Report: Analysis of PLC Project Management Fundamentals

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a PLC project, covering various aspects of project management. It begins with an abstract summarizing the key findings, including the role of iron triangular parameters (cost, time, scope) in defining project goals and objectives, and the importance of a risk register in identifying and mitigating potential risks like budget increases, resource constraints, and delays. The report then delves into project planning, including network diagrams, Gantt charts, and a detailed budget calculation of £2,602,500. The progress of the project is assessed after 17 weeks, revealing delays of 7-8 weeks. Finally, the report includes an earned value analysis with key metrics such as BCWS (23.33), BCWP (13.90), and EAC (£9.73), offering insights into project performance and cost management, and recommendations.

Fundamental of project
management
1

ABSTRACT
The report is based on project management and undertaking of PLC project. It has been
described about role of iron triangular parameter in forming goals. Also, certain risks like
increase is budget, delay in completion etc has been mentioned in risk register along with some
mitigation measures. Besides, that it is explained about network diagram and Gantt chart of
entire project. The budget of project is calculated that is 2602500. Furthermore, progress of
project and its comparison has been done after 17 week and there is delay of 7 -8 weeks. Also,
earned value analysis of project is done which is BCWS is 23.33 and BCWP is 13.90. and EAC
of project is £9.73.
2

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
PART A...........................................................................................................................................4
1. Project definition..........................................................................................................................4
a). Importance of iron triangular parameters in project objective...............................................4
b) Risk register.............................................................................................................................5
2. Planning and cost ........................................................................................................................7
a) Network diagram ....................................................................................................................7
Ghantt chart..................................................................................................................................8
c) Budget of project ..................................................................................................................10
3. Managing progress and spending...............................................................................................10
a) Determine the planned progress after 17 weeks ..................................................................11
b) Actual progress values of project from revised table............................................................11
4 Earned value analysis and acceleration.......................................................................................13
A) Earned value.........................................................................................................................13
Acceleration...............................................................................................................................14
PART B..........................................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
3

INTRODUCTION
Project management is process of planning, organising, initiating, completion, etc of specific
tasks and objectives to attain particular goals and objectives. A project needs to be broken down
into various activities so that it becomes easy to plan and organize things. However, for every
small and large project this concept is followed. Also, it depends on project manager as well that
how this concept is applied into it. For manager it is essential to monitor progress so that project
goes in right direction and also the impact of risk is mitigated as well. However, there are some
Factor which affects on project such as stakeholders expectations, environment, etc (Klemt-
Albert, Hagedorn, and Pullmann, 2018)
In this it wll be discussed about role of iron triangular parameter in forming goals. Also, it will
be mentioned risk register of PLC project along with some mitigation measures. Besides, that it
will be explained about network diagram and Gantt chart of entire project. The budget of project
will be calculated as well. Furthermore, progress of project and its comparison will be done after
17 weeks. Also, earned value analysis of project will be done.
PART A
1. Project definition
a). Importance of iron triangular parameters in project objective
In every project there are basically 3 components which is essential in it. They are cost,
time and scope. So, the project manager has to defined these all in effective way so that project is
successfully completed. However, on basis of goals and objectives project scope is defined.
Along with it, there are several parameters which is followed in it (Coccia, 2017). They help in
proper planning and organising of activities in efficient way. Usually, the iron triangular
parameters defines interrelationship between cost, time and scope. This makes it easy for project
manager to find out that how change in any one of them will impact on another. Besides, by
understanding relationship between them manager tries to maintain balance between it. Also, it
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provide description about this to manager so accordingly changes are made in plans and tasks.
Hence, the parameters are mentioned as :
Cost- here,all cost and expense which will be incurred during whole project is mentioned. It
contains fixed, variable, labour costs, etc. hence on basis of it budget is estimated. This gives
insight to manager about benchmark of cost. Thus, if there occur any variance in cost then
manager is able to compare it with budget and accordingly it is controlled and monitored. Any
affect on cost result in impact on scope and time as well.
Time- in this it gives estimate of time required to completed project. The manager prepare
schedule of activities and start and end date of each tasks. So, if there is any delay in start or
finish of any task then it directly affect on scope and cost. There is rise in cost a more resources
are required. Besides, scope is modified as well. It enables manager to maintain and control
progress of project (Edwards, 2018).
Scope – scope includes all the tasks which are to be carried out in order to complete project in
specified time. The scope is developed on basis of goals and objectives and stakeholder
expectations. Therefore, any change in scope impact on cost and time. There is increase in both
time as well as cost. So, project manager prioritize task to control its impact.
Thus, it is evaluated that iron triangular parameters are significant in determining impact
of core elements of project on one another.
b) Risk register
In a project there are various types of risks which occurs. These risks highly impact on
project goals and its completion. So, it is necessary for manager to identify those risk an take
appropriate measure to minimise its impact. For that a risk register tool is used. It helps in
determining the types of risks, its likelihood, factor, etc. besides that, it include mitigation
measures as well that what measure is take for what type of risk. Thus, it makes it easy for
project manager to mitigate impact on risk. The main purpose of risk register is it provide in
depth detail and make manager aware about risks. Therefore, on right time effective and proper
measures are taken and risk impact is minimised (Klemt-Albert, Hagedorn, and Pullmann,
2018). So, in PLC project as well the risk register is as below :
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Risk Likelihood Impact Mitigation
measures
Risk factor
1= low
5 = high
Increase in budget 4 5 The budget will
be properly
estimated with
help of expert and
additional cost
will be mentioned
in it
5
Lack of resources 4 5 Here, resources
will be allocated
as per need of
tasks and its
monitoring will
be done.
5
Delay in
completion
3 4 Entire project
progress will be
monitored every
week.
4
Technical fault 2 3 Proper testing
will be done of all
equipments.
3
Damage of
equipment during
transportation
2 3 There will be use
of boxes for it and
safety measures
are taken.
4
Software failure 4 5 There will be
proper testing
5
6

done again and
again. Back up
software will be
used as well.
Error in product
line
3 4 In this high tech
and advance
software will be
used to monitor it.
3
Lack of labor 4 5 Back up plan will
be made.
4
Improper tool for
training
3 4 All tools will be
checked and
tested .
4
Failure of
production of
product
4 5 Initially testing
will be done and
automated
software will be
used to control
process.
5
2. Planning and cost
In this stage the planning is done and on basis of it cost of each task is determined. This is
crucial stage as entire success of project is dependent on it. If planning is not done properly then
it lead to failure of project. However, cost determined is based on budget. In this team members
get detailed info on how much cost is incurred on which stage.
a) Network diagram
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Ghantt chart
The ghant chart is part of network diagram and consists of graphs of overall project tasks.
It is a step by step procedure which state tasks to be completed one by one. It provide description
of start and end date of each task (Kordijazi and Silva, 2018). Moreover, manager is able to
identify and analyse that when each task begin and end and how may days, weeks it takes to
finish it. In addition, ghantt chart shows flow of activities and its connection between them.
Here, predecessors are mentioned in it which shows which task gets started after other one and
how they all are interrelated to one another. The ghantt chart is below
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Project initiation 1 wk Mon 7/8/19 Fri 7/12/19
Commission of design of 3 wks Mon 7/15/19 Fri 8/2/19 1
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factory
Commission of outline
design of automation
equipment
2 wks Mon 7/15/19 Fri 7/26/19 1
Commission outiline- design
inverter product 1 wk Mon 7/15/19 Fri 7/19/19 1
Detailed design of factory 8 wks Mon 8/5/19 Fri 9/27/19 2
Detailed design of
automation equipment and
inverter product
8 wks Mon 7/29/19 Fri 9/20/19 3,4
Commission and develop
software for automation
equipment and inverter
product
10 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 11/29/19 6
manufacture automatiton
equipment 10 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 11/29/19 6
manufacture modular factory
units 9 wks Mon 9/30/19 Fri 11/29/19 5,6
transport and construct
modular factory on site in
germany
8 wks Mon 12/2/19 Fri 1/24/20 9
test automation equipment 6 wks Mon 12/2/19 Fri 1/10/20 7,8
transport automation
equipment to new factory 4 wks Mon 1/13/20 Fri 2/7/20 11
install automation in new
factory 6 wks Mon 2/10/20 Fri 3/20/20 9,12
install software for
automation equipment 4 wks Mon 3/23/20 Fri 4/17/20 13
install software for inverter 5 wks Mon 4/20/20 Fri 5/22/20 7,14
9

product line
test inverter product line 6 wks Mon 5/25/20 Fri 7/3/20 14,15
handovr and train TTf
engineer 6 wks Mon 7/6/20 Fri 8/14/20 16
project closure 0 wks Mon 8/17/20 Mon 8/17/20 17
c) Budget of project
Budget is estimation of cost incurred in project. It is a prepared for a particular project
and time period. It includes various types of costs such as fixed, variable, labor, etc. Generally,
main purpose of budget is to provide estimate of costs. Then, accordingly project manager
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allocate resources to each tasks (McGrath, O'Toole, and Canning, 2019). The budget can vary
on basis of type and nature of project. It plays vital role as costs resources are allocated and
proper monitoring is done of its utilization.
Expenses
Per
hour
Electrician 69 1656000
Technician 39 936000
2 Assistant
Project
Manager
and 2
Project
Planner 5500 5500
2
Commercial
Manager 2750*2 5000
Total 2602500
The above table determine overall budget of PLC project. It shows that total amount
required is 2602500. in this the expense of electrician is 1656000 and of technician is 936000.
this cost is variable as it varies on basis of per hour worked. Here, fixed cost is also included in it
which is of 2 assistant project manager and planner.
3. Managing progress and spending
This stage is very crucial as it allow project manager to measure progress with cost. Here,
it is identified that whether cost incurred is according to planned progress or not. If cost incurred
is high then manager find out reason behind it. So, the main purpose of manager is to maintain
balance between progress and spending. It allows in making changes in plans as well as budget.
Thus, it is ensured that project moves in right direction and as per planning done.
a) Determine the planned progress after 17 weeks
Task Planned Actual
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PI 1 1
A 3 3
B 2 2
C 1 1
D 8 6
E 8 8
F 10 3
G 10 4
H 9 4
It can be analyzed from above that PLC project progress is 100% till 4 tasks. But after
that as coming further to F G H task the progress is delayed and there is only 35% completion of
each tasks. Thus, it will highly affect on further activities of project. It might incur more cost
require to complete it on time.
b) Actual progress values of project from revised table
In this, a table is formed in which comparison is done between actual and planned
progress of project (Rosa, and Rozenfeld, 2016). Then, ghantt chart is developed again to find
out how much more time is required for its completion. Along with it, manager can now find out
start and end date of task and do further planning accordingly. Besides, prioritize tasks are found
out and they are completed first.
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Project initiation 1 wk Mon 7/8/19 Fri 7/12/19
Commission of design of
factory 3 wks Mon 7/15/19 Fri 8/2/19 1
Commission of outline
design of automation
2 wks Mon 7/15/19 Fri 7/26/19 1
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equipment
Commission outiline- design
inverter product 1 wk Mon 7/15/19 Fri 7/19/19 1
Detailed design of factory 6 wks Mon 8/5/19 Fri 9/13/19 2
Detailed design of
automation equipment and
inverter product
8 wks Mon 7/29/19 Fri 9/20/19 3,4
Commission and develop
software for automation
equipment and inverter
product
3 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 10/11/19 6
manufacture automatiton
equipment 4 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 10/18/19 6
manufacture modular factory
units 5 wks Mon 9/23/19 Fri 10/25/19 5,6
transport and construct
modular factory on site in
germany
8 wks Mon 10/28/19 Fri 12/20/19 9
test automation equipment 6 wks Mon 10/21/19 Fri 11/29/19 7,8
transport automation
equipment to new factory 4 wks Mon 12/2/19 Fri 12/27/19 11
install automation in new
factory 6 wks Mon 12/30/19 Fri 2/7/20 9,12
install software for
automation equipment 4 wks Mon 2/10/20 Fri 3/6/20 13
install software for inverter
product line 5 wks Mon 3/9/20 Fri 4/10/20 7,14
test inverter product line 6 wks Mon 4/13/20 Fri 5/22/20 14,15
handovr and train TTf 6 wks Mon 5/25/20 Fri 7/3/20 16
13

engineer
project closure 0 wks Fri 7/3/20 Fri 7/3/20 17
It can be identified from above that as project progress is lacking behind there will be
delay in its completion. Hence, it is found that there will be delay of 7 – 8 weeks. So, project
closure date is 7/3/20.
4 Earned value analysis and acceleration
A) Earned value
EVA is method of analysis project performance along with it progress. IN this certain value and
costs are identified to find out result. Usually, ACWP, BBCWP is calculated. Moreover, CPI and
SPI help in evaluating progress of project. With that, it js easy to find out whether performance is
according to progress or not. Besides, whether project value is generated from it or Not.
Furthermore, comparison is done by measuring these with project value so that profitability of
project is determined.
Activit
y Planned (%) Actual (%)
Planned Cost
(£) Actual Cost (£)
BCWS
(£) BCWP (£) ACWP (£)
PI 1 1 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.58
A 1 1 2.91 2.91 2.91 2.91 5.82
B 1 1 1.72 1.72 1.72 1.72 3.44
C 1 1 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 3.06
D 1 0.8 4.08 0.38 4.08 0.304 4.384
E 1 1 5.97 5.97 5.97 5.97 11.94
F 1 0.35 1.32 0.46 1.32 0.161 1.481
G 1 0.35 2.76 0.96 2.76 0.336 3.096
H 1 0.5 2.75 1.375 2.75 0.6875 3.4375
Total 23.33 13.90 37.2385
By interpreting table it is stated that the BCWS is 23.33 and BCWP is 13.90.
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B)
EAC = BAC/ CPI
For entire project BAC = £58.50
So, EAC= 58.50/ 6.01
EAC= £9.73
by above it is said that EAC of project is £9.73.
Acceleration
c) By analysing the all above options it is stated that option N is mot feasible in it. This is
because it here PLC team will be working overtime and in weekends. So, it will enable in
completing of tasks which is lacking behind. Besides that, there are 6 members in PLC team so
they can easily finish work (Schaltegger, 2017). Apart from it, the cost incurred on 6 people for
1 week is £25, 000 which is very less as compared to other alternatives. Moreover, there is no
additional requirement of labor in it. However, in option F 3 weeks are require and fix cost is
£300. in G 3 week is require and cost is too high whereas in option 2 week is needed and cost is
high as well. Therefore, option N can be mostly preferred by project manager.
PART B
As i have undertaken this project management for first time so i faced certain difficulties in it.
Here, first of all i analysed the overall assignment and found that what it is all about and how i
will be able to do this. Apart from it, i was not having any experience in doing such type of
assignment. There has to be change on things related to it. In this i faced certain challenges
which affected on my performance and growth ws well. The major challenge was to use project
management and make Gantt chart in it. I was not having any idea of how to use it as it consists
of many things such as auto and manual schedule, resources, budget, preceeders, etc so, i was
confused in it that what I have it use and what not. However, i realized that in project
management the main task is to develop Gantt chart. It is because it gives insight on overall
activity and its start amd end date. So, it was difficult for me to do it. In addition, i did not know
how to draw network diagram as it is automatically generated through Gantt chart. Another
challenge which i faced was not able to calculate earned value analysis and prepare budget of
project. This is because i was not having any experience and knowledge about finance. Besides,
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the calculation was complex as it contained many types of figure, cost, etc thus i was not able to
identify and differentiate what is fixed and variable cost. Furthermore, i did not know about what
formula is applied in EVA and what is method of calculating it. Even when i tried i was not able
to understand it and apply formula properly. Thus, it lead to incorrect outcomes and value.
I was also not able to identify risk that occurred within project. I had prepared eisk register
before as well but it was only for small project where risk was mentioned in it. Therefore, with
my experience i also determined its level and likelihood. But in this case it was tough for me to
find out what type of risk can occur in it and how it can impact on project. Henceforth, what
level of each risk is and its likelihood of occurrence as well. I was not able to determine
mitigation measures that how risk impact can be reduced.
In my opinion, a project manager have ot perform various types of roles and duties in a project.
This is because project success and failure depends on him. So, by doing this project i found that
there are several characteristics which is required to become a good project manager. Leadership
is main on this as it allows manager to act as leader and manager both at same time. It allows
them to guide and direct team members of how to perform tasks in proper and effective way.
Also, if task is not completed on time then manager has to motivate and inspire member to put
more efforts in it. Another characteristic required is decision making skills. The manager should
make effective decision in right time. Besides, if there occurs anu complex situation then
manager is able to take proper decision. It enables in smooth flow of project activity and
completion of goals in time. Also, if there occurs any issue then manager should interrupt and
take decision in it. Along with it, communication skills is essential for becoming a good project
manager. The manager need to communicate with both team member and top management. In
this data and info is shared about project tasks, deadline, objectives, etc similarly, manager
monitor progress of project and prepare report for it. This is then deliver and also stakeholders
needs are identified. Communication is important as it allows in finding out any issues and
solving it. Moreover, member are informed about their roles, plan of project, etc so, i think that
these are several characteristics which is required of a good project manager. But there are some
others as well such as creativity, interpersonal skills, which is required in it. These all benefit
manager ot a great extent. Thus, by improving this skiit will be easy for manager to successfully
complete project in effective way.
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CONCLUSION
From above it is concluded that there are many fundamental of project management like
ghannt chart, network diagram, cost, time, progress, etc. these all are essential in completion of
project. However, the importance of iron triangular parameter is it defines interrelationship
between 3 core elements that are cost, time and scope and how any change in one results in
impact on another. Thus, project manager is able to control its impact. Furthermore, risk register
consists of many things such as likelihood, impact of risk, mitigation measures, in PLC project
risk like lack of labor, rise in cost, etc. can occur. The ghantt chart is graphical representation of
tasks with its start and end date of project. In this project budget require is 2602500. besides,
there is delay in progress of project of up to 7- 8 weeks. Earned value analysis measure project
performance and its progress. In PLC project the BCWS is 23.33 and BCWP is 13.90. and EAC
of project is £9.73. along it is found that there are various challenges been faced in project
management. They are making of ghannt chart, doing financial calculation and earned value
analysis. Also, a project manager must possess several features like decision making,
communication and leadership skills.
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REFERENCES
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Standardised BIM Models by a Fundamental Transformation of Collaboration
Processes. In Workshop of the European Group for Intelligent Computing in
Engineering (pp. 470-486). Springer, Cham.
Kordijazi, A. and Silva, M., 2018, November. Advancing Systematic and Fundamental Changes
in Agricultural Water Resources Management. In 2018 IEEE Conference on
Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech) (pp. 1-2). IEEE.
McGrath, H., O'Toole, T. and Canning, L., 2019. Coopetition: a fundamental feature of
entrepreneurial firms' collaborative dynamics. Journal of Business & Industrial
Marketing.
Rosa, M. and Rozenfeld, H., 2016. Looking for fundamental elements of design thinking. In DS
84: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2016 14th International Design Conference (pp. 1115-
1124).
Schaltegger, S., 2017. Sustainability as a fundamental challenge for management accountants.
In The Role of the Management Accountant (pp. 274-291). Routledge.
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