Project initiation document is the starting point of any project which defines the project scope and bundles up the foundational project details to serve as a document for reference throughout the project (Baguley, 2008).
Project charter and business case are made as a part of project initiation documentation. Considering an examples of an organization that has a project of development and delivery of IT infrastructure to clients, a project charter would have details of project sponsor, description, scope, business case, deliverables, timeline, key stakeholders and risks. Below is given a sample Project Charter for the IT company (BIS, 2010) –
Project Name: IT infrastructure delivery across country for a Bank
Project Sponsor: Banking Organization
Project Manager: IT company project head
Project Approval: 11th Dec 2018
Project Description: The project would involve delivery and installation of servers, personal computers, printers, scanners, and networking equipment’s to 1000 branches of the bank.
Scope: The activities within the scope of the project are manufacturing of IT infrastructure units as per agreed specifications, delivery of units to individual bank branches, user acceptance testing, and installation of the units at the bank branches (BENAIJA1 & KJIRI, 2013.).
Business Case: The project would get the IT company a direct earning from sales with profits refelected above the investment made in manufacturing, delivery, testing, and installation.
Constraints: The items defined in the project have to be delivered within 6 months including manufacturing
Project Deliverables: The deliverables of the project include –
Project Team: The project team consists of a project manager, project sponsor, production supervisor, delivery manager, logistics head, testing unit manager, and purchase manager from the client.
Key stakeholders: Key stakeholders of the project include project sponsor, project manager, production unit , delivery department, logistics department, bank employees, bank customers, and purchase manager.
Risks: The project is likely to face the following risks –
Assuming the company is into IT infrastructure solutions that it manufactures as well as is a reseller for solutions.
The focus of the company is on B2B segment as it sells the solutions to other medium level and big enterprises (Clements & Gido, 2006).
Create value for customers by innovation and technical excellence to attain exponential growth through leadership
The strategic plan of an organization contains the short, mid term and long term goals of the company. Short term goals of the company are to increase the market share by selling more and more products to new customers, mid term goal is to expand market by acquiring new markets in other countries and long term goal is to establish a global leadership in the IT infrastructure segment by acquiring largest share in the segment across major global markets (C.R & Thomas, 2011).
Company follows the values of integrity, openness, respect, and fairness that are expressed in clauses of company policies.
The key stakeholders of the IT infrastructure delivery project for bank across country would be CEO of the bank, project sponsor, project manager, IT manager from bank, procurement manager from bank, hardware vendors, software vendors, internal employees of the IT firm, bank customers, and bank employees who would be the end users of the delivered infrastructure (Clements & Gido, 2006).
Negotiations can happen between the project team or project manager and other stakeholders for various reasons such as defining scope, setting budgeting, and making plans. There are two styles of negotiation that are commonly used while negotiating project expectations with stakeholders:
WE negotiated the change in schedule from a month of delivery time to 45 days of delivery time for each project phase (Cliff Consulting., 2007).
Among the stakeholder was the purchase manager who wanted deliveries to be made faster and was not agreeing to the extension of the due dates.
We said that that if the delivery time had to be reduced then it would require skipping of thorough test of machines before deliveries are made which can later on cause a problem for which the vendor would not take responsibility and the client organization would have to bear the losses. Options were evaluated (FME, 2014).
The client agreed to extend the timeline but for the most important locations, he insisted in making fast deliveries through a special lot arrangement.
I could not think of a better way
Problem: The delivery time for the personal computers to the branches in a state of he country for the bank was needed to be increased from 30 days to 45 days but client had some critical locations to be opened fast and thus, needed faster delivery.
Stakeholder Needs: Stakeholder needed some branches to be opened before 45 days and thus, needed urgent deliveries.
Negotiation Strategy: Options were evaluated with pros and cons discussed to take a call on the best approach.
Discussion Outcome: The client agreed on changing the schedule but with modification for some branches where deliveries were to be made faster (FME, 2014)
Negotiations are documented in the policy documents like contracts and company policies.
Project governance structure defines the rules and principles that dictate the organization and control of projects in an organization. The purpose of this framework is to there is a coherence achieved and roles and responsibilities given to project team members are clearly identified and communicated (GALWAY, 2004).
The current project governance framework categorise projects based on their sizes between small, medium, and large based on which the resources are assigned to the projects. However, size cannot be the only way to categorize as there could be other parameters that affect such as complexity, strategic importance, and risk. Thus, the framework needs negotiation (KURZYD?OWSKA, 2016).
Only the size of the project is not enough to categorise projects as project approach to planning and resource allocation may also be determined by its complexity, strategic importance, and risk. A project that may come in the medium category but has other vendors involved may require different set of resources because of complexities. In the same way if a major part of a large project is outsourced then less resources may be required from the IT company for allotment for execution (WIllis, 2018).
Changes were being made and the categorization was not just based on the size but complexity and strategic importance were also included.
This can make resource allotment and alignment more fool proof considering multiple factors that can affect the project.
A steering committee is made to facilitate the project from start till closure to ensure its successful delivery. The authorities that would be involved in the negotiation while forming a steering committee on a project include project head, project owner, project sponsor, end users or client, and purchase manager considering the case of an IT company (Virine, 2013).
A project charter is a document that is made while initiating the project that contains the details of project sponsor, description, scope, business case, deliverables, timeline, key stakeholders and risks. Based on this document, a project is approved or rejected and then it is acts as the guideline for the entire project (Treasury Board of Canada , 2010).
Below is given an example of WBS made for a website development project
Project Initiation
Vendor Selection
Initial Set-up
DNS
Webspace
CMS installation
Requirement Gathering (Baguley, 2008)
Planning
Budgeting
Schedule development
Resource Management
Roles & Responsibilities – RACI
Team Management
Scope Management
Define scope
Plan scope management
Risk Management (Devi & Reddy, 2012)
Designing
Menu
Functionalities
Pages
Widgets
Plugins
Multimedia (Baguley, 2008)
Implementation
Website Development
CMS Theme installation
Plugins installation
Content development
Uploading of Multimedia
Coding (RCF, 2003)
Testing
System testing
Functional testing
Integration testing
Use Acceptance testing (RCF, 2003)
Project Closure
Project Acceptance
Lessons learned documentation
Project sign off (Devi & Reddy, 2012)
The project can have five key stages that include initiation, planning, designing, implementation, and closure.
Requirements for planning
Requirements for Design
Client wanted a software to be installed in every machine before it was dispatched
The objective of the project was to make deliveries of machines on time within 45 days
The stage of implementation would get affected as well as planning would have to be changed.
To complete the stage, changes have to be made in the initial plan by allotting resources for the installation of software before dispatch of machines.
The objective of the project was to make deliveries within 45 days but the request for installation of software would get it delayed. The plan was modified and the due dates were extended.
Three core functions of the project include project scope, schedule, and cost management
Project scope can be managed smoothly using a tool called MoSCoW in which requirements are categorized into those must be done, those can be done and those can be done without based on which tasks can be prioritized in the scope (Sabyasachi, 2018).
WBS can be used to define the tasks within the scope which would help in project monitoring and ensuring that team does not execute tasks beyond those specified in WBS
Gantt chart can be used for tracking the project progress against defined schedule to ensure that any deviations are noticed and corrected upon.
Critical Path Method can be used for the calculation of the minimum time that the project would take to complete. This would help in alignment of the resources to ensure project is completed on time
Project performance metrics like cost variation, earned value can be used for recording the costs of project and compared with expected costs to keep monitoring and controlling the costs
Budget planning would help in assigning costs to resources and project tasks such that budget is released as per project requirement which would ensure that cost is controlled (Sanderson, 2012).
Triple constraints of the project are cost, time, and scope (SAEO, 2015).
The project in included delivery of servers, personal computers, printers, and scanners to 1000 bank branches across a country. The manufacturing, testing, and deliveries have to be made in 6 months.
PMBOK project management methodology was used for the management of the project which followed the stages of initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure.
Project scope included:
Milestones of the project included:
The project had to be completed in 6 months which included 4 months of manufacturing and procurement, 1 month of dispatch to warehouse and testing of machines and one month for delivery to bank branches (SAEO, 2015).
WBS:
Project Initiation
Vendor Selection
Procurement
Printers
Scanners
Requirement Gathering (Baguley, 2008)
Planning
Budgeting
Schedule development
Resource Management
Roles & Responsibilities – RACI
Team Management
Scope Management
Define scope
Plan scope management
Risk Management (Devi & Reddy, 2012)
Implementation
Manufacturing
Personal Computers
Servers
Testing
System testing
Integration testing
Use Acceptance testing (RCF, 2003)
Project Closure
Project Acceptance
Lessons learned documentation
Project sign off (Devi & Reddy, 2012)
A change management plan defines how changes in specific activities and roles would be controlled and managed including project scope, schedule, budget, quality, risks, and plan.
For monitoring and control on a project Gantt chart and earned value analysis can be used. With Gantt chart, the major milestones of the project can be plotted and the actual execution time can be recorded during the project along the same chart so that if there are any variations from the plan, they can be noticed immediately.
|
Milestone Element |
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Month 2 |
Month 3 |
Month 4 |
Month 5 |
Month 6 |
|
Manufacturing of servers |
|||||||||
|
Manufacturing of computers |
|||||||||
|
Procurement of printers |
|||||||||
|
Procurement of Scanners |
|||||||||
|
Consolidation in warehouse |
|||||||||
|
Testing of machines |
|||||||||
|
Delivery to bank branches |
Earned value analysis can be used to keep track on how costs and schedule of the project are controlled. It would involve calculation of cost variance, schedule variance, cost performance indicator, and schedule performance indicator.
Negotiation was done on the possibility of installation of the software needed in machines at the warehouse or at the production unit.
The plan was to do installation at the production house while stakeholders suggested the same at the warehouse before testing
Discussions were done on pros and cons of both approaches with respect to the project objectives and decision was arrived at with mutual consent
Organization culture and ethical structure are the two internal work environments. Organization culture includes the values and behaviours that an organization follows. The ethical structure comprises of the ethical policies and frameworks followed by an organization. The project team is working as per the hierarchy culture and ethical codes of conduct illustrated by the Australian Computing Society (ACS). There may be delays and overrun of project costs that may come up due to conflicts and interests. Also, the resource engagement and productivity levels may come down.
For aligning project objectives with organizational objectives, project benefits were linked to the organizational strategies or objectives such that project was approved only when there was a sizable benefit for the organization.
This method would ensure that the project benefits were considered before approval and only after the project was found feasible and profitable for the company, would it go into execution and thus, there would be no confusion beyond that.
They did not differ
The organizational objectives were documented in policies for selection of project as the criteria for selection
Only the profitable projects were selected in the first place
Deliveries of all the personal computers with installed OS
All the machines should have positive testing results
Reviews were taken to ensure that the Quality standards were met
Any variations from QA were identified and corrective actions were taken
A few machines were found to be working slow and thus, need to be replaced.
The company was assigned 1 week for reinstallation of the software in machines
Machines have been recalled fir reinstallation at the warehouse.
PMBOK guidelines were used for the project management in which project was executed in five stages and the activities were identified in each of the project management area defined
Project scope included:
Impact analysis involves evaluation of the project progress and identification of the modification or change that can improve the project scope. The impact analysis is done to assess the impact of the suggested change on the project. This is done in three phases that include request when a request for a change is placed, impact analysis in which the impact of change on project deliverables and constraints is evaluated and based on which the change is approved or rejected in the last stage. The impact analysis helps evaluate if the suggested change would bring benefits to the project or not which makes decision making simple (Kisongoch & Nsubug, 2013).
Project issue log is one of the examples of project logs and registers. It is the log that records the problems and concerns with the project covering the issue summary, timestamp, date, allocated resource, downtime (if any), resolution, and status. They are reviewed weekly or bi-monthly.
Good record for auditing purposes shall include the fields as date & time of audit, name of the auditor, process of audit, list of issues, strengths & weaknesses, steps of action, future recommendations, and urgent matters to be reported.
Project baselines are the standards that are used to measure the project performance. Schedule baseline is an example of the project baseline. It is necessary to record the changes to the baseline to keep a track of project performance and highlight the gaps, if any (Seely and Duong, 2011). Template to track the changes shall have project baseline, actual value, estimated value, and variance.
Project reflection is one of the finalization activities that shall record the learnings and contribution of the individual project resources. Acceptance of deliverables is another activity that includes sign offs from all the stakeholders.
Project product is the outcome of the project, for instance, a mobile application is the project product of a mobile application development project. The handover process shall include acceptance testing, feedback and its analysis, improvement & implementation of the changes, and final release.
Cost baseline, financial feasibility, and cost-benefit analysis shall be done as financial obligations. Legal standards and regulations along with the legal compliance rate shall be finalized. Third-party vendors, type of contracts, and contractual terms shall be finalized as contractual obligations (Shokoohyar, Qi and Katok, 2017).
Project governance is the management framework under which the critical decisions regarding the project are taken (Muller et al., 2016). Work breakdown structure is one of the methods to breakdown the tasks in a project. It is a hierarchical diagram that divides the project in packages and sub-packages. The project tasks and sub-tasks are displayed in the levels. SMART objectives are the project objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For instance, to finish the project activities in 80 days and within $20,000 as the project costs is a SMART objective.
Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that depicts project schedule in the form of a timeline. The project progress and deliverables can be tracked using the chart along with the information on task dependency and resource utilization (Ong, Wang and Zainon, 2016).
The first stage is project initiation in which feasibility analysis, kick-off, and chartering is done. Project estimation, analysis, and planning of project areas is done in planning stage. Actual project conduction is done in the execution stage followed by implementation, testing, and reviews in monitoring & control stage. Project performance measurement, reflection & lessons learned, project evaluation, acceptance of deliverables, and final documentation is done in the closure stage of the project (Rose, 2013).
References
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BENAIJA1, K., & KJIRI, L. ( 2013.). Project portfolio selection: Multi-criteria analysis and interactions between projects. ENSIAS.
Berbec, I. S. (2014). Aligning Project Scope And Deliverables With Business Strategy. KTH Royal Institute of Technology .
Beringer, C. J., & Kock, A. D. (2013). Behavior of internal stakeholders in project portfolio management and its impact on success. International Journal of Project Management, 31(6), 840-846.
BIS. (2010). GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING PROJECTS: How to organise, plan and control projects. BIS.
C.R, K., & Thomas, S. M. (2011). Requirement Gathering for small Projects using Agile Methods. IJCA, 122-128.
Clements, J. P., & Gido, J. .. (2006). Effective Project Management. Thompson.
Cliff Consulting. (2007). A Systems Implementation Project Planning Guide. Cliff COnsulting,.
Devi, T., & Reddy, V. (2012). Work Breakdown Structure of the Project. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 683-686.
FME. (2014). Project Scope Management: Project Skills. FME.
GALWAY, L. (2004). Quantitative Risk Analysis for Project Management. : Rand Corporation.
Galway, L. (2004). Quantitative Risk Analysis for Project Management. RAND.
Kisongoch, G., & Nsubug, A. (2013). IT Project Management Methodology : Project Scope Management Support Guide. NITA.
KURZYD?OWSKA, A. (2016). Leadership in Project Management. Humanities and Social Sciences, XXI(23), 103-112.
Lavarack, T., & Coetzee, M. (2005). A FRAMEWORK FOR WEB SERVICES SECURITY POLICY NEGOTIATION . University of Johannesburg .
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Ong, H., Wang, C. and Zainon, N. (2016). Integrated Earned Value Gantt Chart (EV-Gantt) Tool for Project Portfolio Planning and Monitoring Optimization. Engineering Management Journal, 28(1), pp.39-53.
PM4DEV. (2016). Project Scope Management for Developing Organizations. PM4DEV.
PMI. (2013). A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge. PMI.
PMI. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge. Newton Square: Pennsylvania.: PMI.
Raz, T. M. (2001). Use and benefits of tools for project risk management. International Journal of Project Management, 19, 9-17.
Rose, K. (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Fifth Edition. Project Management Journal, 44(3), pp.e1-e1.
Sabyasachi. (2018). The Importance of Having Clearly Defined Acceptance Criteria in Your Projects. Simplilearn.
SAEO. (2015). Cost Estimating Manual for Projects . SAEO.
SAEO. (2015). Cost Estimating Manual for Projects . SAEO.
Sanderson, J. (2012). Risk, uncertainty and governance in mega projects – A critical discussion of alternative explanations. International Journal of Project Management, 30, 432-443.
Schuyler, J. (2001). Risk and Decision Analysis in Projects. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Seely, M. and Duong, Q. (2011). The Dynamic Baseline Model for Project Management. Project Management Journal, 32(2), pp.25-36.
Shokoohyar, S., Qi, A. and Katok, E. (2017). Project Management under Risk-Sharing Contracts. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Treasury Board of Canada . (2010). A Guide to Project Gating for IT-Enabled Projects . Treasury Board of Canada.
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WIllis, S. (2018). Project Governance Framework. University of Otago.
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