Project Management: HPSS Case Study

This assignment presents a solved case study focusing on the management of the HPSS (High Performance Supercomputing System) project. It delves into various project management issues encountered, including delayed activities, resource constraints, and communication breakdowns. The analysis utilizes Microsoft Project to illustrate solutions, including adjusting schedules, allocating resources, and mitigating risks. The final solution presented aims to resolve project conflicts and achieve successful completion within the defined timeframe.

Project management

Table of Contents
Question -1...........................................................................................................................................2
a) Attributes for candidates assessment.................................................................................2
b) Vehicles for a strong team...................................................................................................2
c) Project Priority Matrix........................................................................................................3
Question – 2..........................................................................................................................................5
Question – 3..........................................................................................................................................9
Question - 4........................................................................................................................................11
References..........................................................................................................................................14
1

Question -1
a) Attributes for candidates assessment
Specification of the Person
The specification of a person is one of the important attributes to get access to the
candidates. The specification of a person is to make the first opinion or impression that they
have the skill to work on the role in which the company recruits. This kind of attribute allows
to focus on the skills, Experience and knowledge that is required for the job. Candidate’s
assessment against the specification of the person is an important tool to overcome the neutral
state in the recruitment exercise, it permits us to move along the past perceptions of the
candidates depending on the presence, behaviour and their fitness in the job (Sheffield, 2017).
Capacity of the Candidate
The company has the learning surrounding with the development culture which is also
applicable to the person who is recruited. Initially, the candidate may be recruited for a small
post like team member and later he/she may get promoted into Team Lead, so the person
should have leadership quality or capacity that leads the team to success. Recruiting a person
with more capacity without an experience is better than hiring a person who has less potential
but little more experience. Raising questions regarding their long term improvement in the
company is required than the questions more on their present recruitment. Lacking an
experience for a job is not a big deal rather than lacking a knowledge (Broockman, 2012).
Adaptability
Adaptability is one of the significant attribute that helps in going through varieties of
people and situations that are hard. This attribute leads to solve the hard situation with
gratitude and in a polite manner. To find the candidate's adaptability behaviour, ask him/her to
explain some toughest situation that he/she has handled ever in the life. The hardest situation
will make changes to the life. So if the toughest situation has been handled in their life, they
can easily manage some hard situations that occur in the company (Murphy, n.d.).
b) Vehicles for a strong team
Giving value to the Human
The value to be given for the team mates is the key term for the succeeding team and
understanding the feelings of the team member without asking from them is very important
for a team. Even a strongest team may fail in this attitude. All the team mates’ decisions or
suggestions have to take into account because it may help somewhere to get success in the
2

project. This makes the spirit towards the team and one may not give up other in the team ("8
Essentials of Building a Strong Team", 2017).
Mission of the Company
Making efforts and working on the core ideas or mission if the company leads the
strong team. Organizing the processes involved in the project and prioritizing the tasks leads
to the successful project. Decide goals for the project which is either short term or long term
and also set the deadline to complete the task. Work together sincerely to complete the goals,
if the company’s mission is to deliver the high quality in less processed time. Then, work on
it to make a strong team (Clostermann & Chauvin, 2013).
Celebration of victory and failure
The project may get succeeded or failed, celebrate everything that is being achieved in
a project. If the project got succeeded, then celebrate your success with team mates which
makes a sense of feel that the team co-operation had made an achievement. The important
thing to be noted is appreciate the person who had done a great contribution towards the
success of the project in front of all other members of the team. If a project is failed, then
work collaboratively to find the mistakes or fault that has occurred in the project ("8
Essentials of Building a Strong Team", 2017).
Vehicles in HPSS Project
The above specified vehicles leads to the success of the HPSS project. The first thing
which is giving a value to the human helps in the team understanding to work on the project
as a group. The second thing is putting effort towards the mission of the company.
Company’s mission on the HPSS project is to complete the project within 4th October 2017
which is started on 3rd July of the same year. Complete the deliverable within the deadline.
The third thing will be applied after the implementation of the project.
c) Project Priority Matrix
Prioritization matrix
A prioritization matrix is a tool that is an organized way of arranging the items in an
order of significance (Project Management with Ms Project, 2015). Providing a numerical
value to each tasks makes easier to proceed. Identify the criteria that are to be included in the
Prioritization matrix, Give a separate column for scoring which involves 3 different
numbering like rating, weighting and score. The Scoring column is completed by giving
3

numbering in a rating range from 1-5 in which 1, 2 denotes the less important and 4, 5
denotes the most important.
Criteria Scoring HPSS Project
Project Scope Rating 4
Weighting 3
Score 12
Project Budget Rating 3
Weighting 4
Score 12
Resource Availability Rating 2
Weighting 5
Score 10
Delivery Time Rating 2
Weighting 5
Score 10
Client Satisfaction Rating 2
Weighting 5
Score 10
The weighting number in the scoring column takes the range as 1-5 which denotes 1
as less important and 5 denotes the most important. Importance gets increased in an
ascending order. The rating part describes the impact of the criteria which is 1 denotes the
less impact that is positive and 5 denotes the most impact (Gosenheimer, 2015).
4

Question – 2
General Information
Change working time
Set Holiday
a)
5

Diagram
Gantt chart
Task Information
Task Name Start Finish Resource Names Predecessor
s
High Precision Spatial Sound
(HPSS) Project Mon 03-07-17 Mon 27-11-17
Initial Meeting Mon 03-07-17 Mon 03-07-17 Kumar, Mike, PM,
Tan
Design by Quantum Tue 04-07-17 Wed 12-07-17 Kumar, Mike 2
Purchase sound equipment Thu 13-07-17 Mon 17-07-17 PM 3
Issue order to contractor Tue 18-07-17 Wed 19-07-17 PM 3
6

Deliver sound equipment Thu 20-07-17 Fri 25-08-17 Tlab 4
Site preparation Mon 28-08-17 Wed 30-08-17 Contractor, Tan 3
Construct speaker enclosures Thu 31-08-17 Thu 21-09-17 Contractor, Tan 5,7
Construct trunkings Fri 22-09-17 Thu 05-10-17 Contractor, Tan 8
Lay cables Fri 06-10-17 Tue 17-10-17 Contractor, Tan 9
Install sound equipment Thu 19-10-17 Wed 01-11-17 Kumar, Mike 6,8
Connect system to collect
data Thu 02-11-17 Mon 06-11-17 Kumar, Mike 10,11
Customise system for NSC Tue 07-11-17 Mon 13-11-17 Kumar, Mike 12
Test HPSS System Tue 14-11-17 Thu 16-11-17 Kumar, Mike 13
Certification by Thunder Lab Fri 17-11-17 Wed 22-11-17 Kumar, Mike, Tlab 14
Document project Thu 23-11-17 Fri 24-11-17 Kumar 14
Commission HPSS System Mon 27-11-17 Mon 27-11-17 PM 15,16
Budget Information
Task Name Fixed Cost Fixed Cost Accrual Total Cost
High Precision Spatial Sound
(HPSS) Project 0.00₹ Prorated 290,000.00₹
Initial Meeting 2,000.00₹ Prorated 2,000.00₹
Design by Quantum 20,000.00₹ Prorated 20,000.00₹
Purchase sound equipment 150,000.00₹ Prorated 150,000.00₹
Issue order to contractor 500.00₹ Prorated 500.00₹
Deliver sound equipment 1,500.00₹ Prorated 1,500.00₹
Site preparation 500.00₹ Prorated 500.00₹
Construct speaker enclosures 30,000.00₹ Prorated 30,000.00₹
Construct trunkings 15,000.00₹ Prorated 15,000.00₹
Lay cables 10,000.00₹ Prorated 10,000.00₹
Install sound equipment 20,000.00₹ Prorated 20,000.00₹
Connect system to collect 8,000.00₹ Prorated 8,000.00₹
7

data
Customise system for NSC 10,000.00₹ Prorated 10,000.00₹
Test HPSS System 6,000.00₹ Prorated 6,000.00₹
Certification by Thunder Lab 15,000.00₹ Prorated 15,000.00₹
Document project 500.00₹ Prorated 500.00₹
Commission HPSS System 1,000.00₹ Prorated 1,000.00₹
Identified Project Completion data is 27-11-2017.
b)
The Tight project schedule and budget on this project does not have initial resource
that are satisfied. It needs to add manpower (Ravindran, 2008). So resolve this problems to
operate the resource levelling. To do resource levelling by follows,
Resource>Click Level All.
It add the extra man power for the task. It changes the Project completion date that is
on 23-03-2018.
Task Name Start Finish
High Precision Spatial Sound (HPSS) Project Mon 03-07-17 Wed 21-03-18
Initial Meeting Mon 03-07-17 Mon 03-07-17
Design by Quantum Tue 04-07-17 Wed 12-07-17
Purchase sound equipment Thu 13-07-17 Mon 17-07-17
Issue order to contractor Tue 18-07-17 Wed 19-07-17
Deliver sound equipment Thu 20-07-17 Fri 25-08-17
Site preparation Mon 28-08-17 Wed 30-08-17
Construct speaker enclosures Thu 31-08-17 Thu 21-09-17
Construct trunkings Fri 22-09-17 Thu 05-10-17
Lay cables Fri 06-10-17 Tue 17-10-17
Install sound equipment Thu 19-10-17 Wed 01-11-17
Connect system to collect data Thu 02-11-17 Mon 06-11-17
Customise system for NSC Tue 07-11-17 Mon 13-11-17
Test HPSS System Tue 14-11-17 Thu 16-11-17
Certification by Thunder Lab Fri 17-11-17 Wed 22-11-17
Document project Thu 23-11-17 Fri 24-11-17
Commission HPSS System Mon 27-11-17 Wed 21-03-18
8

After the Set the status data for the project as 04-07-2017 and update the project. Finally
saved into Baseline (Wysocki & McGary, 2003).
Question – 3
a)
In Project Implementation, the Thunder lab has released in HPSS Specification. So
the project activity 8 is affected (Samant, n.d.). To resolve this issues to increase the duration
by four day and set the Sunday and Saturday was working day. It provides the additional cost
like material cost $3000, labour cost for Sunday and Saturday is $1000 and Weekday is $500.
The Additional total cost is $7000. To change the Saturday and Sunday are working day. It
affecting the tasks. And increasing the Activity 4 and decreased the activity 3 cost.
Change working date and time
This changes decreasing the project completion date that is 15-02-2018.
9

b)
The Thunder Lab was released in the HPSS Project. So the organization decided to
get the idea from NSC system to resolve this problem. The NSC system is used to manage the
project documentation and process (Skenderi, 2015). The NSC system evaluate the HPSS
Project specifications and allocation. It directly relate the project priorities and challenges. It
provide the sufficient details to convince the project reviewer ("NCAR Strategic Capability
(NSC) projects | Computational Information Systems Laboratory", 2017). It requires the
computational resource to request the HPSS storage allocations. NSC system use the data
management policies. It monitored the overall projects and created the sufficient progress and
it also complete their work in the allocation period. To evaluate the HPSS project problems
by using the strategic plan.
10

Question - 4
a)
Diagram
Gantt chart
11

Task Name Start Finish Duration
High Precision Spatial Sound (HPSS)
Project Mon 03-07-17 Sat 17-02-18 227 days
Initial Meeting Mon 03-07-17 Mon 03-07-
17 1 day
Design by Quantum Tue 04-07-17 Mon 10-07-
17 7 days
Purchase sound equipment Tue 11-07-17 Thu 13-07-17 3 days
Issue order to contractor Tue 18-07-17 Wed 19-07-
17 2 days
Deliver sound equipment Thu 20-07-17 Tue 15-08-17 26 days
Site preparation Mon 28-08-17 Wed 30-08-
17 3 days
Construct speaker enclosures Thu 31-08-17 Fri 15-09-17 15 days
Construct trunkings Fri 22-09-17 Sun 01-10-17 10 days
Lay cables Fri 06-10-17 Sun 15-10-17 10 days
Install sound equipment Thu 19-10-17 Sat 28-10-17 10 days
Connect system to collect data Thu 02-11-17 Sat 04-11-17 3 days
Customise system for NSC Tue 07-11-17 Sat 11-11-17 5 days
Test HPSS System Tue 14-11-17 Thu 16-11-17 3 days
Certification by Thunder Lab Fri 17-11-17 Mon 20-11-
17 4 days
Document project Thu 23-11-17 Fri 24-11-17 2 days
Commission HPSS System Sat 25-11-17 Thu 15-02-18 28 days
b)
Cost Performance Index Calculation (Gharaibeh, 2014),
Budgeted Cost of work Performed (BCWF) = $4857.15
Actual Cost of work Performed (ACWF) = $4800
CPI = 4857.15/4800 = $1.01190
12

c)
To prevent the HPSS project issues to takes the three actions is to minimize the
problem. First one is to using the NSC system to resolve the issues. The NSC system manage
the HPSS project and documentation. Second one is to increase the working days. Because
the activity 8 that is construct speaker enclosures are affected by releasing the Thunder lab.
So Project specifications also affected. So reduce this problem, adding the working days and
it requires the additional costs such as labour cost and material cost after this issues are
resolved. The third one is to increasing the activity into 4 working days but there is no change
in cost. After reducing the activity into 13 working days that also no change in cost. Finally
the HPSS project problem resolved. The final project completion date is 17-02-2018 (Ulhaus
M. Samant., 2016).
13

MS Project file is attached here.
References
8 Essentials of Building a Strong Team. (2017). IndustryWeek.
Broockman, D. (2012). Candidate Recruitment and Political Representation. SSRN Electronic
Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2055929
Clostermann, J., & Chauvin, C. (2013). Is a strong common frame of reference predictive of a
good team performance?. Archives des Maladies Professionnelles et de
l'Environnement, 74(5), 571. doi:10.1016/j.admp.2013.07.160
Dutra, C., Ribeiro, J., & de Carvalho, M. (2014). An economic–probabilistic model for
project selection and prioritization. International Journal of Project Management, 32(6),
1042-1055. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.12.004
14

Gharaibeh, H. (2014). Evaluating Project Management Software Packages Using a Scoring
Model—A Comparison between MS Project and Primavera. Journal Of Software
Engineering And Applications, 07(07), 541-554.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jsea.2014.77050
Gosenheimer, C. (2015). PROJECT PRIORITIZATION-A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO
WORKING ON WHAT MATTERS MOST.
Murphy, M. (n.d.). Hiring for attitude.
NCAR Strategic Capability (NSC) projects | Computational Information Systems Laboratory.
(2017). Www2.cisl.ucar.edu. Retrieved 28 August 2017, from
https://www2.cisl.ucar.edu/user-support/allocations/ncar-allocations/ncar-strategic-
capability-nsc-projects
Project Management With Ms Project. (2015).
Ravindran, A. (2008). Operations research and management science handbook. Boca Raton:
CRC Press.
Samant, U. Computer software for successful project management.
Sheffield, U. (2017). Planning your assessment - Candidate Selection - Jobs, Recruitment &
Selection - HR - The University of Sheffield. Sheffield.ac.uk.
Skenderi, B. (2015). Project Management Scheduling Software. Saarbrücken: Scholars' Press.
Ulhaus M. Samant. (2016). Computer Support for Successful Project Management. Business
Expert Press.
Wysocki, R., & McGary, R. (2003). Effective project management. Indianapolis: Wiley Pub.
15