Project Plan For Mobile 3G To 4G Upgrade In Kathmandu

Determination of project scope

Technology in the field of mobile and related applications is growing fast with time. It was one of the major jumps in the field of technology when the wireless networks transformed from analog to the digital. Wireless telephone technology i.e. mobile telecommunication includes list of generations which are 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G. Each generation is believed to be faster, more secure and more reliable than the previous one. 3G is offering faster data, speed and at least 200KB per seconds for multimedia use.

The 3G was long time standard for the wireless transmissions until 4G does not released.  After the release of 4G, people are upgrading their services for getting much faster speed and services. With respect to this, the present project plan is based on the Mobile 3G to 4G Upgrade in Kathmandu. In context to this, the file includes project scope, time and cost estimation, quality planning, risk assessment and implementation (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).

Determination of project scope

In 2G, there was facility of making calls and sending text messages. Later, the 3G released with the features of web browsing, email, video downloading, picture sharing and many more. The 3G network was capable enough to handle approximate 2 megabits per second. Individuals around the world were highly satisfied with the third generation network. Now, the technological world has brought new 4G in the market with higher speed and more features.

The speed and standards of 4g is about 100 Megabits per second and up to 1 Gigabits per second. 4G is pure data connection as it possesses end to end internet protocol connection. In the present time, Kathmandu is facing issues due to availability of 2G and 3G network. Due to the absence of skilled and necessary resources, the city is unable to upgrade its network from 2G and 3G to 4G. With respect to this, the people are facing network issues due to which they are unable to call and access internet. On the other hand, irregular topography of Kathmandu is another reason behind the usage of 2G and 3G. Thus, the aim of the present project plan is to upgrade the technology from 3G to 4G in Kathmandu (Fleming & Koppelman, 2016).

Aim: To upgrade mobile network from 3G to 4G in Kathmandu

Objectives:

The objectives of the present project plan are as follows:

• To implement 4g network in the environment of Kathmandu
• To provide large area network coverage
• To provide affordable services to the people

Estimation of time for project

Project schedule is one of the important tool by which project manager can easily estimate the total required time for completing the project. Project schedule for the current project is as follows:

WBS	Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Predecessors	Resource Names	Cost
1	Mobile network project from 3G to 4G in Kathmandu	136 days	Mon 5/28/18	Mon 12/3/18			$1,500,000.00
1.1	Project Initiation and conception	25 days	Mon 5/28/18	Fri 6/29/18			$20,000.00
1.1.1	Project Charter	10 days	Mon 5/28/18	Fri 6/8/18		Project Manager	$8,000.00
1.1.2	Project initiation	15 days	Mon 6/11/18	Fri 6/29/18	3	Project Manager	$12,000.00
1.2	Project definition and planning	47 days	Mon 7/2/18	Tue 9/4/18			$27,840.00
1.2.1	Scope Budget	10 days	Mon 7/2/18	Fri 7/13/18	3,4	Project Manager	$8,000.00
1.2.2	Developing project plan	15 days	Mon 7/16/18	Fri 8/3/18	6	Project Manager	$12,000.00
1.2.3	Estimating resources	10 days	Mon 8/6/18	Fri 8/17/18	7	Team member 1	$1,600.00
1.2.4	Communication Plan	12 days	Mon 8/20/18	Tue 9/4/18	8	Assistant project manager	$3,840.00
1.2.5	Risk Management	10 days	Mon 8/20/18	Fri 8/31/18	7,8	Risk Manager	$2,400.00
1.3	Project launch and execution	32 days	Wed 9/5/18	Thu 10/18/18			$1,424,160.00
1.3.1	Status & Tracking	12 days	Wed 9/5/18	Thu 9/20/18	9,10	Project Manager, Technical resources [1]	$1,420,960.00
1.3.2	KPIs	5 days	Fri 9/21/18	Thu 9/27/18	12	Team member 1	$800.00
1.3.3	Quality	10 days	Fri 9/28/18	Thu 10/11/18	13	Team member 2	$1,600.00
1.3.4	Forecasts	5 days	Fri 10/12/18	Thu 10/18/18	13,14	Team member 1	$800.00
1.4	Project performance and control	42 days	Fri 9/28/18	Mon 11/26/18			$23,200.00
1.4.1	Objectives	5 days	Fri 9/28/18	Thu 10/4/18	12,13	Program Manager	$2,400.00
1.4.2	Quality Deliverables	10 days	Fri 10/12/18	Thu 10/25/18	14,17	Telecommunication engineer	$3,200.00
1.4.3	Effort & Cost tracking	12 days	Fri 10/26/18	Mon 11/12/18	18	Project Manager	$9,600.00
1.4.4	Performance	10 days	Tue 11/13/18	Mon 11/26/18	19	Project Manager	$8,000.00
1.5	Project close	5 days	Tue 11/27/18	Mon 12/3/18			$4,800.00
1.5.1	Reporting	5 days	Tue 11/27/18	Mon 12/3/18	20	Project Manager, Team Member 1	$4,800.00

As per the above project schedule the current project will complete in minimum 136 days. Above plan has included the total time, resources and cost of the project.

Determination of resources needs for project

The resources which are required for upgrading 3G to 4G network at Katmandu are as follows:

Human Resources: It is necessary to have human resources for completing the project. The companies will need skilled, talented and knowledgeable employees having information regarding the 4G services. The project team will include project manager, program manager, risk manager, accountant, telecommunication engineer, network architect and many more for accomplishing the objectives of the present project. With the help of proper management and planning, the organizations will able to upgrade their network services for meeting the needs of the people in Kathmandu (Turner, 2016).

Time and cost estimation

Financial Resources: There is need of proper money for spending in the form of cash, liquid securities and credit lines for implementing the project effectively at Kathmandu. With respect to this, project will need sufficient resources. The financial resources help in paying the skilled workforce, network planning and many other processes with respect to the current project. The initial estimation of the costs is 1.5 million dollars.

Technical Resources: The project needs latest tools and techniques for implementing the plan in Kathmandu. These technological resources include Software radio technology, mobile communication standards like GSM, CDMA and TDMA, switching technology, positioning technology, smart antenna technology, reconfigurable/self-healing network technology and many more (Mir & Pinnington, 2014).

Physical Resources: The project needs infrastructure, different machines, equipment and vehicle for implementing the project successfully within the Kathmandu.

All the above resources help in upgrading the mobile network from 3G to 4G at Kathmandu effectively.

Gantt chart and Network Diagram

Gantt chart:

 
Estimation of cost for project

Table 1: Cost Estimation

WBS	Task Name	Cost
1	Mobile network project from 3G to 4G in Kathmandu	$1,500,000.00
1.1	Project Initiation and conception	$20,000.00
1.2	Project definition and planning	$27,840.00
1.3	Project launch and execution	$1,424,160.00
1.4	Project performance and control	$23,200.00
1.5	Project close	$4,800.00

 Quality planning for project

It is necessary to maintain the quality of project for accomplishing the desired objectives. With respect to the current project, companies of Kathmandu need highly qualified and skilled employees. The project needs to provide high quality 4G services without any disturbance and network issue. As per this, the team members of the firm work together for meeting all the requirements of the project and upgrading the 3G services to the 4G in the Kathmandu. Proper testing, verification and validation are conducted by the team members for checking the quality of the project.

Any mistake or error within the project can result to failure and big loss to the firm. Along with this, it is responsibility of the quality manager to check the quality of the project for avoiding any mistake in future. Proper quality planning also helps in delivering the project on time (Hornstein, 2015). The quality management plan for the current project is as follows:

Quality Objectives: The quality objective of this project to is to upgrade mobile network 3G to 4G by using quality tools and technologies. Along with this, the secondary objective is to deliver the project in decided time period by meeting all the requirements.

Quality control and assurance activities: It is the duty of the quality manager to control and maintain the quality of the entire project by conducting testing, verification, and related activities.

Quality roles and responsibilities: The purpose of the quality manager is to maintain the quality of the project by handling errors and using appropriate resources. By keeping the quality, firms will able to deliver quality services of 4G to the people of Kathmandu (Svejvig & Andersen, 2015).

	Quality Planning	Quality Control	Quality Assurance	Quality Improvement
What is done	To identify the quality of project and how it can be achieved	Monitoring the project for determining if they are meeting the performance measurements	To evaluate if quality measurement is appropriate	To increase the effectiveness and efficiency
When it need to done	Project Planning Phase Processes: ·         Project scope and requirement analysis ·         Team building ·         Schedule development ·         Resource Development ·         Project Acquisition Strategy (Joslin & Müller, 2015)	Project Execution and Control phase Processes ·         Project execution ·         Project Control	Project Execution and Control phase Processes ·         Project execution ·         Project Control	Project planning, Project Execution and Control phase Processes ·         Change Management

 Stakeholder analysis

The stakeholder analysis for the present project is as follows:

Companies: Nepal Telecom, CG Company Pvt Ltd and Axiata Company. These organizations implement the project for providing network sustainability, high quality data and high speed to the customers. In response to this, firms will get reputation, economic benefits, brand awareness and profitability.

Quality planning

Employees: The workers are essential assets of the organization. The team members like project manager, program manager, accountant, risk manager, etc works together for accomplishing the objectives of the project.

Government: While implementing the project, it is necessary for following all laws and regulations developed by the government of Nepal.

Customers: People of Kathmandu are facing network issues; it is their requirement to have high speed and high quality data for using better services in mobile telecommunication. The main purpose of this project is to satisfy the customers and improving the present situation of Kathmandu (Todorovi? and et.al., 2015).

Communication Plan

The communication plan for the present project is as follows:
Risk Management Plan

For offering high quality project, it is necessary to manage risks effectively at every stage of project planning. The risk management plan for upgrading 3G to 4G at Kathmandu is as follows:

Type of Risk	Priority	Impact of risk	Mitigation Plan	Assigned to
Delay in getting approval	High	Delay in getting approval for the project can result to influence its cost and delivery of time	To chose effective communication channel for sharing real time information	Team members of the project
Changes in the requirements	High	Any change within the requirements of the project results to affect the quality of the project. Changes will also lead to affect the entire planning and enhance the workload for the team members	The scope of the project created and defined as per the requirements of the project and end users (Too & Weaver, 2014)	Project Manager
Delay in getting proper tools and technologies	High	Delay in necessary tools and techniques will result to affect the processes by keeping them at hold. This risk will enhance the time of delivery and cost of the project	To select reliable vendor who can deliver machines, equipments and technologies on time as per the need	Project manager and team
Lack of talented and skilled employees	Low	Lack of experienced and talented workforce will affect the quality of work and development of the project. The company will not able to accomplish its objective behind the formation of project (de Carvalho, Patah & de Souza Bido, 2015)	By providing proper training sessions to the employees, firms enhance their knowledge and information regarding the project	Project Staff
Implementation failure	Medium	This will affect the delivery time of the project along with the cost	The implementation of the project will depend upon the requirements of the project in effective manner	Manager
Banking Problem	High	This will affect the financial base of the project which will result to keep the entire project at hold and affect its quality and delivery time	Popular bank with proper consultation will be selected by the project manager for getting financial help whenever needed	Project Manager

The above plan will help in handling and assessing the risks of the project effectively and lead to deliver error free and high quality project to the end users.

Project Deployment Plan

The  project deployment plan for upgrading the 3G mobile network to 4G in Kathmandu is as follows:

Deployment Processes	Actions Taken	Responsibility	Target Date	Resource Needed
Project Initiation and conception	·         Project Charter ·         Project initiation	·         Project Manager	5th June 2018	Human resources and physical resources
Project definition and planning	·         Scope Budget ·         Work Breakdown Schedule ·         Gantt Chart ·         Communication Plan ·         Risk Management	·         Risk Manager ·         Accountant ·         Telecommunication engineer	1st August 2018	Human financial and technical resources
Project launch and execution	·         Status & Tracking ·         KPIs ·         Quality ·         Forecasts	·         Project Manager ·         Program Manager ·         Network Architect ·         System Administrator	30th September 2018	Human financial, physical and technical resources
Project performance and control	·         Objectives ·         Quality Deliverables ·         Effort & Cost tracking ·         Performance (Chih & Zwikael, 2015)	·         Project Manager	30th October 2018	Human financial and technical resources
Project close	·         Reporting	·         Project Manager ·         Program Manager	21st November 2018	Human resources and technical resources

 Recommendations

The suggestions which project team needs to follow for better implementation of the project plan are as follows:

• Project manager and team members should conduct market research properly before starting the plan. The information will help in developing the plan as per the need and by following all the necessary aspects.
• Risk and quality manager should check for risk and quality at every stage of project development process for avoiding failure, delay or any other issue (Bucero & Englund, 2015).
• The project manager should select an appropriate vendor for supplying needed materials and equipment for avoiding delay and increase in cost.

Thus, from the above study it is concluded that, Kathmandu needs 4G network for better area coverage and customer satisfaction. With respect to this, effective communication plan, risk management plan and quality management plan will help in accomplishing the objectives of the project. Along with this, effective deployment plan will lead to accomplish the objectives of the project.

Bucero, A., & Englund, R. L. (2015, October). Project sponsorship: Achieving management commitment for project success. Project Management Institute.

Chih, Y. Y., & Zwikael, O. (2015). Project benefit management: A conceptual framework of target benefit formulation. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 352-362.

de Carvalho, M. M., Patah, L. A., & de Souza Bido, D. (2015). Project management and its effects on project success: Cross-country and cross-industry comparisons. International Journal of Project Management, 33(7), 1509-1522.

Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management. Project Management Institute.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Joslin, R., & Müller, R. (2015). Relationships between a project management methodology and project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project Management, 33(6), 1377-1392.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Mir, F. A., & Pinnington, A. H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), 202-217.

Newton, V., Greenberg, A., & See, J. (2017, July). Project Management Implications and Implementation Roadmap of Human Readiness Levels. In International Conference on HCI in Business, Government, and Organizations (pp. 99-111). Springer, Cham.

Svejvig, P., & Andersen, P. (2015). Rethinking project management: A structured literature review with a critical look at the brave new world. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 278-290.

Todorovi?, M. L., Petrovi?, D. ?., Mihi?, M. M., Obradovi?, V. L., & Bushuyev, S. D. (2015). Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), 772-783.

Too, E. G., & Weaver, P. (2014). The management of project management: A conceptual framework for project governance. International Journal of Project Management, 32(8), 1382-1394.

Turner, R. (2016). Gower handbook of project management. Routledge.