Moving Offices
Project
Project Management
Select a project that
you have been involved in and prepare a report which describes the relevant
project activities and artifacts, guided by product life cycle diagram.
Background:
Almoayyed Office
equipment has 45 staffs working at Exhibition Road, Manama and spread over
eleven offices within the old office building. New accommodation is currently being prepared by Almoayyed
Contracting , and Almoayyed Office Equipment staff are due to move offices
around the middle of July , 2014 –indeed, Almoayyed Contracting engineers have
indicated informally that the new offices should be ready by August 27, 2014.
The new offices are considerably more extensive than the existing ones and will
allow the AOE to expand in line with strategic planning projections for the
next few years.
AOE management has decided to take advantage of the office
move to upgrade the office IT network. Some of the existing equipment will be
retained but a significant amount of new equipment is to be supplied and
installed. The new equipment includes scanners, printers and modems supplied by
Xerox. It also includes PCs and monitors supplied by Dell. There will also be a
requirement for a range of software, for email, voice recognition and network
management. This is to be installed by a firm of specialist software engineers
called YK2 Ltd.
Most of the AOE office equipment and furniture can be moved
by their normal removals contract, Shifters Ltd. However, the computers and other
specialist IT equipment have to be moved by AOE in-house IT division. The IT
division is contractually required to
move the equipment for insurance and security reasons but YK2 Ltd will be
required in order to decommission the system and prepare for recommision the
system upon completion. There is only one other organization called Virus Ltd
that would be capable of carrying out this work.
AOE has made it clear that the computing system must be shut
down for a shortest possible time. This is because AOE has a contractual
responsibility to provide administration services.
Defining
Projects that are already running have their own informal
communication channels and information difficult to access these once they are
established, in the case of informal communication channel. It is immediately
apparent that there are some rigid deadlines are not met(Gofton, K 1997). Indeed, if these deadlines are not met, there are
financial penalties to be paid. The immediate problem for the project manager
is to analyze these deadlines and penalties as risks and to make some kind of
evaluation of impact and probability.
There are two primary danger areas. These are downtime and
late move damages. Downtime cost is high and sure to occur. There is nothing
that the project manager can do about these other than to ensure that downtime
is kept to the minimum and is not duplicated ( Irish Times, (1998). Accurate project planning should enable the
project manager to isolate the amount of downtime that is necessary and to
ensure that adequate resources are available so that works that contribute to
downtime are completed on time.
The late occupancy damages are high but are not certain to
occur. Again, careful planning can go some way to ensuring that all necessary
works are completed on time, but the final determinant of whether or not
non-occupancy damages are payable is the main contractor , Almoayyed
Contracting.
The various supply contracts appear to be in order although
the project manager should make sure that all the necessary orders have been
placed are flagged with the latest placement times (given the time lags that
are required between order and delivery), the project manager might also note
that the supply contracts appear to be fairly weak, in that they state that
delivery will be on time “or your money back” (Chrisnal , P ,1997). Money back only provides the opportunity to
start all over again with another supplier. In the meantime, the damages and
downtime costs continue to accrue. It is clear that communications will play a
particularly important part in this project. The lack of firm contractual
linkages and clear line of authority suggest that the project manager will have
to make a “soft project management skills in order to try to make the best use
of and control people(Gofton, K 1998).
Consider the likely role and responsibilities of the project
manager . These role and responsibilities will vary in relation to the project
life cycle of the various works that are in upgrading the program.
As required the works are therefore underway and the project
manager will not be able to play an active role in such aspects as briefing and
selecting the various consultants and suppliers
(Bray,Roger ,1997). However, the project manager have the opportunity to
review the planning and costing calculations that have been carried out and to
establish new and more accurate time and cost control procedures that will
ensure that the remainder of the “moving offices” project runs smoothly and efficiently
. These are set out next according to six project stages (Manchester, P 1998).
1.
Provides advice on all aspects of the project
during feasibility – possibly involving detailed investment appraisals and
economic analysis, cost benefit analysis and financial modeling.
2.
Coordinates the development of the project brief,
which is essential part of the most project development plans and which
formalizes the client requirements in a format that can be used as the basis
for the subsequent design process.
3.
Advises on the appointment of specialists
feasibility study consultants, as required;
4.
Provides monitoring and coordination of all
approvals and consents;
5.
Establishes an overall conceptual program for
the project
6.
Establishes project control and reporting
procedures.
The project manager would consider all remaining aspects of
the office move from the operational and logistical viewpoints. The level of
financial modeling would be low in this particular case, but the logistics of
what is involved could be considerable (Poynder,
R 1996). The Project Manager would have to consider particularly the legal
implications of some of the contracts that are in place with the hauling
company. These contracts may take the form of service level agreements, and
there could be penalty clauses that come into force where the operator has to
pay damages to the hauling companies for every day that the agreed level of
services is not being provided (
Shilingford,J 1997).
Planning
One of the Project Manager first formal requirements would be
the review of the formal brief (if there is one). The brief should act as the
focus for the plan and should set out the primary success criteria for the
project. The preparation of this will have involved a series of pre-planning meetings,
where all members of the project team were allowed to make their contribution
to the development of the brief (Witink,
D.R. , Vriens, M and Burhenne, W 1994). The end result should have been a
document that outlines the requirements of the project and defines what
achievements are necessary for the project to be considered a success.
Figure1
The project Manager would review this brief and then set up
a formal sequence of progress and review meetings, together with some form of
reporting system. As part of the tracking and control procedures, it is
essential that there are regular meetings where progress and procedures are
reviewed. Meetings would be weekly, monthly or some other frequency (Witink, D.R. , Vriens, M and Burhenne, W
1994). There would normally be
some process for the proceedings to be recorded and circulated to the various project
team members.
This process of review is sometimes known as focusing or
definition. The process acts as an interface between the planning, or “intent”
, phase of the project and the implementation, or “doing”, phase (Manchester,
P 1998). The focusing process takes the aims and intentions of the project
sponsor or other member of senior management or client body, and converts them
not measurement variables within an implementation monitoring and control
system (IMCS)
The IMCS tracks the development of the implementation phase
and evaluates performance in each of the key defined success-factor areas and
expresses any divergence as a variance (Reed,D.
1996). The IMCS allows variances to develop so long as they remain within
the predetermined acceptability limits (the variance envelope). The variance
envelope therefore restricts implementation variances to maximum and minimum
levels that are established by the range of eventual outcomes that are
necessary in order to realize the project success criteria (Reed,D. 1996).
Focusing is also part of an ongoing process. Focusing
establishes the monitoring and control systems and also calibrates them so that
performance can be measured (Marsh, P
1997). The IMCS then works alongside the implementation process for the
remainder of the project life cycle in order to ensure an acceptable outcome.
The project manager would give advice on the appointment of
any remaining professional consultants. Large organization often has fixed
lists of approved consultants. These practices are invited to tender on some
kind of Rota basis, with preference being given to those that have performed
well in the past (Shilingford,J 1997).
Terms and conditions of engagement could be standard or could be negotiated . The project manager would then review the
project team in conjunction with senior management, making changes or
additional appointments as necessary in order to ensure that the project team
operates effectively and efficiently (Vernon,
M 1998). The assistant project manager might put forward the project
manager’s proposals on resources to senior management and then support this bid
as far as possible. The final decision on staffing and resource levels,
together with limits on external consultant fees, would be the station manager’s
responsibility.
Once the boundaries and membership of the current project
team have been agreed, the project manager has to set up an appropriate
leadership style and control system for the team. This would be difficult in
this particular case as most of the project team members have been appointed
and the project itself has been running for some time (Gofton, K 1997).. Initially, the current team will need a lot of
direction and will be very task oriented; as the team develops, a less
directive approach will be required.
The project manager will have to keep alert for any
personality clashes and other areas where there is obvious potential for
conflict. If conflict appears, there has to be a procedure in place for dealing
with it. Conflict detection and resolution will probably be through informal
systems and will rely heavily upon the informal communication system within the
project team (Vernon, M 1998). The
project manager also has to establish some forms of stress evaluation to ensure
that individual team members are not becoming over-stressed.
Figure 2-PERT Data
In the design stages, the project manager (Dempsey, M 1995) should coordinate all
aspects of the design to ensure that the evolving solution continues to meet
client requirements. He develops initial time, cost and quality objectives and
agrees these projects success criteria
with client AOE; develop a project statement of works (SOW), which details all
aspects of the project designed; typical components which includes project
drawings, schedules of rates, item descriptions, some forms of measured works
listing and standard and specific forms and condition of contract; develops a
work breakdown structure(WBS) (The
Financial Times, 1997) , which isolates the individual work packages that
act as the basis of all subsequent planning and control approaches; develops a
cost accounting code (CAC) system based on the WBS elements and primes each
work packages with a budget total using a computerized database estimating
system (CDES) which establishes a budget total for all work packages in the
project from the outset.
Using the CAC system he develops a precedence diagram for
the project and, using the critical path method (CPM) or the program evaluation
and review technique (PERT), develops a draft master schedule (DMS) for the
project (Dempsey, M 1995).
Following client feedback on the proposed DMS, he develops
alternative scenarios for meeting adjusted time, cost or quality objectives by
presenting trade-off options to the client together with recommendations on the
most favorable type of trade off for any given solution (Poynder, R 1996). He then applies the accepted trade-off solution
in order to generate a project master schedule (PMS).; ensures that the designs
comply with all internal and external design requirements; ensures that the
designs comply with all relevant national and international statutory
requirements; and if appropriate , coordinates the design and implementation of
a prototype and coordinates performance and recording; ensures that all aspects
of design are compatible with execution and prepares and coordinates an
accurate cost plan and budget plan for the project then set up a suitable
earned value analysis (EVA) reporting system for subsequent cost control.
The project is already under way in this particular case,
and so the design stage work is probably complete. In terms of ensuring that
the team operates effectively, the project manager has to prepare a formal plan
of the project and set up appropriate monitoring and control systems. The
project manager would check again that the cost limits and time scales that
have been entered in the brief are correct and then use as the reference points
for the planning process (The Times,
1996) for time control, the project manager would look at the contract
documentation and split up into obvious work packages. These packages could be
defined by work type or by contractor /supplier type. It would probably be
logical to consider IT removals as one package since it is carried out by a
single contractor under a single contract. There would be no point in
considering the removal in more detail as the removal of the IT systems is
being treated as a single entity.
Figure 3- WBS
For cost control, the project manager would take the work
packages identified for time planning and ascertain their costs and values.
This information could be obtained directly from the priced contract documents.
This process would allow him to build up cost plan and provides costs and
values or each work package in the project (The
Economist, 1999).
Tender and awards is the process involved in inviting prices
for the work, based on the competitive pricing of the works as described and
summarized in the SOW (Oldroyd, R 1996).
In this process the project manager coordinates the preparation of a
complete pre-tender cost check, which will confirm that the project as
documented and billed complies with the client’s cost criteria; coordinates the
preparation of full SOW documentation and authorizes the issue of this
documentation to prospective tenderers; the project manager will generally also advise on the selection
and procurement of prospective tenderers and the tendering procedure to be
adopted for the project; advises on the tender to be accepted; coordinates any
activities required in order to conclude the contract , which could include
checking on any necessary , carrying out checks on individual tendering
companies.
The project manager needs to check that all contracts have
been put in place and formally concluded. Responsibility for the preparation of
the contracts would probably be with the specialist legal services section
within the organization (Oldroyd, R 1996). The project manager
would only identify any sums under AOE Control that have to be retained or
held as bonds or as performance retention sums. Most contracts require the
client to retain a percentage in order to provide leverage over the contractor
at the end of the works, where the client is trying to get any defects remedied
or any outstanding works completed (. In this case, most retention and bond
sums will be held by Almoayyed Contracting than AOE.
As with the aspects of project management control, a
pre-tender cost checks are increasingly being carried out by CDES-based software.
A CDES pre-tender cost check has the advantage that it uses a blank version of
the actual document that the contractor is going to price (Dempsey, M 1995). There is virtually no chance of misunderstanding
or misrepresentation of any part of the pricing process.
The project manager would also have to check carefully to ensure
that all pricing in any AOE contract is
in place and that there are no ambiguities in the blank or priced documents.
Most standard forms of contract list procedures that are to be adopted in the
event of errors or omissions being detected.Some contracts require tendered to
stand by the submitted tender price or to withdraw. Other contracts allow the
tender sum to be adjusted in line with any corrections that are required in
order to describe the scope and extent of the work accurately (Green-Armytage, J 1996).
The project manager also have to monitor the award of
contracts and ensure all necessary
liability provisions, such as performance bonds, are in place before the
contract is awarded.
Project Execution:
The project manager (Dempsey,
M 1995) coordinates the efforts of all members of the design team and any
contractors or suppliers; establishes a suitable performance monitoring and
control system for the schedule; establishes a suitable cost monitoring and
control system with sufficient sensitivity to operate at work package level;
establishes a suitable quality management and control system with sufficient to
operate at the appropriate level; establishes and operates an EVA variance
analysis system; isolates variances and records them as part of a comprehensive
variance analysis reporting (PVAR) system (
The Economist, 1997The); uses these
variance reports as the basis for executive recommendations and actions;
monitors and controls the team development and team building process;
In executing the contract, the project team is converting
the design plans into reality. The project manager would have to put procedures
in place for monitoring and control time, cost and quality together with
necessary checks on team development and performance. In most cases this would
involve the establishment of detailed cost plan and time schedules using the
EVA based PVAR approach. Increasingly, these functions are being assisted by
comprehensive project management software packages.
The PM would need to use all her control skills during this
phase. The project is developing and the team itself is evolving and changing
in operational characteristics (Marshal,
K.P. and La Motte, S.W. 1992). As a design evolves, there will be a need
for a number changes that will have to be allowed for and contained within the
change management system. It will be important to ensure that change request
are monitored and controlled in order to ensure that they do not add
significantly to the cost or time scale , the project manager will have to
check to see whether the additional finance or time is available or will be
made available. If not, it may be necessary to compensate for any such increase
by finding savings elsewhere (Talvinen,
J.M. and Saarinen, T. 1993).
Team and people management skills are required as the team
continues to develop. As the project progresses, more and more aspects become
fixed and there is less and less scope for change. In addition, the final
completion times and costs become more and more accurately predicted. it may
transpire that these are above and beyond the originally stipulated limits (Green-Armytage, J 1996). These
developments can all lead to increase in stress and conflict levels. The PM
motivational skills may be in greatest demand at this stage.
The PM will have to be most involved with the ICMS during
this stage. The scope and adaptability of the ICMS is restricted in this case
because some aspects of the project are directly responsibility of up track
people(Daniels, N.C. 1993). There
may also be a difference between the project success criteria for Almoayyed
Contracting and AOE.. If there are any delays in the project , AOE will be
liable for damages to company that will lease the new building ( Mafro) because of late handover of the existing
offices. These damages are high and are of great significance to UMS. They are
probably of much less significance to Almoayyed Contracting as they only affect one small part of the operational network.
Delivering
The project’s activities are formally completed and the
deliverables or results are turned over to the customers. In either case, the
project manager and team must obtain closure before moving on to their next
assignment ( O’Connor, J. 1992). Additionally,
the team, client and stakeholders will be concerned both about the disposition
of this project and their immediate future.
A formal acceptance by the client ensures that the project
is truly finished and helps give finality on the project. This can minimize
continuing call from the client regarding the product usage or other questions,
and it helps the team obtain closure and move on to other work with minimal
disruption from the previous project (
Information Week, 1995). Additional objectives of project closure includes
communicating staff performance, closing out all financial reports, improving
estimates for future projects, improving project methodologies, smoothing the
release staff and ensuring client and stakeholder satisfaction.
Proof can be provided by testing, analysis, inspection, or
interpolation. The precise measures and methods used will depend on the
project’s context. Sometimes, proof of completion relies on physical or
chemical testing. For other projects, we conduct accelerated life cycle testing
or simulate a system’s performance (
O’Connor, J. 1990).
Administrative closure involves bring to completion all internal
aspects of the project concerning team members, management, other stakeholders,
financials, and equipment (The Times,
1996). There are processes that ensure that no loose ends are left dangling
like deliverable turnover, verification and acceptance which are reviewed and
tested against previously determined requirements and are accepted by the customer
with a formal sign-off; the post completion data that determine any variances
in the schedule, cost and scope; follow up maintenance and warranties which if
applicable hardware, software or other a reporting that provides information to
functional management on the performance of project team members during the
life of the project; ( Kahn, K.B. and
Mentzer , J.T. 1997), financials
that all expenses are paid and project budgets are closed; releasing staff and
ensure the smooth transition of all staff to new assignments therefore
notifying functional managers with sufficient lead time so the meaningful work
assignments can be made; and the final closing report that prepares a summary
of the above information including any open issues and distribute it to
appropriate stakeholders ( Shaw, R. and
Stone,M 1990)
One of the first step in initiating project closure is to
contact the team members’ resource managers to prepare them for closure (Curtis, J 1996). This includes two
important actions such as the managers need to determine the team members’ next
assignment and the project manager needs to communicate staff member
performance to the resource managers.
The Project Manager should meet the team to review project
closure as the team’s new assignment, plans for lessons learned, assurance that
all deliverables are presented and accepted and the closure of administrative
and financial information (Marsh, P 1999).
We discussed earlier that one of the benefit of project
closure is the provision of a methodology to prevent repeating mistakes. This
includes identifying what went well and what went poorly during the project,
documenting it, and communicating this information to everyone who may benefit
it ( Shaw, R. and Stone,M 1988).
The purpose of the lessons learned is to capture best
practices and improvement areas upon the completion of a project, major or
substantial event, so that problems can be addressed and successes repeated in
the future.
After the deliverables are completed, the project manager
and team accumulate final sets of actual data on activities are recorded (Wheelwright, G, 1997) . This information should be kept for
reference in estimating future projects. Capture the final project costs and
other financial information. Complete the financial reports required by your
organization and submit them for approval Dempsey,
M 1995). Ensure this step is done early enough to allow time for the
finance group to provide feedback and handle requests for changes. Finally,
archive all information in your organization’s formal archive.
This action is needed for all staff members who have a large
amount of time on the project and don’t report directly to you(Vernon, M 1998). When team members have worked on a project for
an extended period, their direct managers may not have appropriate insights not
their performance , making it difficult to appropriate raises, promotions or
demotions.
One of the final steps in closing a project is to release
the remaining staffs. This steps should be planned early and communicated to
the staff members to relieve their concerns for the future. One techniques that
may be employed for larger projects is to make the dismissal formal, either
through a meeting where the project manager thanks the team or through a team
celebration (Padilla, J, 2000)This
provides the team with final closure and allows them to proceed to their next
assignments without lingering concerns.
At the outset, the project creates the team. At closure the
team created the project.
References:
Padilla, J, 2000-
Strategic Management, 2nd edition, p234, Pearson
Vernon, M 1998 – Keep
Know –how in the company, Financial Times, 31 July
Dempsey, M 1995-
Project Compartmentalized , Financial Times, 1 March , p6
Kahn, K.B. and Mentzer , J.T. (1997), State of
Project Management systems in corporate America, Journal of Business
Forecasting, Spring, p56, vol67
Marsh, P 1997-The
Price on the priceless, The Economist. 12 June 1997
Curtis, J 1996-
Sorting out the project from chaff, Precision Management , 5 February, p35,
Vol.16
Shaw, R. and Stone,M
1988
Wheelwright, G, 1997-
Keeping Track of customers, Financial Times , 5 November, p23, vol5
The Times, 1996- Data
Warehousing Supplement 5, June , vol34, pa23
Shaw, R. and Stone,M 1990- Why so many
companies are embracing the CRM trend, Financial Times, 3 Febraury, p4
O’Connor, J. 2002- sophisticated project
management tool , Financial Times , p76, vol 106, July, 2002
Information Week,
1995- System designed to support customers can actually drive them away,
Information Week, p 18 12 June
O’Connor, J. 2002-A sophisticated project
management tool , Financial Times , p76, vol 106, July, 2002
Daniels, N.C. 1993-Information
Technology: The Management Challenge Wokingham: Addison Wesley, pa567
Green-Armytage, J
1996-SBC Warburg speeds up risk management, Computer Weekly, 6 June, p 7
Talvinen, J.M. and
Saarinen, T. 1994- Project Management process: perceived improvement
in project management , Project Management and Planning, Vol 13, No.1
Reed,D. 1996 –
Project Management, a marriage of
systems and project management , Junior of applied Project Management Research,
Vol8, Number 3, Summer
Talvinen, J.M. and
Saarinen, T. 1995- Project Management process: perceived improvement in project
management , Project Management and Planning, Vol 20, No.1
Poynder, R 1996-Risk
Management in Construction, pp234,235, 1st edition, McMillan, 1996
Gofton, K 1997-
Management Technique, Fingers on the Pulse, 17 July 1997, p14, Volume 12
Chrisnall, P.
1997 Project Management, pp27,28,
Prentice Hall, 1st edition
Index:
One techniques that may be employed for larger projects is
to make the dismissal formal, either through a meeting where the project
manager thanks the team or through a team celebration (Padilla, J, 2000)
A CDES pre-tender cost check has the advantage that it uses
a blank version of the actual document that the contractor is going to price (Dempsey, M 1995).
The IMCS tracks the development of the implementation phase
and evaluates performance in each of the key defined success-factor areas and
expresses any divergence as a variance (Reed,D.
1996)
Sometimes, proof of completion relies on physical or
chemical testing. For other projects, we conduct accelerated life cycle testing
or simulate a system’s performance (
O’Connor, J. 1990).
The process acts as an interface between the planning, or
“intent” , phase of the project and the implementation, or “doing”, phase (Manchester,
P 1998).
The lack of firm contractual linkages and clear line of
authority suggest that the project manager will have to make a “soft project
management skills in order to try to make the best use of and control people(Gofton, K 1998).
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