Project Management Report: ACME Products PLC New Production Unit

This report analyzes the application of project management principles within the context of ACME Products PLC's new production unit project. It explores the core principles of project management, linking them to the project life cycle and outlining success and failure criteria. The report delves into human resource management, examining organizational structures, roles, responsibilities, and the assessment of a project leader's skills. It addresses planning, specifications, and the use of tools like Work Breakdown Structure and Gantt charts. The report also covers project termination, post-project appraisals, and methods for managing changes, evaluating the complete project and ensuring effective project closure. Key elements include time, cost, quality, and risk recognition, providing a comprehensive overview of project management practices and their practical application in a business setting.

Project Management
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 Understand Project Management Principles (LO1)...............................................................1
(a) Describe the main principles of project management process and linked to the project life
cycle (1.1)........................................................................................................................................1
(b) Suitable success and failure criteria for the new project (1.2)...................................................3
(c) Principles behind project management systems and procedures (1.3).......................................4
(d) Key elements involved in terminating projects and conducting post-project appraisals (1.4). .5
TASK 2 Be able to manage a project’s human resources (LO2)..........................................................6
(a) Most appropriate organizational structures, roles and responsibilities of participants within a
project (2.1)......................................................................................................................................6
(c) Assessment of skills and qualities in project leader of ACME project (2.3)..............................7
(d) Planning and specifications of human resources and requirements for a project (2.4)..............8
(e) Work Breakdown structure of ACME project (2.2)...................................................................9
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................9
(a) Final duration of project (3.2)....................................................................................................9
(b)Delays in the activities ( 3.1/3.2)..............................................................................................10
(c) Use of Gantt chart and Resource histogram in order to improve the management of ACME
project (3.1)....................................................................................................................................10
(c) Crash some activities in project to complete it more quickly( 3.2)..........................................11
(d) Analysis of cost and time performance for ACME project (3.2).............................................11
(e) Methods of managing changes that are likely to be required during the life of ACME project
(3.4)................................................................................................................................................12
(f) Ways to close the project (3.1)..................................................................................................12
(g) Evaluation of complete project (3.3/3.4)..................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................13
References..........................................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Project management is mainly associated with a systematic process which is considered by
an organization or manager for planning and managing changes within business entity. The concept
of project management is applied to the staffing and management of people, selection of an
appropriate process for manufacturing and production, quality management, operations
management along with handling different operations related to purchase management. In the
present era, the term project management has been addressed as a science or art through which an
individual is able to manage different components of the project with an appropriate manner
(Boulmetis and Dutwin, 2014). For managing the project as per the predetermined schedule, an
individual has to manage certain set of skills and knowledge as per the objective and goals of the
project. The present research determines different aspects of project management and its importance
in the business with reference to business operations ACME Products PLC. The areas which will be
covered under the following study are project management principles, ways to manage human
resources along with implementation of different plans and policies within business entity as per
predetermined schedule to generate appropriate outcomes.
TASK 1 UNDERSTAND PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES (LO1)
(a) Describe the main principles of project management process and linked to the project life cycle
(1.1)
As per the given case study, it has been addressed that the management of the ACME's is
implementing a new production process and unit for some new product (Cheng and Teizer, 2013).
In the context, business entity has to consider below mentioned principles of project management
process that are playing crucial role in the project life cycle:
Element Description
Project structure It is considered as a most important element of project management process
which is based on three different element such as project goal, project
timeline & order and project milestones (Gido and Clements, 2014). By
considering the elements, the project manager in ACME is able to determine
the objectives, cost and outcomes of project.
Definition phase In this section, the evolution of involvement of all the stakeholders in every
stage of project is carried through which the project manager can express
their own commitment about whole project.
Clear goals The success of project is greatly depending on clear goals and objectives
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therefore it is very important for the project manager of External Project
Management Consultants to meet project objectives with an appropriate
manner. In this regards, the SMART objectives are developed as per the
nature of project.
Transparency
about project
status
By considering this principle, project manager of ACME has to formulate
short report on the status of project with reference to each stage of plan
(Killen and et.al, 2012). This evaluation provides information related to
costs, deliverables and remaining time during completion of project.
Risk recognition A project contains wide range risk therefore it is responsibility of project
manager to examine wide range of risk in different aspects of project. This
process reduces the chances of losses during implementation of project plan.
Responsibility of
the project
manager
For managing different operations of the project, the project manager
performs different roles and responsibilities in different phase’s t as per the
project objectives (Turner, 2014). As per the program goals, the project
manager is responsible for managing changes, integration of several sub-
system, proper monitoring of project status, delivering the project within
time and costs etc.
Project success It is the most critical element of the project planning process in which
management determines the certain criteria through which different kinds of
deliverables and outcomes are measured. In this context, project manager
considers different elements.
Commitment The management of project manager requires ensuring about the team
member's 'commitment towards their work. They must show the adequate
level of commitment regarding goals, quality, time duration, overall cost of
the project etc.
Primary
communication
channels
It plays important for establishing efficient communication between project
managers along with the client (Wright and Adviser-Gottwald, 2013). This
communication plays most important role for ensuring the success of
project.
Cultural
environment
With reference to this principle, project manager formulates an appropriate
culture by using an appropriate team management strategy along with
motivational tools that would assist project manager to attain deliverables of
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work.
Process As per this principle, the project manager makes efforts in order to select an
appropriate process for managing different aspects of whole plan. Along
with this, the roles and responsibilities of the team members should be
clearly define and documented.
Life cycle According to this section, project manager determines different stages of
project and provides assurance that project will meet all goals as per the
predetermined schedule (Beynon-Davies, 2009). It has provided the clear
picture of starting and sending of the work.
(b) Suitable success and failure criteria for the new project (1.2)
The proposed project is created for new production system in ACME. In this context, the
success and failure criteria are essential for the project manager to determine whether the project
has developed as per the requirement of the client or not. In the context, some important criteria are
mentioned below:
Success and failure criteria Involvement of users: The success of plan is greatly influenced by involvement of client in
decision making process. It has created significant impact on the project. This is because
lack of user involvement in the decision making process will create problems for project
manager in determination of goals of project (Dey, Clegg and Bennett, 2010). This will be
failure criteria for the project. On the other hand, active participation of client will be
considered as success criteria. Cleat statement of requirements: If ACME Company is not clearly about its requirements
from particular then the project manager cannot attain the project goals. Clarity of project
goals will be addressed as success criteria for organization. Resource management: It determines the ability of project manager for managing different
resources. This is because if the project manager is not able to manage the resources such as
men, machine and material then manager of the project can deliver all the project
requirements as per the predetermined schedule (Parker and et. al., 2013). It is also termed
as failure criteria for the proposed project. Other aspects: The project manager of ACME also considers several elements such as
project duration, budget, schedule and plan that are also playing most important role success
and failure of the project. If the new project has unable to any out of these elements then it
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will be considered as a failure criteria of the project. In the context some important elements
are explained below: Scope: It is combination of fundamental elements and specifications that are acquired by
project manager after completion of the project.
 Resources: The management of ACME project as per the estimated cost and budget is
termed as an important element of resource management. In this, managers carry out
detail evaluation of requirement and utilization of different resources.
Other factors that can be count as success and failure criteria are as follows.
Project success factors Project failure factors
Effective leadership Poor leadership
Dedicated commitment of team members Avoidance of team members
Clear vision and objectives Unclear vision
Effective distribution of information Improper communication
Motivation Lack of motivation
Optimum utilization of resource Improper management of resources
(c) Principles behind project management systems and procedures (1.3)
In the case of ACME project, the project manager has determined three major objectives
such as time, cost and quality.
Time and cost: In order to examine the time and cost for the proposed project, resource levelling
and activity based costing method have been addressed as most effective approaches through which
the project manager is able to manage time and cost in each stage of project implementation process
(Sears, 2010).
Quality: In the terms of quality, project manager determines some quality standards before
initiating the project as per the schedule. When the new facility of ACME has completed then
project manager is able to examine the actual quality outcomes as per the set standards.
The principles behind project management system are as follows.
 Proper coordination among several operations of project management
 Providing clear visibility of different activities
 Establishing proper communication among different team members (Wallnau and Gravetter,
2009)
Different functions related to procedure of project management system for ACME project
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are mentioned below:
 Development of an appropriate project plan with the help of reliable tools
 Allocation of the tasks and deadlines for the various activities
 Prepare the documents which include the various information about ACME project and
share it with the stakeholders.
 Scheduling different event such as meeting, activities date etc. regarding the project.
 Under this step, the project manager identifies issues and takes corrective measures to
resolve it
 The last step of project management system is tracking time in which project manager
monitors different activities as per the predetermined schedule.
(d) Key elements involved in terminating projects and conducting post-project appraisals (1.4)
Key elements of project termination process:
Project termination is termed as a very critical and complex decision for the project
manager. The project termination process is mainly taken place during the implementation of the
project plan and completion of the project. In the case of ACME project, the project termination key
elements in which project manager of ACME manages different elements such as completion of
legal requirements, closing the contract with several suppliers and contractors, payment of dues,
auditing, transferring the roles and responsibilities of new system to client, etc (Cervone, 2006). In
this context, some various other elements are influencing a project manager in order to take these
decisions such as technical issues, improper estimation of the budget, unexpected loss of human
capital, lack of working capital and other resources etc.
Post project appraisals:
Post project appraisal is an evaluation of the project as per objective after its completion.
The items which will involve in post project appraisal are evaluated below: Variance analysis: In this, the comparison of expected outcomes and actual results is carried
out. Benefit analysis: The evaluation of benefits of project such as improvement the production
process capabilities is scheduled because the initial investment for ACME Company is very
high (Kumaraswamy, 2011).
 Risk analysis and its review: According to this, the project manager is analysing different
element for the identification of the risks before handover the project to client.
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TASK 2 BE ABLE TO MANAGE A PROJECT’S HUMAN RESOURCES (LO2)
(a) Most appropriate organizational structures, roles and responsibilities of participants within a
project (2.1)
Main participants and their roles and responsibilities in the ACME project
The list of main participants that are involved in ACME project is determined below:
Participants for
ACME project
Roles and responsibilities in the form of job description ACME Project
specific
Project manager  It develops project plan and manages different sources.
 Examines the risk and requirement of resources
 Ensure the quality of project deliverables
 Develop various strategies to meet deadline
 Team development for ACME project (Sommerville, 2011).
 Recruitment of the staff members and training
 Estimation of project outcomes of ACME.
 Monitoring the progress and performance of plan
Architecture  Designing and managing different operation related to building of
new plan
 Development of energy efficient system
Project sponsor  Examines the findings requirement of project
 Approve budget for ACME project.
Mechanical engineer  Select and design the cost effective equipment’s in the plant.
 Monitoring and commissioning plant as per the business
requirement (Toor and Ofori, 2008)
 Development of new law cost production process.
Project team
members
 Working with subordinates to meet the needs of ACME project.
 Manage different activities as per the project
System administrator  Managing and support different internal and external factors as per
the requirement of ACME project.
 Managing database and establishing coordination among several
activities
Project board  Approve strategies and plan of a project for organization
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 Suggest alteration
 Determines priorities and important element
Quality analyst  Responsible to meet quality standard
 Optimum utilisation of resources
Appropriate organizational structure of ACME Project
The organization structure of ACME Company is matrix through which business entity is
able to ensure about the effective use of resources, proper coordination among different departments
for the project, easy flow of information along with development of a high speed communication
system.
(c) Assessment of skills and qualities in project leader of ACME project (2.3)
In order to manage the project of ACME, manager is required to consider various kinds of
skills and qualities that are mentioned below: Problem solver: It is essential for project because there are several issues occurred during
implementation of plan so as project manager has to resolve different issues with creativity
(Kshama, 2012). It is identified as a most important skills of project manager through which
management is able resolve different issues with an appropriate manner. Team building skills: Project manager must possess good team building skills in order to
influence team members toward a common objective such as project of ACME. To increase
the performance of the team, project manager is required to select different team member as
per their expertise to manage different operations with an appropriate manner. In this
context, leadership skills of an individual plays important role.
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 Good communication skills: For controlling different aspects of a project, a project manager
must have good communications skills. This because he is responsible for clear
communication with subordinates about the objectives, aims and business performance. He
is creating a link of his team members direct to the organization (Managing Projects, 2015).
In this context of ACME, project manager requires to increase coordination among different
department with efficient communications skills. Time management style: A project manager is required to manage different operations as per
the predetermined schedule so as appropriate time management skills helps managers in
completion of different task with an appropriate manner. Vision: A project manager is required to consider a clear vision with reference to ACME
project. This approach supports project manager in order to carry out the production
planning, ensure about the supply of raw material, manufacturing and delivery final project
with an appropriate manner. Integrity: Honest and loyalty of project is also termed as an important skills of project
manager. This is because this attitude leads positive impact on team members (Killen and
et.al, 2012).
 Competence: Project management is identified as most challenging job. Therefore, the
project manager must have the ability of accepting the challenges and completing different
challenging task without any difficulty.
(d) Planning and specifications of human resources and requirements for a project (2.4)
The efficiency of project is highly associated with skills of human resources. For the
project of ACME, four most important people include project manager, architecture, quality
analyst and mechanical engineer. In addition to that 30 other team members help them in order
to implement plan.
Designation Personal characteristic Technical characteristic
Project manager It must possess good communication.
Leadership skills are also essential to
manage different team members.
It must have knowledge about the
different project management tools
so he can utilize different tasks and
operation with an appropriate
manner (Turner, 2014).
Architecture Creative thinking is identified as most
important personal characteristic of so
as architecture can bring the new
This individual must have
appropriate knowledge about
designing of construction so as an
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innovation in the designing of the
building ACME project.
effective design of new facility is
developed by considering new
energy saving techniques.
Quality analyst The quality analyst must possess the
ability to work under pressured during
the implementation phase of ACME
project (Wright and Adviser-Gottwald,
2013).
Understanding of different quality
management tactics
Mechanical
engineer
Efficient managerial skills related to
team development
Understanding of capabilities of
different machinery and equipment.
(e) Work Breakdown structure of ACME project (2.2)
TASK 3
(a) Final duration of project (3.2)
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The final duration of ACME project is = S–A–B–D–F–K–L = 8+12+10+25+3+8+0=66
Weeks. It is considered as critical path for this project of ACME that determines the longest path
and maximum duration in order to complete project as per goals with an efficient manner.
(b)Delays in the activities (3.1/3.2)
As per case, if construction of the production machinery is going to take place as per the
planned duration by eight weeks than it will not create any impact on the total duration of the
project. This is because this activity is not addressed in the critical path as well as its slack time is
15 weeks (Beynon-Davies, 2009). Therefore, this activity has a scope of 15 weeks delay.
In the contrary, if supply of raw material will be affected by the delay of 6 weeks with
reference to planned duration then overall project duration will be increased. In addition to that this
activity is not addressed in critical path with a slack time of only 4 weeks only. Therefore, delay of
6 weeks leads negative impact on other activities. As a result of this, the total duration of the project
will increase by 2 weeks and become 68 weeks.
(c) Use of Gantt chart and Resource histogram in order to improve the management of ACME
project (3.1)
There are two methods that could be adopted by the project manager of ACME project.
These approaches are explained below: Gantt chart: In order to increase effectiveness of project management process, Gantt chart
plays important role. It is addressed as a series of horizontal lines which is defined as the
amount of work done as per the amount of predetermined work in certain time frame. This
tool provides significant support to the project manager of ACME in order to forecast the
short and long term results (Dey, Clegg and Bennett, 2010). In this context, it has been
addressed that this approach has played important role for managing the cost of the project
and various other operations. To different issues during the project management, the Gantt
chart will help researcher identification of different issues and their solutions.
 Resources Histogram: It is a bat chart that has found very effective in order to examine the
availability of resources as per certain time duration. This technique has played important
role in the project management because it has provided the visual representation of the
different resources that are required for the project of ACME (Parker and et. al., 2013). This
tool also supports project manager in allocation of different tasks to different individuals as
per their expertise.
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(c) Crash some activities in project to complete it more quickly (3.2)
By doing this, the project will be finished more quickly as compare to the given time
duration.
(d) Analysis of cost and time performance for ACME project (3.2)
In order to examine the cost and time performance for ACME project, some important
method is explained below: Time performance: The time performance of ACME project can be evaluated by comparing
the actual time duration for ever activity with reference to estimated duration. By doing this,
project manager is able to identify such areas where project manager requires improvements
(Sears, 2010). The comparison of actual and standard time determines certain variance that
assists project manager in order to implement improvements.
 Cost performance index: It is determined the amount of work being accomplished in project
plan as per the estimated cost. In the context of ACME project, CPI is evaluated with the
some specific formula (Earned value/Actual cost). If the value of CPI is greater than 1 that it
defines that project is doing well with reference to prepared budget. On the basis of this,
plan handler can manage cost and project operations.
(e) Methods of managing changes that are likely to be required during the life of ACME project
(3.4)
For managing the changes within life of ACME project, Project change control method is
identified as most appropriate project for monitoring whole plan.
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 According to the first step, manager makes efforts to assess the difficulty in the existing
system and enlist it. This section helps project manager in order to understand and notice the
various problems that are associated with existing system so as further improvements can be
made (Wallnau and Gravetter, 2009).
 In the second stage, a panel of expert is prepared with reference to management of ACME
so as project manager is able to prepare a change plan then this report is sent to change
control board (CCB).
 Under this step, the detail evaluation of alteration proposal is carried out within change
equest meetings. Furthermore, a decision for approval and rejection of the modifications is
taken by the panel of CCB.
 The next stage starts when the changes requests are accepted then the project manager
develops new plan.
 This is the final step where the existing system will updated with reference to new elements
and alteration (Cervone, 2006). The implementation of new modifications is going to take
place as per the predetermined guidelines.
(f) Ways to close the project (3.1)
After completing the whole project with reference to different stages of project plan, a post
project appraisal is scheduled. Here, the different activities are going to take place such as audit,
payment of dues, post application risks assessment and handover the project as its related
information to ACME Company (Kumaraswamy, 2011). In this section, project manager provides
detail information about the new production facility along with its specifications and unique
features.
In the contrary, it the project goals and objectives has not been achieved as per the plan
along with application of new system then that particular project may be closed out. On the other
hand, project inclusion is addressed as simplest form of closing the project. In this context, the
project manager has hand off the all kind of project deliverables to client organization by itself.
(g) Evaluation of complete project (3.3/3.4)
For examining the completed ACME project, project manager and organization uses wide
range of Performance Indicators can be used (Sommerville, 2011) in the context of present
investigation; the KPI's are associated with the project outcomes, utilization of resource, benefits
and effectiveness of new facility. Budgeted cost for work scheduled: It is identified as great tool to examine the total cost of
the project. In this process, management carries out a systematic comparison the actual cost
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as per the planned budget that is associated with each activity of project plan.
 Budgeted cost for work performed: This approach has found very effective for determining
the performance gap through which project manager is able to determine the failure or
success rate of ACME project (Toor and Ofori, 2008). By considering a detail evaluation of
the real cost of the proposed project, the performance can easily measured.
CONCLUSION
As per the above assessment it can be concluded that project manager considers several
aspects in order to manage production efficiency improvement plan of ACME as per the client
requirements such as time duration, cost, resources management etc. Furthermore, Co-ordination
and control have been addressed as most important factors that lead positive and negative impact on
the whole project plan. This report has found that project scheduling, cost and time estimation
techniques have identified as most important element in order to get ensure about success of the
project.
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