Analysis of Projects: ABC Construction, Semester 1 Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of three projects undertaken by ABC Construction, focusing on project management principles and practices. The projects include the development of an asset management information system, the development of a remote area, and the planning and implementation of infrastructure design. The report examines the key features of each project, including organizational strategic directions, costs, durations, quality standards, stakeholders, risks, and environmental impacts. A review of each project is presented, highlighting the issues, challenges, and potential solutions. The report also includes a development plan, a report for the board of directors with recommended solutions and strategic direction, and an essay discussing project milestones. The analysis covers risk assessment, stakeholder management, and the importance of effective communication and planning in achieving project objectives. The report utilizes tables and figures, such as a Gantt chart, to visually represent project timelines and milestones. The overall goal is to provide insights into the successful management of complex engineering projects within the construction industry.

Project management

Table of Contents
Q 1 (A) Three nominated projects for discussion......................................................................1
2. Key features of projects.........................................................................................................2
3. Review of the projects............................................................................................................5
4. Development plan of project to achieve the objectives.........................................................8
Question 1 (b) Report for board of directors............................................................................11
Abstract................................................................................................................................11
Summary of analysis............................................................................................................11
Recommended solutions......................................................................................................12
Strategic direction and management....................................................................................14
Question 2: Essay.....................................................................................................................14
Abstract................................................................................................................................14
Introduction..........................................................................................................................14
Discussion............................................................................................................................15
Conclusion............................................................................................................................19
Milestone..................................................................................................................................19
References................................................................................................................................21

List of tables
Table 1: Milestone....................................................................................................................19

List of figures
Figure 1: Gantt chart................................................................................................................20

Q 1 (A) Three nominated projects for discussion
The selected organization is operating business in different engineering backgrounds
that involve civil and information technology development. The top management and board
members are having concern over development of business in other areas by undertaking the
new projects that are related to the engineering discipline. Following are the three major
projects that nominated for ABC construction organization:
Project A: This project is related to the development of new asset management information
system for the organization to manage the data. This project is bit complex and requires the
development of subsystems and integration of different internal functions that could be useful
for managing the business process. The project A is designed and developed by the expert
team that has experience and knowledge about the use of information technology. The
successful completion and implementation of information system will help the ABC
organization to increase the effectiveness of asset management and sharing of the information
through online media which will support to overcome the internal expenses of organization
and increase the monitoring (Andriof and et al., 2017). Apart from that, the differences in the
choices of the expert team could affect the process and development of the system.
Project B: The project is nominated for developing the remote area within the ABC
construction organization that involves various risks and operations that delaying it. This
project is large and having complex actions that need to be performed by the expert team.
This project is based on civil engineering tasks that will help to improve the performance of
the organization is working. In spite of that, the delay from the supplier side is affecting the
progress of the project. The major issues found in this project is lack of planning, risk
assessment, monitoring and costly labour. The project manager is working on these issues to
complete the project on time and estimated cost. The communication with the supplier is also
low that influencing the integration of project operations (Aragonés-Beltrán and et al., 2017).
Project C: This project is about planning and implementation of infrastructure design for the
ABC construction organization for managing the engineering operations and management of
functions. The design and development of infrastructure will help the organization to manage
the activities environmental friendly and improve the delivery of products and services to the
client on time. For the implementation of this project, the planning and consideration of
alternative solutions are essential that will improve the feasibility of tasks and support to
1

execute the project in estimated cost and time (Banihashemi and et al., 2017). The major
issue in this project is lacking proper stakeholder management to gain their support in the
implementation of infrastructure design.
2. Key features of projects
Project A:
 Organizational strategic directions: The current project is design and developed for
meeting the strategic directions of organization that involve collection and distribution
of information through an asset management information system. This system will
help the ABC organization to increase the planning and utilization of resources in
effective manner.
 Cost: The estimated cost of this project is around $3 million for managing all
operations.
 Duration: The project will be completed within one year.
 Quality standards: The project quality is based on ISO 9001 standards that include the
design, development and implementation of asset of ABC organization in proposed
manner.
 Current expenditure: The project is 35% completed and maintaining the quality
standards that proposed by the top management to achieve the goals and objectives of
business.
 Stakeholders: For the current project of developing asset management information
system the key stakeholders are project team, manager, organization and suppliers.
 Risks: The major risks that involve in project are scheduling of tasks and engagement
of stakeholders (Cleden, 2017).
 Impact on environment and society: The project will not affect environment and
surrounding people in any manner.
 Complexity: The project is large and involves different stages to meet the objectives
that increase the level of complexity.
 Other factors: The factors that could influence project effectiveness involve
communication with staff and project team members.
 Integration factors: The key factors that have significant contribution in project is
development of scope, objectives and plan to complete the project.
2

 Significant factors: The significant factors of this project involve coordination of
project team and senior staff members (Freeman and et al., 2017).
Project B:
 Organizational strategic direction: The project of developing remote area for ABC
organization will support management to encourage the existing engineering
functions and implementation of strategic plan.
 Cost: The estimated cost of developing remote area for organization is $8 million.
 Completion time: The proposed time for completing project is 2 years.
 Quality deliverables: The project team is working to meet required standards for
developing remote area for organization. The hardware and software are having good
quality.
 Percentage completed and quality: The project is 25% completed and lack of
monitoring is affecting quality of project as well increasing cost.
 Stakeholders: The key stakeholders for current project are employees, investor,
project manager and supplier of services.
 Risks: The major risks factors that could influence effectiveness of the project involve
changes in exchange rate, lacking in scheduling, planning of cost and unstable
financial conditions.
 Impact on environment and society: The project is design and developed for
managing the information through remote area. This will have positive impact on both
society and environmental conditions (Boyle, 2017).
 Complexity: The project is not much complex as development of remote area required
consideration of a fix process. Hence, the level of complexity is moderate.
 Other issues: The issues that could influence process involve management of skilled
human resources as the cost of project development team is high in technical areas.
 Integration: The factors that could affect integration process of organization for this
project are changes in the scope and proper flow of funds for managing the activities.
 Other significant factors: The development of remote area function involves factors
like changes in financial conditions and lack of knowledge of advance technology.
This kind of issues will have negative impact on planning and implementation of
project (Bredillet and et al., 2015).
Project C:
3

 Strategic directions: The development and design of infrastructure for project will
help to manage the operations and monitoring of activities more effective manner.
The consideration of advance technology will support to increase planning of ABC
organization to meet the strategic objectives.
 Cost: The estimated cost of design and development of infrastructure of engineering
organization is $20 million.
 Time period: The completion time of this project is four years.
 Quality: The project is designed and developed for managing infrastructure and the
quality standards are considered for it involve ISO 9001 and use of high standard
tools and services to meet the desired standards.
 Percentage completed and quality: The percentage of completing project was not
mentioned in given case but the project is started and going under supervision of
project team to deliver highest quality functions that could meet the strategic direction
of engineering organization.
 Stakeholders: The stakeholders plays critical role in planning and implementation of
project. The key stakeholder for this project involves employees, project manager,
suppliers, citizens and investors who are taking active participation in project.
 Major risks: The major risks factors that could influence project are consideration of
stakeholder needs and management of environmental conditions. Moreover, the
development of infrastructure will also involve consideration of operational risk like
machinery and health and safety of workers. The analysis and planning of governing
risks is also essential for this kind of large project of engineering.
 Impact on environment: The current project of developing infrastructure will have
long and short term impact on environmental conditions as use of natural resources
and waste could affect ecological conditions. The design and implementation of
project could also lead to face legal threat from the citizens.
 Complexity: The level of complexity for infrastructure development project is high
that involve large numbers of stakeholders (Davis, 2014).
 Other factors: The factors that required to be considered by organization for managing
project involves effective management of human resources, engagement of
stakeholders, objectives of citizens and analysis of environmental standards. The
proper management of these issues could help to increase the effectiveness of project.
 Integration: The integration of project is one of the important parts and the project
integration will involve consideration of development and analysis of project scope,
4

planning of operation, cost and proper understanding of standards to meet the quality
functions.
 Significant factors: Other factors that affecting project activities involve delay in
completion that increasing cost of the project. The involvement and consideration of
Citizen Action committee also influence the planning and implementation of project
(Carvalho and Rabechini, 2017).
3. Review of the projects
Project A
The agreement of developing a new asset management information system for ABC
construction organization focus on the objectives of managing and sharing of information and
data more effective manners. The board members are considering this project important for
developing proper communication and coordination at the workplace that will increase the
utilization of resources and planning of the activities. The project will help the organization
to collect, store, analysis and sharing of information in real time that is essential for decision
making and allocation of resources (Brones and et al., 2014). The use of advanced technology
in engineering tasks will help to increase efficiency and minimization of the cost that will
support to encourage the profit margin. For the initiation and completion of the project, the
role of stakeholders is important as they provide input for managing activities monitor the
approach and assess the usability of developed functions to meet their and organizational
objectives. The coordination between staff and senior management of organization will
support to maintain the standard and quality in operations of this project. In this project, the
major issues are related to managing and engaging stakeholders in operations that affecting
the scope, time and cost (Carvalho and Rabechini, 2017). For project team and engineering
organization it is important to agree upon the requirements to develop and establish the
project for asset management.
The risks factors that have direct impact on development and successful
implementation of project are changes in scope, lacking in scheduling of tasks and
engagement of stakeholders. For example, regular changes in project activities and scope will
affect the progress and increase the time of completing the project. If organization is looking
to manage the project effectively then consideration of planned change management
approach will be beneficial. This process will involve sharing of information related to
5

changes to stakeholders and gain their acceptance to implement the changes. This kind of
approach will increase feasibility of project and help to gain the support to various
stakeholders. Additionally, the lack of communication and knowledge about new technical
functions are affecting process of managing operations for this project (Freeman, 2017).
However, the project is not having any negative impact on environment and society but lack
of information and knowledge might influence the success of asset management information
system. The level of complexity is also high for this project that creating various issues for
organization to meet the business objectives as well maintains the high standards for
managing quality. The project is about managing the staff operations and improving the
control. The task for project manager is to manage the activities in efficient manner and
overcome the issues that ABC construction organization is facing in the communication and
storage of information. The proper management of change control process is needed to be
achieved by organization through this process (Guo and et al., 2014). Moreover, the project
involves the number of small subsystems that are mutually depended on primary objectives
of the organization.
Project B
This project is started with the objective of developing the remote area in the ABC
construction organization and increasing the facilities for society. According to given
scenario, the organization is lacking to deliver the expected standards and quality in product
and services to their clients and the agreement for this project is developed for managing the
same issues. For the proper management of organizational strategic objectives and meeting
the expectations of clients, the management decided to develop the remote areas through this
project (Harrison and Lock, 2017). For this project, the specialized components are ordered
from the international suppliers. The ordered for international suppliers are made 3 months
before to overcome the delay in supply of the products and services to complete the project.
The agreement covers all requirements and issues that might affect the progress of the
project. The key stakeholders for this project are project team, supplier, and employees of the
organization as well as the managers of the ABC construction organization. The roles of
stakeholders are to analyze the situation, contribute to the planning of operations, an
arrangement of resources and proper utilization of them to meet the strategic objectives of the
organization. The major issues that found in this project involve lack of consideration of
change control reorients and engagement of stakeholders to maintain the flow of operations
(Bryson, 2017).
6

The issues like procurement of resources, lack of skilled and knowledgeable human
resources as well the prices of labor are having a negative impact on the process of
organization as well influencing the outcome. The major risks in the project of developing
remote area are changes in exchange rate, cost of the project components lack consideration
of required financial resources hindering the opportunities for completing the project
successfully. There is also the issue of sustainability and to meet the requirements of the
client and achieve the goals of the ABC construction organization (Burtonshaw-Gunn, 2017).
Now, it is essential for the project manager to analyze these issues and develop the plan and
activities to manage the issues and complete the project in estimated time and cost. The
priority of project manager is to develop proper scheduling of operations and allocate the
budget to project teams that to manage the progress. Moreover, the project needs to be
proving beneficial for organization and society. The lacking in the integration of project
could affect the deliverables and proper services that going to be managed through a remote
area. According to given scenario, the project is 25% completed and the requirements of the
organization are managed as per the desired qualities. The complexity level of this project is
moderate as project team or manager can manage it with normal efforts. However, the gap in
project integration might affect the organizational process in fulfillment of deliverables but
the proper planning and management will help to meet the quality standards and proper
utilization of resources (Pace, 2017).
Project C
The agreement of project C is related to development of infrastructure and design of
the ABC construction organization. The objectives of this project are to offer better services
and facilities for client organizations and developing advance planning and design to satisfy
the needs of customers. The expectation of organization from this project is to expand the
business with wider sense and improvement in the numbers of clients overseas. As per the
given scenario of project the key stakeholders of organization are contractors, supplier,
employees, citizens and investors. The board of members of ABC construction organization
is considering needs of each stakeholder to manage the project functions as well offering of
benefits. The generation of idea and analysis of interest of engaged people has been done
through meetings and brainstorming with them. The time and cost of this project is high as sit
going to be implementing in the large organization. The major issue for this project is proper
consideration of environmental standard and activities of stakeholders. The communication
among stakeholders is essential that will help to increase efficiency in work. For that purpose,
7

the project manager will use stakeholder communication matrix which will support to
manage the project issues and elimination of risks (Harrison, and Lock, 2017). The
consideration of change control requirements will also support to manage the changes and
submit the review request.
Moreover, the manager will ensure quality in decision making and proper distribution
of role and resources to the team members. This kind of approach will helps to ensure
effective implementation of project plan and management of change control process. For
large project, documentation of requirements and initiatives is essential that will help to
promote the transparency and information about define objectives. The current project about
design and development of infrastructure for organization is sustainable and having impact on
economic, social and environmental activities (Wynne and et al., 2015). The initiatives of
ABC construction organization involve improvement in the sustainability and managing the
effectiveness by engaging the stakeholders.
The proper knowledge about social and environmental issues will be essential for
increasing the feasibility and success of the project. The project manager will emphasis on
environmental issues and develop plan to overcome wastage and issues for the people. The
outcome of this project is expected to be achieving through managing sustainability. In spite
of that, the issues could affect management planning involve lack of procurement analysis,
scheduling of tasks, stakeholder management and allocation of financial resources (Sánchez,
2015). For example, estimation of cost and selection of alternative functions is important for
overcome the situation of delay in the project as well meet the satisfaction level of clients.
Additionally, disagreement with client and consideration of Citizen Action committee is also
having significant impact on the investment and development of infrastructure. The changes
in scope and requirements will also affect the integration of project components and
achievement of objectives.
4. Development plan of project to achieve the objectives
Project A
This project is involving various small subsystems that having a significant impact on
the development and integration of the asset management information system to manage the
internal process of ABC construction organization. The development plan of this project will
focus on mitigation of risks and issues that are affecting progress as well influence the time of
8