A Critical Analysis

The provided content consists of various articles and online resources related to project management. The topics covered include managing enterprise resource planning projects, quality control and due diligence in project management, project control mechanisms in non-project-based organizations, and the importance of project management in business. Additionally, there are articles on analytical models for project monitoring and control, complexity index for assessing remission in mental health, and the role of project management knowledge flows in networks.

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Activity 1.........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Identification of the projects which will be needed to successfully carry out the relocation4
1.2 Sub divisions and estimates of the resources needed to complete one of these projects......4
Activity 2.........................................................................................................................................6
1.3 Describing and evaluating a suitable methodology for your chosen project........................6
1.4 Assessing the feasibility of this project.................................................................................6
2.1 Structure for the management and administration of the project..........................................7
2.2 Defining the roles and responsibilities of staff who will manage this project, producing a job
description and person specification for a Project Manager.......................................................7
3.2 Job description and person specifications for a project manager .........................................8
ACTIVITY 3 ...................................................................................................................................8
2.3 Project plan ...........................................................................................................................8
ACTIVITY 4..................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Assessment of alternative project team structure ...............................................................10
3.3 Designing of process for quality management of the project .............................................11
3.4 Process to manage project change request .........................................................................11
ACTIVITY 5..................................................................................................................................12
4.1 Issues and risks that may impede a project.........................................................................12
4.2 Issues and risk likely to be encountered in the final stage of a project...............................13
4.3 Designing of monitoring and appraising the status of a project..........................................13
5.1 Detecting and managing issues arising in the course of projects .......................................14
ACTIVITY 6..................................................................................................................................15
5.2 Assessment of the tasks needed to be completed in the final stages of a project................15
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Project management means application of knowledge and skills for accomplishing different
activities for managing a specific project and to attain precise objectives of an organization. The
current study is based on managing project of relocation of a company that is based in Center of
London and wants to relocate its business operations to the area around Banbury, Oxfordshire in
order to reduce the costs (Dey, Clegg and Bennett, 2010). Study will describe an appropriate project
plan including number of activities for attaining this objective. It will also comprise of different
tools and techniques of project management. Further, it will monitor and control different tasks of
project plan for measuring the final performance of project.
ACTIVITY 1
1.1 Identification of the projects which will be needed to successfully carry out the relocation
As per the given information, there is a company which is based in Center of London and
wants to relocate its business operations for attaining specific objectives such as growth of income
by 10%, increment in profitability of the organization, retaining the business earning capacity,
improving the quality, improving its IT system and minimizing the costs of human resources
(Andersen, Dysvik and Vaagaasar, 2009). All these objectives can be easily satisfied with the
relocation projects. Along with this, following projects must be carried out to deliver the move to
new premises:
11 International expansion of business11 Developing a new transaction Processing System11 Introducing a new Electronic Customer Relationship Management System (Azimi and et.al.,
2011)11 Constructing a new building at different locations11 Establishment of Business Intelligence System (BIS)11 Implementation of Total Quality management system
1.2 Sub divisions and estimates of resources needed to complete one of these projects
As per the above discussion, there are number of projects by which organization can
relocate its business at different locations as well as these projects help in attaining the objectives in
an effective manner (Martin and Guerin, 2006). But, in all of these projects, Establishment of
Business Intelligence System (BIS) will be the most appropriate for accomplishing all these
objectives. It plays an important role in increasing the sales, profitability and quality of
organization. Along with this, it helps in reducing the manual work and operations of company by
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which firm can easily reduce the labour cost. Further, it will also help in improving the earning
capacity of organization. It leads to improvement in the technological advancement of firm also.
Overall, it is one of the best projects for satisfying all the objectives in an appropriate way. So,
company of Center of London needs to establish a new BIS system for relocating its business
operations to Banbury (Kloppenborg, 2011).
Subdivision of the project (work Breakdown structure):
Subdivision of this project can be easily presented by the work break down structure of
different tasks of the project which is as follows:
Figure 1: Work breakdown structure
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Estimation of the resources needs to complete:
Along with this, development of BIS system is a big project for organization so; it will
require the following resources: Time: Relocation project will be completed in approximately 4 months. Human resources: For completing this project in an effective manner, organization will
have different personnel with appropriate skills and knowledge such as project manager,
system engineer, quality analyst, financial manager and administrator, etc. Technological resources: This project is relevant to the relocation and information
technology. So, it will require number of technical sources such as computer system,
hardware, software, internet, etc. (Chiu-Chi and et.al, 2013).
 Financial resources (cost): For establishing BIS system and relocating business at different
locations, organization of Centre of London will require appropriate £100000. So, for
raising financial capital, organization needs to use appropriate sources of funds in an
effective manner.
ACTIVITY 2
1.3 Describing and evaluating a suitable methodology for your chosen project
Prince 2 Methodology:
Project-management methodology PRINCE2 encompasses quality management, control and
organization of a project with specific objectives. It can be used by the project manager for
managing different information technological projects of a firm. It is based on some basic principles
such as organization needs to provide appropriate justification for BIS project. Along with this,
management by exception is another principle of this methodology which helps in business
intelligence system. Along with this, before starting this project, manager needs to learn from the
past experience of similar types of projects. As per this methodology, project manager needs to
allocate the roles and responsibilities as per the skills and knowledge of employees (Stibel, 2011).
Along with this, manager needs to manage each and every stage of project plan in an effective
manner which will help in managing the entire project on time. Along with this, project manager
needs to focus on the final product which means BIS system rather than other things. Therefore,
Core principles of Prince 2 Methodology play an important role in completing the entire project
within stipulated time period.
1.4 Assessing the feasibility of this project
Development of BIS system will be feasible for attaining all these objectives of organization
at the time of relocating business at different locations. BIS system is beneficial for improving
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efficiency and proficiency of different business operations that will raise the organizational
performance effectually. Along with this, business intelligence system helps in implementing new
and the latest technologies in different activities of organization by which company can attract
number of customers. It will raise the total income and financial performance of enterprise.
Including this, BIS system is also feasible for reducing the cost which plays an important role in
increasing the income and profitability of business. Along with this, BIS system reduces the
requirements of labors because it reduces the manual operations of company (Levy, 2009).
Therefore, it is also feasible for minimizing the total labor cost of firm. Consequently, development
of BIS system is one of the most feasible projects for attaining all the objectives of firm which
wants to relocate its business at Banbury.
2.1 Structure for the management and administration of the project
Structure of management and administration plays an important role in managing the entire
project effectually. It is also beneficial for increasing the speed for completing each and every task
(Hobbs, 2009). There are number of personnel for managing this project so, structure of
management and administration of the project of BIS system is as follows:
Figure 2: Structure for the management and administration of BIS project
2.2 Defining the roles and responsibilities of staff who will manage this project, producing a job
description and person specification for a Project Manager
Roles and responsibilities of project manager:
 Manager of this project is accountable for defining scope and feasibility of the project for
organization.
 Developing the most appropriate plan for BIS system.
 Allocating resources at different activities is also one of the major responsibilities.
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 Project manager plays an important role in estimating the cost and budget for whole project.
 Analysis and management of the associated risk of project is the main responsibility of
project manager (Schiff, 2012).
 Project manager is accountable for evaluating and measuring the progress of project on
regular basis for attaining the specific objectives of organization.
3.2 Job description and person specifications for a project manager
Job specification for project manager:
Organization’s name: Company based in Center of London
Types of industry: UK industry
Job designation: Project manager
Location: Banbury
Reporting authority: Sr. Manager of Organization
Roles and responsibilities: Defining scope and feasibility of the project, Developing project
plan, Allocating resources, Estimating cost and budget, Risk analysis and management,
Evaluating and measuring the project progress.
Last date for application: 21st May 2015
Interview date: 30th May 2015
Person Specification for project manager:
Educational qualification: Post graduation in operation and project management (MBA in
PM) / Masters in operation research
Employment conditions: Agreed to work in both shifts (8 hrs working)
Required demographics:
1. Age: 25 to 40 years
2. Gender: Male and female can apply
Skills and abilities: Operation and project management skills, project management skills,
leadership qualities, human resource management skills, communication and motivation skills as
well as decision making and problem solving attitude (Darren, 2012).
Work experience: Required minimum 3 years experience for working in the project
management domain.
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ACTIVITY 3
2.3 Project plan
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
BIS system development 68 days Wed
4/13/16
Fri 7/15/16
Planning Phase 15 days Wed
4/13/16
Tue 5/3/16
Review of existing IT project 4 days Wed
4/13/16
Mon
4/18/16
Prioritizing of the needs 3 days Tue 4/19/16 Thu 4/21/16 3
Allocation of resources 5 days Fri 4/22/16 Thu 4/28/16 4
Team development 3 days Fri 4/29/16 Tue 5/3/16 5
Implanting Phase 17 days Fri 4/29/16 Mon
5/23/16
Specification details 4 days Fri 4/29/16 Wed 5/4/16 5
Checking compatibility 4 days Wed 5/4/16 Mon 5/9/16 6
Designing of database 5 days Tue 5/10/16 Mon
5/16/16
8,9
System process development 5 days Tue 5/17/16 Mon
5/23/16
10
Testing Phase 19 days Tue 5/24/16 Fri 6/17/16
Code testing 2 days Tue 5/24/16 Wed
5/25/16
11
Testing the system 2 days Thu 5/26/16 Fri 5/27/16 13
Installation 5 days Mon
5/30/16
Fri 6/3/16 14
Feedbacks from management 5 days Mon 6/6/16 Fri 6/10/16 15
Improvement stage 5 days Mon
6/13/16
Fri 6/17/16 16
Monitoring and controlling Phase 20 days Mon
6/20/16
Fri 7/15/16
Finding the loopholes 5 days Mon
6/20/16
Fri 6/24/16 17
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Removing them 10 days Mon
6/27/16
Fri 7/8/16 19
Maintenance 5 days Mon
7/11/16
Fri 7/15/16 20
Critical path Critical Duration
3- 4-5-6-9-10-11-13-14-15-16-17-19-20-21 68 days
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ACTIVITY 4
3.1 Assessment of alternative project team structure
The assessment process shows that there are some risks relate to BIS project plan such as
lack of knowledge, experience, unable to use software, leaving of staff members, unsupportive
management etc. Structure for the proposed project team is Project Based Organizational Structure
because under this, an independent project team has created. Along with this, it has completely
separated from the other units of organization. On the other hand, another reason of choosing the
following organizational structure is that it has avoided multiple leadership in a team and the team
members have shared common project goals as well as they have clear responsibilities. On such
type of problems, it is important to make an alternative project team structure which is as follows:
Team members Roles and responsibilities
CEO of Consultancy Firm Project manager
Operation manager Resource allocator
Technical staff System developer and maintenance
IT manager Quality analyst
3.3 Designing of process for quality management of the project
The steps of designing of process for quality management of BIS project is as follows:
Find company goals: Project manager will determine the goals, objectives, mission and
vision of Client Company. On the basis of this, the needs of the user can understand and develop
quality standards.
Set critical success factors: Here, to make quality management more successful, it requires
setting some critical success factors. For BIS project, the quality management process success
elements will be good technical knowledge, right skills to use the software, employee satisfaction
etc.
Determine areas for managing quality: On the basis of success factors, some quality
management areas will be explored. By reviewing project plan of BIS system, the quality issues and
mitigation action will determine.
Measure outcomes: By organizing meetings with quality analysts, project manager will able
to take updates about BIS project time to time. Along with this, Quality audits and trails of the
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system will help in managing quality of new system.
All these processes for quality management of proposed project help in achieving the scope
of work. It has ensured about the achievement of stability and reliability of techniques, resources
and equipment which will be used in the proposed project. Along with this, it has met the
satisfaction level of client by accomplishing their requirements.
3.4 Process to manage project change request
If there are some modifications or change request in the existing BIS project plan than it is
important to manage those change request. The process of managing project change request is as
follows:
Determine the scope of the change: Under this stage, project manager will explore scope of
new changes, their impacts on key stakeholders as well as on existing project plan. On the basis of
evaluation process, it will become easy to find out that new modifications are worth full or not.
Determine the scope of incorporating changes: Here, impact of new changes in BIS project
plan on scheduling, budget, resources and other aspects will be determined. After this, a Change
Request Form will be develop that will include various information about needs of alteration.
Illustration 1: Managing change request process
(Source: Kumar, 2012)
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Gain approval or rejection of the changes: The change request form will send to project
change control board for the approval. This process will either take few days or few weeks.
Communicate the changes and implement approved change request: After getting the
approval from project change control board regarding the changes within BIS plan, the new
modifications will be make in existing plan and communicate them to all project team members.
ACTIVITY 5
4.1 Issues and risks that may impede a project
Issues and risks in BIS project that may impede the project are as follows:
Issues Explanations
Technical It defines technological problem in a project because break down in
machines or use of outdated techniques during BIS project may be an issue
for the proposed work.
Change management This may be an issue for the project because it is possible that some
changes at the implanting stage may not be managed in an effective
manner and would affect the final outcome of work.
Risk Explanations
Project creeps It is defined as an uncontrollable change in the project’s scope and it
occurs due to improper defining of project scope and its documentation. It
may impede BIS project in terms of non completion of the work within
given constraints as well as it would affect the deliverables.
Gap in the scope of
the project
It may be an issue for BIS project because it is possible that project
manager would become unable to make coordination between actual and
expected project’s scope. This situation increases the probability of failure
of project plan.
Delays Due to various reasons such as unavailability of resources, lack of skills,
breakdown of machines, unable to take right decisions on right time, there
may be delay in BIS project. It may hinder the growth of project plan and
will affect the deliverables as well.
4.2 Issues and risk likely to be encountered in the final stage of a project
Exist of IT expert: In final stage, there is a chance of leaving of IT expert in last stage of BIS
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project. Due to this, project manager will get less time to hire a new experience person for this. It
will create a delay in the entire project and it will hard to complete the plan within the limits.
Lack of coordination between team members: If technical personnel not share the
information with the IT expert than it will develop a situation where the errors in the project will
high. Along with this, the miscommunication can be a reason of poor coordination between team
members.
Breakdown in testing machines: It can be an issue at the final stage of project plan because
it will take time either of its maintenance or buy new equipment. Therefore, it will create delay in
completion of project plan.
4.3 Designing of monitoring and appraising the status of a project
For BIS system, project manager needs to monitor and evaluate the status of project by
project monitoring techniques which are as follows:
Documentation: A proper documentation of BIS project at every step is needed. It will help
in comparing the actual work with planned activities and in assessing whether it delivers the
expected outcomes to the client or not.
Regular meetings: It is also a good option for monitoring and appraising the status of BIS
project on weekly basis. It will assist in tracking the progress of project and taking mitigation
activities to resolve the problems.
Define roles and responsibilities: By allocating the roles and responsibilities to the right
person, project manager can take the update of progress of BIS project (Pritchard, 2013).
5.1 Detecting and managing issues arising in the course of projects
During the development of BIS project, some issues can be arises which affect the progress
and effectiveness of the action plan. For this, hazards with mitigation activities for proposed project
are as follows:
Issues Explanations Method to solve them
Lack of
availability of
resources
Lack of availability of different resources
such as skilled staff members, lack of
finance, and lack of knowledge to operate
machines etc may has made impact on
progress of project and raise the chances
of failure of plan (Smith and van den
Berg, 2015).
Use of Work Breakdown Structure to
allocate the resources and their
optimum utilization.
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Selection of
right team
members
Project manager may make the mistake
during the selection of right employee for
the project. Due to this, they will fail to
fulfil their responsibilities and unable to
achieve project objectives.
Project manager should develop
proper job description so that it can
be easy to hire right person for the
right post and BIS project can be
complete within the given constraints
(Svejvig and Andersen, 2015).
Change request
at final stage
The new changes in BIS project plan at
final stage may affect entire project plan.
Due to this, it can be hard to manage
proposed changes at last phase and it will
create the delay in completion of action
plan (Turner, 2014).
Project manager should adopt Change
Request Model to analyse the
modifications and its impact on entire
plan. It will help in manage the new
changes within the plan at final stage
without affecting its deliverables
(Chiu-Chi and et.al, 2013).
ACTIVITY 6
5.2 Assessment of tasks needed to be completed in the final stages of a project
There are some activities require to be completed in the final stage of a project that are as
follows:
 Formal evaluation to compare actual work with the planned outcome to take decision either
the project has been successful or not.
 Assessment of team performance should be carried out by project manager at the end of BIS
project to evaluate what they have learnt from the work. It can be known by taking
feedbacks, discussions meetings, etc.
 Along with this, a proper documentation of learning from the project should be prepared.
This will be used in near future projects as guidance so that next project can be made more
effective and appropriate.
 On the other hand, project scope is one of the important tasks that are needed to be
completed in the final stage of a BIS project because it will help in ensuring the outcomes of
work.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be concluded that project management has an important for
Business Intelligence System. From the feasibility study process, it has been found that the
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proposed project is suitable for Consultancy Company and achieved its business objectives. The
various activities have carried out at the final stage of project.
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