30-09-2016, 12:16 PM
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To create a successful project, a project manager must consider the scope, time and cost of the particular project. These limitations are also known as the triple constraint.
The scope of the project is usually a clear, specific statement as to what has been agreed to be achieved in a particular project. The scope generally lays out the functions, data and content that will be included in the project. The project manager should ask the following questions to be able to manage all the work required to complete the project successfully. What work will be done as part of the project? What unique product or service does the sponsor expect from the project? And how will the scope be documented?
The project team members would analyze each task and the amount of time it would take to complete the task. By doing this, the project manager would be able to track the project schedule performance and ensure each task is completed in the estimated time allocated for the particular job. The time also gives the sponsor an estimation of the duration of the project.
The cost of the project consists of preparing and managing the budget for the particular project. When dealing with the cost of the project, the project manager must take the following into consideration: What is the project’s budget? How much would it cost to complete the project? And how much would it cost to purchase all the materials needed to complete the project?
The three constraints are interdependent. They cannot be altered without affecting one or both of the other constraints. For example if you want to increase the scope of the project, it is likely that the cost would increase and it would take longer to be completed. Alternatively, you might need to increase the budget of a project to meet time and scope goals.
Tom Walters is the director of information technology at his college. Many of the instructors supply their courses with information on the internet and course websites. Tom knew that several colleges require students to lease laptops or tablets and that these colleges incorporate technology into most of their courses. He and two other members of the IT department visited a local college and were fascinated because it was compulsory for all the students to lease laptops. Tom and his staff developed plans to start requiring students either to lease or purchase tablets at their college next year since tablets were more popular he thought it made more sense to request tablets as opposed to laptops. Also, he noted that it was not difficult for faculty members to create course material that would be compatible with tablets. However at the faculty meeting, Tom was shocked to learn that several members of faculty did not agree with his plans and stated that they did not have time to write their own course materials to run on tablets, in fact, the students were already able to purchase a softcopy, although they prefer a hardcopy of the textbook. In addition, they stated that most of their students already owned laptops and would refuse to pay a mandatory fee to lease tablets or for required technology. At the next faculty meeting it was recommended to terminate the concept, Tom learnt that he had to consider the needs of the entire college before continuing with IT plans.
This is an example of a project that I believe did not go very well. Firstly Tom, the project sponsor did not communicate with the team members, that is, the rest of the faculty about this particular project because they were all against his plans. The scope for this project was to implement the use of tablets in classrooms to assist in the reduction of the cost of textbooks. The cost of the project was to purchase the tablets requested. However the team members thought that it was unnecessary because their students would refuse to purchase a tablet or pay to lease one, since the majority of the students already owned laptops. In addition, they were already able to purchase a softcopy of the textbook so that would be putting the stakeholders at an expense. The duration of the project was approximately one month, until the following faculty meeting. The faculty previously stated that they did not have time to write their own course materials. It was then decided among the team members to terminate the concept.
Erica Bell is in charge of the project management office (PMO) for her consulting firm, JWD (Job Well Done) consulting. JWD consulting provides a variety of consulting services to assist organizations in selecting and managing IT projects. The firm concentrates on discovering and managing projects and developing strong metrics to measure the project performance and benefits to the organization after the project is implemented. By working collaboratively with its customers, it gives the firm a competitive advantage over its competitors. Joe Fleming, the CEO of the company wishes to continue growing and becoming a world class consulting organization. Considering the core of the business is helping other organizations with project management, he felt it was important for the organization to have an ideal process for managing its own project. He requested for Erica to work with her team to develop several intranet site applications that would allow them to share their project management knowledge. In addition, Joe would like to provide project management templates, tools, articles, links to other sites and an “Ask the Expert” feature to help build relationships with current and future clients by offering these additional information to the client. Erica Bell and her team were able to complete the project management intranet site on time. The project team went over the budget; nevertheless, it was approved by the sponsor in the interest of purchasing external software and customization. The project management office lost one of its staff members but it did not require a replacement because the new system assisted in the reduction of the project management office’s workload. It is shown that the organization saved quite a lot of money due to the new system. It also gained profits the first year by generating new business.
I believe this project was a success because the project manager had a clear scope that provided the tasks that was needed to be accomplished, which was to develop intranet site applications so the stakeholders would be able to search for templates and tools and see examples on how to use them, they should be able to access links to other websites as well as the “Ask an Expert” feature, where they can post questions about their projects and receive feedback from experts in the field. The project manager worked efficiently with her team and was able to complete the project within the estimated time. Lastly the cost, even though they slightly went over the budget, the new system brought in a great amount of profits. The new system also saved the firm tremendous amount of money from having to hire a replacement for the staff member that left. As a result, the sponsor was very appreciative of the project team and the system they developed to assist JWD consulting a world class organization.