Project Management Principles And Strategies

Background and Principles of Project Management

Background and Principles of Project Management 

The PMBOK defines project management as the following:

“Project management is the application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives” (Rose 2013).

 Thus, the core principles of project management can be outlined as the following;

1. The vision and mission of the project: Defining the vision and the mission of any project, before starting with the execution phase, is the most important activity of any project management initiative.
2. Business objectives: All project management activities should be conducted with the aim of meeting the objectives of any business organization (Kerzner 2013).
3. Standards of Engagement:Establishing the team that would work towards the fulfillment of the project, along with the roles and responsibilities of these resources and the time they would need to spend on the project activities is an essential task of any project management initiative.
4. Organizational Alignment: The project being conducted should essentially be aligned with the goals and objectives of the organization conducting it (Schwalbe 2015) .
5. Accountability and Measurement: Identifying the artifacts that are essential for any project management initiative.

 Thus, it can be said that alignment with the business needs of the client organization and the satisfaction of the clients are the most essential for any project.

 On the other hand, expert Burke (2013) considers the Project Management Triangle that outlines the constraints associated with any project initiative, as one of the core principles of the project management. The constraints outlined by this triangle include the time associated with the project, its scope and the cost associated with the same.

  According to Schwalbe (2015) , satisfying the clients is the key success criteria of any project. The authors also comment that the maintaining a balance between the scope, schedule and the cost of the project helps in satisfying the client.

 The  following  section of the  report  provides information regarding the NPV calculation  of  the  two  projects  identified by the  management by A2Z Constructions.

	Project A: Extending the current four story building to a five story building
Year	Year 0	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Initial Investment	£    400,000.00
Cash flow		£ 133,333.00	£ 133,333.00	£ 133,333.00
Discount factor @4%	4%	0.961538462	0.924556213	0.888996359
Present value		£  128,204.81	£  123,273.85	£  118,532.55
Total present value	$      370,011.21
Net present value	$      (29,988.79)
Year	Year 0	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Initial Investment	£      400,000.00
Cash flow		£  180,000.00	£  180,000.00	£  180,000.00	£  250,000.00
Cumulative cash flow	-£     400,000.00	-£ 220,000.00	-£    40,000.00	£  140,000.00	£  390,000.00
Payback period	3.56	years
	Project B: Buying and renovating an additional small office building space nearby
Year	Year 0	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Initial Investment	£    500,000.00
Cash flow		£ 166,666.00	£ 166,666.00	£ 166,666.00
Discount factor @4%	4%	0.961538462	0.924556213	0.888996359
Present value		£  160,255.77	£  154,092.09	£  148,165.47
Total present value	$      462,513.32
Net present value	$      (37,486.68)
Year	Year 0	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Initial Investment	£      500,000.00
Cash flow		£  180,000.00	£  180,000.00	£  180,000.00	£  250,000.00
Cumulative cash flow	-£     500,000.00	-£ 320,000.00	-£ 140,000.00	£    40,000.00	£  290,000.00
Payback period	3.16	years

 
As depicted in the above tables, the payback period of the second project is much shorter than that of the former one. Thus, the second project is being selected for making arrangements   for additional office space for A2Z Constructions.

 A  Project Management system consists  of all the  management  processes  or  activities   associated with the effective  management of organizational  project. The core components of project management  system  include the following:

1. Schedule management (Schwalbe 2015) 
2. Budget and cost control methods
3. Resource allocation system
4. Quality management processes
5. Risk management processes

 The various stages of project lifecycle has been depicted below:

 

Figure:  Project Lifecycle

(Source: Walker 2015, pp-36 ) 

 In a typical project, the requirements are identified in the initiation phase and plans based on these requirements are developed in the planning phase. The entire project is conducted in the execution phase, whereas the post-completion project   activities are conducted in the closure phase (Walker  2015). Thus, the activities are subdivided in different phases, where a later stage can only be started after the completion of the former:  such strict methods indeed ensure the successful completion of projects.

  The key reasons involved in terminating projects are being listed below:

1. Project does not meet the business goals
2. Extinction of the requirements that the project was supposed fulfill (Verzuh 2015). 
3. Project lacks support from client
4. Project has gone out of control (Schwalbe 2015) 

 Meetings conducted after termination of project emphasize on the development of under mentioned documents:

1. The project foundation document
2. Project closure reports
3. Identification of the lessons learned (Leach  2014)
4. Documentation of issues associated with the project

 Projects can be deemed successful  or unsuccessful based  on the following factors:

1. Meeting the objectives
2. Adhering to the project schedule (Burke 2013)

c, Adhering to the allocated budget

Identify the most appropriate organizational structure, roles and responsibilities of participants within a project. 

Appraising the Viability of Projects, Developing Success/Fail Criteria

 The   matrix based organizational structure,  which  allows project  manager to  share  the responsibility of  overseeing the  entire  project  with several  program  managers, would be the most suitable structure for this project (Marchewka  2014) .

 This organization does not allow the project  manager to  have  the  supreme  power  over all project activities: however  the advantage of the same lies in the fact that as different aspects  of  the  project are  being supervised simultaneously, the  time taken to complete it becomes short (Heagney  2012).

 The roles included in the project are:

Table: Roles and responsibilities

Role	Responsibility
Project manager	Overseeing the entire project
Business analyst	Documentation process
Network engineer	Managing the communication network
finance team	Managing the budget
legal team members	Managing the Legal aspects of team
carpenters	Carpentry work
Plumbers	Plumbing work
Electricians	Electrical work
construction workers	Construction work

The person specification and job specification of the project manage has been mentioned in Appendix 1.

Project control is defined by the PMBOK as the following:

“Project controls are the data gathering, management and analytical processes used to predict, understand and constructively influence the time and cost outcomes of a project or program; through the communication of information in formats that assist effective management and decision making” (Rose  2013).

  One of the core project control techniques is the development and utilization of the communication plan. The   said plan determines the methods and techniques to be utilized in communicating with the stakeholders of a project, along with the frequency at which the same should be applied (Heagney  2012).

Assess Project Leadership requirements and qualities 

 The qualities that a project manager must essentially have are being outlined in the section below (Chia  2013):

1. Excellent communication skills
2. The ability to make the vision of the project clear to all members of  the team.
3. The ability to monitor the activities the being conducted by the  members of the project team
4. The competence to oversee all aspects of the project.

AC2.4   While developing the project team, the prior experiences of the resources were taken into consideration and the allocation of the resources to each of the project activities were essentially based on the qualifications (and background) of these resources.

 The following resources were allocated to the project under consideration:

Table: Resources associated with the project

Resource Name	Type	Material Label	Initials	Group	Max. Units	Std. Rate
Project manager	Work		P		100%	$150.00/hr
Business analyst	Work		B		200%	$70.00/hr
Network engineer	Work		N		200%	$50.00/hr
finance team	Work		f		300%	$40.00/hr
legal team members	Work		l		300%	$40.00/hr
carpenters	Work		c		900%	$20.00/hr
Plumbers	Work		P		900%	$20.00/hr
Electricians	Work		E		600%	$30.00/hr
construction workers	Work		c		1,700%	$15.00/hr

(Source: Developed by author)

 These resources were  allocated to the following work packages:

Table: Work packages of the project and the resources associated with them

Task Name	Duration	Resource Names
Buying and renovating an additional small office building space nearby for A2Z Construction	45.5 days
Project starts	0 days	Project manager
Phase 1: Identifying the specific requirements of the project	3 days
Estimating the increase in the number of employees in the next 10 years	0.5 days	Business analyst
Estimating the requirements of these additional employees	0.5 days	Business analyst
Estimating the sitting requirements to be used in the future	0.75 days	Business analyst
Estimating the total network requirements	0.5 days	Network engineer
Documenting the total requirements of the project	0.25 days	Business analyst
Estimating the total budget required for the project	0.25 days	finance team
Estimating the total time required for the project.	0.25 days	Business analyst, finance team, Project manager
Phase 2 : Finding a site that matches the identified requirements	10.5 days
Communicating with the agencies and brokers to get details of office spaces situated in the surrounding locality	3 days	Business analyst
Identifying those properties that meet the specific requirements indentified in phase 1	0.5 days	Project manager
Making a final List of all the properties that meet the specific requirements identified in phase 1	2 days	Business analyst, Project manager
communicating with the property owners so as to collect information about the rents to be paid for using the offices paces	2 days	Business analyst, finance team
Finalizing the office space that would be rented out	3 days	Project manager
Phase 3: Developing contracts	6 days
Developing legal contracts with the owner of the office space	2 days	legal team members
Developing legal contracts with the vendors who would renovate the interior of the office space	2 days	legal team members
Developing legal contracts with the vendors who would provide legal communication network services to the office	2 days	legal team members
Phase 4: Renovation work	20 days
conducting the carpentry work	7 days	carpenters
conducting the plumbing work	7 days	Plumbers
Installing all electrical and electronic appliances	7 days	Electricians
Conducting the floor work	5 days	construction workers
Conducting the painting work	5 days	Business analyst
Installing all furniture	3 days	carpenters
New office is ready	0 days
seats allocated to existing employees	5 days	Business analyst, Network engineer
work starts at new office	1 day	Project manager
End of project	0 days	Project manager

(Source: Developed by author) 

 The Responsibility Assignment Matrix helps in determining the roles that have been allocated to the resources. The Responsibility Assignment Matrix of the project under consideration has been provided below.

Activity	Project manager	Business analyst	Finance team	Legal team members	Workers (carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, construction workers)	Network engineer
Identifying the specific requirements of the project	I	R	–	–	–	–
Finding a site that matches the identified requirements	A	R	A	–	–	–
Developing contracts	C	–	–	R	–	–
Renovation work	C	–	I	–	R	R

Where, R denotes Responsible, A denotes accountable, C denotes consulted and I denotes Informed.  

Figure: Work packages of the project

(Source: Developed by author)

Prepare Project Plans and establish the Project Organization 

  The  Gantt chart  of  any  project  helps in depicting the amount  of  time  allocated to each activity  of  the  project (Crawford  2014).

Explaining the Principles behind Project Management Systems and Procedures

On the other hand, the network diagram of the  project helps in depicting  the relationship that exists  in between  project activities and tasks, and the manner  in which these impact the progress of the entire  project (Binder  2016).

  The schedule of the project has been provided in the section below, along with the Gantt chart of the sane.

 Table: The Schedule of the project

Outline Number	Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Predecessors
0	Buying and renovating an additional small office building space nearby for A2Z Construction	45.5 days	Mon 10-10-16	Mon 12-12-16
1	Project starts	0 days	Mon 10-10-16	Mon 10-10-16
2	Phase 1: Identifying the specific requirements of the project	3 days	Mon 10-10-16	Wed 12-10-16
2.1	Estimating the increase in the number of employees in the next 10 years	0.5 days	Mon 10-10-16	Mon 10-10-16	1
2.2	Estimating the requirements of these additional employees	0.5 days	Mon 10-10-16	Mon 10-10-16	3
2.3	Estimating the sitting requirements to be used in the future	0.75 days	Tue 11-10-16	Tue 11-10-16	4
2.4	Estimating the total network requirements	0.5 days	Tue 11-10-16	Wed 12-10-16	5
2.5	Documenting the total requirements of the project	0.25 days	Wed 12-10-16	Wed 12-10-16	6
2.6	Estimating the total budget required for the project	0.25 days	Wed 12-10-16	Wed 12-10-16	7
2.7	Estimating the total time required for the project.	0.25 days	Wed 12-10-16	Wed 12-10-16	8
3	Phase 2 : Finding a site that matches the identified requirements	10.5 days	Thu 13-10-16	Thu 27-10-16
3.1	Communicating with the agencies and brokers to get details of office spaces situated in the surrounding locality	3 days	Thu 13-10-16	Mon 17-10-16	9
3.2	Identifying those properties that meet the specific requirements indentified in phase 1	0.5 days	Tue 18-10-16	Tue 18-10-16	11
3.3	Making a final List of all the properties that meet the specific requirements identified in phase 1	2 days	Tue 18-10-16	Thu 20-10-16	12
3.4	communicating with the property owners so as to collect information about the rents to be paid for using the offices paces	2 days	Thu 20-10-16	Mon 24-10-16	13
3.5	Finalizing the office space that would be rented out	3 days	Mon 24-10-16	Thu 27-10-16	14
4	Phase 3: Developing contracts	6 days	Thu 27-10-16	Fri 04-11-16
4.1	Developing legal contracts with the owner of the office space	2 days	Thu 27-10-16	Mon 31-10-16	15
4.2	Developing legal contracts with the vendors who would renovate the interior of the office space	2 days	Mon 31-10-16	Wed 02-11-16	17
4.3	Developing legal contracts with the vendors who would provide legal communication network services to the office	2 days	Wed 02-11-16	Fri 04-11-16	18
5	Phase 4: Renovation work	20 days	Fri 04-11-16	Fri 02-12-16
5.1	conducting the carpentry work	7 days	Fri 04-11-16	Tue 15-11-16	19
5.2	conducting the plumbing work	7 days	Fri 04-11-16	Tue 15-11-16	19
5.3	Installing all electrical and electronic appliances	7 days	Fri 04-11-16	Tue 15-11-16	19
5.4	Conducting the floor work	5 days	Tue 15-11-16	Tue 22-11-16	23,21,22
5.5	Conducting the painting work	5 days	Tue 22-11-16	Tue 29-11-16	24
5.6	Installing all furniture	3 days	Tue 29-11-16	Fri 02-12-16	25
6	New office is ready	0 days	Fri 02-12-16	Fri 02-12-16	26
7	seats allocated to existing employees	5 days	Fri 02-12-16	Fri 09-12-16	27
8	work starts at new office	1 day	Fri 09-12-16	Mon 12-12-16	28
9	End of project	0 days	Mon 12-12-16	Mon 12-12-16	29

(Source: Developed by author) 

The Gantt chart of the project is as follows:

 

Figure: Gantt chart of the “Buying and renovating an additional small office building space nearby for A2Z Construction” project

(Source: Developed by author)

 The network diagram of the project has been provided below:

 

Figure: Network Diagram of the “Buying and renovating an additional small office building space nearby for A2Z Construction” project

(Source: Developed by author)

Apply Project Scheduling, Estimating and Cost Control techniques

 The earned value analysis method was utilized for scheduling and cost control activities of the project. The details of the same have been provided in the table below:

Table: The earned value analysis of the project

Task Name	Planned Value – PV (BCWS)	Earned Value – EV (BCWP)	AC (ACWP)	SV	CV	EAC	BAC	VAC
Buying and renovating an additional small office building space nearby for A2Z Construction	$18,080.00	$18,080.00	$18,080.00	$0.00	$0.00	$28,800.00	$28,800.00	$0.00
Project starts	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Phase 1: Identifying the specific requirements of the project	$1,920.00	$1,920.00	$1,920.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,920.00	$1,920.00	$0.00
Estimating the increase in the number of employees in the next 10 years	$280.00	$280.00	$280.00	$0.00	$0.00	$280.00	$280.00	$0.00
Estimating the requirements of these additional employees	$280.00	$280.00	$280.00	$0.00	$0.00	$280.00	$280.00	$0.00
Estimating the sitting requirements to be used in the future	$420.00	$420.00	$420.00	$0.00	$0.00	$420.00	$420.00	$0.00
Estimating the total network requirements	$200.00	$200.00	$200.00	$0.00	$0.00	$200.00	$200.00	$0.00
Documenting the total requirements of the project	$140.00	$140.00	$140.00	$0.00	$0.00	$140.00	$140.00	$0.00
Estimating the total budget required for the project	$80.00	$80.00	$80.00	$0.00	$0.00	$80.00	$80.00	$0.00
Estimating the total time required for the project.	$520.00	$520.00	$520.00	$0.00	$0.00	$520.00	$520.00	$0.00
Phase 2 : Finding a site that matches the identified requirements	$11,160.00	$11,160.00	$11,160.00	$0.00	$0.00	$11,160.00	$11,160.00	$0.00
Communicating with the agencies and brokers to get details of office spaces situated in the surrounding locality	$1,680.00	$1,680.00	$1,680.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,680.00	$1,680.00	$0.00
Identifying those properties that meet the specific requirements indentified in phase 1	$600.00	$600.00	$600.00	$0.00	$0.00	$600.00	$600.00	$0.00
Making a final List of all the properties that meet the specific requirements identified in phase 1	$3,520.00	$3,520.00	$3,520.00	$0.00	$0.00	$3,520.00	$3,520.00	$0.00
communicating with the property owners so as to collect information about the rents to be paid for using the offices paces	$1,760.00	$1,760.00	$1,760.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,760.00	$1,760.00	$0.00
Finalizing the office space that would be rented out	$3,600.00	$3,600.00	$3,600.00	$0.00	$0.00	$3,600.00	$3,600.00	$0.00
Phase 3: Developing contracts	$1,920.00	$1,920.00	$1,920.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,920.00	$1,920.00	$0.00
Developing legal contracts with the owner of the office space	$640.00	$640.00	$640.00	$0.00	$0.00	$640.00	$640.00	$0.00
Developing legal contracts with the vendors who would renovate the interior of the office space	$640.00	$640.00	$640.00	$0.00	$0.00	$640.00	$640.00	$0.00
Developing legal contracts with the vendors who would provide legal communication network services to the office	$640.00	$640.00	$640.00	$0.00	$0.00	$640.00	$640.00	$0.00
Phase 4: Renovation work	$3,080.00	$3,080.00	$3,080.00	$0.00	$0.00	$7,800.00	$7,800.00	$0.00
conducting the carpentry work	$880.00	$880.00	$880.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,120.00	$1,120.00	$0.00
conducting the plumbing work	$880.00	$880.00	$880.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,120.00	$1,120.00	$0.00
Installing all electrical and electronic appliances	$1,320.00	$1,320.00	$1,320.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,680.00	$1,680.00	$0.00
Conducting the floor work	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$600.00	$600.00	$0.00
Conducting the painting work	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$2,800.00	$2,800.00	$0.00
Installing all furniture	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$480.00	$480.00	$0.00
New office is ready	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
seats allocated to existing employees	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$4,800.00	$4,800.00	$0.00
work starts at new office	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,200.00	$1,200.00	$0.00
End of project	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

(Source: Developed by author)

 The above mentioned table denotes the earned value analysis of the project conducted on 11^th of November, 2016. The value of the schedule variance (SV), along with that of the cost variance (CV) is 0, which denotes that the progress of the project is in strict alignment with the plan. 

 The term ‘Performance Management’ is  generally utilized to define those sets of activities  that are  associated with  the measurement  of the results and/ or outcomes of the project in are regular fashion, so as to  gather  information about the efficiency and  effectiveness of the project.

 The following two methods are most commonly utilized for measuring the performance of projects:

1. The milestone chart: The milestone chart, that depicts the milestone activities already conducted and project reports, including the detailed description of all the activities that have been conducted up to any specific date, are two of the most commonly used project control methods (Meng 2012).

 Advantages of milestone chart:

1. The milestone chart depicts the inter-relationship between the activities included in the project.
2. The milestone chart helps in identifying the project activities completed, thus depicting the progress achieved so far in the project. 

Disadvantages of milestone chart:

1. The milestone chart does not allow the user to estimate whether the project is running on schedule or is lagging behind (Reiss 2013).
2. The milestone chart does not reflect on the cost variances of the project.
3. Earned value analysis:The Earned Value analysis is an integrated project management method that allows the simultaneous control/monitoring of the cost and schedule of the project, besides predicting the performance of the same (Binder  2016). The earned value method helps in overcoming the above-mentioned disadvantage of the milestone chart method.

Advantages of Earned value analysis:

1. The EVM method allows measuring the performance of the project both in terms of cost and in terms of schedule (Chia  2013).
2. The EVM allows tracking the overall progress of the project on any particular date, thus allowing the faster identification of delays and variances.

Disadvantages of Earned value analysis:

1. The EVM provides an estimation of all the variances of the project in terms of monetary units only. While the cost variances can be easily identified, identification of the schedule variances (that is, conversion from monetary units to time units) requires complex calculations.
2. The EVM method does not provide information regarding the performance trend of the entire project (Meng 2012).

 The EVM method is being recommended to the project under consideration as it helps in comparing the expected  progress of the project with the progress made so far (both in terms of cost and schedule), thus providing a much holistic view of the same.

Explain Project Change Control Procedures, evaluate the completed project

 The  change control procedures utilized in the project includes the following steps:

1. The change request made by the client was documented, with the aim of identifying the true nature of the same.
2. The change requests were reviewed by the project manager
3. The response document including the options for including the changes was identified.
4. The client was informed of the final decision.

Any project can be evaluated based on the contents of the project completion report developed during the project closure meeting. The report points out the extent to which the objectives of the project have been met, the utilization of the budget allocated to the project, the issues faced by the team and the lessons thus learnt (Teller  and Kock  2013). Thus, information available in the first two head can be easily utilized for evaluating the project.

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Rowell, C.J., 2016. Book Review: Project Management for Information Professionals. Library Resources & Technical Services, 60(4), pp.280-281.

Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Shields, P.M. and Rangarajan, N., 2013. A playbook for research methods: Integrating conceptual frameworks and project management. New Forums Press.

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