Project Management for Modern Information Systems

Question: 1.1 Describe the background and principles of project management 1.2 Appraise the viability of projects, developing success/failure criteria 1.3 Explain the principles behind project management systems and procedures 1.4 Explain the key elements involved in terminating projects and conducting post-project appraisals. 2.1 Identify the most appropriate organizational structure, roles and responsibilities of participants within a project. 2.2 Control and co-ordinate a project. 2.3 Assess project leadership requirements and qualities. 2.4 Plan and specify human resources and requirements for a project. 3.1 Prepare project plans and establish the project organisation 3.2 Apply project scheduling, estimating and cost control techniques 3.3 Analyse the methods used to measure project performance 3.4 Explain project change control procedures to evaluate the completed project. Answer: a) Background Project management is practised since thousands of years since the Egyptian era, but its real development has started about half a century ago that the companies have started the application of the management tools required during projects which has been revolutionizing since the industrial evolution. The first project management modern tools started since the navy had implemented its methodologies in the Polaris project. In the 1960s and 70s the defence of countries as well as the NASA which practised large engineering and construction works, as well as the large companies had started utilizing the principle of project management and the tools which is required to manage such large budget projects. The 80s decade had brought the introduction of computers to the modern world and the manufacturing as well as the software development segments had underway to adopt and realize the complex project management practices. Project is often termed as the unique endeavour by a team to complete and produce a set of deliverables within the specified time as well as the costs and the quantities. They have a substantial difference from the normal business activities as they are often very unique in nature and require very less repetitive procedures. The projects undertaken have also been different to each other always for a company in operation processes while in normal business processes where they are almost the same. They are also given a certain timescale for its completion. They have some specified start and end date within that time the deliverables are to be produced and met as per the specifications of the customer. The projects are also provided with a fixed budget as they have allocated level of financial expenditure and within them the deliverables are to be produced and the required customer satisfaction has to be met. The resources also being limited the agreed amount of labours, materials and e quipment. The business risk is very high in projects as they have limited capitals and money. The chief aim of any project is to bring about change in the business so that it can further develop. The principles of the project management Sound financial management helps to ensure and arrange the investment projects so that they are successfully implemented and are operationally very stable. The main objective of the financial management is to devise the method of optimizing the financial viability and the economic benefits from the investment. The financial management technique involves the strategies and the applies concerning the fiscal planning, programming, bookkeeping and reporting as well as reviewing the organization or its funding as well as selection of personnel for the projects. The arrangement of roles and structures of a project facilitates the coordinator and execution of the project activities. The main motive behind it is to create an environment which helps to develop the interactions between the team members with reduced barriers and disruptions. One of the key aims of the edifice is to decrease the confusion and uncertainty that usually occurs during a project commencement phase. The design of a project organization chart is very significant for the accomplishment of the project. It generally shows the perfect positions where each member of the teams have to be placed in the structure of the project. Every project contains a number of different stages that is known as the lifecycle of each projects. In the initial years of the expansion of modern project management practices it was communal to see each stage of a project being intentional, scheduled, and managed as a distinct project, from start to finish of each phase. Often a new project manager would take over as the next phase was began. This customarily resulted in many un-resolved purpose or other struggles being swept forward into the next segment, particularly in design, edifice, field operation projects, as well as in IT projects. Unique of the principal purposes of the assembly is to decrease indecision and misperception that naturally befalls at the project commencement phase. The arrangement describes the associations or roles among the memberships of the project management and the scope with the peripheral environment. The PESTLE investigation should be used in the conjunction with the SWOT analysis when the probable for the chances for opportunities or threats. It constitutes the internal and the external factors that effects the organizations directly or indirectly (Waddell, 2007). b) Criterias for the success and failure of the project To attain the outcome one must deliver indication of all the above knowledge and services by creating project documentation that validates the feasibility of a project through the application of a procedure of options evaluation. This certification will comprise data and analysis for a quantity of options, followed by your commendation for a favoured option with an explanation for plan affordability and worth for money. One way of defining whether a project is feasible is to supervise a cost value analysis and to check that the advantages offset the costs. This might not be upfront in ritual, because it could be tough to put a worth on allowances that are not of an economic nature. Also, a contrast of the value of the assistances significant from a project and the charges of the project must not be made without contemplation of the related risks. All 3 fundamentals of charges, aids and hazards are taken into report within the options assessment approach described in this section. Project options assessment is where an establishment airs at the diverse ways in which a project could provide a central to a setback through execution of purposes and fabrication of yields. These diverse ways or selections are freewheeled, investigated and calculated. The substitute options including costs, benefits and risks are obtainable in the interior the professional case to give senior management the evidence they w ant to make a judgement on whether or not to continue with the project and, if so, which route to use. In bearing in mind the options in the business case, the decision fabricators should steer both an economic evaluation and a financial evaluation of the choices. The economic review is based on the cost benefit examination and looks at which option gives the best value for money. The financial viability of the foreseeable whole-life costs must be intended for respectively of the selected project opportunities. At this phase these charges may be wide-ranging approximations, but should be as correct as conceivable, grounded on the data obtainable. The sorts of costs experienced in a project will be riven between capital or one-off costs and functioning costs. Part of the valuation of the fiscal case, both the affordability of an option and the availability of subsidy must be measured. The projected outflow must be related to existing funds and prevailing commitments. The economic viability up to now would deliver a rich idea of the profits, virtual dangers and costs for the robust options. Before the final verdict is made, however, a cost benefit analysis must be agreed out. In effect, this is an economic evaluation of the option. It answers the request which alternative will actually give the best value for money, where it is predictable that options are to be realised over a number of years, costs should be articulated as net present value (NPV). NPV allows similarity of the costs and prophesied income of different options by altering the actual cash cost or revenue into the value of that money today. This means overlooking the amounts over time. Options assessment intentions to attain at the finest stability of cost, profit and risk. Preferably, it entails of a high level cost or profit scrutiny of at least three selections for gathering the business need. It also comprises examination of soft paybacks that cannot be enumerated in economic terms, and recognises favoured selections and any trade-offs. Options assessment must be approved out in part afore choosing a desired option. In attempting to reach the finest equilibrium of cost, help and imperil, deliberation can be given to what trade-offs need to be completed, such as preceding some of the profits in order to keep prices in financial plan or captivating carefully measured risks to attain more considerable benefits. Creating and assessing options should recognise original methods as well as evaluate whether the project is really valuable. Classify the important success features to be talented to fully defend activities through a see-through process. Highlight assets an d flaws in a project and also classify additional threat factors. c) Some of the process and tools compulsory for the management and scheduling of project management are given below Risk management- Peril is the chance or the likelihood of something that may or may not happen which can be restrained or quantified. In a project situation there continuously remains the risk of occurrence of contrary conditions which might lead to the failure of the project or may obstruct in the achievement of the objectives of the project. The project manager or the project board can consider some varied tasks or activities that can be undertaken to accomplish the project deliverables and lead to the considerations of the risk that might cause the actual outcomes to differ from the expected outcomes. The effects of each of the risks should also be well documented and even further classified into groups for better understanding. Scenario planning- it is about understanding the uncertainties or the identification of the risks as well as the expansion of the pro-active courses of action even if the development hadnt occurred. It is the process of building some plausible cases of a different number of dimensions of assuming the scenarios of tackling risks in various uncertain environments. Situation planning is not about the prediction of forthcoming but it is about exploration of the future. The accounting process- a budget is the prediction of an enumerated plan of action. The enumerated plan of action which makes the projects revenue and spending very materialistic like the list of all the planned income and expenditure. The process can be utilised at regular intervals in order to quantify the variances or the plan of deviation. The budget manuals is prepared to instruct, report, delegate responsibilities as well communicate the deadlines. The budget committee is formed in order to administrate as well process the production of dissimilar budgets. The budget boards help centrally to regulator the process of budgets so that they can be communicated with the other subdivisions. The budget officer will often be selected in order to backing the budget board. Gantt charts- these are horizontal bar charts designed by an American engineer which is used for the scheduling of the projects. Each of the tasks or the activities is portrayed as a wedge over time and the actual performances are logged in actual time and simultaneously equated to the limits essential for the achievement of the complete project. It is used for the planning of the time measure for a project. It is also used to guess the capitals essential as well as the graphical design of a agenda of the errands to complete. It helps to idea organise as well as track the specifics responsibilities for a project. It is also good for minor projects when the number of the tasks or the activities are less (Shea, 2001). d) Termination of projects Termination happens by extermination, accumulation, incorporation or starvation. In extermination, a project gets botched or is outdated by a new development or it becomes so fruitful that it is no longer being required as all purposes are attained. In addition, if a project is an accomplishment, it might be amalgamated to the main parent company. Here staffs, assets, resources and apparatus are simply transported from the dying project to the newly born project. Incorporation is a type of termination in which only positive projects assets; equipment and funds are divided among diverse sections of business. Lastly termination by starvation occurs when the senior management chooses to leave the project and let it expire on its own as it does not want to roll back as it would be administratively hazardous for them to do so. Before terminating a project, a decision model should be taken into justification in deciding whether a project should be terminated or not. This necessitates reflective examination which answers dissimilar questions over whether the project satisfied its goals or not or whether the project succeeds a set of issues held against it comparing with other positive projects. The decision standards, limitations, burdens and environmental data are exclusive to each business so care must be accomplished in making those models. Also, teams should be made in existing team working on the same project so they can start its termination procedure too. This has a tactical advantage that employees do not feel let down and they can find dissimilar jobs in mean time while occupied on termination project. Post termination events is equal to an audit account which circles around various aspects having bottom of the report. The report is based on recording archives over life of project which includes presentation explanations which deals on how was the implementation of the project as whole, organisational performance comments which deals in the employees execution on control the issues, organizational structure which deals in how the things should have gone in order to make enterprise more successful and lastly any personal proposals over the project which could have made it much superior. Assessment of revenue and expenditures also come in this entire report which gives us examination over what went wrong, which thing was credited on high prices or what deal was not valuable for the company which led to the end of project. When project ends on an optimistic note, even then an audit and presentation report is essential because it clearly spots out the best exercises which can be used i n other projects by other teams employed on it (Sacks, 2013). 2 a) i) There are a number of roles that are played by different officials in a hospitality management department and they are given below HRM (Human Resource Manager) - He will accomplish the standard and long-term tactical development of HR strategies, ingenuities and intrusions connecting to talent management. He will analyze figures, intelligences, vogues and present suggestions to management to attain overall HR purposes and goals. This group comprises the management of theoretical leadership arrangements and managing programs for teaching staff as well as contribution in cross-functional projects. He will be an significant member of the HR squad in associating the eldest management and line managers to progress and execute planned human capital development ingenuities such as aptitude management, chain planning, headship growth, manpower scheduling and structural development which affiliate persons, organizations, assemblies and work procedures to the organizations complete charge and goals. Finance- they will be accountable for register management, assessment and assets tax as well as capital purposes counting cash flow administration and acclaim services with banks. He will be a crucial part of the finance executives team and will backing in systems operation and augmentation as well as any other ad-hoc projects. Former duties include cooperation with investment banker, attorneys and peripheral interest group. He will be accountable for the planning, management reportage and examination of Departments scheduled financial operating execution, emphasizing of disputes to management. Sanctuary and upkeep - He will aid the Head of Campus Security in reorganization the safety personnel and renovation, strategy, execute and manage a planned security values and design counting policy making, disaster management, audit and advertising of security consciousness. The upkeep department can be divided into three main types Preventive maintenance: This is done in order to preserve the substances in the guesthouse at intervallic levels. They will be significant in the shelf life of the apparatus or the system and will be replaced periodically. Breakdown maintenance: When any objects fail this type of maintenance is done and they replace then when the system fails. Predictive maintenance: In it the shelf life of the product or the system will be known and will be known and will be substituted then and there itself. . Incorporation is a type of termination in which only positive projects assets; equipment and funds are divided among diverse sections of business. Lastly termination by starvation occurs when the senior management chooses to leave the project and let it expire on its own as it does not want to roll back as it would be administratively hazardous for them to do so. (Randolph, 2014). ii) Rendering to the scope and the significance as well as discretion of the projects project based structure would be most fruitful. In this type of organization project managers have an extraordinary level of power to cope and manipulation the project capitals. The project manager in this arrangement has full influence above the project and can obtain assets needed to achieve project aims from inside or external the parent organization, focus only to the possibility, class, and inexpensive restrictions recognised in the project. In the project grounded edifice, workers are precisely allocated to the project and describe honestly to the project manager. The project manager is accountable for the execution assessment and profession development of all project team members while on the project. This leads to increased project devotion. Comprehensive line specialist over project exertions gives the project manager robust project reins and central lines of contact. This hints to quick respon se time and better receptiveness. Besides, project recruits are held on a limited rather than joint or part-time basis. Project teams grow a robust sense of project affinity and possession, with profound faithfulness exertions to the project and a good thoughtful of the type of projects activities, objective, or goals (Ponnappa, 2014). b) The jurisdiction over the management in this type of project should be in the practise of autocratic style as well a bit of democratic style as in Arbitrary or authoritarian, the manager crafts all the choices, retaining the data and decision making amid the high-ranking management. Purposes and errands are set and the staff is expected to do precisely as required. The communication complicated with this technique is mainly descendent, from the leader to the outranked this method can lead to a reduction in impetus from the employee's theme of view. The key benefit of this style is that the course of the organization will remain persistent, and the choices will all be alike, this in turn can project an image of a self-assured, well coped organization. But the employees have to be kept stirred despite having a severe control over them, the specialized work in the project like that of creation of websites for the hotel which has to be done by a specialized web development team and the i nstallations of the online reservation which is to be carried out by the IT team which will also create the integrated MIS system in the hotel to facilitate the entire process. Therefore due to the presence of this specialized work they have to be kept motivated, but also under strict control so that the project finishes undead the given time (Mohammad Reza Najaf Torkaman, 2011). c) Belbin proposes that a fitting blend of roles can form an effective team where the individuals variable assets and individualities counterpart one another. Belbins team arrangement theory allows the team to exploit on the strengths and features of the members in working towards ideal team performance. Belbin had defined 8 team roles which is appropriate for team development they are given as below Chairman Company worker Monitor evaluator Plant leader Resource investigator Shaper Team worker Complete finisher 3 a) The drive of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is to aid in the effective planning for a plan by dividing the important tasks or the actions into more controllable and reduced units of task. It helps to provide better costing, resource planning and scheduling of the tasks that is important for a mission. The Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) lists all the products or the resources classified and the calculation of the expenditure or costing to get a more detailed understanding of the finance of the projects. During the project the financial control ca be achieved by tracking the actual expenses against the budget that is assigned for the dissimilar tasks allocated. The regular progresses can be observed using the cheap or the time sheets. The benefits provided by the WBS are as follows It can be used in the delegation and the allocation of the responsibilities in order to achieve varied tasks or activities. It aids in the sequencing and the scheduling of the technique of diverse forms of actions to prove the efficacy of how the time has been assigned. It reshapes the efficiency and the resource planning of the process of consumption of the resources. It is also essential in the management of risks (Howes, 2001). b) Gantt charts- these are horizontal bar charts designed by an American engineer which is used for the scheduling of the projects. Each of the tasks or the activities is portrayed as a block over time and the definite performances are verified in real time and simultaneously associated to the deadlines essential for the achievement of the complete project. It is used for the planning of the time scale for a project. It is also used to guess the resources essential as well as the graphical design of a timetable of the errands to extreme. It helps to plan synchronize as well as trail the specifics chores for a project. It is also good for little projects when the number of the tasks or the activities are less. The techniques of PERT helps to give better estimations of projects by the process of keeping tabs for the uncertainties that are important to predict task durations. It helps to identify the interrelationships between the activities and the tasks. It also helps to plan the resources and its allocation from the use of staff planning through the help of project management programs.it also acts as an essential time management and planning tool (Hodgson Cicmil, 2007). c) Every project has a design and agreed of aims and objectives or presentation events to attain them. The aim of KIP are to make a good control system which ensures that the correct things are done therefore there has to be some type of arrangement, criterion, account rule books etc. or any other forms of target to adhere to. The conformance management system guarantees the production of the project so that it measures the technical or the functional specification before launching it for the use of the customers. The performance management system is the process of measurement for the procedure of frequently evaluating the projects development against the pre-defined outcomes that have been planned out about the project during the planning phase like that about time, quality and costs. It is about the exploit of the work preps as well as the assessment of the activities of the employees (Curlee, 2008). d) The stress of project management is concerning attaining precise and short-term objectives rivalled to the extensive purposes of a project. The deduction is that to create the project management team entirely accountable for accomplishment would look as if to be unsuitable and that the client ought to take an augmented importance in the progress and expenditure of the project. There also requests to be an enhanced discrepancy between accomplishments and let-down for the project and project management benefits. Project accomplishment could be evaluated using three valuation standards grounded not only on project management systems but on other peripheral principles which are significant for the effective application of projects, since commencement over and done with expansion and use, to the final winding up. Thus, for a plan to be affluent there must, first, be an upgraded obligation of the role of project management inside projects, and this part must be positioned inside the settin g of a extensive project along with additional outside principles and longstanding potentials (Brandon, 2006). References Brandon, D. 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