Project Management Practices at GCS: A Comprehensive Report

This report, prepared for BUSM1278, analyzes project management practices at Green Computing Services (GCS) from a project management consultant's perspective. It addresses the lack of a PM plan and stakeholder management plan within GCS. The report examines the purpose and significance of a project charter, describing its role in identifying stakeholders and defining responsibilities. It outlines the components of a project management plan and the importance of a risk management plan, including a risk management table identifying and assessing various project risks like lack of a track record, application migration, and communication issues. The report also identifies and explains the significance of various project stakeholders, both internal and external, and provides a stakeholder mapping. Additionally, it discusses the linkages between a stakeholder management plan and a communications management plan, concluding with recommendations to improve project outcomes. The report incorporates academic references to support its arguments, aiming to provide valuable insights for the executive management team.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
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Total words: 2861

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
Executive Summary
There are diverse categories of challenges related with construction projects such as
maintaining the schedule in each phase of the project, maintaining the applications required
in the project, managing the conflicts among the project team members and managing the
communication issues among the stakeholders of the project. Detailed description of PM
plan, stakeholder mapping shall also be discussed in this report. The most significant
characteristic feature of this report is the critical analysis of the discussions from the
perspective of reputed scholars.
The success of a project is maintained using the risk identification ability of the project
managers. Identification of the risks is very much significant for the successful completion of
any constriction project. Communication among the stakeholders is very much required to
address most of the risks which are associated with the construction projects. There are
diverse categories of risk identification methods which are used in the construction projects
such as brainstorming, SWOT analysis and risk surveys.
This report shall be identifying the risk associated with a construction project and mention the
mitigation strategies from the perspective of a PM consultant. The role and influence of each
stakeholder shall be illustrated in this report as well. Along with that this report shall also
discuss the relationship between communication plan and stakeholder management plan.
The report shall be very much significant to conclude that project charter is very much useful
to maintain the transparency of the project and effective communication is also one of the key
success criteria of most of the complex projects.
Recommendations to improve the quality of the final outcome of the project shall be listed in
the concluding section of this report as well.
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Describe the purpose of a project charter...............................................................................3
Description of project management plan...............................................................................4
Development of the document...............................................................................................4
Discuss the purpose and importance of a risk management plan...........................................5
Risk Management Table........................................................................................................0
3. Identification of project stakeholder......................................................................................0
Explanation of the significance of each stakeholder..............................................................1
Stakeholder mapping..............................................................................................................2
Linkages between a stakeholder management plan (SMP) and a communications
management plan (CMP).......................................................................................................4
Stakeholder and communications issues in the stonework’s project.....................................4
Resolving the issues...............................................................................................................4
4. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................6
5. Recommendation....................................................................................................................6
6. Reference................................................................................................................................7
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1. Introduction
Project Management (PM) practices such as documentation, establishment of
effective project plan, clarify responsibilities of the stakeholders involved in the project, and
effective communication plan is very much required for the successful complex of any
complex projects (Project Management Institute. 2017b). PMBOK 6th edition is one of the
most widely used PM methodology which are used in complex projects (Project Management
Institute. 2017a). The benefits of the business value of a complex project can be understood
with the help of this PM methodology.
The role of a PM consultant is also very much essential to address both the challenges
associated with any complex project and selection of the methodologies in the project (Wen
and Lu 2017). The oversight and the leadership capabilities of the PM consultants is very
much essential to address the real world issues faced by the stakeholders of a complex
project.
Explanation of the problem: Green Computing Services do not have a PM plan and
stakeholder management plan and it is the biggest problem which is faced in this commercial
setting.
The prime objective of this report is to focus on the lack of PM plan and the significance of
stakeholder management plan in GCS from the perspective of a PM consultant. All the
literature discussions of this report is taken from secondary sources where popular scholars
have stated their opinion about the selected topic of this report.
Benefits from the report: The executive management team will be very much benefitted
from this report as it will be having numerous categories of PM theory and diagrams for
discussing two PM practices.
2. Describe the purpose of a project charter
It is defined as the type of document which are very much useful to understand the
proceedings of any kind of project (Slabá 2016). This formal document identifies the
stakeholders involved in the project, along with this this document can also help in
comprehend the responsibility of each of the stakeholders involved in the project. The power
and influence of each of the stakeholders can also be identified from a project charter. Project
charter is very much significant to identify the level of authority of the prime stakeholder of
project.
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According to Singh, Chinyio and Suresh (2018), the objectives of a project can be
understood in a systemized modus with the help of a project charter. The researcher of this
journal suggested that the milestones of a project can also be understood with the help of a
project charter.
Description of project management plan
The formal approved document from the investors of a project which contains the
detailed description of the resources involved in the project is defined as the PM plan (Reddel
et al. 2017). The overall planning of a project can be identified with the help of the PM plan.
The in-scope and out-scope of a project can also be identified with the help of an effective
PM plan. There are sub sections in a PM plan such as change management plan,
configuration plan, and process improvement plan.
As described by Raum (2018), goals and deliverables of a project can be maintained
in the first place with the help of PM plan. The researcher of this journal highlighted that
most of the risks involved in a complex project can be identified from a PM plan.
Development of the document
The role of the project manager is important for the creation of a PM plan for a
complex project (Whitaker 2016). All the resources who will be playing a key role in a
project are consulted before the creation of a PM plan. This plan is usually created after a
meeting with all the stakeholders involved in the project.
According to Pratami, Puspitasari and Haryono (2017), PM plan is created after a kick
meeting is held among the team members of a project. The journal helped in understanding
that development of the PM plan before the start of ta project is very much essential to
improve the success rate of a project.
Thus, based on the case study it can be said that the development of an effective PM plan
prior to the start of the project could have improved the transparency of the project. The
entire project could have been managed in a more systemized modus with the help of the PM
plan as well.
Discuss the purpose and importance of a risk management plan
There are numerous risks involved in any project which is addressed with the help of
a risk management plan (Pheng 2018). The role of the risk manager and the project manager
of a project is very much essential to address the risks of a project in a systemized modus.
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According to Mathie et al. (2018), risk management plan can ensure the success of
any complex project. The researcher of this journal helped in understanding that the impact
as well as the probability of each of the risks involved in a project can be addressed in the
first place with the help of an effective risk management plan.
The prime risks involved in this case study are lack of track record of the road and
bridge projects is the prime risk related with this project. Migration of the application
from the client infrastructure to the GCS infrastructure is one of the other risk related
with this project, along with that maintenance and supporting a billing application for the
retail chain is the other major risk involved in this project. Conflict among the team
members can also be considered as a risk of this project as well, along with this risk lack of
effective communication is also considered as one of the risks of this project.
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Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
Risk Management Table
No Rank Risk Description Category Root Cause Potential
Responses
Risk Owner Probability
(0-10)
Impact
(0-10)
Score
R1 3 Lack of track
record of the
road and
bridge
projects
Lack of
information
about the
horizontal
and vertical
markets can
have a huge
impact on the
outcome of
this project.
Performanc
e issue
Lack of
project
charter
Creation of a
project charter
Program
manager
5 5 25
R2 5 Migration of
the
application
from the
client
infrastructure
to the GCS
Increase in
the
infrastructure
cost might
have an
impact on the
milestones of
Deadline
issue
Lack of
project
charter
Creation of
project
schedule.
Project
manager
4 4 16

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
infrastructure this project.
R3 4 Maintenance
and
supporting a
billing
application
Cost of the
project might
get increased
due to this
risk
Performanc
e issue
Lack of cost
management
plan
Creation of
cost
management
plan
Project
manager
5 4 20
R4 2 Conflict
among the
team
members
Quality of
the final
outcome of
the project
can be
reduced due
to this risk.
Quality
issue
Communicati
on issue in
the project
Regular
communicatio
n among each
stakeholder of
the project.
Program
manager
6 8 48
R5 1 Lack of
effective
communicatio
n
Inconsistenci
es might
occur as a
result of this
risk.
Quality
issue
Lack of PM
plan
Creation of
project charter
Program
manager
7 7 49
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Number Cell references
R1 B2
R2 D4
R3 C3
R4 D4
R5 D4
Risk Identification D (Certain) C (Likely) B (Reasonable) A (Unlikely)
5 (Deadly)
4 (Major) R5, R4
3 (Lost Time) R1 R3 R2
2 (Negligible)
1 (Inconsequential)
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Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
3. Identification of project stakeholder
Project stakeholder is defined as the type of project team members who are actively
associated with any sort project (Linner et al. 2017). Stakeholders of a project can be broadly
classified into two categories such as the internal stakeholder and external stakeholder. The
entities which resides within a project environment can be defined as the internal
stakeholders of a project, whereas the entities which residues outside a project environment
can be defined as the external stakeholders of a project (Whitaker 2016). The power and
influence of each stakeholder is very much significant for the growth of a commercial
organization and for the successful completion of any complex project.
This project also has diverse categories of stakeholders involved in it, the following
table will be very much significant for the Executive team to understand the involvement of
the different type of stakeholders who are actively involved in this project.
Internal Stakeholders External Stakeholders
Sales team of GCS Executive and senior management of Road
Construction Private Limited
Program Manager of GCS (Borris Brown)
Project team members of GCS
Portfolio managers
Technical resources of GCS
Business Analyst of GCS
Subject Matter Experts of GCS
Infrastructure Project Manager
Table 1: Description of the stakeholders of the case study
(Source: Created by author)

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
Explanation of the significance of each stakeholder
Stakeholders Expectations Target
Sales team of GCS The prime expectation of the sakes team of GCS is
to ensure IT services for the Road Construction
Private Limited
High
Program Manager of
GCS (Borris Brown)
Managing the infrastructure of the GCS is one of
the prime expectations of the stakeholders of this
business.
Medium
Project team
members of GCS
Maintaining the schedule in each phase of the
project is one of the main expectation of this
internal stakeholder.
Low
Portfolio managers Reporting to the various offices across the
organization is the main objective of the portfolio
manager of this organization.
High
Technical resources
of GCS
Managing the Functional manger is one of the
prime expectation of this internal stakeholder of
this organization.
Medium
Business Analyst of
GCS
Selection of the exact business model is the main
expectation coming from this internal stakeholder.
High
Subject Matter
Experts of GCS
The accuracy of the documentation procedure of
this business is maintained with the help of the
Subject Matter Experts of this organization.
Medium
Infrastructure Project
Manager
Selection of the MS project templates and
requirement analysis is the prime expectation
coming from this stakeholder.
High
Executive and senior
management of Road
Construction Private
Limited
This is the only external stakeholder who is
actively involved in this project as the prime
expectation from this stakeholder is to review each
phase of the project along with the project
Medium
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managers of Road Construction Pty Ltd
Table 2: Target and expectation of each stakeholder of the case study
(Source: Created by author)
Stakeholder mapping
The role of the stakeholders is very much significant for the successful completion of
any sort of project (Huang, Yan and Wu 2016). Stakeholder management is defined as the
type of process which is very much significant for the identification of the stakeholders who
are actively involved in the project as well as the interest and power in the project. Every
project stakeholders has a different power and influence on a project (Sumardi et al. 2019).
Stakeholder map is defined as the type of tool which is very much significant to visualize the
role of each stakeholders involved in a project (Zafar et al. 2019). The following pictorial
illustration suggests the interest and power of each stakeholders of given case study.
Figure 2: Stakeholder Mapping
(Source: Created by author)
Thus, the above pictorial illustration suggests that the sales team of GCS, portfolio
manager of GCS, Business Analysts of GCS, and the Infrastructure project manager of GCS
have the maximum interest among the other stakeholders. The technical resources of GCS
have the least power as well as influence on this project. The power and interest of the project
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team members of GCS is much less than the program manager of GCS and the executive and
senior management of Road Construction Private Limited.
Linkages between a stakeholder management plan (SMP) and a communications
management plan (CMP)
SMP and CMP are very much related with each other as both these two PM practices
are essential to remove the inconsistencies of a project. These are the two most significant
knowledge areas which can ensure high quality outcome of a project. Both the two
knowledge areas are very much essential to enhance the engagement of the stakeholders
involved in a project (Holloway 2016). The needs and expectations of the consumers of a
project can also be understood by both SMP and CMP. Both these knowledge areas are very
much significant to maintain a professional working culture in any project inspite of adverse
conditions such as the scarcity of resources.
Stakeholder and communications issues in the stonework’s project
 The prime stakeholder issue which was faced in this project is the reconciliation of
PM practices and maintaining them between GCS and Road Construction Private
Limited.
 The communication among the team members of this project was not always open
and it is one of the major issue which was faced in this project.
Resolving the issues
Program Manager of GCS (Borris Brown) might have played a bigger role in order to
address this issue as he was a PMI professional and had the experience of working in these
kinds of projects for a longer period of time. The multi-year and the multi industry experience
of the program managers could have been very much useful to resolve this issue in a
systemized modus.
According to Hernández, Ramírez and Laguado (2019), complications of a complex
project can be managed in the first place with the help of an experienced program manager.
The researcher of the paper stated that along with the creation of strategic directions the
conflicts among the stakeholders of a project can be successfully resolved with the
involvement of a program manager.
Supporting the above discussion, as elaborated by Hartmann and Driessen (2017),
monitoring the progress of a project is one of the prime responsibilities of a program
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT GCS
manager. The scholar mentioned that most of the complex projects has challenges involved in
it such as the difference in mind set or perception of the team members; these issues can be
successfully addressed by the program managers.
The communication issues in this project could have been solved with the help of the
Open door Policy and reciprocal feedback policy (Harding, Nelson and Glover 2016). The
open door policy allows each stakeholder of a project to mention the challenges they are
facing while working on a complex project. Whereas the reciprocal feedback policy is very
much essential to understand the perception of each stakeholders working in a project.
As elaborated by Dippenaar and Bezuidenhout (2019), open door policy is very much
essential to address the communication issues in a complex project. The researchers of this
journal suggested that along with solving the communication issues in a project this policy is
also very much useful regarding the creation of new business ideas and concepts.
Supporting the above discussion, Chen, Kang and Lee (2017), explained that this
policy is very much useful to build a sense of trust among the project team members. The
scholars of this data source accepted that this policy can be very much useful for the lower
level employees of a business to maintain a good relationship with the management team of
the same business. Thus, it can be said that the communication issue faced in this project
could have been resolved with the help of the open door policy.
4. Conclusion
The creation of a project charter could have improved the transparency this project.
The goals as well as the deliverables of this project can be maintained with the help of a PM
plan. The risk management table can be very much useful for the executive team to
understand the probability and impact of each of the risks involved in this project. Lack of
effective communication has the maximum negative impact on this project, conflict among
the team members also have a huge impact on the quality of the final outcome of this project.
The diverse categories of stakeholders involved in this project are program managers,
portfolio managers, technical resources of GCS, business analyst of GCS, infrastructure
project manager, and Subject Matter Experts of GCS. Based on the stakeholder mapping
description, it can be said that sales team of GCS, portfolio manager of GCS, Business
Analysts of GCS, and the Infrastructure project manager of GCS have the maximum power
and influence in this project and the project team members of GCS has the least power and
influence in this project. Knowledge areas like SMP and CMP can help to improve the
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engagement of the stakeholders involved in this project. Program manager of GCS might
have played a role to address issues like reconciliation of PM practices and the
communication issues can be resolved using Open door Policy and reciprocal feedback
policy.
5. Recommendation
The list of recommendations regarding the ways to address the challenges of this
project are as followings:
 Creation of a detailed project charter to identify the roles and responsibilities of each
resources of the project, it is considered as the primary recommendation to address the
challenges faced in this business. The business importance and the existence of the
project can be understood using a project charter, the outcome of the project can also
be managed in the first place using the project charter. Transparency can be
maintained using the project charter.
 Creation of a PM plan to schedule each activates involved in the project, it can help to
address the inconsistencies of this project. All the risks of a project can be identified
and decisive steps can be added using a PM plan. The dependencies of project can
also be maintained using a PM plan.
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