the risks are not anticipated properly and their impacts not understood clearly then it becomes
difficult to manage the consequences and this could affect the project cost, schedule as well as
scope.
The project faced some challenges that were related to the work areas that needed integration, were
interdependent and used common resources. Unless the relocation work was completed, the technology
installation could not start because it was dependent on the infrastructure as well as needed some
resources to be freed up from the relocation work. Installation of new software also needed technical
expertise that internal team did not have completely and thus, external IT consultant was involved whose
availability was not full time and thus, the team had to readjust the schedules as per his availability which
causes some conflicts and delays.
2 Project Performance
2.1 Financial Status
The funds were allotted for the completion of the renovation work and procurement as well as installation
of new technologies. The new software that were procured had to be customized beyond anticipation toe
achieve the needs of the project which resulted into an increase in the expenses beyond the allotted
budget. Despite using the contingency budget that was set for managing risks, the project needed to take
more funds that were approved by the project Sponsor.
2.2 Schedule Performance
The project was delayed initially by 15 days because of confusions in the relocation because of which the
deliveries of hardware procured could not be finalized and testing could not be completed on time. This
consumed more days which resulted into delays on the project. The software also took more time than
anticipated because of the needs for customization which further added 10 days delay causing the
complete project schedule to exceed by 25 days. The tasks that were completed on time as per plan
included selection of contractors for packaging and transportation, packaging of the equipments, machines
and administrative stationary from the old office, cleaning of the old office, selection of hardware vendor,
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delivery of hardware, and transportation of the packaged materials. The delays were introduced when the
packaged material reached the new office as the new office was not completely ready with the setup plan
as the office managers still had conflicts about set up. As it consumed more time for setup, the computers
and server machines that were delivered. The testing procedure could not begin without set up completed.
Also, there were delays from the supplier side in providing support for testing when the machines were
ready. Post this , delays kept adding on and the whole project was faced with a delay of 25 days and thus, it
can be said that the project was poor on the schedule performance.
2.3 Achievement of Scope
The activities that were within the scope of the project included:
 Search and agreement on the new location office space
 Packing of all the systems, equipments, and administrative files for relocation.
 Transportation of the goods packed into the new location through roadways
 Cleaning of the old office space after the goods have been transported
 Unpacking of the packaged material and placement of the same in the new location
 Procurement of new hardware and software for IT improvement
 Installation of the new hardware and software with integration
The new location was selected as planned and the office infrastructure from the old office was completely
shifted to the new location. The new hardware procured and implemented as planned in the scope.
However, in software procurement, the team realized that the time and the budget did not allow for
implementation of some of the software components that were required and thus, a stakeholder meeting
was called for discussions and consensus were arrived at that involved postponement of the procurement
of some of the software applications. The initial scope included procurement and implementation of
enterprise management software, mobile application, and website modules for enhancing its functionalities
and interface. The stakeholders agreed on implementation of enterprise management software and
upgrading of the company website but decided to drop the idea of implementation of the mobile
application as it required new developments that the budget did not approve of. New mobile application
development would not have taken only more cost but also more time and the project would get extended
at least by 30 more days if mobile applications were to be included in the scope. Thus, the project scope
was revised.
2.4 Variances from Original Business Case
The initial time as per the project plan was 2 months but because of delays in relocation of office facilities
from New York to Los Angeles, the project was delayed by 15 days. Further, because of the increased need
for the customization of the enterprise application as per the company needs, the project got further
delays of 10 days leading to a total schedule variation of 25 days. Thus, the project schedule was updated.
Because of the change in the schedule, the project incurred more cost into development with developers
and team members engaged for more time. The customization also lead to increase in the cost which was
consumed by using up the contingency amount. However, this was not sufficient to cover up with the
employment of the temporary staff for additional 25 days which lead to an increase in human resource
expended accounting for 20% of the initial budget.
Because of the realization by the management that the mobile applications could not be developed with
required level of details within budget and within schedule, the idea of development was dropped and
thus, scope was revised with postponement of mobile application development as the deliverable. This was
a significant variation from the original project scope.
2.5 Lessons Learned
Lessons that were learned from the deviations from the project performance objectives include:
 The estimation of the time required for development has to be accurate for which a company can
take the assistant from an expert consultant in case of lack of experience of such a development
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failing which there can be major challenges that a project can face in an attempt to deliver the
results.
 If the capabilities of the vendors in terms of development capacities and development speed could
not be judged accurately, it could lead to wrong estimation of costs as well as time required for the
development.
 If an organization has deliverables dependent on other deliverables then delays on one deliverables
can cause major delays in the dependent deliverable consideration of which should be made and
thus, the timeline should be relaxed accordingly to avoid implications of delays leading to loss of
revenues or deliveries
 A limited resource employed in multiple activities can ensure good coordination but at the same
time, it can put a lot of pressure on them compromising their capabilities to make quality deliveries
on time.
 The decision of project sponsor affects the project major and he is concerned about the business
case and the feasibility of the project. Thus, it is important that projects are planned with sufficient
exploration of the business case involving an understanding of how the project deliverables and
associated expenses would affect the financial position of the organization.
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3 Project Reports
3.1 Project Manager
3.1.1 Project Summary
The project scope involved relocation of office from NY to LA and implementation of new hardware an
software technology for IT department upgrade. The project got delayed by 25 days because of high level of
customization needed in the enterprise software that could not be anticipated earlier. Moreover, the scope
was modified with elimination of the development of the mobile application as a part of the project
because it required more time and would have incurred significant costs. The project was completed after
delays but with limited scope that was modified because of developmental challenges. The initial budget of
the project was £300,000.00 and schedule was made for 2 months of time for completion. However,
the project ended up consuming £360,000.00 and could be completed in 3 months time with
elimination of the mobile application development as the project deliverable.
A project progress report was submitted by the project post first month of the project completion in
which the additional budget and schedule relaxation was asked from the management and the
project sponsor. This progress report was prepared by exploring the changes on the project collated
from the weekly reports submitted by the project team members to the project manager (Carley,
Chopra, Gupta, Petersen, Sujan, & Wise, 2008).
3.1.2 Events that affected Project Performance
Some of the major events affected the cost, scope and timeline of the project majorly and these included:
 The software developer informed the project manager that the needed features and interfaces
would require a high level of customization that was not anticipated earlier and a decision had to
be taken by the management whether to go ahead with only the standard functionalities and
features to develop codes needed for the customization. The management agreed on making the
needed changes which resulted into extension of the project and including of customization in the
project scope which also added more cost to the project that was approved by the management.
 When the management realised that for developing the mobile application, the project would
include additional costs and more 30 days. However, the project had already exhausted the budget
and thus, management did not want to spend more. Thus, the plan to develop the mobile
application was dropped with the project scope revised (Schrevel & Measor, 2016).
 The project team had inaptly anticipated additional cost for the enterprise software customization
as well as the mobile application development when additional budget was demanded but the
project sponsor only agreed to pay for the customization of the enterprise management software
and declined the budget amount asked for mobile application development. This resulted into
cancellation of mobile application development and the project scope was revised accordingly
(Smith, Coleman, & Bowler, 2015).
To understand the project performance, the project manager reported on some of the performance related
metrics and the report was submitted to the Project Director sponsor with details of challenges and need
for scope changes, schedule changes, and additional fund requirements. Project performance reports were
prepared with following performance metrics calculated:
Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled: The estimation of the cost needed for the project completion was
recorded as per the reporting date and this reporting was done with every milestone completion that
included relocation of the office, new office set up, procurement of hardware, development of software,
installation of new hardware, testing of software applications and implementation of the new software
(Shou & Ying, 2005).
Actual Cost of Work Performed: The actual cost incurred on the project till the reporting date was
recorded and the same was compared with eh BCWS to understand if there was a deviation from the
budget cost. A major deviation was found after the relocation was completed and as a result the BCWS was
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increased and additional approval had to be taken for the increased need for the development cost (Carr,
2014).
Cost Variance: The cost variance was the difference between planned budget and approved budget which
formed the base for the approval of the additional funds needed for the project.
Cost Performance Index: This was calculated to understand how much time was the team behind or ahead
of the schedule by comparing the actual expenditure against the planned budget expenses. In the first
month, the actual expenses were as planned but then they increased.
Planned Hours versus actual hours: This metric was calculated to identify if there was a deviation on the
hours planned to be put for the project and the actual time spent on the project. A major deviation was
found at the end of the first month of the project itself as the project team was found to be investing more
time than was planned (Kerzner, 2013).
Overdue Project Tasks: This KPI calculated the percentage of the project deliverables that crosses the
deadline. It was found in the second week of first month that office relocation was overdue mainly because
of the delivery delays and set up challenges. Because of these delays, the hardware installation also got
delayed. It was found that over 50% of the project tasks were crossing their respective deadlines.
Schedule Variance: The actual time and budget spend till the reporting date was compared to the planned
schedule and cost to report the same in every 15 days. It was found in the 15 days report that some of the
office relocation activities got delayed and the variance in the cost was revealed after the second reporting.
Schedule Performance Index: This index was used for comparing the earned value and planned value with
an aim to keep their ratio at one. A value less than 1 was observed at the end of the second week
suggesting that the project was behind schedule variance was reported by the project team to the project
manager every week (Ibrahim, Ayazi, Nasrmalek, & Nakhat, 2013).
Missed Milestones: The milestones that could not be completed as planned were recorded and reported
post every milestone date arrival to the project manager who in turn identified missed milestone tasks and
worked to mitigate the impacts on the project. The missed milestone report was then submitted by the
project manager to the Project directly post every month completion.
Resource Utilization: It measures the time project members use for working. This metric revealed that
project team was performing on the project very dedicatedly spending most of their time working
(Haughey, 2014).
3.1.3 Team Performance
The project team coordinated well and had a strong relationship that was developed over the project as the
size of the team was very small and the responsibilities were shared. However, because of less human
resources needed to take on a large amount of work, their productivity of the team was suffered and there
was pressure in terms of deliveries on them. The team had to do overtime which affected their
performance and led to a few mistakes that took rework for correction on the project. A major confusion
was with the setup of the new office which resulted into conflicts and thus, delays were caused which also
affected testing of the new systems that were procured by the company (BMG, 2014).
3.2 Project Sponsor
Project sponsor had given initial budget that included the contingency fund but because of the
development confusions, additional budget was required that was also approved by the sponsor. However,
when it came mobile application development, the sponsor realized that if that was developed and more
costs were incurred then the project would not remain feasible for the company in the current stage and
thus, decline the additional budget asked for the development of mobile applications as a result the project
scope had to be reduced by eliminating the mobile application development as the deliverable (EU, 2011).
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4 What I Learned
From the understanding of the concepts of project management success, the project cannot be seen as
successful but challenged as it could be completed but not within time and budget and also the scope had
to be modified.
I learned from the project that planning is the most essential part of project as it affects the performance of
entire project. Any miscalculations, wrong estimations or missed requirements during the planning stage
can later introduce major delays or issues. As in the current project, the estimation done on the time
requirements as well as scope requirement was hugely missed, the project resulted into delays, cost
overrun as well as a major scope changes. This could have resulted because of low involvement of all the
stakeholders. While the potential user’s perspectives were included while planning the project, some
stakeholder’s views were missed such as the IT consultant. Because of lack of involvement of the IT
consultant in the stage of project planning, the estimations done for the cost and time schedule were
inaccurate.
I also learnt that despite the degree of challenges, if the coordination between the project team members
is strong then problems can be handled well. I could identify certain factors that can cause success on a
project and thus, I can put them into the list of critical success factors. These include accuracy of cost
estimation, communication between project team members, support from top management, effective
governance, secure funding, skills of the project manager, team motivation, and risk management. There
are also certain factors that can lead to failure of a project such as scope creep and communication failure.
5 References
BMG. (2014). Research Report: Factors in project success. BMG Research.
Carley, J., Chopra, R., Gupta, Y. F., Petersen, D., Sujan, R. R., & Wise, D. (2008). Slipstream Office Relocation
Project. UCBX.
Carr, S. (2014). Project Closure Report: Digital Signage and Kiosk Technologies. Waterloo Information
Systems and Technologies.
EU. (2011). PROJECT CLOSURE – FINAL REPORTING. EU.
Haughey, D. (2014). Eight Key Factors to Ensuring Project Success. Project Smart.
Ibrahim, R., Ayazi, E., Nasrmalek, S., & Nakhat, S. (2013). An Investigation of Critical Failure Factors In
Information Technology Projects. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) , 87-92.
Kerzner, H. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling.
Wiley Publications.
Schrevel, L., & Measor, J. (2016). Project Closure Report. NHS.
Shou, Y., & Ying, Y. (2005). Critical failure factors in information system projects in Chinese enterprises. IEEE
Explore .
Smith, M., Coleman, M., & Bowler, N. (2015). Stout Street Relocation Project Closure Report. Ministry of
Business , Innovation & Employment.
Yeo, K. (2002). Critical failure factors in information system projects. International Journal of Project
Management , 241–246.
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