ATA Solar Project: International Project Management Report

This report examines the international project management of a solar energy project in East Timor, undertaken by Kate Greenwood, an international project manager. The project aimed to replace kerosene lamps with solar lighting, addressing environmental and health concerns. The report details the project's goals, the role of the Alternative Technology Association (ATA), and the challenges faced, including language barriers, contractor transparency, and licensing issues. It discusses risk assessment, stakeholder management (including ATA, the government, Google Inc., and local residents), and the use of PERT methodology and Gantt charts for project planning and monitoring. The report highlights the importance of governance board meetings, real-time reporting, and effective decision-making. It concludes with a summary of the project's key elements, emphasizing the importance of thorough planning, risk analysis, and stakeholder involvement for successful project implementation. The report provides an overview of the project lifecycle, outlining the steps taken to ensure smooth execution and highlighting the significance of communication and collaboration among stakeholders.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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International project management
Kate Greenwood, international project manager has undertaken a project which is about
providing lights in the village area. The goal was to eradicate the kerosene lamp system in East
Timor, Indonesia, and implement solar energy lighting in the village. There are certain thing that
came up while undergoing the project which she discussed in an interview with Allen. The
conversation between them have led to a conclusion which has been described in the report.
ATA is a non-profit organisation established in the year 1980. It stands for the
Alternative Technology Association. At present it has more than 5000 people working in
Australia itself. Village Lighting Scheme was the primary goal of the ATA. Twenty percent of
the East Timor are not connected to the main electricity source of the place, hence, an initiative
was taken in order to install around 2000 solar lights system in those places which was expected
to provide around twelve thousand houses with electricity. Previously, Kerosene lamps were in
use in East Timor. Kerosene is harmful for the environment as it causes pollution. Moreover,
inhaling in front of the kerosene lamp causes health hazards irrespective of age. The solar lights
were capable of changing lives for those people. This discussion is on the analysis of the project
undertaken by Kate Greenwood and the issues that were faced by her in the process of
undergoing the project.
According to the goal set up by the association this project was a huge project with very
limited resources with Kate Greenwood in charge of the project. As a project manager, Kate has
to do a lot of planning and programming. This included risk assessment, stakeholder
management, cost scheduling, methodology, setting up meetings with board and many more. The
successful implementation of any project planning can be ensured with the proper planning of
the risk management. These risk factors of the project life cycle has to be identified and reduced

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to avoid problems in future. Thus the project must be undertaken only after the risk factors are
identified and mitigated as the project had to be carried out very carefully. The management and
the engagement of the stakeholders are one of the very important step in proceeding with the
project. The evaluation of the stake holders can help if providing an effective risk evaluation.
The stakeholders are those people who are directly or indirectly associated with a project.
Starting from the client, investors to the project manager as well as the labour are considered to
be the stakeholders for a project. Thus managing the stakeholders and the engaging them
accordingly is a priority. The major stakeholders for the Solar Project of East Timor are the
Alternate Technology Association, the government, the Google Inc., and the residents of the East
Timor. The roles and the responsibilities of these stakeholders are very significant as they are the
only one running the project primarily. Apart from them, the minor stake holders includes the
local authorities of East Timor and the other project undertaken for similar purposes. Thus for
the smooth running of the project, the stakeholders are kept in mind and communication is done
on a regular basis. All the stakeholders have to perform their individual roles and responsibilities
in order to complete the project within time.
As the resources are very limited for Kate Greenwood, and ATA is a non-profit
organisation, publishing and promoting the project on the daily basis were not done, hence, the
stakeholders were limited. Promoting the project helps in getting much more stake holders of the
project, which was not received by the East Timor Solar project.
Now that the stakeholders are identified and the roles and the responsibilities are
distributed the risk identification is important in the project. The risk management is done by the
project manager, in this case Kate is the project manager. The risk management lifecycle consists
of certain steps they are, the identification of the risk, analysis of the risk and mitigation.

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According to the information provided by Kate Greenwood in her interviews certain risks has
been identified in the project. The first potential risk factor was the difficulty in understanding
the language of the local natives of the East Timor. The official language of the state is Tetum,
which was not properly understood properly by the ATA members. This along with the cultural
and the historical barriers of the place was challenging for the workers. Another risk was the
transparency and accountability of the project contractor. The contractors are contacted in such a
way that they carry out their work within the established timeline. Apart from this, duration of
the licence was one of the risk. ATA is based in Australia, thus to proceed with the project in
Timor Australian workers has to stay in Timor with proper authentication. Due to the challenges
faced by the organisation it was uncertain about how longer the Australian workers can stay in
East Timor due the duration of licence.
Apart from this, the lack of co-operation form the government, lack of co-operation from
the members of the community, shortage of equipment for installation and many more risk
factors are identified while assessment is run. After the risks are identified they are analysed,
such that the risk with highest priority can be reduced as soon as possible and the project can be
completed within the estimated deadline. Now that the risk is identified and the mitigation
techniques has been planned, the process of installation is scheduled. The progress update is
monitored by the ATA professionals and stakeholders are ordered accordingly to for the
installation of the solar services in the places where it is difficult to install. All of these risk are
presented in the form of matrix in order to provide a proper idea about their impact on the
project. The risk which lies within the red boxes are termed as the highly important risk factor
and has to be removed as soon as possible. The rest of the risk factors are also in need of
attention but for the timing they can be ignored.

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Serial
Number
Risk Description Person
Responsible
Impact Probability
1 Lack of government cooperation: Local
government
High Low
2 Language barriers: Natives Medium Low
3 Lack of cooperation from community
members
Natives High Medium
4 Cultural clashes: Cultural
understanding’s inclusion plays positive
influence on the project planning’s
quality, execution and completion.
Natives Low Low
5 Lack of transparency from contractor Contractors Medium Medium
6 Shortage of installation equipment Engineering
department
High High
7 Inability to secure license in time Government Medium High
8 Installation experts inconvenience Engineering
department
Low Medium
9 Installing solar power in locations with
powers projects in place
Engineering
departments
Low High
Risk assessment table:

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Impact
High 1 3 6
Medium 2 5 7
Low 4 8 9
Low Medium High
Probability
Figure 1: risk matrix
For the project to be completed smoothly without any issue PERT Methodology is
undertaken. PERT stands for Program Evaluation and Review Technique. This tool helps in
determining a time line for the execution of the project. The overview of the entire project can be
obtain with the proper usage of the tool. Hence, the project manager can easily identify the areas
of improvement as the daily work can be tracked using the PERT. The time line for the
completion of a particular task can also be scheduled with the help of this methodology. Most
importantly, new information can be updated in the PERT tool with the help of which optimal
values can be obtained. Other than these, Gantt chart can be put to the purpose which serves the
similar purpose but with the help of bars showing different work schedule in certain phase of the
project management.
As the process of monitoring and control of the project is undergone, the managers and
the other authorities like the administrators should have a clear idea about the structure and the
format of the project. The format of the project helps the stakeholders in understanding the
project with ease such that they develop interest in the project as well. The Project Management

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Planning Software is the best format used for planning projects. This is a very reliable software
that helps in evaluating the progress of the project with the help of average rate of performance.
The crucial details like those of the financial factors of the projects are also identified with the
help of this tool. This format helps in understanding the weekly update and the status of the
project in progress. The regular updates leads to the stake holders in understanding the
immediate requirement, expenditures and material needs of the project. The stakeholders of the
project remain updated on a regular basis with the usage of the PMPS.
Though the reliable techniques are in use regarding the updates of the project, it is
essential to arrange meetings or governance board meetings for effective progress in the
undertaken project. These governance board meet ups are extremely effective as the agents
scrutinizes the projects and check for the updates. They make necessary decisions regarding the
progress of the project. The representative of the company holding the contract of installation of
the solar cells in the area is one of the most important stakeholder who is needed to be present in
the meeting. These representatives explains their part of the expenses on the ATA project. This
financial updates resolves the problems arising for the finance. The management finally
determines the transparency and the reliability of the contractor after matching their brief upon
the expenditure on the project and the record beholden by the ATA. Another important stake
holder to be present in the board meeting is the community representative of Timor (East). The
primary reason for the presence of the community representative is feedback from the
community that is relayed by the rest to their representative and secondly due to the language
barrier. A representative is chosen in such a way where he or she is capable of understanding
both the languages, hence the benefits and constraints of the project can be clarified to the

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natives as well as ATA. The further precision of the project is determined by the board after
thorough information analysis from the stakeholders in the meeting.
At the end of each day a project report has to be submitted by the project manager to the
board and the CEO of the project. Effective decision making depends upon the information
gathered from the reports. The report must be presented to the CEO and the board in such a way
that the overview of the entire work is stated properly and it is well understood by all the
stakeholders as well. The real time reports must be generated and it is preferred by the CEO as
well by all as it have all the analysis of the performance as well as the cost incurred while the
project is in progress. After the real time report is received by the CEO of the organisation, the
CEOs and the Board come up to conclusions on how to proceed with the next steps. With the
help of the proper real time reports generated by the project managers the project requirements
and the conclusions can be met efficiently.
Thus, it can be concluded that planning a project is important for an organisation as well
as for the project. This brings up effective information regarding a project which includes the
planning of the project, analysis of the risk, stakeholders of the project and most importantly how
are the stake holders affected by the risk prevailing over the project. As a project manager of the
ATA Solar project for the East Timor, Kate Greenwood, has taken some decisions which she has
discussed in the interview along with some challenges that she has faced during the execution of
the project. In the end the she has also described how the report prepared by regarding the
progress of the project has benefited the CEO of the organisation and the Board of governance in
making effective decisions regarding the project. PERT tool and PMPS methods has been used
to ensure the effective and efficient running of the project that has been undertaken. Importance

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of the meeting and the presence of certain stakeholders in the meeting has also been discussed in
the assignment.

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