Advanced business analytic - Essay Example

Introduction This paper is an executive summary of the case study on Project planning and project success by Dov Dvir et al (2002). The increase in the management of business through projects and the increase in the complexity of project management due to the increased fragmentation of the business process into projects have made the role of a project manager critical in nature with planning as an essential element for success. The fact that planning is integral to project management is being analysed in this paper. The authors through an empirical analysis present the benefits of project planning for success in projects. The paper also presents an analysis on various aspects of project planning and project success from various perspectives. Overview of theories Project Planning: Project in itself is considered as a unique endeavour to accomplish a specific or a set of goals Richard Newton (2005). He further states that the project being the integration of a set of complex tasks makes it clear that planning is an essential element for success. Furthermore, it is also agreed that the planning is a complex process and not always achievable in case of projects as the outcome of a project tend to change with the end user requirements. Although it is widespread that the project planning is a complex process not able to accomplish in its entirety for a project, the process of not creating a plan would probably lead to failure as argued by Dov Dvir et al (2002). The authors also state that a milestone based planning of the projects is a more successful and reliable method of planning as opposed to the planning in its entirety. The fact project planning provides a scope for the project and through the setting of the milestone the members of the project team gain an idea on what is to accomplish which provides a perspective on the sequence of tasks to be performed. It is imperative that the project captures the end-user requirements comprehensively in order to successfully complete the project to the expected specifications. The Richard Newton (2005) further argues that a successful project manager should give importance to every detail in capturing the end-user requirement more than planning as planning is an integral part of the project whilst the former is the cause for the mere existence of the project itself. Alongside, the planning using milestone is also approved to be a far easier approach to project planning as the details to how the milestone is achieved is up to the individual performing the project task rather than the project team as such. Success Measures: Success in projects is measured under four dimensions argued by the writers as mentioned below 1. Meeting Design Goals: The design goals attribute to the actual purpose of the project and the reason for the inception of the project itself. This is argued as a critical success factor to all stakeholders in the projects irrespective of the scope of the project. 2. Benefit to Customer: This is the most critical success measure for the project as the end-user is the one who endorses the success of the project. 3. Commercial success 4. Future Potential The last two success dimensions are not always measurable as in the case of the case study on hand where the research is conducted on the data collected from Israeli Defence Forces. Research methodology and data A quantitative research analysis using statistical methods was conducted by the writers to analyse the importance of project planning and success criteria in Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The primary research data was collected through questionnaires with weighing the answers in a scale of 1 to 7 where 7 is the extremely positive answer and vice versa. The research on the data was collected from the personnel and the end-users of the project to identify the success measures and the effects of project planning. With the case research focusing upon the R&D projects in specific, the questionnaire also captured project specific issues in order to identify the role of project planning in success for projects. Analysis: A correlation on the information gathered through the questionnaires on the three success criteria namely Meeting Planning goals, end-user benefits and Contractor benefits is conducted in order to identify the relationship between these success criteria and the project planning and success in projects through planning. A correlation analysis on the three main success measures for project planning viz. development of functional requirements, Development of technical specification and Implementation of the project management processes and procedures have revealed that there is no significant correlation to demonstrate the effectiveness of project planning and the success in projects. The research also revealed that there is no correlation between the implementation of planning procedures in the project and the quality of the functional and technical specification although there was a strong correlation between capturing & developing end user specification and definition of technical specifications as argued by the writers. Furthermore, the writers also established that there was no correlation between the implementation of the project planning procedures and the various success dimensions making it clear that the project planning has least effect on the success dimensions of the project mentioned before. The research has also revealed that there is strong correlation between the planning variables and the end-user benefits although there is only a weak but positive correlation between the development of functional & technical specifications to meeting planning goals and achieving contractor benefits. The analysis also revealed that all the four success measures are highly inter-related even though there is a greater emphasis on the end-user benefit. From the aforementioned arguments it is clear that there is little benefits that can be quantified through the deployment of project planning and success in projects. It is further clear that the project planning is an integral element for the effective management of the projects and achieving the end-user requirements since the planning alone will help capture the end-user requirements. As a conclusion the research by the authors of the case study has justified that the project planning is not required in a comprehensive manner as it is difficult to foresee the path taken by a project whilst a milestone based project planning is essential for the successful accomplishment of the end-user requirements. Furthermore, the research has affirmed the fact that planning is central to a project and although planning does not directly attribute to the success of a project, lack of planning would probably lead the project to failure as mentioned before. It is also justified that the capturing of requirements and end-user specifications are essential making it clear that a certain amount of planning is essential whilst initiating a project in order to capture the end-user requirements. The research has further justified that project planning need not necessarily take a specific shape or method although a methodical approach to the project plan pertaining to the requirements of the project considering the variables like durations, resources, etc., would provide an effective method to accomplish the goals of the project. The research has also revealed that the initiation stage of the project is critical where the user requirements and the goals of the project should be defined capturing all the aspects of the project. It is also recommended by the writers that the deployment of considerable amount of resources and time in the initial stages will help accomplish the project effectively through identifying the goals of the project. Finally the research has justified that a certain among of planning and the use of planning tools is necessary for achieving project success although the choice of tools and method of planning can vary with respect to the availability of resources and the end-user requirements. Reference Richard Newton (2005), Project Manager: Mastering the Art of Delivery in Project Management, Financial Rimes Prentice Hall. Read More