Project Management Capstone .

This reflective report focuses on the roles and responsibilities of project managers in the lifecycle of any project such as decision making processes, budget calculation, meeting deadlines, getting approvals and other important tasks. Learn about the learning outcomes of the project manager after the successful completion of the database development project of a leading bank of the Middle East, The First national bank.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPSTONE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPSTONE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary:
A project has been carried out for implementing the corporate database of the first National bank,
which is one of the leading banks of the Middle East. This required different kinds of changes in
the technical as well as management operations within the bank. Through this project I have
gained an in depth knowledge about efficient management of complex projects in cases where
multiple parameters have to considered before taking any sort of business decisions. The
different learning outcomes that I have gained knowledge about the efficient organizational
change management strategies, analysis of technical analysis, idea of compatibility of network
and its implementation within the First National bank as well as process of testing and
verification. I have developed leadership skills after the successful completion of the project and
there were different learning outcomes associated to the different stages of the project life cycle.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the fortnightly logs:......................................................................................................3
Learning outcomes:.........................................................................................................................6
Project requirements:.......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
References:......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
One of the most important tasks in the life cycle of a project is its management. There are
different roles and responsibilities that a project manager should undertake in order to ensure that
the project is completed successfully by ensuring job satisfaction of the teammates as well as
client/customer satisfaction at the same time.
This reflective report will focus on my reflection on the roles and responsibilities of
project managers in the lifecycle of any project such as decision making processes, budget
calculation, meeting deadlines, getting approvals and other important tasks (Niazi et al., 2016).
By the end of this report, the reader will have a clear understanding of the learning outcomes of
the project manager after the successful completion of the database development project of a
leading bank of the Middle East, The First national bank.
Analysis of the fortnightly logs:
The first task of the project manager was to get the proposal approved which had the
detailed plan for the betterment of FNB working operations to improve the existing environment
of the bank. Through this I had leant to prioritize the activities that are part of a project lifecycle,
I also developed a sense of responsibility. I understood the importance of meeting deadlines in
project management (Larson et al., 2014). This was the very first step towards the deployment of
the project.
The next phase that the project manager managed was the planning phase that was
essential for delivering the finally about to deliver the activity of today. The corporate database
for the bank had to be carefully designed for which he had to assign specific tasks to the team
members based on their expertise and filed of knowledge, such as gathering as well as processing

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data from the different departments within the bank (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). Accordingly, he
had to carefully analyze the associated operational activities related to the activities.
Among other important learning outcomes that I had derived and learnt from this
particular project were the importance of approvals in order to ensure that the stakeholders get
their necessary authority for proceeding further in the project. This ensures that the project heads
act responsibly at their end in taking any business decisions while delivering the project for First
national bank (Leach, 2014). The project manager had ensured that the updates were properly
communicated to the business heads as well as the stakeholders and the other bank staff to ensure
that the project initiation was done successfully and everyone was well aware about it (Burke,
2013). He had also framed the detailed plan of delivering the project and associated deadlines of
each tasks considering the timelines and the order of the activities that had to be delivered by the
team members. In addition, he had to conduct group meeting with the team of risk experts in
order to come up with proper risk assessment plan, which not only helped him to frame the
proper risk management plan for the project of the First National Bank, but also helped me gain
valuable knowledge about project risk management. I gained in depth knowledge about the
different risk management tools the Delphi technique, decision tree method and other models.
Through this, I could understand the importance of such tools in my own professional career and
how important these aspects are for a project manager (Mir & Pinnington, 2014). It helped me
develop an understanding of the leadership skills expected in a project manager.
The next set of activities such as planning scheduling as well as budgeting were done by
extensive research and use of advanced tools and expert opinions which further strengthened my
knowledge about effective project management. The project manager had consulted with the
officials of the First national bank and also led the change management team and provided

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guidelines for the effective communication of the new changes within the organization (Creasy
& Anantatmula, 2013). I have developed a clear understanding that no matter how much well
prepared a project may be, it can never be a success if it lacks a proper implementation as well as
communication plan for the employees as well as the other stake holders associated to the
project.
The final data of completion of the project that was communicated to the project manager
to be 12th December, 2018. He had to ensure that all the tasks were in place and the final project
was delivered on time and accordingly, the deadlines of the specific tasks were communicated to
the different team members. The project manager had to ensure that the database was selected in
such a way that it could fit in all the corporate information which also had to be encrypted in
order to ensure data security as well. The database had to be designed in such a way so that the
services of First National bank could be improved further and all the employees would be able to
access the data in a common platform. Therefore, it was his responsibility to ensure that the
project was just not delivered on time but it was also tested and delivered before its final
integration in the bank work operations (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016). The database of
corporate style has been selected for the listing of the information and forming the improved
services for the First National Bank. His primary responsibility in the course of the entire project
lifecycle was to keep a track on the database designing as well as to make sure that it was being
done in accordance with the specific needs of the First national Bank.
The project manager had theoretical concepts of project management but through this
project based on database of the First National bank, he had gained an in depth knowledge of the
practical applications of the project management tools in the real time scenario (Turner, 2014). I
had been exploring the different tools and techniques of project management in the development

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of the desired database for the First National bank. The project manager had worked in
collaboration with the team of experts as well as strategic project management tools in order to
select the appropriate corporate database for the First National Bank (Stulz, 2015). The learning
outcome that I have derived is the importance of coordinating with multiple team when it comes
to decision making in such complex project management lifecycles (Ahern, Leavy, & Byrne,
2014). The project manager had to ensure that the final product was delivered on time and at the
same time, the quality of the output was also up to the mark to ensure optimum client
satisfaction. He had conducted regular meeting with the team of security experts in order to
ensure that the database that was created also had improved security features to keep the Bank
important data protected. I understood how important it is to design the database as per the needs
of specific industries since banking financial and other data are extremely sensitive and
confidential therefore should have maximum possible security. He had undertaken the tasks
accordingly to make sure data security was one of the most important objective of the project
(Larson & Gray, 2015). I understood the process of documentation in order to understand how
the implication works for different kinds of business decision making. That will help me in my
own professional career in the future. He was informed that he was responsible not just for
delivering the project outcome on time but to ensure that the post project implementation
analysis was carried out successfully and facilities for work operations development were also
incorporated (Harrison & Lock, 2017). I had learnt how to take on extra responsibilities that are
directly not part of the project and ensuring cohesiveness in the work culture among the team
members.

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Learning outcomes:
The project manager for the First National bank database development project had to
examine if the tasks there were decided were all appropriate and if they applied to the project.
Accordingly, he had insert or delete additional tasks and time (in hours) required to complete
each tasks and sub phases had to be determined (Serra & Kunc, 2015). He was responsible in
forming a quality review board that would consist two to eight professional quality assurance
personnel and had to ensure that it was approved by the project sponsor and the systems and
programming general manager. I understood the importance of getting approvals before making
any business decisions in the project lifecycle and how important it was to get the approvals on
time (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). The general manager had set up a meeting between the project
sponsor and the project manager so that they could jointly study and analyze the project plans
and its main objectives so that we could come up with a well-defined and structured project
budget. This required him to develop his critical thinking as well as analytical skills in decision-
making since much of the budget was decided on the activities and phases he decided to add or
eliminate form the project plans (Špundak, 2014). It also helped me develop my own thinking
skills. He also had to ensure that the users were issues design freezes during the design of the
database. He had to select the right analysts from the existing system in First National bank to
ensure that the right people were selected for the right job.
Project requirements:
Some of the important requirements that were jointly decided by the project manager as
well as the project sponsor prior to coming up on a decision on the budget were:
- Development of corporate database for the First National bank and its
implementation.

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- Change management.
- Infrastructure Analysis of the technical infrastructure.
- Compatibility of the network and its implementation.
- Processes of testing as well as verification.
- Security Analysis of the FNB database.
- User Access as well as control.
- Training to the FNB Employee training programs and integration with the business
intelligence tools.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be concluded from the above reflective summary that, it is extremely
important for the project managers to take the right decisions at the right times. This will ensure
there is no miscommunication of information among the teammates as well as the information is
transparently communicated across the different departments as well as for the top management.
Different aspects such as budget change management, risk analysis, employee job satisfaction as
well as proper and successful implementiaotn of the final deliverables of the project at the client
end has to be ensured by the project manager to ensure its successful completion.

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References:
Ahern, T., Leavy, B., & Byrne, P. J. (2014). Complex project management as complex problem
solving: A distributed knowledge management perspective. International Journal of
Project Management, 32(8), 1371-1381.
Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Creasy, T., & Anantatmula, V. S. (2013). From Every Direction–-How Personality Traits and
Dimensions of Project Managers Can Conceptually Affect Project Success. Project
Management Journal, 44(6), 36-51.
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2015). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge:
PMBOK (®) Guide. Project Management Institute.
Larson, E. W., Gray, C. F., Danlin, U., Honig, B., & Bacarini, D. (2014). Project management:
The managerial process (Vol. 6). Grandview Heights, OH: Education.
Leach, L. P. (2014). Critical chain project management. Artech House.
Mir, F. A., & Pinnington, A. H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: linking
project management performance and project success. International journal of project
management, 32(2), 202-217.

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Niazi, M., Mahmood, S., Alshayeb, M., Riaz, M. R., Faisal, K., Cerpa, N., ... & Richardson, I.
(2016). Challenges of project management in global software development: A client-
vendor analysis. Information and Software Technology, 80, 1-19.
Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and
technology.
Serra, C. E. M., & Kunc, M. (2015). Benefits realization management and its influence on
project success and on the execution of business strategies. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(1), 53-66.
Špundak, M. (2014). Mixed agile/traditional project management methodology–reality or
illusion?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 119, 939-948.
Stulz, R. M. (2015). Risk‐taking and risk management by banks. Journal of Applied Corporate
Finance, 27(1), 8-18.
Turner, J. R. (2014). Handbook of project-based management (Vol. 92). New York, NY.