Project management is a five stages process including project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closure of the project. Projects are one-time activities that produce specific outputs. It is essential to divide large project works into small tasks for which managing and controlling projects will be easier for project managers. ASDA is the chosen company for the report. It is a supermarket retailer headquartered in West Yorkshire (Mirror.co.uk, 2018). It is one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK. The report will explain the implementation of a knowledge management system to prevent repetitive interviewing. It will provide the overview and business case of the project. Risk analysis will be performed to identify the possible risks and their preventive measures. The report will focus on establishing a project team, which will manage the entire project and make decisions. It will include the human resource requirements and project control strategies.
Project Title: Implementation of a knowledge management system to prevent repetitive interviewing
Background: ASDA is a well-known company in the retail sector. It recruits a huge number of candidates for its departments (Asda.com, 2018). It has seen that many candidates apply and attend interview process repetitively in the organisation. Some candidates do not get a chance to attend an interview in the company. In order to handle this situation, the company aims at implementing an effective knowledge management system. This would help the company to identify candidates, who have attended an interview in the last six months. If these candidates will apply for a vacant position within six months, the knowledge portal will automatically cancel their candidature. This would help the company to get desired and fresh candidates in each recruitment process.
Purpose: The purpose of implementing knowledge management system is to identify candidates, who apply and attend interviews repetitively.
Project Scope: The system will be implemented in ASDA House, Southbank, and the UK as most of the interviews are held at this office. In order to produce a project plan, the company will focus on certain aspects such as project benefits, constraints, budget, timescale, risks and their measures, and roles and responsibilities of the project team (Burke, 2013). These are the important components, which assist in the successful completion of this new project.
Exclusion from scope: The project plan will not cover stakeholders’ interest. The project is based on average budget and it will not affect stakeholders. Therefore, ASDA will not include this aspect in the initial stage of the project plan.
Resources and Deliverables: The project will require three major resources such as people, capital and materials (Petit, 2012). Skilled people are required to devise a plan for implementation of a knowledge management system. Employees will manage their time to give extra efforts towards the project. The company may hire new employees to initiate the project. Implementation of knowledge management system requires funding. The company will generate funds from sources like credit, taxes, savings, grants, subsidies, and retained earnings. The project will use some assets like software licenses, technical infrastructures including switches and cables and others (Heagney, 2016). The company will use the estimated project budget to purchase these things.
The project will deliver the knowledge management system and this service will help the organization to facilitate the recruitment process effectively by identifying candidates those attend interviews repetitively. The project will take 3 months to complete. The expected project initiation and deliverable dates are 01/12/2018 and 24/02/2019.
Constraints: The project may have three major constraints such as schedule, scope, and cost. The estimated time has been set three months. However, it may not be sufficient for completing the project. Cost constraint involves the limitation of sources of funds (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). If the project will not be delivered within stipulated time, it will result in more project cost for ASDA. The project should meet scope decided by the project team. The scope acts as a constraint if scopes are not defined properly or understood by everyone.
Other constraints are lack of communication, ineffective leadership style, conflict among members of the project team and others. It is important to use an appropriate communication channel for project team members. Otherwise, they will not get clear instructions and this would hamper their performance. Leaders play important role in a new project, as staffs need to be guided and supervised (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). Ineffective leadership styles demotivate project team members for which they do not effort actual efforts. This may lead to a delay of project work and it will ultimately lead to the higher project cost (Hofstede, 2012). If team members will not work in a collaborative manner, then conflict will arise among them. Employees will lose their attention due to conflict for which project work will be affected.
Assumptions: It can be assumed that the project may not be completed within the deadline. If scopes are not met, then the project cost will be increased. Another assumption is projected effectiveness. After the implementation of a knowledge management system, it may not fulfill the original purpose due to some defects or errors.
Project benefits: The project is based on the knowledge management system. The organisation will deliver many benefits to employees through this project. It will help ASDA to share, update and access candidate information during the recruitment process (Hislop et al., 2018). The organisation will get information of students, who have applied for vacant positions and attended the interview process. It can get desired candidates to fulfill vacancies. It can reject the candidates, who attend the interview many times within a period of six months. The company will easily find information about candidates and this will enhance the efficiency of the recruitment process. Recruitment cost will be reduced as the same repetitive candidates will not get a chance to attend an interview. Quality of recruitment decision-making process will be improved due to the implementation of a knowledge management system m (Grace et al., 2013). It will enable an innovative system in the organisation.
Options: The project can be planned and implemented in various ways. ASDA can hire project partners to do the project or take help from own project team. The company’s project team can get clear knowledge about the project as it is acquainted with the whole system and issues. However, the external project team will assist the internal team with more knowledge and skills. Additionally, external project teams are handling many projects and they have a clear idea on how to manage the project effectively. It is essential for the organisation to hire project partners to help during the implementation of a knowledge management system.
Cost and Timescale: The cost allocated for different activities for the knowledge management system is mentioned below.
|
Particulars |
Costs (AUD) |
|
Project Planning and other documentation work |
5,800 |
|
Salaries |
40,000 |
|
Software and equipment |
12,000 |
|
Transportation, electricity and maintenance cost |
7,200 |
|
Project closure |
10,000 |
|
Total |
75,000 |
Table 1: Project Cost
(Source: Created by the learner)
The entire project will take three months to complete. The duration of each task is mentioned in the below table.
|
Tasks |
Start Date |
Duration |
End Date |
|
Planning |
01-12-2018 |
12 |
13-12-2018 |
|
Identify scope |
13-12-2018 |
10 |
23-12-2018 |
|
Write Functional specification |
23-12-2018 |
4 |
27-12-2018 |
|
Ensure Project standard |
27-12-2018 |
2 |
29-12-2018 |
|
Financial planning |
29-12-2018 |
5 |
03-01-2019 |
|
Allocation of budget |
03-01-2019 |
10 |
13-01-2019 |
|
Resource allocation |
13-01-2019 |
12 |
25-01-2019 |
|
Implementation |
25-01-2019 |
20 |
14-02-2019 |
|
Risk management |
14-02-2019 |
5 |
19-02-2019 |
|
Monitoring and evaluation |
14-02-2019 |
10 |
24-02-2019 |
Table 2: Project Cost
(Source: Created by the learner)
Cost/Benefits analysis: The Company will evaluate costs and revenues through cost-benefit analysis (Nas, 2016). The analysis for the implementation of the knowledge management system will be mentioned in below section.
|
Costs |
||
|
Category |
Item |
Price (AUD) |
|
Equipment |
Materials |
5,000 |
|
Software Licensing |
4,000 |
|
|
Network installation equipment ( switches, cables, and others) |
3,000 |
|
|
Human resource |
Man hour |
12,000 |
|
Salaries |
28,000 |
|
|
Others |
Electricity |
4,000 |
|
Transportation cost |
7,000 |
|
|
Documentation work |
4,000 |
|
|
Project closure |
8,000 |
|
|
Total Cost: |
75,000 |
|
|
Benefits |
||
|
Reduced recruitment Cost |
25,000 |
|
|
Recruitment efficiency |
20,000 |
|
|
Improved business efficiency |
35,000 |
|
|
Total Benefit |
80,000 |
Table 3: Project Cost
(Source: Created by the learner)
The benefits associated with the project are more than that of project cost. Therefore, the company can generate revenue through this project.
Risk identification: Risks are identified through various techniques such as documentation reviews, checklist analysis, diagramming techniques, expert judgment and others (Loosemore et al., 2012). ASDA will use documentation reviews and expert judgment to find out the risks associated with this project. Three major categories of risks are technology risk, human resource risk, and funding risk. Technology risks associated with this project are the development of the inappropriate user interface and software, dependency on a particular technology and mismatch between requirement and actual project delivery (Fang and Marle, 2012). Human resource risks include the development of work by a particular team member and less understanding of other members. If the expert member leaves the project before its completion, then other members will face difficulties in work. Poor communication, extra rework, and human errors are some major risks (Harrison and Lock, 2017). In addition to this, critical skills required for the project are not found among team members and this makes the project ineffective. Sometimes project costs become high due to uncertainties like high tax rate, Government policies, suppliers issue, and others.
Risk prevention: The above-mentioned risks can be prevented through management practices and techniques. ASDA will focus on various management practices, which should aim at characterizing the causes of risks and developing strategies to mitigate risks. Some risks cause from faulty processes. Therefore, it is required to evaluate processes in regular interval. The company can use risk checklist to find out root causes of risks and their impacts (Loosemore et al., 2012). It should take project decisions based on assumption analysis. This would reduce the typical impact of risks up to a certain level. If any risk arises during the implementation of a knowledge management system, the project team should communicate the same to everyone through team meetings (Dalkir, 2013). Each member will try to contribute some ideas to mitigate risks after understanding the risks.
Risk management: The Company will develop some contingency plans in case it cannot prevent any project risk. The plan includes categorizing risks based on their vulnerability (Kendrick, 2015). It becomes easier for the Company to treat the impact of risks. Additionally, developing a risk management team will help to assess the risks without hampering project work (Besner and Hobbs, 2012). The team can be divided into sub-teams to manage the risks effectively.
Risk monitoring: Risks can be monitored in the regular interval in order to check if any changes are made during the work (Teller, 2013). Another advantage of risk monitoring is that it allows for the identification of new risks. The risks associated with the implementation of a knowledge management system can be controlled through reassessment and continual development. Checking up risks on regular basis is another important aspect of risk monitoring (Hopkinson, 2017).
In order to carry out the knowledge management project, a project team will be developed. The members of the team are the project director, project manager, user team leader, application team leader, and technical team leader. Each member has different roles and responsibilities during the implementation of a knowledge management system.
Project Director: The director plays important role in project management field by monitoring and managing project from the top level (Turner, 2014). The responsibilities of the project director are as follows.
Project Manager: The concerned manager takes responsibilities in terms of planning, and executing the project (Larson et al., 2014). The manager is liable for the success and failure of the project. The responsibilities are as follows.
User Team Leader: The leader is responsible for redesign activities of the project and related processes. The responsibilities of user team leader are as follows.
Application Team Leader: The leader is accountable for the custom development and application testing for the project (Krane et al., 2012). The responsibilities of the leader are as follows.
Technical Team Leader: The leader is accountable for identifying technical issues associated with the implementation of a knowledge management system (Marchewka, 2014). The responsibilities of the leader are as follows.
Project Organization Chart: The project organization chart for implementation of a knowledge management system includes the members such as project director, project manager, user team leader, application team leader, and technical team leader. The project manager will report to the project director regarding various aspects. Three team leaders will report to the project manager. Team leaders will handle a team with five to six members in order to facilitate the knowledge management system.
Figure 1: Project Organisation Chart
(Source: Created by the learner)
Assignment: The tasks completed during the project are project planning, scope identification, writing a functional specification, ensuring project standard, financial planning, allocation of resources and budget, implementation, project monitoring, and evaluation. Project planning includes estimating the duration of the project, members for project work, and identifying resources and sources of funds required to complete the project (Hartmann, 2012). Scope identification involves defining major aspects of the project and their importance in the project. The next task is to determine certain standards for the project and encourage members to adhere to project standards. Financial planning aims at determining whether the company is able to afford each task of the project. The next task is to allocate budget to tasks uniformly. Project implementation is the important task of the entire project as the success of the project depends on it. Project monitoring involves overseeing all activities of project work and this is an ongoing process.
Figure 2: Gantt chart
(Source: Created by the learner)
Human resource Requirements: In order to complete the project, team leaders, and project manager will require some support staffs to perform administrative and maintenance works. ASDA will require 5 to 10 support staffs to perform documentation and other administrative works. Support staffs will assist in other works such as hardware and software installation, network installation and others. The company may hire new staffs to support in the implementation of the knowledge management system. HR department will help the project team to get an overview of the system that it requires. The department will help in identifying the training needs of the project team.
Issues in Project: The major issue associated with the implementation of a knowledge management system is to identify whether the project is agile or not. Agile technology breaks down the whole project into certain tasks. It helps in testing the quality of the project. Sometimes business processes and procedures act as obstacles to the productivity of projects. ASDA may face challenges in terms of lack of effective communication, inability to adapt adopt changes in project requirements and others. Adapting to agile technology will help the organisation to overcome challenges immediately and meet project requirements without any difficulties (Špundak, 2014). Other benefits of agile techniques are efficient to use of funds and resources, rapid detection of errors and problems, rapid use of solutions and others. The project team gets an ability to reach at final decision-making stage quickly (Serrador and Pinto, 2015). In case of the implementation of a knowledge management system; members can have greater control over the project. Human resource department of the Company will identify the candidates, who have attended the interview process in the last six months. The failure of the project can be reduced through this methodology.
Another issue associated with the project is connecting the front end to back end. The front end of the project involves the human resource department, which is in charge of taking the interview of candidates. The department will identify the loopholes of the project first as it will use the system. The back end of the project involves other departments such as research and development, Information technology and other. The back end will assist the front end in resolving issues related to knowledge management system. It will make further development in the system as per requirements of human resource debarment. The whole system will connect the front end and back end. Working with collaboration can lead to resolving all system issues effectively.
Project Control: It is the process of data gathering and management used to predict and influence the outcomes of the project in terms of time and cost. The PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) is a framework used in project management in order to get an overview of how to control the project effectively (Matos and Lopes, 2013). The implementation of a knowledge management system in the HR department of ASDA can be controlled through the usage of PMBOK. It is a valuable method to standardize all practices of this project (Larson and Gray, 2015). Project manager of the company will get a chance to work in a standardized project management system. The framework will discuss how to carry out risk management process effectively (Snyder, 2013). It will help the project team to identify areas, where changes are required. The team can initiate the changes and compare different plans.
Quality Control: The quality of the project deliverable will be evaluated by using techniques such as cause and effect diagram, control chart and others (Besner and Hobbs, 2012). Quality control activities ensure that the project deliverable is complying with quality requirements (Gido et al., 2014). The knowledge management system will ensure an efficient recruitment process in ASDA. Quality control activities involve adopting a safe mechanism that can prevent the project from failure or any defects.
Conclusion
The report has discussed the implementation of a knowledge management system to prevent repetitive interviewing in ASDA. It is stated that the purpose of this project is to prevent candidates from attending the interview process repetitively for a duration of six months. The major constraints, resources, and deliverables of the project are discussed in the report. As per the report, the project will deliver an effective knowledge management system. This can assist the organisation to enhance the efficiency of the recruitment process. The project constraints are schedule, cost, ineffective leadership, improper communication modes, and others. These constraints may create obstacles for the project. Risks associated with this project are human resource, technical, human errors, extra reworks, and others. The project team will include project director, project manager and three team leaders in areas like user, application and technology. The major project issues are the presence of agile methodology and connecting the front-end department with back-end department.
References
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