Project Management Plan: Analysis of Three Engineering Projects

This project management plan analyzes three engineering projects (A, B, and C), focusing on their key characteristics, strategic alignment, and potential risks. Project A involves developing a new asset management information system, highlighting stakeholder management challenges and the importance of effective communication. Project B centers on facility development in remote areas, addressing delays, financial risks, and the need for better integration. Project C concerns infrastructure development, emphasizing stakeholder management, environmental considerations, and the impact of potential citizen action. The plan includes reviews of each project, proposes solutions, and integrates elements like milestone tables and a Gantt chart to visualize project timelines and dependencies. The report concludes with an essay discussing project management concepts and challenges.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN

Table of Contents
QUESTION 1(A).............................................................................................................................1
1. THREE NOMINATED PROJECTS FOR DISCUSSION..........................................................1
2. KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECTS.....................................................................2
3. REVIEW OF THE PROJECT.....................................................................................................5
4. PLAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECTS TO ACHIEVE PROJECT OBJECTIVES......9
QUESTION 1 (B) REPORT TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS.......................................................12
Abstract......................................................................................................................................12
Summary of analysis..................................................................................................................12
Proposed solutions.....................................................................................................................13
Program management and strategic direction............................................................................14
QUESTION 2: ESSAY..................................................................................................................15
Introduction................................................................................................................................15
Discussion..................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................20
MILESTONE.................................................................................................................................20
GANTT CHART...........................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23

List of figures
Figure 1: Gantt chart......................................................................................................................22

List of table
Table 1: Milestone table................................................................................................................20

QUESTION 1(A)
1. THREE NOMINATED PROJECTS FOR DISCUSSION
The organization performs its roles in different engineering disciplines such as civil and
information technology. The board members majorly focus on the projects with strong business
cases and ensure that they are closely aligned to the engineering disciplines. The projects being
nominated for the discussion are:
Project A:
Project A is mainly concerned with the development of new asset management
information system and is a complex internal project for the engineering organization. The
system involves various small interconnected subsystems which are mutually dependent. The
project would be supervised by the specialists and the staff members of information technology
section according to the business case. There are some differences among the staff members
managing the project and the senior management regarding the directions which could, impact
over the delivery of project successfully. With the completion of this project, the organization
would be successfully able to enhance the asset management and execute advance monitoring
system which would lead the organization in saving huge amount into the cost of assets.
Project B:
This project is initiated with the intention to develop facility in the remote areas. This
project is found to be delayed due to the delays in the delivery of some important components
from suppliers. There are numerous risks related to this project and requires to be managed
effectively. This project is quite complex and includes different gaps such as lack in the well-
defined purpose of the project, poor planning for project outcomes, lack of risk assessment and
even involve expensive labour. It is also predicted to be penalized in case of delays in the
delivery of the project. Thus, it is important to identify the prospective solutions for the project
and ensure timely delivery of the same. The project is concerned with the civil engineering
discipline of the organization.
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Project C:
3rd project is the planning, design and implementation infrastructure development project
which is also concerned with the relevant engineering discipline of the organization. The project
being carried out on time and set cost is lacking in having proper stakeholder management plan
which enhances the concerns over the issues of stakeholder management and could develop the
critical situation in the project. The infrastructure is being developed in the environmentally
sensitive area and could impact the project and its delivery to the clients as well. Thus, proper
planning and alternative solutions would help in completing the project desired by the client
effectively.
2. KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECTS
Project A
 Fit with current organisational strategic direction: The project meets the requirements of
the organisational strategies and fulfils the desired objectives (Boyle, 2017). The project
is mainly initiated with the intention to develop new asset management system which
would help the organisation establish sustainable management of assets and would be
able to conduct its operations more effectively.
 Estimated cost: The expected cost of the project completion is nearly about $ 3 million
 Estimated duration: The managers have set a deadline of one year approximately to
execute the system in the process.
 Expected quality of deliverables: The project would provide with good quality
deliverables and would ensure proper management of assets in the business.
 Current expenditure, percentage complete, quality standard achieved: Nearly about 35%
of the project has been completed currently and meets the standards of quality as well.
 Key stakeholders: The stakeholders of this project mainly include the staff members and
the senior management of the organisation along with the expertise handling the system
(Aragonés-Beltrán and et al, 2017).
 Main risks: The major risk to this project is delays in the delivery or the scheduling risk
of the project along with the stakeholders’ issues.
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 Impact on the environment and society: The project however does not impact the
environment and society in any ways.
 Complexity: The project is highly complex and includes various difficult stages and
issues.
 Other factors: It includes the issue of communication between the staff members and the
senior management which leads to threaten the direction of project and could impact the
same as well (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
 Project integration factors: The factors such as project scope, objectives and plans have
contributed in completing the activities more successfully.
 Other significant factor impacting project: Significant differences among the staff
members managing the project and the senior management about the directions could
impact the project specifically.
Project B
 Fit with current organisational strategic direction: The project would help organisation in
expanding its engineering disciplines and focus over the successful strategic plans.
 Estimated cost: The project team had estimated the cost of project completion by nearly
about $ 8 million.
 Estimated duration: It would consume approximately 2 year to be completed.
 Expected quality of deliverables: Currently the quality of project deliverables is expected
to meet the set standards by the clients and would fulfil the requirements to a great extent
(Harrison and Lock, 2017).
 Percentage complete, quality standard achieved: It is observed that the project is been
completed by 25% till now but lacks in meeting the standards of planned cost along with
some specific major components.
 Key stakeholders: Employees, shareholders, investors and clients are the key stakeholders
of the project.
 Main risks: The project includes various risks such as exchange rate risk, financial risk,
scheduled risk and cost risk.
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 Impact on the environment and society: The project is concerned with the development of
facility in remote area which would thus lay a positive impact over both the society and
environment for long and short term specifically.
 Complexity: The level of complexity of this project is moderate (Nicholas and Steyn,
2017).
 Other factors: The project includes highly expensive human resources and even cost high
in procurement of the resources for the completion of the same.
 Project integration factors: There is huge gap in project charter along with project
purpose and thus results into lack of proper integration and fulfilling the deliverables
effectively.
 Other significant factor impacting on the project: The highly volatile financial climate
and the delays in timely completion could highly impact the project and could even lead
to high penalties (Martens and Carvalho, 2017).
Project C
 Fit with current organisational strategic direction: the project meets the organisational
strategic needs and would contribute in fulfilling the directions set by the board members
of organisation.
 Estimated cost of project: The planning, design and implementation infrastructure
development project is been estimated to cost about $ 20 million in value.
 Estimated duration: It is expected that it would be completed in four years starting from
planning to completion approximately.
 Expected quality of deliverables: The project currently is processing in well planned
manner ensuring the deliverables such as quality, time and cost (Carvalho and Rabechini,
2017).
 Percentage complete, quality standard achieved: The project have been initiated and even
achieved the desired quality standards.
 Key stakeholders: This project includes contractors, suppliers, employees, citizens of the
residential area and the investors as its stakeholders.
 Main risks: It includes risks such as stakeholder management issues, environmental risks,
operational risks and governance risk.
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 Impact on the environment and society: This project would have a short as well as a long
term impact over environment as the area includes rare slow growing orchids having
medicinal values and would be impacted by the development activities. It would even
impact the social concerns of the citizens and thus could lead the organisation towards
legal threats (Burtonshaw-Gunn, 2017).
 Complexity: The project does not include any complexities and is considered among the
usual projects of development in infrastructure.
 Other factors: The project lacks in proper stakeholder management and human resources
for the processes. There are even issues in procuring the desired area for infrastructure as
the Citizen action committee is even ready for court battle and prevent the project from
succeeding.
 Project integration factors: The factors integrating the project are project scope, planning,
cost management, scheduling and meeting the quality standards of the project
(Banihashemi and et al, 2017).
 Other significant factor impacting on the project: The project could be significantly
impacted by disagreement of client to spend more addition cost into it and move with the
alternative route of developing the infrastructure accepted by the Citizen Action
committee. This environmental issue could cost the organisation higher then investments
and even result in delays in the delivery of project as well.
3. REVIEW OF THE PROJECT
Project A
The project charter of the development of a new asset management information system
includes the major objective of defining effective asset management and providing ease to the
stakeholders. The organization with this project would be able to ensure effective management of
information along with the optimum utilization of the resources. In accordance with the new
strategic direction of the organization, the project would contribute to the advancement in asset
management and reduce the cost of business as well. The major stakeholders of this project
would be staff members of information technology and the senior management of the
organization (Martin and Haggerty, 2017). The stakeholders play an important role in the project
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as they contribute to planning and managing the activities to be carried out throughout the
project and complete the same successfully. In order to complete the project within the set time
frame, cost and standard quality, the staff would make use of better time management,
budgeting, and quality management in the project.
It has been identified that there are stakeholders’ issues and needs in the project which
would possibly lead in changes in the scopes of the project, For instance, having disagreements
among stakeholders towards the establishment of information system in particular department
could bring changes in the project activities. It is been found that the project would be completed
only when the differences among staff about directions and change control requests are managed
effectively. The change control requirements include the request of changing the project scopes
and evaluate the same accordingly. Initiating a project includes different possible issues such as
procurement, human resources and communication which could impact the project (Freeman,
2017). The current project includes the issues of communication between the stakeholders which
might result in the delays in project completion and the delivery of the same.
The major risk impacting the project delivery is the scheduling risk as there are numerous
change requests by the stakeholders which could lead in the delays in project completion; for
example, bringing change in the system would consume more time and cost which would thus
result in delays in the project. It is also required to execute effective change management within
the management so that to avoid any risks and influences over the project. The project is
considered to be sustainable approach as if the asset information system achieves its desired
goals; the business would be able to avail enhanced asset management information system along
with the advanced monitoring system for assets (Bryson, 2017). This project would help the
organization in optimizing the cost and would save millions of the main assets. It is also
important to develop an effective plan and design for the system so that to meet the desired
levels of quality standards and fulfil the objective successfully. The stakeholders must establish
mutual understanding and consent over the project scope so that to eradicate any changes and
ensure the delivery of project successfully.
Project B
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This project is been commenced with the objective to develop facility in remote areas and
facilitate the society with the same. The organization lacks in fulfilling the requirements of the
project charter and do not acquire a well-defined purpose of the same. It is very important for the
business to establish specific scope and purpose of the project so that to avail best efficiencies
out of it. The key stakeholders of this project are the constructors, suppliers, investors and the
management of the organization. The stakeholder role in the project is to identify, plan and
design the activities to be carried out throughout the project and reach the desired objectives
successfully (Kerzner, 2017). Based on the reviews, it has been found that the project does not
meet its set cost and time limits which leads towards a risk of delays in the project. The project
does not include change control requirements as there are no changes in scopes and purpose of
the initiatives. It is been found that the management must focus on the attainment of enhanced
resources so that to deliver the best outcome.
The delivery of project could be impacted due to the late procurement of resources,
unavailability of affordable human resources as the labour is quite expensive and difficult to
acquire. There are various risks into the project of delays in delivery and financial risks, for
instance, lack of proper utilization of financial resources would result in losses or increased cost
of the project to the organization. The organization even requires focusing on the risks such as
environmental risks and operational risks while initiating the project (Harrison and Lock, 2017).
There are high possibilities of delays in the delivery of the project on time and within cost, as
there are delays in procuring the major components required for the project which might delay
the achievement of set objectives.
Sustainability of a project is mainly the form of progress which fulfils the current
requirements without compromising the ability of future in order to meet their needs. In the
context of the present project, the organization ensures to manage the sustainability and the end
results of the project. The project would prove to be beneficial to the environment, society and
the organization and would not hamper any of the belongings. To achieve the objectives of the
project, it is also important for the organization to assess and manage the risks properly, establish
effective plans, procure required resources and manage the issues effectively (Kelly and
Chisholm, 2017). The project manager must focus on the development of proper scheduling and
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budget so that to avoid any penalties over the delays of the same and deliver the project
effectively.
Project C
The project charter of project C involves identifying the project scope, manager,
stakeholders and their roles within the project. It is important for the organization to manage the
activities based on the set objectives of the project. This project is mainly intended to develop
plan, design and implement infrastructure and serve the society with better facilities. The new
strategic direction of business states to meet the set objectives of the project by acquiring
advanced planning and design of the infrastructure. The project would help in expanding the
business activities and area of the organization in wider senses. The major stakeholders of this
project are the contractors, suppliers, employees, citizens of the residential area and the
investors. The role of stakeholders in the project is considered to be important as they hold their
ideas and interests in the project success (Kivilä and et al, 2017). The project would potentially
be completed within cost and time frame along with the set quality standards but includes
inefficient stakeholder management plan. The issues in stakeholder management could result in
impacting the project scopes or activities and its success eventually.
Proper stakeholder communication matrix would help the manager in managing the
stakeholders and reducing the risk of various issues out of the same. The project manager must
establish change control requirements so that to ensure effective change in the project without
hampering the outcome. In order to establish effective change control, the manager must define
the change request, submit and review request, define options and create response documents
and final decision and approve (Andriof and et al, 2017). These stages would help in ensuring
effective execution of change control and reducing the risk of stakeholder issues in the project.
The project also includes potential influences due to the human resources and
procurements of resources. For instance, the issues in the procurement of area for infrastructure
due to environmental impacts could hamper the project to the great extent. It has been identified
that the residents of the area are concerned that completion of the project over the provided basis
for significant property development and destruction of bushland, would forever change the
social fabric of their region and thus are resistant to the development. These issues could largely
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impact the delivery of project by the organization and could lead towards failure as well
(Burtonshaw-Gunn, 2017). Delivering the project includes risk over procurement, scheduling
risk, stakeholders risk and financial risk. For instance, the extra cost estimated over the
alternative could reduce the effectiveness of the project and even the client satisfaction.
Concerning the current project, it is very essential to maintain the sustainability of project
life cycle and bring economic, social and long-term environmental benefits of the project into
consideration. The initiative would help in measuring the sustainability and managing the same
effect. With reference to the sustainability of infrastructure project, it is been ensured that both
the social and environmental aspects would be focused and managed accordingly. The outcomes
of the project are expected to be sustainable for long-term and would prove to the benefit of the
organization as well (Martens and Carvalho, 2017). Environmental assessment is another
important aspect which would contribute to the achievement of the objective of the project as it
would help in ensuring the benefits of projects and convincing the residents for the development
successfully.
4. PLAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECTS TO ACHIEVE PROJECT
OBJECTIVES
Project A
While commencing the project of the asset management information system, the
organization came across various serious issues impacting the outcome specifically. The issues
influenced the project process and the outcome which could possibly result in loses or failure of
the same. The major issues found in this particular project were the stakeholder issues, change
control requests and the risk of delays in the delivery of the project (Nicholas and Steyn, 2017).
These issues are the major aspects being identified that could impact the results of the project
and lead the business directions downwards.
There is the communicational gap between the stakeholders and the staff member of the
system which led to the demand for changes in the scope of the project. Ineffective change
control requirements would direct the delays of project and failures in meeting the quality
standards specifically. The major risk impacting the project delivery is identified as the
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scheduling risk due to the numerous change requests made by the stakeholders which would
result in delays of project and issues within the organization. Failing to complete the project on
time and within the key performance indicators could raise the consequences of losing the client
trust and inefficiencies at the workplace as well (Fuller and et al, 2017). The project manager
must make use of effective approaches to manage the project and achieve the set objectives
successfully. The manager could make use of project life cycle approach, agile project
management process and critical chain approach. The agile project management process would
help the organization to conduct the project in small phases and complete the same effect.
The approach would help in managing the activities to be carried throughout the project
and achieve the objectives completely. The change requests by the stakeholders must be
evaluated and managed by change control requirements so that to avoid any delays and issues in
the quality parameters of the system. The project of developing the asset management
information system requires being evaluated and planned so that to maintain a smooth flow of
activities and meet the deadlines for completion. It is also important to ensure effective
communication among the stakeholders, exchanging their ideas upon project scope so that to
avoid any changes and complete the task within the time frame (Kerzner, 2017). The
organization must work upon the issues found in the current project and establish effective
approaches to manage them so that could undertake a more likely project in future. It is only
important to execute specific monitoring measures and practices so that to eradicate any issues in
future aspects.
Project B
This project specifically faced the issues of meeting deadlines and the set budget along
with some additional constraints. The manager of this project found that the project activities are
not moving as per the desired time and cost which would result in the delays of the same. There
are some additional issues such as procurement of resources, expensive labour, environmental
issues and financial issues which impacted the project particularly. It is important for the
organization to focus on the risks and manage the same with the help of effective project
management approaches (Lock, 2017). It has been found that there are high possibilities of
delays in the delivery of the project on time as there are delays in procurement of the major
components required for the project which might delay the achievement of set objectives. It is
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very important to ensure that the project is been supervised by the expertise and skilled personnel
as it would reduce the chances of facing any failures.
There are various consequences of not completing the project within the set standards and
time. The organization had to face severe financial risk or penalties for the act and would even
face failure in meeting the desired objectives of the project. The engineering discipline project
requires implementing effective measures and approaches so that to ensure the sustainability of
the project efficiently. The best approach for this project is the time and cost management which
would help in resolving the key issues and meet the set objectives. It is essential for the manager
to design and plan the project requirements and manage the resources accordingly (Cleden,
2017). Ensuring optimum utilization of resources would help the organization in making project
more successful and effective. For example, ordering the major components or resources from
suppliers on time by making proper plan would help in eliminating the risk of delays in
procurement and further in the construction of the same. The issues of labour must be managed
by the human resource management team having proper market research and negotiations over
expertise. The organization should undertake the projects in future on the basis of its resources
and the experiences. This would help the management in meeting the desired expectations more
successfully.
Project C
Project C includes the issues of stakeholder management and the sustainability
management issues which have resulted in impacting the project scopes or activities and its
success eventually. The project manager had faced issues with the stakeholders as it is a
development of a critical component which is being developed in an environmentally sensitive
area. It has been found that the residents of this area are concerned with the impact of the project
on the unique environment, which has one of the last known rare slow-growing orchids that have
potential medicinal value. It is important for the organization to acquire the consent of the
residents also as they are the stakeholder of the project and would impact the outcome of the
same (Schaltegger and et al, 2017). It is very important to convince the residents and make sure
that the project does not impact the environment and the surroundings.
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Proper stakeholder communication matrix would help the manager in managing the
stakeholders and reducing the risk of various issues out of the same. In addition to this, the
project also involves some potential influences by human resources and procurements of
resources resulting in the delays in project outcome. It has been identified that the delays in
project caused by the actions of Citizen Action committee have the potential to threaten the
completion and prevent the project from succeeding. Utilising the traditional project
management approach i.e. initiating, planning and design, execution, monitoring and controlling
and closing would help the organization in carrying out the project successfully (Andriof and et
al, 2017). It would help in identifying the relevant information about the area and the alternative
measures to meet the objectives effectively. The organization should also be initiating budgeting
and scheduling technique so that to meet the cost and time of client and complete the project
accordingly.
There are some consequences of losing the project also as the client is not willing to pay
any additional cost and time for the alternative option of developing the infrastructure. It is very
important to acquire sufficient information related to the project prior to finalization so that to
make better plans and design for the same. The project manager could also manage the issues by
establishing effective communication and making the stakeholders understand the project plan
displaying the benefits of the project effectively (Freeman and et al, 2017).
QUESTION 1 (B) REPORT TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Abstract
Project management refers to imitating, planning, implementation and closing of
activities related to a particular project. The project management approach is used for managing
operations and functions in a structured manner that helps to achieve the goals and objectives
more professional manner. The current report will consider three different project activities that
are going to be implemented into an organization. The report will provide detail information to
board of directors for potential issues and solutions to achieve the goals and objectives.
Summary of analysis
Project A:
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This project is design and developed for managing the strategic information flow of
organization for proper asset management. The deadline of this project is one year and cost is
about $3 million. This time and cost for this project is satisfactory and support to complete the
project with required quality aspects. In the current scenario, the project is 35% completed and
having compliance with the standard quality deliverables. In order to meet the outcome for this
project, the manager will requires the support from the key stakeholders like project team, staff
members and supplier of services (Teller and et al., 2014). However, the project is planned in
effective manner but project manager needs to deal with some risks like scheduling and meeting
the objectives of stakeholders.
Project B:
This project will help organization in development of strategic planning and expand the
engineering discipline. The estimated cost and time for this project is $8 million and 2 years. The
project is 25% completed but lacking to meet the required standards. The major stakeholders of
this project are employees, shareholder, investors and users. The project is design and developed
for establishing remote area for organization to improve the functionality of organization is
decision making for engineering discipline (Sánchez, 2015). The complexity level of this project
is moderate and project manager needs to deal with the risks of exchanges rate and fund
planning.
Project C:
This project is about design and implementation of infrastructure for organization to meet
the strategic direction and goals of the company. The estimated cost and time for this project is
$20 million and four years. The manager and project team is proceeding with the quality
approach to complete the project with required deliverables. This project will have short and
long term impact of the environment and society to grow in highly competitive environment
(Harrison and Lock, 2017). This project has less complexity level but lacks in the proper
management of human resources and stakeholder management. The key factors integrated with
project are scope planning, scheduling and implementation.
Proposed solutions
Project A:
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Feasibility analysis is essential for gaining the understanding about success and failure of
the project before implementing. For this project, the project management team is looking for
establishing the asset management information system. The feasibility of this project is good in
terms of planning and availability of resources to meet the quality objectives. The project
manager has plan for manage risks of project by developing communication level among the
team members. The clear goals and distribution of work is strength of this project which will
help to encourage the success of developing and implementing asset management information
system (Guo and et al., 2014). Moreover, project team needs to collect the feedback from the
staff about issues to develop plan that increase the simplicity in project delivery.
Project B:
The feasibility of this project is low as major risks in the project are related to cost and
schedules which have direct impact on the quality and outcome of the project. The development
of facility remote area for organization to develop a proper engineering interface to develop the
products and services is requires the involvement of stakeholders to achieve the goals. Moreover,
the cost of human resources for development and implementation of project is high that could
affect the approach of integration (Lock, 2017). The major concern of project manager would be
on minimizing the gap between charter and project purpose. Now, to increase the feasibility of
this project the management needs to develop plan for financial planning and procurement.
Project C:
The design and implementation of engineering project for increase the infrastructure of
organization, the project cost and time is feasible for this project. The project team is processing
with quality approach to meet the specification of this project and gaining the support from the
stakeholder. The current progress of this project is positive as development team has achieved
objectives in proposed manner. However, there are some risks that need to be encounter by the
project team to improve the success rate that involve environmental, governing and operational
risks (Webb, 2017). The disagreement of client and additional cost of the activities might affect
the process. For that, management needs to forecast the conditions and cost of the raw material.
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Program management and strategic direction
The assessment of projects can be done by using different tools like weight scoring model
and ranking. The project team will make concern over strategic goals and direction of
organization to improve the feasibility of projects. The cost and time for managing project
deliverables will be analyzed according to conditions of internal and external environments to
find issues and analysis of possible changes. In addition to this, to increase the acceptance of
these projects, the planning team will collect and evaluate the feedback from the board of
directors and staff members of organization (Brones and et al., 2014). This kind of approach will
help to make changes in the project deliverables and services areas to improve the acceptance.
Moreover, the strategic compliance of projects with organizational goals can be increased by
These projects have less complexity level but lacks in the proper management of human
resources and stakeholder management. The key factors integrated with projects are scope
planning, scheduling and implementation. The project team is concern about cost, environmental
and legal issues that could affect the process of implementing project that will support to
encourage the feasibility of project and alignment with strategic objectives of selected
organization. In order to meet the outcome for this project, the manager will requires the support
from the key stakeholders like project team, staff members and supplier of services. The proper
management of human and technical resources will also help to increase the feasibility and
achievement of perspectives of applied programmes (Heagney, 2016). The sustainability of
projects and outcome majorly depends on clarity of scope and allocation resources by having
positive relation with the suppliers. This kind of approach will help to increase the feasibility of
projects and minimization of risks.
QUESTION 2: ESSAY
Abstract
This paper will provide information about issues and changes that are having direct and
in direct impact on the project management activities of organization. The issues that project
manager are facing during execution and delivery of projects and how it will influence the whole
process. Moreover, skills and areas of expertise for project manager will also analyze.
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Introduction
The current essay will provide information about opinion for managers regarding issues
in the engineering project in next 20 years. It will explain issues and their impact on process of
organization. The major issues that identified through analysis will be discussed for further
improvement in the project management activities. Moreover, the essay will explain impact of
issues on engineering project execution and delivery. It will also discuss about additional
knowledge and skills that a manager is required for effective management of an engineering
project considering the issues and challenges.
Discussion
Issues faced by manager:
Project A:
For this project of asset management information system the manager is working hard to
maintain the sustainability and improve the compliance with the strategic direction of
organization. In upcoming time the project manager will face issues for engineering project will
involve prioritization of requirements for managing the information and maintain the value to
customer by dividing the project delivery into small functional increments. Continues
improvement in the technology is having significant impact on the decision making activities of
project manager to apply a specific technology and deliver the customized project (Kaiser and et
al., 2015). The specific functions that need to consider for upcoming time for asset management
information system involve analysis of design, build and testing of the features of the
engineering project. For example, the design and testing of information system will be done
through software and the changes in the level of monitoring could affect the approach of
manager to analyze the accuracy.
Project B:
The project management activities for a lean production project will involve the issues
regarding lack of time and cost management to develop the holistic integration of an engineering
project. The future trends for expanding engineering discipline for organization involve specific
components to deliver standard outcome and meet the objectives of clients. According to
analysis, the project manager will face issues regarding the proper determination of exchange
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rate, costing and scheduling of the tasks to maintain the quality. The development of remote
facility area is having significant impact of technical tool which will increase the complexity
level in planning of activities (Stark, 2015). For example, the frequent changes in the scope and
planning function of engineering discipline will affect the decision making for project manager.
In addition to this, the cost of human resources is also increasing that will influence the results of
delivering the project. The upcoming time will be highly unstable in financial term and have the
negative impact on the delivery time of the project.
Project C:
Design and implementation of infrastructure for managing the engineering activities the
consideration of future trends is essential for project manager. The upcoming issues in this
project will involve the consideration of stakeholders, environmental condition and compliance
with the rules and regulation. The cost of human resources and acceptance of changes will be
lower in future that causes the issues for project manager to maintain the consistency in work.
For example, the cost of human resources is increasing and identification of skilled labor is
difficult for the project manager. In order to maintain the development and implementation
function will be become difficult for project manager. The use of technical tools and changes in
environmental conditions will affect the organizational process and influence the process of
working (Nicholas, and Steyn, 2017). Moreover, the extended network for supply chain
management and lean vision of organization will also affect the design and implantation process
for infrastructure.
Impact of changes on execution
Project A
In order to manage the issues and maintain the smooth flow for completing and
implementing the project of asset management information system the project manager needs to
make changes in the plan. To overcome the gap in communication for this particular project,
manager needs to take control over the requirements and consider the objectives of the
stakeholders which will support to execute the project more effective manner and achieve the
proposed goals and objectives. The major issues of this project involve scheduling of the tasks
due to changes in the request made by the stakeholders (Zhang and et al., 2018). This kind of
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approach might affect the client trust and delivery of project with standard quality. For example,
use of agile project management approach will help the manager in execution of task with proper
quality and standards. By using this approach the manager will divide the project in small phases
and try to execute the changes to overcome the risks and meet the objectives.
Project B
The particular project is having issues like management of budget and consideration of
deadline. The project manager is also facing issues related to cost of labor, procurement and
changes in the environmental conditions that affecting the implementation of project. The delay
in project activities like procurement and management of human resources is having significant
impact on the achievement of objectives that could affect the quality that required for
maintaining the flow in the operational activities (Meng and Boyd, 2017). For example, delay in
the project will lead the project team to experience the high penalty and failure in the engineering
discipline of organization. However, the feasibility of this project is good as manager needs to
apply the lean project management technique that could support in proper management of time
and cost for each activity and overcome the gap due to changes. There is need of planning for
managing supply and utilization of raw material considering the Just-in-Time process. The
manager will conduct market research for human resources and negotiate for the cost to meet the
specification.
Project C
The changes and issues that project team is facing in this project involve lack of
stakeholder management, additional cost and skilled labor for managing the activities. The
project team is not analyzing alternative strategy and techniques for developing the design and
implementation of project by involving the needs of the stakeholders. The delay in project will
lead to lose the clients which will influence the achievement of strategic goals of the
organization. The engineering project must compile with environmental and financial changes to
execute the plan to meet the delivery objectives (Martinelli, and Milosevic, 2016). For this
project, the manager is using traditional approach for project management which affecting the
design and implementation of technical project. These issues will affect the execution and
delivery of this project. As per the analysis, the major issue with this project is lack of
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stakeholder management that might increase the risk of improvement in cost and delay in the
delivery of project. The use of stakeholder communication matrix will be useful for manager to
execute the plan and meet the objectives. The surrounding and environmental changes are also
having direct impact on implementation of project design for selected engineering organization
to maintain the success run and meet the objectives. The contracting terms are also needs to
define before execution of plan to meet the specification and achievement of objectives (Davis,
2014).
Additional knowledge and skills for manager
To develop, manage and execute the projects considering the requirements and activities
of selected organization, the role of project manager is important. The project manager must be
knowledgeable and skilled to anticipate the changes and execute the plan that reduces the impact
of changes and issues. The project manager has skills of maintaining communication, scheduling
of tasks, identification and management of risk and cost. The proper communication and
scheduling of tasks is beneficial for organization and project team to analyze and determine the
operations that are essential for meeting the objectives. Every project manager knows about
scheduling of tasks according to requirements and goals that proposed by the organization (Ko
and Kirsch, 2017). There are many tools that are used for scheduling of task that involve Gantt
chart and network diagram which provide a visual of schedule with tasks duration, dependency
and milestones. The risk and cost management knowledge and skills of a manager plays critical
role in success of a project. For example, if the project manager is lacking in identification and
planning of the risk elimination skills than the project lifecycle might get affected. In large
project like engineering unanticipated risks arise and affect the overall activities of project.
Moreover, cost management and planning of budget is one of the major skills for project
manager that improve the effectiveness and efficiency of project. There are certain financial
issues that could affect the planning of project activities and influence the whole process
(Bredillet and et al., 2015).
Now, the additional knowledge and skills that a manager requires for managing project
involve critical thinking, quality management, forecasting and time management. The knowledge
about these areas of project management function will help to encourage the quality of project
manager to analyze the issues and maintain the communication with stakeholders to meet the
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supply chain objectives and manage the issues that affecting the project management process.
The skill of critical thinking will help manager to increase the understanding about future
changes and factors that might affect the ob going process of delivering the project (Medina, and
Medina, 2014). For example, uses of autopilot process for managing the project management
functions hinder the opportunities of exploring the new ideas and approaches to meet the
objectives. Hence, the skills of critical thinking will be beneficial for project manager and project
event to analyze the issues and develop the prior plan that could help in execution of plan and
implementation of changes. In addition to this, forecasting and anticipation of changes is
essential for project manager to analyze the issues and potential changes to improve the
feasibility of project and achievement of goals. Forecasting and planning of the operations are
major skills for a project manager to manage the tasks and manage the time (Taylor, 2016). The
process that takes time for execution and requires analysis of features and standards that could
increase the capabilities of project is helpful for achievement of objectives. Additionally, the
time management skill of project manager is essential to improve the delivery time and execution
of operations in given time frame. The proper estimation of time will help to determine the
resources and overcome the issues of improvement in the cost.
Conclusion
From the study, it can be considered that issues and changes that analyzed for each
project are having significant impact on success and operational activities. The essay has
discussed about specific issues for each project and role of project manager to execute and
deliver the project according to required standards focusing on the quality. Moreover, the essay
has provided brief information about additional knowledge and skills that required for project
manager to meet the specification of plan and maintain the uninterrupted progress of each
project.
MILESTONE
Table 1: Milestone table
Task Name
Duratio
n Start Finish Predecessors
Project 8 wks Fri 18-05-18 Thu 12-07-18
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Requirement
analysis 1 wk Fri 18-05-18 Thu 24-05-18
Identification
method 1 wk Fri 25-05-18 Thu 31-05-18 2
Selection
method 1 wk Fri 01-06-18 Thu 07-06-18 2,3
Planning of
activities 1 wk Fri 25-05-18 Thu 31-05-18 2
Budget 1 wk Fri 08-06-18 Thu 14-06-18 3,4
Implementation 1 wk Fri 15-06-18 Thu 21-06-18 5,6
Monitoring 1 wk Fri 22-06-18 Thu 28-06-18 7
Changes 1 wk Fri 29-06-18 Thu 05-07-18 8
Closing 1 wk Fri 06-07-18 Thu 12-07-18 8,9
The major activities for this project for selected organization will involve requirements
analysis, identification of methods, selection of method, planning of the resources, budget
planning and allocation and implementation. The project manager will monitor activities and
operations according to proposed manner to identify the effectiveness of asset management,
development of remote area and implementation of design and infrastructure. After monitoring
the manager will identify the changes and apply new functions to meet the specification. If the
owner and organization will be satisfied with function and project meet their objective than the
project team will close the project. The duration of this project is 8 weeks to complete it with
specification.
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GANTT CHART
Figure 1: Gantt chart
22

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