Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Project Management for Business-Unit 42

Prepared by: TOFAEL AHMAD HND Business 3rd Semester ID: 12080022

Blake Hall College, Former Dock Offices, Surrey Quays Road, London SE 16 2xu.

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Index Page no
[Task 1] a) Business Case assessment 3 b) Project management principle of the Woody Company 6 c) Appraise the validity of projects, developing success/failure criteria 7 d) The key elements involved terminating the projects and conducting post project appraisal for the Woody Company 7 e) A good project leader for the Woody company 9 [ Task 2] a) Critical path analysis of the project b) Activity scheduling of the project c) Control and co-ordinate project d) Project leadership requirements and qualities e) Planning and specify human resources and requirements for the Woody Company project [Task 3] a) Prepare project plans and establish the project for Woody Company b) Project scheduling, estimating and cost control technique c) Analyse the method use to measure the project performance d) Project change control procedures and evaluate the complete project Conclusion References

9 9 10 10 11

12 14 16 16 17 18

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

[Task 1] Project name: Project Woody 2000 Proposer: Ron Carpenter Dept: Planning Ref: P47X20 a) Business Case assessment 1.0 Introduction/ Background The Woody companys product is an application that allows numerous furniture equipments to completely interface with each other without changing a number of variations between parties. This will allow employee health care expenses and company health care cost to be easily tracked and measured. The company quickly gained a reputation for attractive designed and well constructed furniture using the indigenous hardwood and softwood of the products. The product developers have consistent mark ups, the company has moved into the subcontract work supplying and installing counter-tops, cabinets and similar fixtures for new commercial construction. Woody company has agreed to major airport expansion within the budget roughly $17m for all proposed work and targeted date to complete the project by 18 months.

2.0 Business Objective Woody is an innovative new solution in the manufacture industry, bringing a common client presentation to users of disparate systems. Multiple employee information systems can now be accessed, within or outside of the immediate project environment, with a set aside of the million of contingencies.Woody company provides a project layoutobjective for the parties to expand their plant expansion with the installing of air-conditioning and dust free paint and finishing shop with additional compressor capacity.

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

3.0Current Situation and Problem/Opportunity Statement The primary program for Woody company is for human resource information for the project, to help upper management with allocating cost. The project plan will allow business modelling of various scenarios as well as tracking and analyzing current and past project prospect and companys allotted costs. Woody directors will allow management to have a better understanding of what is to come in the future. The problem is that Cashman and Moneysworth argued that their spare land is not convenient for the plant expansion and think more for the avoiding the interruption to production while relocating their existing equipments.

4.0 Critical Assumption and Constraints This proposed project plan must be a valuable asset for Woody future challenge. Their current human resource workers and employees must actively support the new plant, and it must pay for itself within two years by reducing internal operating costs and making payroll burden, head office overhead and profits more affordable for both the company and its employees. The new system must run on existing project life cycle and control concept with computer aided design and it should require minimal technical support. It must be easily accessible by employees and other parties to involve for the completion of the project.

5.0 Preliminary Project Requirements The main features of the proposed project site include the following:

1. Allow numerous equipments to completely interface with each other without changing design and this equipments include a semi-automatic woodworking production train and computer aided support to run. 2. Tracking and measurement of employee expenses and company equipment care cost.

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

3. The site will work over a secured plant expansion train to complete in eighteen months.

6.0 Budget Estimate and Financial Analysis Initiating Developed project charter and identify stakeholders 30 people x 1 month $150 $135,000

Planning Develop project management plan, define scope, estimate costs, determine budget, develop human resource plan 200 people x 3 months x $200 = $3,200,000

Executing Direct and manage project execution, quality assurance, develop project team, procurements 30 people x 8months x $200 = $8,100,000

Monitoring and Controlling 15 people x 3 month x $200 = $396,200 Closing

30

people

months

$200

$4,660,000

Total - $166,400 = $16,833,600 Timeframe: 18 months 7.0 Schedule Estimate Project Managers, Woody Company, will complete the project within eighteen months, but there is some flexibility in the schedule in case of setbacks. The new system will have a useful life of at least five years. 8.0 Potential Risks There are several potential risks involved with this project. The foremost risk is lack of interest in the new system by employees. Employee inputs, beyond management initial inputs, are crucial for populating information into Woody and reaping the
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

benefits of the software. There are some technical risks in choosing Woody company such as employee personal information breach, miss-matched name and information, and improper inputs by management resulting in faulty results. The main business risks is investing the time and money into this project and not realizing the benefits.

b)Project management principle of the Woody Company A good project manager must possess skills and attributes extending beyond a technical background. Although it may be beneficial for a project manager to have a strong technical background, it is the interpersonal skills that best equip them to successfully perform their managerial tasks. In the Woody Companyit is thought that technical issues should be left to the specialist teams to address, rather than the project manager. A disadvantage of a project manager of the Woody company according to the information that Carpenter son Ian has keen knowledge to demonstrate his software skill rather than project management training and experience and with acquired technical expertise is that they may not have the conceptual skills necessary to be able to view the project holistically. Also, their decisions may be skewed due to their scope of experience. The arguments put forth in this essay give reason to believe that technical managers tend to impair the management of projects(Holtzman, J. ,1999). The following principles have to be considered for the project management for the Woody Company: Business justification: every project should lead to a worthwhile return on investment. In other words, we need to understand the benefits that a particular project will bring, before committing ourselves to any significant expenditure. Defined roles and responsibilities: everybody working on the project needs to understand the nature of their involvement: for what is each person responsible, and to whom are they accountable. Manage by exception: project sponsors should avoid getting too bogged down in the day-to-day running of projects and instead allow the project manager to concentrate on this area. Focus on products: it is vital that clients and customers think carefully about the products, or deliverables, they require, before the project begins.
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Tailor to suit the environment: whatever project management methodology or framework favour, it must be tailored to suit the needs of project. c) Appraise the validity of projects, developing success/failure criteria The project validity study can determine the probability of project success. The process is undertaken before the real project starts and it is mainly used by the project manager and the management team to decide whether a particular project worth it or not.According to the Washington State of Information Services (Holtzman, J. (1999), the goals of a validityof the Woody company are as following: Streamline the creation of the validation study in order to add value to the decisionmaking process based on the results of agency planning and design efforts. Introduce the concept of time value of money by incorporating Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, and Breakeven Analysis financial measures in the suggested format of the Cost/Benefit Analysis. Provide formats for clear and concise cost and benefit rationale to assist in the investment evaluation process.

According to Frame, J. D. (1994) projects fail too often because the project scope was not fully appreciated and/or user needs not fully understood. According to
Frame, J. D. (1994)that projects fail because of poor alignment between departments and business users. The project success has fallen the following criteria: 1. User Involvement 2. Executive Management Support 3. Clear Statement of Requirements 4. Proper Planning 5. Realistic Expectations d)The key elements involved terminating the projects and conducting post project appraisal for the Woody Company The purpose of properly terminating a project is to learn from the experience gained on the Woody company project in order to improve performance on future projects.
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Therefore, the activities associated with terminating the project should be identified and included in the project's baseline plan-they should not be done merely as spontaneous afterthoughts. These activities might include organizing and filing project documents, receiving and making final payments, and conducting postproject evaluation meetings within both the contractor's and the customer's organization. The termination phase starts when performance of the Woody Company project is completed and the result is accepted by the project providers. In some situations, this might be a somewhat formal event in which an automated system satisfies a set of criteria or passes tests that were stated in the contract. Other projects, such as a weekend of homecoming activities at a university, are completed merely with the passage of time.

Post project appraisal Internally, there should be two types of meetings for the post project apprisal: individual meetings with team members and a group meeting with the project team. They should be held as soon as possible after the completion of the project, and they should be announced in advance so that people can be prepared.

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

e) A good project leader for the Woody company

The good project leader is the gatekeeper who oversees the team functions. These functions include but are not limited to organizing meetings, managing administrative details, coordinating all team activities, and supervising the preparations for reports and presentations. Leaders are more effective when they give their team members responsibilities. Team members must be given the autonomy to take chances during the project. The leader must create a permissive atmosphere in which the members of the team will gradually become less fearful of each other andthe leader. Once everyone's point-of-view is respected the fear of participation is gradually lessened. For the Woody Company the number of skilled leader avoids sarcasm, never ridicules a speaker, and never imposes his/her point-of-view. Aware of the human struggle to dominate or submit, the leader for the Woody Company appreciates similar conflict in others and permits them to develop their own insights in their own way. Then the leader respects the dignity and individuality of each member will not only win the latter's respect but will also help the member develop respect.

[ Task 2] a) Organisation structure, rules and responsibilities The Woody companys product is an application that allows numerous furniture equipments to completely interface with each other without changing a number of variations between parties. It supports the furniture manufacturing, custom millwork, hardwood importer and infrastructure sectors. Organisational structure refers to the way that jobs, responsibilities and power are organised within a business. The organisational structure of Woody reflects the market opportunities the business is seeking to maximise all over the world. By dividing up the organisation, each business unit can specialise in its own area of expertise, bringing efficiency benefits. Woody serves its customers through six business units:

Upstream offers engineering, construction, purchasing and related services for establishment projects Downstream- serves business clients in the infrastructure related solution
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Woody Services provides construction and maintenance services Woodys Technology protects the technological property rights of the business. With over 70 years of experience in high-tech research and development in specialist markets, Woodys Technology helps the business to maintain a technological competitive advantage Woodys Ventures offers financial investment and management services for companies owning assets of projects Roles Woody seeks the best and brightest graduates in engineering, science, finance, marketing and management to drive the business forward. The job descriptions and person specifications are used to formulate adverts to attract these graduates. These requirements are also used to support the interview process, identify training and development needs and review progress within the roles. Job roles in Woody can fall into many specialist categories of the business. The organisation uses a 'competency framework' that helps to identify the personal skills, behaviours and levels of capability needed by management, administrative, technical or engineering roles. Managers' roles carry greater responsibilities than their subordinates and demand different skills and qualities. Woody has defined a set of general management capabilities. These are used to recruit, review and develop management grades. These guidelines require that managers should:

be technically competent with a detailed understanding of their area of responsibility provide strategic and operational leadership develop and motivate others Responsibilities Each level within Woody Company carries a different degree of authority and responsibility. Ron Carpenter is a Skilled Trades Person. A carpenter by trade, Rons carries out a variety of jobs on refurbishment schemes including refurbishment planning such as airport. It is the variety in the job role and the freedom to make his own decisions that attracted him to the job. Ron is allowed to identify and solve problems using his own judgement. He is expected and trusted to get the job right first time. At this level, the employee focuses upon a specific task.

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Asset Managers at Woody look after the planned maintenance of the Estates assets. They provide technical and pricing information, undertake annual condition surveys and plan delivery of maintenance. All of this is done with health & safety and client relationships in mind. The aim is to exceed client expectations. Everything from changing a single light bulb to a multi-million pound refurbishment project falls into this role.

b)Control and coordination of the project The project control and coordinator will lead and coordinate the activities of the Woodys steering committee including:

The regular dissemination of information about the project; Liaison between the Steering Committee, and the WP coordinators; and The organisation of plenary project meetings of the Steering Committee at annual intervals or more frequently, where appropriate (some of these meetings may be held via videoconferencing while others would be held in a particular location).

c) Critical path analysis of the project Critical path formally identifies tasks which must be completed on time for a project to be completed on time, which tasks have the option of been delayed and the minimum length of time needed to complete a project. If a company would require accelerating a project, critical path analysis will help a project manager to identify which project steps he should accelerate to complete the project within the available time. This helps him to minimize cost while still achieving your objective. d) Activity scheduling of the project The schedule defines specific points in a project when the project manager must bring in personnel and equipment resources to complete required tasks:

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

2012

2013 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan

2014 Feb Mar Apr May

ID

Task Name

Start

Finish

Duration
Dec Jan

1 Design and development 2 Cost estimates 3 Constructions 4 Testing 5 Celebration

06/12/2012 06/03/2013 06/06/2013 06/02/2014 06/05/2014

06/03/2013 06/06/2013 06/02/2014 06/05/2014 06/06/2014

13w 13w 16h 35w 8h 12w 32h 4w 32h

e) Control and co-ordinate project Control and coordinating mechanisms are important to every organization. Without them, it would be difficult to determine whether or not the planning, organizing and leading functions of management are effective and productive for the company. Although some mechanisms are used widely throughout many organizations and companies, some mechanisms are tailored to fit a specific organization. Management must determine the most appropriate control mechanisms for their company( Tiernan, Morley, Foley, 2001). Woody company keeps track of every process with different types of spreadsheets, reports, and statements which either proves the organization is working well or shows where things are distributed to the different managers for their review. Managers confirm that timetables are being adhered to and that projects are being completed in a timely manner. These time reports not only identify amounts of costs and time used to complete these projects, but also help management establish budgets for the coming year. Overall, the use of these controls is understood and accepted by all employees. Each employee of the Woody Company realizes the need for these mechanisms and strives to operate within the proper guidelines. There are times when employees' hours or costs are over budget, and management must delve into the reasons surrounding the circumstance. f) Project leadership requirements and qualities The following leadership and qualities for a project management of Woody Company has to be required:
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

A Leader Plans: The Core of Leadership is being Proactive rather than Reactive. Sure, Leaders are good in crisis but that doesnt mean they sit around letting Crisis develop. Leadership involves identifying Potential Problems and solving them before they reach Crisis. A Leader has a Vision: Vision is essential to Good Leadership. Vision provides Direction and without it theres not much point to all that Planning; Woody Companywill still fail about. So if they dont have one already, take first step towards Leadership by creating a Vision Statement for construction Business. A Leader takes Charge: At the stage of Leadership, Woody Company put together their Planning and Leadership Vision and take Action. Whether its implementing, a Specific Plan to improve their Businesss Bottom Line or responding to a Crisis. A Leader Inspires through Exemplification: If Woody Company were asked who, they could name three people whose Leadership Qualities inspire their organisation. If they were asked why, theyd tell about the things these Inspi ring people did or are doing. Leadership is defined through Action.
g)Planning and specify human resources and requirements for the Woody

Company project Human resource management is a sequence of processes that allow planning, acquiring, developing and managing project team. The process of planning HR resources for project is the primary activity within HR management which results in creating a project human resource management plan (Hartman, F., &Ashrafi, R. A. 2002). The purpose of Woody Company project HR management plan is to determine, identify and select human resources that have all necessary skills and abilities to undertake project activities on schedule, within budget and as per technical requirements. Development of project HR management plan pursues the following major goals:

Select and acquire human resources that have all necessary skills and abilities required for project success
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Develop team building strategies Manage team activities Use the list to develop criteria for selecting human resources Acquire selected human resources Develop project team in which every member is assigned to appropriate role and responsibilities

Manage and control activities of project team

[Task 3] a) prepare project plans and establish the project for Woody Company Project Objective Woody Company create an integrated, secure and reliable finance and accounting system for manufacturing business using a central database accessible by all offices along with the establishment of a joint venture offshore back office operation of the company's invoicing, revenue processing, and auditing services. Mission Justification Implementing an integrated finance system is key to assisting in the corporate goal of reaching $50 million in revenue by the end of 2000. The creation of custom equipment will meet Woody Manufacturing's specific needs and will allow all employees to become more productive through its use. Woody strives to make the process of invoicing, payments, and collections efficient for their customers as well. Project Description and Task Management

The breakdown of the Woody Company project outlines the primary deliverables, milestones, and stakeholders. The project involves outsourcing the development and implementation of an integrated financial and accounting system for Woody Manufacturing along with establishing a joint venture offshore back office operation of the company's invoicing, revenue processing, and auditing services.
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Resource Requirements Resources are defined as any person, group, skill, equipment, monetary, or material resources used to accomplish a task or activity. The human resources for the financial system outsourcing project must have a clear understanding of Woody's financial and accounting process needs therefore the IT steering committee will be comprised of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the ChiefFinancial Officer (CFO), the operation managers from each of Woody's operating facilities, and a select group of system analysts, network administrators, project design programmers, and different machinery equipment facilities. Different equipment resource requirements will be decided by the project operation steering committee as well. Monetary resources have been identified as $17,000,000. Project Communication Plan

The communication plan of Woody company project begins with the identification of the key groups that have a stake in the project's outcome. The stakeholders of this project are: (a) Woody executive management and employees, (b) the outsource vendor, and (c) the clients of the company. When developing the communication plan it is important to "understand the group's motivators, such as financial or emotional interest, and create a specific communication plan for each group". Risk Management

Risk management of the Woody Company is critical to the successful execution of the financial systems outsourcing project for Woody Manufacturing. The project risks are anything that "can lead to results that deviate negatively from the stakeholders real' requirements" (Gilb, 2002, p. 6). Risks to the project include both the probability of failure and the possible consequences of failure. Project Closure Process A major challenge of Woody Company project closure is wrapping upthe odds and ends of the project. "What tasks are required to close the project? Who will be responsible for these tasks? When will closure begin and end? How will the project
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

be delivered?" (Gray,2005, p. 476). These questions need to be answered when closing out the financial offshore outsourcing project.

b) Project scheduling, estimating and cost control technique Estimating and cost control Time-phased project work is the basis for project cost control. Work package duration is used to develop the Woody Company project network.These costs are not straightforwardly associated to a project. Examples include organization costs such as advertising or accounting. G&A costs are generally billed as a percent of total costs, or items such as labour, materials, or equipment. Using the sums of direct and overhead costs for work packages, it is possible to cumulate the costs for any deliverable for the entire project (Gray& Larson, 2005). Primary Data Sets Used by the Team to Determine the Budget Type Description Amount

Cost of the equipmentDepreciation can be taken. G&A Cost $3,450,000 Training Costs Training for 12 users. $67,200

Training time is 1days per person. In-project Training Support Administrative Costs for 2 vendors Total Training Costs Equipment and Material Costs Purchase of three equipment IT support system set up Additional support Labor Costs Average salary = $150 Programmer (40) $6,000
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$28000 $3,545,200

$4,000,000 $45,000 $8250

Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

Database Manager(65) Project Analyst(150) Operations Analyst(20) Interface Manager(20) Network Analyst(10)

$9,750 $22,500 $3000 $3000 $1500

Total Cost

$5,495,525

Project Scheduling: The schedule defines specific points in a project when the project manager must bring in personnel and equipment resources to complete required tasks on tune and within budget.

Fig 1: Gannt Chart for project scheduling of Woody Company ( relatively 18 months) A Gantt chart similar to the one in may he used as an overview for related schedules that include more detail in the different monthly format within 18 month period.Although it is better to remain with the original overall schedule and completion date, most schedules have to be revised as work on a project progresses.

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

c) Analyse the method use to measure the project performance There are four basic performance measurement techniques: performance reviews, trend analysis, earned value analysis, and information distribution.

1.

Performance reviews

Performance reviews are meetings held to assess project status. Most project managers schedule weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly reviews to keep the management team abreast of the project's status. By conducting frequent performance reviews, variances are more readily detected and can be addressed sooner which prevents further deviation from the plan. 2. Trend analysis

Trend analysis involves examining project results over several reporting periods to determine if performance is improving or deteriorating. By plotting Woody Companys report results on a graph, management can determine whether schedule performance is progressing or regressing. 3. Earned value analysis

Earned value analysis is the most commonly used method of performance measurement. It integrates scope, cost, and schedule measures to assist the management team in assessing project performance. 4. Information distribution tools and techniques

Information distribution tools and techniques make necessary information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner. Information regarding a project's performance is essential to bring about project success. Too little or incorrect information could lead to misunderstandings and changes that are not really necessary. d)Project change control procedures and evaluate the complete project Woody Company has a lot of change control procedure at all in their facilities. The management has trying to identify the reason behind some inconsistence between
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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

drawings, specification and in place installation. According to my experience working for that organization, change control request came from any process with others approval or investigation complete first. A simple but effective proposed change control management for this project is as follow. There will be an information controller where the master set of the specification and drawings of the project will be kept. Every week there will be a one hour meeting to review requested changes to the design of the project. From the meeting, two lists of changes will be put together. The first one will contain small changes that just affect documentation (Hartman, F., &Ashrafi, R. A. ,2002). Woody Company CEO believes that to remain in the Woody Company project market the company has to adapt to any condition in the least possible time. They have had to implement many projects time record to follow the CEO's philosophy. Unfortunately, this small scale facility project is a long term investment, which means that the project is a third level priority as its benefits can not be seen upon project completion. Conclusion: The large scale facility project can become a success for the project management in command, if the top management of Woody Company has changed the culture of the organization in regards to project prioritization. That factor can elevate the risks that the schedule and cost of the project increase and the quality. If the project is to go ahead, the risk assessment presented in this document must be extremely taken into account. In this assignment five stages for the project were illustrated, including some project specific and others due to the organizational context. From risk scores, we can say that Icon Tech project organization needs to improve in many areas about their project management. Thus, a change control system is urgent to be implemented as well as an organizational risk strategy, which should be used to prioritize projects.

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Tofael Ahmed

Project Management

ID: 12080022

References: Gray Larson (2007) Project Management, the managerial process, 4th ed. McGraw Hill Morley, Moore, Heraty, Linehan, MacCurtain, (2004) Principles of

OrganisationalBehaviour 2nd ed. Gill & McMillan Tiernan, Morley, Foley, (2001) Modern Management 2nd ed. Gill & McMillan Thompson, Strickland, Gamble (2007) Crafting & Executing Strategy 15th ed. McGraw Hill Frame, J. D. (1994). The new project management: tools for an age of rapid change, corporate reengineering, and other business realities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Hartman, F., &Ashrafi, R. A. (2002).Project management in the information systems and information technologies industries.Project Management Journal. Vol. 33, pp. 515.. Holtzman, J. (1999). Getting up to standard. PM Network. Vol 13, No. 12. Kleim, R. L. &Ludin, I. S. (1998).Project Management Practioners

Handbook.AMACOM Books. Marko, M., Dejan, P., & Vladimir, O. (2006). Strategic project management new management approach. International Science Days 2006. Milosevic, D., &Patanakul, P. (2004). Standardized project management may increase development project success. International Journal of Project Management. Vol. 23, pp. 181-192. Johnson, (2006) Project management and business processes a look at strategy, structure processes, and projects. (Electronic Version) PMWorld Today Jan. 2007 voliv, issue 1. Milliar (2006) Climbing the project management maturity ladder.Knowledge Ireland.

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