...Early stage project issues considered by a Project Manager Albert J. Reshaw Walden University January 12, 2015 Early stage program issues faced by a Project Manager As a Project Manager, you will face issues in the early stages of any project that must be identified and dealt with to ensure the program meets the agreed upon output requirements defined by the customer or the organization. In addition, the project team requires effective and accurate communication from the very beginning. Specifically, clear definitions and direction are a must to achieve identified program goals. In this case study, five areas have been identified as the top issues to address and are listed in order of priority. Project Goals First and foremost, the project goals must be defined so we can identify any deliverables, meet specific requirements and ensure the scope of the project timeframe and allocated budget are realistic. The team’s subject matter experts should be consulted to validate all specific requirements and determine if the identified goals are attainable. The Program Manager will measure the group’s performance to ensure the project is completed on time, on budget and produces all required deliverables in order to satisfy the customer. Project Resources Secondly, project resources must be identified and evaluated to ensure the proper use, effectiveness, and determine if they will be shared and readily...
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...Key Issues to Improve IT Project Management – article analysis It is mentioned as a major cause of project failure that they are not linked to company goals. Therefore, the starting point of discussion could have been the information systems strategy triangle. The text give great importance to the solution vendor, emphasizing that it is necessary to conquer him so that he will help with data to sale the project to the company directors (building the business case) and to create a partnership where everybody seek the project success. This issue could have been addressed more clearly and primarily emphasized the role of the vendor / consultant within the project (focus on core activities, maintenance of the same consultant throughout the project, etc.) rather than focusing on the trading of the service. Another flawed point is the fact that analyzes and questions that are usually answered in a business case are mentioned, but it is not given importance to the construction and use of it as a tool for project approval. It is also not properly addressed the life cycle of the project (especially the planning phase, which is essential to a good project) and nor the project management tools (PERT, CPM and Gantt Chart), which should be used to map critical activities, evaluate alternative routes in case of problems/difficulties at some stage, and follow up of activities planned, in relation to the project triangle (time, cost and scope, not leaving aside the quality). Another point...
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...BUSN 5610 Issues in Project Management Week 3 Assignment Chapter 4 0. 1. A disadvantage of the pure project organization has to do with the tendency of project professionals to fall behind in areas of technical expertise not used on the project. Name several ways that a project manager might avoid this problem. The project manager can address the technical expertise issues by staying abreast of training schedules and ensure that each of the project professionals have an opportunity to participate there will be times where the project manager will have to put the needs of the professional ahead of themselves and allow them that time to seek and attend trainings. Project managers should rotate their professionals out so that they can have some down time to focus on trainings they may need to stay on top of technology changes and trends. Project managers could find innovative ways to bring needed trainings to the professionals like webcasts, teleconferences, contract with a vendor to provide training onsite. 0. 0. 0. 2. Why was the Project Team so successful in the Benfield facility of Sasol (page 204)? 0. The Benfield facility of Sasol project team was so successful because it eliminated the major sources of conflict that could happen during various phases of the project life cycle. The project team had a clear scope to fix the broken column, identified the time as the priority objective, set ground rules for the project, set forth an amazing...
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...Strategic Issues: The Pivotal Process for Strategic Success Thomas E. Ambler Senior Consultant, CSSP, Inc. Tom Ambler REALIZE YOUR POTENTIAL! Is that what you want for yourself and your company? What is your company’s potential? Do you have a vision of it? Yes? That’s why you use Simplified Strategic Planning, isn’t it? In the Simplified Strategic Planning process you build toward your strategy - your vision for the longer term, the course and direction you need to take to maximize your potential. Then, for the short term you make sure that your resources line up and are focused on achieving your vision. Good strategy takes more than just strong desire. Good strategy requires good input and analysis. It also requires good decision-making. That’s what the exercise known as “STRATEGIC ISSUES” is all about. It is a pivotal step in the strategic planning process that deals with answering the “Big Strategic Questions.” Successful identification and resolution of Strategic Issues results from combining both content and process elements, big and small, effectively and smoothly. What is a Strategic Issue? A Strategic Issue is, first of all, an issue - an unresolved question needing a decision or waiting for some clarifying future event. Secondly, it is strategic and has major impact on the course and direction of the business. It probably relates directly to one or more of the fundamental “Three Strategic Questions”: •What are we going to sell? •To whom are we going to sell it...
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...ARTS-PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT Course Code: LDP 604 Course Name: Project Design, Planning and Implementation Duration: October 2013-February 2014 Assignment: Group Presentation Topic: Strategic Issues in Project Management Date: 30th October, 2013 Group Members: 1. Winnie Munene 2. Philip Abong’o 3. Bernard Tarus 4. Noel Amoit 5. Brian Kenya 6. Sam Kiarie 7. Peter Kabutu Lecturer: Mr A. Bwibo Definition A strategy is a method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem. It can also be defined as the art and science of planning and marshalling resources for their most efficient and effective use. An issue is something that has happened and either threatens or enhances the success of a project. Issue management is the process of recording and handling any event or problem. Some of the issues can be dealt with within the project; however strategic issues may require a change in order to keep the project viable. Therefore, the following are diverse definitions of strategic issues in project management:- A strategic issue in a project is a condition of pressure, either internal or external that will have a significant effect on one or more factors of the project such as its financing ,design, engineering, construction and operation.(MBA knowledge base). Cleland D. (1989) identifies strategic issues as disagreements/conflicts...
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...successful engineer. His boss, Henry Larsen promoted Gary as the project manager of the Orion Shield Project. Little did Gary know that this promotion that would significantly change his career at SEC and not for the better. Because of the Orion project Gary went from a star engineer at SEC, to almost losing his position with the company. This was all due to Gary’s lack of project management skills and Henry Larsen’s, lack of support and unethical guidance. Gary Allison did not have the tools or project manager experience to successfully meet the expectations of the company or the requirements of the project. Unfortunately project managers get picked based on availability and not necessarily because they possess project management skills. However, an inadequately trained and/or inexperienced project manager can doom a project as was the case with Gary and the Orion Shield Project. Gary encountered many technical, ethical, legal, contractual and project management issues. Gary’s lack of project management experience was obvious from the very beginning of the project. Many factors contributed to Gary’s failure as a project manager. Gary’s inexperience in project management, his bad communication with the customer and his not being honest with the customer contributed to the failure of the Orion Shield Project. Gary should have informed his counterparts of his missed deadlines and poor test results. Project Management, when effectively employed has produced many advantages to companies...
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...PROJECT SCOPE STATEMENT Note: Any work not explicitly included in the Project Scope Statement is implicitly excluded from the project. * Create links to referenced documents (e.g., Link_To_… ) by using Insert Hyperlink on your toolbar. * Note that all documents that are linked to the Scope Statement become part of the Project Scope and require the same degree of management control. Such documents should be maintained in a separate Scope directory along with the Scope Statement. | Project Name: | | Prepared by: | | Date (MM/DD/YYYY): | | Version History (insert rows as needed): | Version | Date (MM/DD/YYYY) | Comments | 1.0 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1. Executive Summary | Provide below a brief overview of this project (e.g., project purpose and justification): | | Provide a brief project summary in the space below. This information may be available in the Project Charter. Also provide a link to the Project Charter for reference. | Link_To_Project_Charter | | Note: In any instance where there is a discrepancy between the Project Charter and the Project Scope Statement, the latter is considered authoritative. | 2. Business Objectives | 2.1 Product Description (Solution): | | 2.2 Business Objectives: | | 3. Project Description | For each area below, provide sufficient detail to define this project adequately: | 3.1 Project Scope | ...
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...Assignment The Orion Shield Project Case Study Executive Summary: A good project management plan takes some preparation. In the case study of The Orion Shield Project that preparation never seemed to occur. From the beginning, the project was plagued with the subcontractor, Scientific Engineering Corporation (SEC), bidding for a project that they knew their current product would not be able to do. The case study shows the actions of an inexperienced professional, his poor planning methods, unethical decision skills and inability to manage a project to completion. While the project was looked at as a success, ultimately it was doomed from the start. There was specification issues that initially concerned Gary Allison, SEC’s project manager, but he was told by the Director of Engineering, Henry Larsen, that this wasn’t a big issue. By the project manager lying to the primary contractor, Space Technology Institute (STI), this created an unethical work environment from the start. There are various issues throughout the project such as contractual, legal, technical and ethical issues. A project manager should be concerned with time and cost, however, Gary was concerned mainly about his new career and promotion. With the stakeholders waiting for a complete project and funding on the line, the project team continuously upset STI until the primary contractor made a decision to work more closely with SEC to ensure accuracy. With good project management skills, a project manager uses tools to...
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...Team Assignment Case Analysis of the Orion Shield Project Dennis J Paffrath April 18, 2013 AMBA 640 Professor Marsh 1 Table of Content Executive Summary…………………………………………………………….3 Technical Issues…………………………………………………………………5 Initiating Process Group…………………………………………………5 Planning Process Group…………………………………………………5 Executing Process Group………………………………………………..10 Monitoring and Controlling Process Group…………………………….11 Closing Process Group………………………………………………….14 Ethical Issues……………………………………………………………………15 Legal and Contractual…………………………………………………………..16 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………17 References………………………………………………………………………18 2 Executive Summary K. Schwalbe (2012) has provided a basic understanding of what project management is and explains that it requires planning and use and management of organizational resources in order to complete a project within the required time, scope and cost. Project managers must understand that one of the most important aspects of project management is to complete a project with a successful delivery of the product while ensuring that it is within the required timeline and within the resources allocated to the project. Therefore, it is imperative that the managing of a project makes efficient use of time, resources, cost, risk, quality and scope. By understanding these constraints, the project manager will be able to successfully complete the project. In reviewing the Orion Shield project case, it is very clear that the Scientific Engineering...
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...11/17/07 The Project Management Life Cycle By Jason Westland (A book review by R. Max Wideman) Introduction Editor's Note: We liked so much of this book that we asked for the author's permission to quote extensively from the whole of Jason Westland's Chapter 1. This is because it succinctly describes what follows in detail in the remainder of the book. However, in pursuing our regular book review structure, we placed his text under corresponding headings. Since the quotations are so extensive, we have not followed our normal practice of indenting quoted paragraphs. However, the references are identified in the footnotes. As Jason says: "Welcome to The Project Management Life Cycle. This book describes the Methodl23® Project Management Methodology (MPMM)1 and provides a practical approach to managing projects. Every phase, activity and task in the project life cycle is described here in detail to help you manage staff, customers and suppliers efficiently. By reading this book, you will gain the knowledge and confidence required to properly initiate a project, create detailed project plans, build high quality deliverables, monitor and control delivery and close projects effectively. "Not only will you learn how to successfully complete projects from end to end, but you will also be armed with a suite of tools and templates to allow you to create project deliverables quickly and easily. More than 150 charts, tables and diagrams are included in this book to help explain the steps...
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...Project Management Plan [Project Name] Author: [Author] Date: [yyyymmdd] Version: [#.#] Operator notes: All instructional text is displayed in blue font colour in the template. These should be deleted prior to the document being distributed for review and approval. Update text within square brackets which is placeholder text with relevant text. E.g. [yyyymmdd] should be changed to latest date 20130305 Use this basic structure and type sizing for all your covers. Do not manipulate or rescale any of the graphic components. Use initial caps in your headings with capital letters for proper nouns only. Document Control Document location Location | | Author Position | Name | Contact no | | | | Stakeholders and other contributors Consider key stakeholders who might have input in the decision to approve or reject the Business Case. Typically, distribution to the relevant governance forum members’ is required for a one-on-one walkthrough prior to presenting. The costs section of the document may need to be removed from widely distributed versions. Position | Name | | | | | Revision history Version | Issue date | Author/editor | Description/Summary of changes | | | | | | | | | Reviewed by Version | Issue date | Name | Position | Review date | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Approvals Approval refers to the approver’s acceptance of the content and overall intention of this document, including acceptance...
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...IMPROVING QUALITY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS Portfolio presented on 29th October 2004 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (DBA) JOHN PANIL MIEM, PEng (Msia) Bsc. (Hons) Civil Eng. MBA (Tech. Mgmt.) International Graduate School of Management Division of Business and Enterprise University of South Australia DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO/DISSERTATION SUBMISSION SUPERVISOR APPROVAL DECLARATION Candidate Name: John Panil UniSA Candidate ID Number: 00112656C Dear Sir To the best of my knowledge, the portfolio contains all of the candidate's own work completed under my supervision, and is worthy of examination. I have approved for submission the portfolio that is being submitted for examination. 5.001) Signature: Supervi or Professor Si Heng Loke Date Signa re: Supervisor Dr Karlos Knapp Date Supported by: j (\Professor David Richards Chair, IGSM Doctoral Board of Examiners a% Date DECLARATION I hereby declare that this portfolio does not incorporate without acknowledgment any materials previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university and that to the best of my knowledge, it also does not contain any materials previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. Si Date: John anil Can date, Doctor of Business Administration II ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...
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...[pic] Financial Management Process© For [Project Name] 1 Introduction The Project Financial Management Process is followed after the initial project budget has been documented and approved during the Project Initiation phase of the Project Management Life Cycle. What is a Financial Management Process? A Financial Management Process is a method by which costs (or expenses) incurred on the project are formally identified, approved and paid. Typical types of costs include: • Labor (e.g. staff, external suppliers, contractors and consultants) • Equipment (e.g. computers, furniture, building facilities, machinery and vehicles) • Materials (e.g. stationery, consumables, building materials, water and power) • Administration (e.g. legal, insurance, lending and accounting fees). © When to use a Financial Management Process The Financial Management Process should be initiated after the expected Financial Expense Form has been created and approved during the Planning phase of the project. This process provides a mechanism for monitoring and controlling the actual financials of the project against those that were originally planned/budgeted. It important to formally track expenses throughout all phases of the project, otherwise, it may become impossible to accurately manage the project constraints of time, budget and quality. 1.1 Instructions Complete all sections of this form. If a particular section is...
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...PROJECT MANAGEMENT ESSAY MATTHEW DYSON Project management patterns form a source of valuable knowledge in which past experience is broken down into a series of situations and solutions, which can be easily searched and linked together to form a network of ideas through which managers can evaluate and assess the suitability of common approaches for implementation in their own situations. Once implemented, managers can contribute their own experiences back into the pattern database, which helps to expand and increase the amount of real-world information that the patterns contain, and through repetition of this process the quality and quantity of patterns will dramatically increase. There also exists a wide variety of defined and commonly implemented project management methods which are given as a strict structure that the manager will mould their team to, with different methods tailored towards different requirements. For instance, some methods will assume fixed requirements and flexible timescales, whereas others will assume a fixed time for completion allowing for flexible requirements. Once one of these methods is implemented, a strict set of decision making criteria is implemented that ensures that the project will not make compromises in the wrong area. When overseeing a project, a manager should be focusing on two key areas – the social interaction of their team, and the progress that they are making on the tasks given, which ideally should not be mutually exclusive, as...
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...01 1.1 Introduction of Project Management Although project management history starts further back in latter 19th century modern project management began in the early 1960s. The need of the project management increased with the development of business around projects and to communicate and co-ordinate work across departments and people. According to the PMBOK (2008) project defines as "temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service.Temparary means that every project has a definite end. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all similar product or service." PMBOK (2004) analyse project management as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet stakeholder’s needs and expectations from a project." Where, Grham (1985) identified project management as "a set of people and other resources temporarily assembled to reach a specified objective, normally with a fixed budget and with a fixed time period. Projects are generally associated with products or procedures that are being done for the time or with known procedures that are being altered." These two definitions clearly show the difference of identifying the project management in time to time. Success or failure of the project can influence by project manager. He integrates and co-ordinates and guides them to successfully complete the project. Below are some desirable project manager attributes (Burke...
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