Assignment on Project Management

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT BY RAHUL GUPTA Q 1: What are the various characteristics of a project? What Wh at is th thee impo import rtan ance ce of each each ch char arac acte teri rist stic ic? ? Give Give examples? Answer: It is well known to all that the organizations continue to grow year by year. As there is a need to grow it becomes necessary for a growing organization to resort to proper growth  plan. The plan needs to be properly prepared. It is possible to prepare proper plans only if  the manager has sufficient knowledge of the various process of the project envisage for  growth. The manager has to work on the various life cycle stages and apply necessary   plann planning ing tools to come come out with a proper proper growth growth plan plan of the company. company. The variou variouss techniques of identifying the project items, work break down structure of the project, task  duration, estimation etc are to be done meticulously. Characteristics

Any project may be considered to have h ave the following characteristics:

RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 1

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT a) Resource requirement - During the course of executing the project, it is seen that the resource requirement increases from start to an intermediate stage of the project. It further increases at rapid rate and becomes constant while the project is during its 80 to 95% progress stage. Thereafter the resources requirement decreases to zero i.e. when the project comes to a finish.

b) Funds - The requirement of funds for the completes execution of the project also foll follow owss the the same same tren trend d as that that of the the reso resour urce ces. s. The The two two are are more more or less less  proportional.

c) Probability Probability of completion completion - The probabi probabili lity ty of comple completin ting g the projec projectt can be estimated based upon the normal distribution curve. In the initial stage of the project the probab probabili ility ty of comple completin ting g the project project is low though not zero. zero. It gradua gradually lly increases and as the project approaches finish the probability of completing the  project tends to become 100%.

d) Risk  - The risks involved involved in the project affecting affecting its completion time is high at the initial stages and low at the later stages of o f the project.

e) Design changes - The project during the course of its progress may be subjected to changes because of some external factors. The influence of such external factors on the project may result in changes in the design f the project though not very often. It is observed that such changes if any are normally high during the initial  stages of  the project and decreases as the project approaches finish.

Q 2: State State the princi principle pless of Demin Deming’s g’s Philos Philosoph ophy y re relev levant ant to Proj Projec ectt Mana Manage geme ment nt.. Expl Explai ain n how how each each one one is appl applic icab able le in management? Answer: Dr. Deming's teachings and philosophy can be seen through the results they produced when they were adopted by the Japanese, as the following example shows: Ford Motor Company was simultaneously manufacturing a car model with transmissions made in Japan and the United States. Soon after the car model was on the market, Ford customers were requesting the model with Japanese transmission over the USA-made transmission, and they were willing to wait for the Japanese model. As both transmissions were made to the same specifications, Ford engineers could not understand the customer preference for the model with Japanese transmission. It delivered smoother performance with a lower defect rate. Fina Finall lly, y, Ford Ford engi engine neer erss deci decide ded d to take take apar apartt the the two two diff differ eren entt tran transm smis issi sion ons. s. The The RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 2

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT American-made car parts were all within specified tolerance levels. On the other hand, the Japanese Japanese car parts had much closer tolerances tolerances than the USA-made USA-made parts - i.e. if a part was supposed to be one foot long, plus or minus 1/8 of an inch - then the Japanese parts were within 1/16 of an inch. This made the Japanese cars run more smoothly and customers experienced fewer problems. Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future brings about loss of  market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, business, protect investment, investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved products and services. "Longterm commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks Transformation. The timid and the fainthearted, and the people that expect quick results, are doomed to disappointment." Deming philosophy synopsis The philosophy of W. Edwards Deming has been summarized as follows:

"Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework rework,, staff staff attrit attrition ion and litiga litigati tion on while while increa increasin sing g custom customer er loyalt loyalty). y). The key is to  practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and  pieces." In the 1970s, Dr. Deming's philosophy was summarized by some of his Japanese  proponents with the following 'a'-versus-'b' comparison: •

•

•



When people and organizations focus primarily on quality, defined by the following ratio, quality tends to increase and costs fall over time. costs, costs tend to rise However, when people and organizations focus primarily on costs, and quality declines over time. Deming offered fourteen key principles for management for transforming business effectiveness.

Deming’s 14 Points for Management:

 Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the

aim to become competitive and stay in business, and to provide jobs.  Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must must awak awaken en to the the chal challe leng nge, e, must must lear learn n thei theirr resp respon onsi sibi bili liti ties es,, and and take take on leadership for change. Cease depen depende denc ncee on insp inspec ecti tion on to achie achieve ve qual qualit ity. y. Elim Elimin inat atee the the need need for  for   Cease inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.

RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 3

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT  End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize

  

 







 

tota totall cost cost.. Move Move towa toward rdss a singl singlee supp suppli lier er for for any one item item,, on a long long term term relationship of loyalty and trust. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease cost. Institute training on the job. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and  production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service. Elimin Eliminate ate slogan slogans, s, exhorta exhortatio tions, ns, and target targetss for the work work force force asking asking for zero zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force. Elimin Eliminate ate work work standa standards rds (quota (quotas) s) on the factor factory y floor. floor. Substi Substitut tutee leader leadershi ship. p. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute workmanship. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to  pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. Put everyone everyone in the company company to work work to accompl accomplish ish the trans transfor format mation ion.. The transformation is everyone's work.

Q 3: Explain the concept of concurrency in High Technology Development? Answer:

RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 4

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT



Concurrency Development:

in

High

Technology

As the application of technology has become critical for the survival of organization it has  become imperative for organizations to initiate measures for the development of high technology to  be ahead of competition. No doubt, there are many specialized Research and Development firms which offer their expertise to their clients’ problems. However, their services are available to the competitors and many technologies developed by the company’s own research personnel cannot be shared with outsiders. So the strategy would be utilize the services of external resource to the extent they are suitable for our purpose, but with a strong base of R and D of our own. This will really differentiate the best companies from other ordinary ones. The following give some guidelines in the form of rules which would help organization to be strong in this area. Building concurrency into every activity is essential to reduce the development cycle time and to counter the technology obsolescence. Many of the tasks that are normally done in a serial fashion can be done in parallel by synchronizing the flow of information. The practices of the concurrent engineering where the design of the product and all its associated processes are carried out simultaneously based on team work and participation. Would not only help in reducing the development cycle time, but also improves the product functionality with regard to requirements. Concur Concurren rency cy can be accomp accomplis lished hed in many many ways ways both both for produ product ct develo developme pment nt as well well as technology transfer, user evaluation and production. Example - Tactical Aircraft: Concurrency in Develo Developme pment nt and Produ Producti ction on of F-22 F-22 Aircra Aircraft ft Should Should Be Reduce Reduced d (Lette (Letterr Report Report,, 04/19 04/19// 95, GAO/ NSIAD-95-59). Because the F-22 fighter plane is not urgently needed and the Defense Department (DOD) has discover discovered ed engin enginee and softwa software re proble problems ms with with the aircra aircraft, ft, GAO GAO urges urges that that the F-22 F-22 be thoroughl thoroughly y tested tested before before large numbers of these these expensive expensive aircraft are acquired. acquired. Concurrency Concurrency   between the development and production phases of F-22 means that independent testing of hightech tech featur features es of the the aircra aircraft ft will will not be comple completed ted before before the Air Force Force makes makes a signi signific ficant ant commitment to producing the F-22. Among other things, the F-22 boast an advanced architecture for the integrated avionics system, a propulsion system that will allow cruising a supersonic speeds without the afterburners that current fighters needs, and low observable technologies. The military has already disclosed engine and stealth ness problems, and the potential for avionics and software   problems problems underscore underscore the need to demonstrat demonstratee the aircraft's aircraft's capabilities capabilities before committin committing g to  production.

Q 4: Explain in detail the project management review process. What is the various post review activates? Answer: RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 5

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT



Project Management Review Process:

There is mutual benefit for corporate and major information systems project teams and many of the programs as a result of the information exchange generated by the Project Management Reviews. Throughout the project lifecycle, project staff should collaborate and commun communica icate te with with staff staff respon responsib sible le for capita capitall planni planning, ng, inform informati ation on archit architect ecture, ure, standar standards, ds, inform informati ation on securi security ty,, safety safety,, config configura uratio tion n manage managemen ment, t, risk risk manage managemen ment, t, quality quality management management and assurance. The informati information on exchange may address address status, status, issued, issued,   process, requests, requirements, approvals, and assistance in the areas of project plans, schedul schedule, e, budget, budget, functi functional onal content content,, scope, scope, staffi staffing, ng, infras infrastru tructu cture re and operat operation ions. s. Corporate and major information systems are reviewed from their inception to retirement, i.e. i.e.,, thro throug ugho hout ut the the Capi Capita tall Plan Planni ning ng and and Inve Invest stme ment nt Cont Contro roll (CPI (CPIC) C) phas phases es of  Identification, Selection, Control, and Evaluation. The Project Management Review Process includes the following steps:  Identification of projects that will participate in the Reviews.  Development and adherence to a quarterly reporting schedule.  Compilation of standard project management data into a presentation data.  Collection of detailed project files that support the information reported during the  project  project Management Reviews and may be requested requested for inspection inspection during a formal formal audit  Participation in the Review meetings with any required follow-up activities. 

Post Review Activities:

Once the Project Management Review has been conducted, follow up with program/project managers on any issues or concerns requiring attention, the status of open items from the review, and CIO reporting actions, e.g., reports to the CIO Council. The CIO may also recommend quality assurance analysis be conducted. •

Issues or Concerns Requiring Attention:

The project manager is responsible for raising issues or concerns that require assistance or  guidance guidance to the attention attention of the CIO. These items should be communicat communicated ed whenever whenever they  become known, and not held to the next Project Management Review. The CIO will assign appropriate OCIO staff available to help resolve open items. The program / project manager  should communicate the status of these items in each quarterly review until the items are resolved / closed.

•

Status of Open Items from Review:

RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 6

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT The program/project manager is responsible for tracking the open items from the review and communicating the status in each quarterly review until the items are closed. The supporting the scheduling of reviews will coordinate with the program/project manager  after the quarterly reviews to help ensure that new items have been captured for tracking and action by the program/project manager .

•

CIO Reports:

The staff supporting the CIO Quarterly Reviews will prepare a summary report after each Project Management Review. The summary report will include the following information:  Summary Status.  Open Issues/Items.  Status Performance Objectives/Measures.  Status of Schedule/Cost The summary report will be provided provided to the program/pr program/project oject manager to gain concurrence on the content. The summary report will be used by the CIO when reporting status to the CIO Council.

Q 5: Explain the structure of the documentation systems as re requ quir ired ed by supp supply ly ch chai ain n moni monito tori ring ng.. Wh What at is th thee sign signif ific ican ancce of docu docume ment ntat atio ion? n? How does does it he help lp a manager? Answer: 

Requi equire rem ment ent of Docu Docum mente ented d sy syst stem ems s in Supply Chain Monitoring (SCMo):

It is possible today to establish a system aligned with an organizations supply chain. It can  be an add-on to existing ERP-systems. The main objectives are   

Prevention of stock-out and over supply. Early warnings, elimination of bullwhip effect. Optimized allocation in bottleneck situations due to network-wide inventory and demand transparency.

RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 7

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT The main Principles behind is the Integration of supply chain participants, Exchange of  demand And invent inventory ory inform informati ation, on, trans transpar parency ency & Visibi Visibili lity ty of invent inventori ories es and demands demands for  multilevel supply chains. It also eliminates time lags in the information flow and ensures synchronization of demand information. SCMo set up (Initialization) the main steps for the set up are:  Determination of the potentially critical part of the supply network Criteria:  Mapping of Structures. 



High shortage risk and effect, long lead and reaction times, high total inventory cost, frequent engineering changes.

Main Features:

The main features of such system are –   Releases and Iterations planning – It is a simple way to create project plan.  Dashboard – It is a quick project status reporting tool. 

To-Do lists – Identify and list the integrated assignments.  Integrated QA - Bug Tracking, Test Cases management, user story-to-bugs  Trace-ability, QA stats and charts.  Time Tracking - Create more accurate estimates of time. 

Significance of Documentation:

It might sometimes be difficult for an organization to straightaway launch into a Project Management exercise, even if they are well equipped, particularly if the project is too large  – for e.g., development of a new product, expansion of capacity, modernization of facilities, diversification into a totally new business area, getting into a Joint venture etc. In this case, the core project team itself might feel the need to have some major inputs before even a tentative plan could be drawn up. A well-drafted Business Plan would ideally serve this  purpose, provided it is handled systematically & professionally. The documentation system is intranet based to provide immediate access to current, up-to-date process documentation. The system allows Users to navigate through graphical structures to relevant documentation and processes which were created with the ARIS-Toolset. The content of the process Documentation Syst System em incl include udess the the area area suppl supply y chain chain mana manage geme ment nt from from the the Odett Odettee suppl supply y chai chain n Management Group. The system includes graphical process documentation, in the form of   process chains, as well as the entire range of documentation related to the processes. The Proces Processs Documen Documentat tation ion Syste System m gives, gives, accord according ing to its objective objectives, s, as overvi overview ew and a detailed view of the relevant processes for SCMo. The entry point in the documentation system is the model. “Process Overview SCMo”. This model is the starting point for the navigation to other models. The vertical navigation is the navigation on different levels. The RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 8

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT horiz horizont ontal al navig navigat atio ion n is the the navig navigat atio ion n on one leve level. l. Micr Micros osof oftt has has a team team proj project ect manage management ment soluti solution on that that enable enabless projec projectt manage managers rs and their their teams teams to collab collabora orate te on  projects. The Microsoft Project 2002 products in this solution are Microsoft Project Standard 2002, Microsoft Project Server 2002, and Microsoft Project Server Client Access License (CAL) 2002.

Q 6: Write down a brief outline on any assumed project management plan? Answer: Various sections and subsections of this unit would cover as part of Project Management Plan, the following key aspects: 

a)

Project Management Project:

Plan

–

Sample

Project SummaryProject Overview – Consider a firm XYZ as a Stock Broker/ Dealer firm. Any re will have applicatio applications ns supporting supporting the following following components: First, First, a Brokerage Brokerage Account Opening application on XYZ’s Web site that will allow any internet user to open a brokerage account with XYZ. Second, an account opening and maintenance application, application, which is primarily primarily for XYZ’s representa representatives tives to open accounts for the applications received in paper format.

b)

Project Scope• • •

•

To provide an effective, efficient means of amount maintenance activities. To allow representatives to provide information. To provide a complete picture to the client representatives for account status, valuation, order status, and trade activity. To increase the intelligence of the update process.



Project’s Value-add to the Customer:

a)

Objectives-

Strengthen relationship with XYZ by delivered high quality software on time. Become  preferred vendor by developing expensive on XYZ product and systems. RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM), EM), SUBU SUBUJE JEC CT CODE ODE- MBO MBOO3 O33, 3, SET-1 ET-1

Page Page 9

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT ·

b)

Commitment made to customers.



Assumptions made While Planning

Intelligent update to business partners will be incorporated in only the maintenance part of  the application and not in the Account opening engine. Qualified people will approve Rational Unified Process methodology for implementing this project. XYZ reviewers will take seven days to approve a milestone documents. If no comments are received within this time period, it will be considered as approved.



a.

Standard Process Followed Deviation from standard process:

and

Tailoring Notes-

Requirement trace ability will be done through the requisite pro-tool. Physical data base design may be refined | later iterations. ·

b.

Change request tracking-

Changes requested by customer will be logged in change request and analyzed for impact of    project Major change usually has an effort/delivery-on-time impact on the project. The customer needs to formally approve these changes. c.

Requirement Trace Ability-

Requisite tool will be used along with estimated size and effort. This is the estimation criteria to check everything is in place. d.

Automated Estimation Process-

Estimate the total effort with respect to each activity and effort for each phase of a project expressed as of percentage of man days.

e.

Scheduling and Estimation of Resources-

RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM) SEM),, SUBU SUBUJE JECT CT CODE CODE-- MBOO MBOO33 33,, SETSET-1 1

Page Page 10

ASSIGNMENT ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT · People · Hardware, software and Tools · Training Plan

f.

Quality Plan – Quality Goals-



Project Goals:

Prepare a strategy for meeting quality goals indicating the expected benefits. ·

 Estimation of Defects to be defected 

Reviews.

g.

Project Tracking-

Prepare the reports to be given to the customer which indicates –  Milestone reports & weekly status reports. Issue requiring clarification. Plus other reports which needs to be given to Business Managers • • •

h. Defect Control System Performance Summary-

Prepare a list probable defects & defect distribution table to find out deviation for the same. There were very few large deviations in the process performance; the actual performance was close to what is expected. This will give a chance to improve the poor performance. i.

System Driver Risk Management-

Prepar Preparee a table table on risk risk managem management ent indica indicatin ting g the type type of risk, risk, actual actual elapse elapsed d time, time, estimated time, percentage slippage and reasons for slippage.  j.

Global Delivery Model the Latest Trend in Project Pr oject Management-

· Standardization.

· Modularization. · Minimum Cutomerization. · Maximum Micro Structure.

RAHUL GUPTA, MBAHCS (2 ND SEM) SEM),, SUBU SUBUJE JECT CT CODE CODE-- MBOO MBOO33 33,, SETSET-1 1

Page Page 11